Cape May, NJ

It is Saturday morning around 10 am and we are waiting for Wally and Sue Trnka to come and stay the day with us and possibly sleep overnight. We arrived yesterday afternoon after a very nice sail/motor ride from Atlantic City. Friday was definitely a much better day on the water than Wed or Thursday.

We are staying in a very nice marina, in a very good location. Just steps away from the dock store and washing facilities. They only charge 50 cents for a load of clothes to wash versus $1.75 to $2.00 at other places. Plus there is a very nice breakfast place, Dock Mikes within 30 feet of the marina. Also The Lobster House restaurant is 3 minute walk. We used our gift certificate for the lobster house last night. The Lobster House does not take reservations, except that Jen , the manager at South Jersey Marina, is allowed to make reservations for her guests. So we got a reservation and only had to wait 10 minutes instead of an hour and a half. That worked out really nicely.

The pictures are of the boats around us, including two Nautor Swans, 46 and 54 feet, and a very large 60+ foot power boat. The 46 foot Swan is owned by a dentist in Maryland who takes 12 to 13 weeks of vacation a year and only works 4 days a week during the weeks he does work.

We had dinner with Steve Weisbrid, a yacht captain who we met in Atlantic City. He is delivering a boat from Rockland, Maine to Harve de Grace, MD where he lives. We plan on visiting him and his wife Judy at Tidewater Marina as we work our way down to Baltimore. He is a wealth of information about sailing, equipment, places to visit, tide and currents.

My bike is going to the repair shop today, hopefully it will be finished on Monday. It fell off the dock at Atlantic City. It was on the dock, and we were below. The wind pushed it over and it bounced into the water. Fortunately a scuba diver was just finishing up a boat down the pier and he dove down and pulled it out for $20. However, all of the non stainless steel, which includes that cables, gear, gear shifting mechanism, need to be replaced. We learn lessons in life the hard way. I should have protected it better from the salt spray and been more respectful of the wind.

Well, we are off to the local marine store to check out prices.

Joe