OK sports fans. We left League City, TX on May 14, 2014. Here we are one year later and still having a BLAST! In that year we have "counted" 184 days in this blog as travel days, but in addition, we spent 3+ weeks in Wilmington, NC getting Lucky Us ready to spend the winter there, and we spent about 4 weeks in late February and March getting ready to re-start our trip. So, we spent about 235 days on the boat during that year, and we have travelled 3,539 miles during that time. All of this "history" is really neat, but we still are only about halfway done. So, let the fun continue!
Back to reality... We left Cape May, NJ this morning headed to Atlantic City 54.3 miles north in light fog with visibility of over 1 mile. The weather prediction had been for wind to subside to 8 to 10 mph over night and shift from north to southeast with no mention of fog. The reality was that the wind did not shift and the velocity dropped a little to 10 to 15 mph. However, we were ready to "bust out" of Cape May after 8 days there so we left in safe but less than perfect weather. We went through beautiful coastal marsh for most of the journey. As usual, when the Intra Coastal Waterway goes through the marsh, the waterway is a combination of old, winding river channels that are connected but artificial cuts. Thus, even though it is only 35 miles as "the crow flies" from our berth in Cape May to Atlantic City, it took us 54.3 miles to get here. Another "oddity" of the trip is that we made 245 turns (or parts thereof) today as compared to something more like 50 on a typical days run. Obviously, the repairs to the hydraulic steering that we had done in Cape May seem to have had a really good test today and passed with flying colors. The picture at the right shows my uniform for the day that consisted of a toque, sweater, jacket and (life jacket) vest and gloves... Did I forget to mention that the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean is 56F in this area? Rather than run the generator and use our electric space heater, we opted to bundle up and keep the windows closed to cut out the breeze.
I did mention the fog, and in this photo of one of the casinos in the area you can see the light fog/haze down low and the low "clouds" higher up. If this grouping of hotel, casino, convention center and parking looks isolated to you, then you are correct. As everyone knows, the casinos are very adept at getting you to spend money. Gone are the free meals, free drinks, free or cheap rooms, etc. Many of the newer casinos in Atlantic City are isolated. The isolation might mean remote location or merely being surrounded with limited access roads, interchanges, etc. with no sidewalks. Even the shuttle that connects casinos, which used to be free, now costs $2.50 per trip. In the background at the right, you can see another casino, which illustrates the isolation and the fog.
In addition to the winding route today, we went under 11 bridges and had to have 5 more bridges open for us to pass. The state of new Jersey becomes more densely populated as you go north toward New York City, and the barrier islands have long been densely populated at least during the summers when the Atlantic Ocean serves as natural air conditioning. Thus, more bridges to serve the (many) barrier islands. Since the busy season goes from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the traffic is still somewhat low. As a result, all of the bridges opened more or less immediately with only a call on the VHF radio. In the summer season all of these bridges open on fixed schedules ranging from every 20 minutes to only once per hour, which could easily have added several hours to our trip.
I included this last picture as sort of the "oddity of the day". When I think of cities like Las Vegas and Atlantic City, I have this mental picture that is sort of like Times Square. Lots of gaudy signs, flashing lights, etc. When thinking about this image, the last thing that comes to my mind is green energy, and yet here in Atlantic City between two of the casino areas there is this grouping of 5 (yes, five) wind generators. Do not think for even a second that this token effort will change my view of excessive energy use in casino towns...
Last but far from least:
Never and I repeat
never disappoint the Admiral! One of the attractions of the Golden Nugget was not just a wonderful marina adjacent to the casino, etc. The real attraction was the HOT TUB and HEATED POOL! When we were checking into the marina, the Admiral asked directions to the hot tub, and she was informed that the pool and hot tub were closed due to a mechanical breakdown. The lady at the desk will never know how lucky she was at that moment. Fortunately, there was no nuclear meltdown, but instead of staying two or more nights, we are leaving in the morning. Just to add her personal revenge, the Admiral is leaving here a winner. She increased her money by 120% at the casino tonight. So, take that Golden Nugget!
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