29-May-23 - 31-May-23
Cape May NJ - Atlantic City NJ - Farley State Marina

• Start 7:00 AM
• End 11:05 AM
• Underway 4:00|
• Distance 38 Miles
• Total Miles on Trip 153
• Avg Speed 9.6 Knots
• Weather - Partly Cloudy, 62 Degrees, Wind 6KN SE Seas 2'-3' Port Bow

There was a lot of discussion at the Captains meeting on when to depart Cape May and which route to take, several boats left at 6am for the outside route. We waited for them to report back on the conditions. The reports came in that is was bouncy but doable.

Based on the reports we decided that we would head outside, and if we did not like the conditions we would turn back in at Townsends Inlet, about an hour ride from the Cape May Inlet. By the time we passed Townsends Inlet, not only were the conditions doable, they were pretty good for New Jersey. We enjoyed a four hour cruise up the New Jersey coast, even with the fog and haze. We were able to see the Wildwood Boardwalk, but most of the time the shoreline was just hazy.

After docking at Farley State Marina, we clearly remembered why last time we ran from Cape May directly to New York City. The marina is overpriced, and very lacking in services. The dock hands will not come help you dock, the "High Speed" internet did not work at all, and the bathrooms were a 10 minute walk from the docks, and the one boat we knew that needed fuel waited over an hour for the staff to come to the fuel dock. But because of the weather this was our best choice.

One perk of staying at Farley's was there is a Dock Bar right next to our boat, and Monday afternoon they had a band. We did enjoy listening to the band and talking with fellow loopers. We also spent a fair amount of time in the casino, playing roulette and the slots. I am better at walking away when I am ahead, but Angel is better at winning! Over all I think we donated about $40 over the two days.

Tuesday we took the Jitney to the Atlantic City Outlets, and then tried to find a place to eat in one of the casinos. It was very disappointing to see all most all of the restaurants are closed during the week. We ended up going back to the boat for lunch. While we were out, we got a message that one of the other loopers made plans for Docktails. They arranged with the marina staff to use the hospitality room next to the marina office. While it does not fit the definition of "Dock"tails, there were 25mph winds making it a little chilly and uncomfortable outside. Midway through our Docktails, some guy in blazer with the emblem can in and started yelling at us, Who let us in, what were we doing in there, just being a nasty jerk. He kept saying that you have to pay to use this room. I wanted to yell back at him that collectively we were paying six or seven thousand dollars a night staying in the marina (Most of us two nights), but I knew it would not matter to him. We ended up moving our Docktail party to the outside deck. Just another reason to avoid Atlantic City!

In the morning we will be heading to Mantoloking to stage for our run to the Hudson River.