Free at Last!

Riggs and I were trapped near Atlantic City for 5 nights and 4 days. Two sequential Nor'easters swept by with much rain and gale-force winds. And cold too. We tried escaping on Saturday, by creeping down the 'inside' (NJ ICW) path, but we only got a few miles before encountering a railroad bridge with 5' clearance that wasn't opening due to high winds and tides, so we had to turn around and return to the 'Brigantine' anchorage near AC.

It did get worse on Saturday, to the point where it was too treacherous to take the dinghy to the beach, so Riggs had to learn to do his business onboard Spray. I laid out a square yard of astroturf (tm) on the rear deck (the poopdeck?) and, after holding off an amazingly long time, Riggs finally performed every 'number' in his repertoire.

Sunday was still nasty, but was made much nicer by a visit from my niece, Dr Michelle Homsher. She works at CHOP (Childrens' Hospital of Philadelphia) as a researcher. She drove down to deliver a backup computer shipped by my friend, Ken, and also some great apples and some NJ cranberry wine (I'll have to work up some courage - or desperation - to crack that open). I braved the waves to dinghy to shore to meet her and we had a nice Italian lunch together.

Finally, today we had wall-to-wall sun! After a quick beach run, we confirmed that the railroad bridge was operating, pulled anchor, and hit the NJ ICW. It was an enjoyable, meandering trip, with challenging currents, many drawbridges, and shallow depths. We did get stuck for 1/2 hour or so near Hereford Inlet. Had to wait for the tide to lift us off the mud. No big deal.

We're anchored in Sunset Lake, a couple of miles north of Cape May. Tomorrow we'll get an early start through the Cape May Canal, then up the dreaded Delaware Bay. This will set us up to enter the Chesapeake Bay on Wednesday. Yay!