The Jersey Shore

We left Atlantic Highlands Municipal Marina at 7:40am on Thursday, 9/23/10. We met several couples who are traveling south and have received so much useful information each time we talk to someone new! The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm. We had a delicious pork chop dinner on the way down the coast. Our plan was to take our time, stopping at Barnagat Bay and Atlantic City. We noticed that our mainsail had 3 broken slugs which attach the sail to the boom, so we brought it down and motored. The seas were lumpy by now. Periodic weather checks told us that it was better to make a run staight to Cape May. As we passed Atlantic City, we watched the lights gradually come on. It was a beautiful sight. After leaving Atlantic City about 10 miles astern, we looked back to find that it had disappeared IN THE FOG!! We spent the next 30 miles in this thick, dark soup. We finally reached the entrance to Cape May Inlet at 4am, and after one failed attempt to enter, stayed out until the sun started to come up. The fog was still very thick and visibility was poor. It only takes one missed buoy to put you aground. That's exactly what happened. A combination of thick fog and an exhausted crew, and oops, you're in the mud. Thank God it was mud. Never dreamed we would run aground this far north. We attempted to pull Dalliance off with "Dilly Dally" our dinghy, but Dalliance just toyed with her. Now the fog has cleared and all bouys are visible. The tide was still rising and Dalliance decided it was time to find the dock at Utsch's Marina. Two couples that we met at Atlantin Highlands are here and we had cocktails on the IP45, which is a much bigger version of Dalliance. We walked downtown as we were told that it was only 1.3 miles, but it was at least 2.3miles. We found a restaurant called the Lobster House near the marina and it is awesome. They have a fresh fish market, a lunch counter, and a formal diningroom. We hit them all. We're filling up the freezer with seafood here as it is very reasonable. We planned on leaving today, Monday, but the Delaware Bay is rocking, so we will wait for better weather. Afterall, we have the time. We don't have pictures of the trip down the shore as we were too far off to really see anything clearly. The picture we have is of the Consejo Yacht Club in Belize, our ultimate destination. They put a "gringo" float in the Independence Day Parade.