Atlantic Ocean, here we come

We had a great time at Sandy Hook Bay Marina. Thursday we awoke to calm seas and skies even though the prediction had been high winds this morning.

I spent the day catching up the blog entries and enjoying the second floor balcony which looked out over the entire marina and Lower Bay. Stew caught a ride into town to get propane. We did some laundry and took an evening walk on the walking trail near the marina.

Friday morning we awoke early to take off during high tide. The marina was very calm and then within minutes the rain came and winds picked up. We ended up staying put. The storm raged on and we were very happy we did not attempt to head to Manasquan in the middle of the storm.

We decided on a new plan. The rains should subside by early morning (4am) so we could rise early and head out at first light with the intention of sailing 81 miles to Atlantic City…. and that is what we did!

Up by 5am and out of the marina at 6:45 – we actually just sat in the salon and waited until there was enough light to exit the marina. It took us about an hour and a half to clear the bay and we were in the Atlantic Ocean around 8:30!!

We raised the sails as we exited the bay and we were off and sailing in the ocean. It was a remarkably anxious moment!

The ocean was “bumpy” but Stew conquered it quickly. The temp was in the high 40’s/low 50s and with the added wind it was cold so we were pretty bundled up. We also had our harnesses and lifejackets on. Stew was tethered to the boat even as he was steering. You just don’t know when you might hit something or have a wave hit the boat oddly. Not worth the risk.

We were enjoying the morning, sea was pretty calm compared to the bay anyway. All of a sudden out of nowhere a little bird landed on my shoulder! It was the cutest thing. We figured it was all tired out from flying over the ocean with no landing.

This little bird, a Pine Siskin (type of migratory finch) was so friendly – not scared of us at all. It ended up staying with us the entire day – all 11.5 hours – all the way to Atlantic City!

The bird provided alot of entertainment during the sail, which was needed since it was a really long day.

We entered the Atlantic City inlet right at sunset and into the marina by twighlight. Thankfully our friends Dave and Diane from Yacht-Zee were there to meet us at our slip. The marina office was closed and it would have been hard to find exactly where we needed to pull in without them flagging us down.

It was a very long day and we were beat! We cleaned up all our sailing gear and decided to order a pizza. While we waited for the delivery we walked over to the Golden Nugget – it totally freaked me out! TOO MANY PEOPLE… I kept playing the film reel of us getting covid-19 and dealing with it on the boat. NO WAY did I want to hang out at the Golden Nugget!

My birthday is tomorrow and it seemed like a fun idea to be in Atlantic City – but I was not very thrilled with the idea now.