Hitch Hiker In Cape May, NJ

We left Manasquan yesterday and arrived in Atlantic City around 4:00 PM. We stayed at Historic Gardiner Marina. The price per foot was $1.50 compared to $4.00 a foot at the casino/ marinas. We were all a bit nervous as we exited the Manasquan channel after the rough ride on Sunday. The waves were still around 5 foot and the wind was about 5 to 10 knots. We carried our sails for most of the trip, which kept the boat steady motor sailing.

We left Atlantic City at sun rise this morning. The ocean was quite flat with 1 to 2 foot waves. The wind was on our nose most of the trip so we didn't sail for very long. If you look close at the picture you can see our visiting hitch hiker on the deck of the boat. This little bird was a welcome intrusion to our morning. He posed while I took several shots of him/her. I have looked in my bird books but the only picture close is a Dark-eyed Junco but if that is what he is, he sure was lost. Junco's according to my reference says they live in the mountains, woods and bush. Oh well he sure was cute but flew away when I tried to give him a cracker. I guess Polly didn't want one.

We had a little excitement today in route. While Larry was down below taking a shower I felt the boat hit something. Of course the first thing that came to mind was my whale sighting two days ago. The boat began to vibrate and the lines were doing the shimmy. I slowed down and put the boat into reverse thinking we had picked up some weeds but nothing came away from the prop. I then put it into neutral as Larry requested and took it out of gear and gave it some throttle. Larry checked the engine, it didn't vibrate. Something had to be on the prop. Only one thing to do, dive over the side, wrong not me. Poor Larry he just had a shower. He put his suit on and over the side he went. He was down there for a while and when he came up was holding a very large plastic bag. It had been under the water where it couldn't be seen and when we went over it, it wrapped around the prop. After a second shower and we were under way again I shared with Larry how lucky I felt that he was able to take care of the problem.

Tomorrow we will be under way around 7:00 AM and plan to be anchored in Chesapeake City.