M/V MAERIN

Left 08:00 from Metedeconk River & out Manasquan Inlet for Absecon Inlet (Atlantic City). 2211This was our longest cruise to date, we were butting a head wind of about 15-20 kts. the whole trip. Winds were forecast to be west, but were more south-southwest, so we took them on the nose most of the day, along with the wind chop that came with! Seas were 3-4 ft. but very confused due to the wind. Resulted in a bumpy ride. Not particularly uncomfortable (well, Sammy didn’t like it) but slowed us down. We averaged just over 7 kts on the day’s trip, 9-1/2 hours. We’re anchored in St. Georges Thorofare Bay, and the wind hasn’t let up, it’s been a steady 20-25 kts, howling all evening and is predicted to blow 15-20 kts. again tomorrow, so we may stay. We’re actually on the north side of the inlet, so we’re more in Brigantine than Atlantic City. We arrived late, and anchored twice, the first spot we were not comfortable with, so we relocated to further into the bay, where we have more room. There’s more fetch from the southerly winds, but we’re not in such close quarters. We’re learning there’s a lot of truth to the notion that cruisers live by the weather forecast. I have a quick key set up on the Palm Centro for WeatherUnderground. They even have a site formatted for smartphones, so we have weather in an instant.

We saw more summer cottages the size of Wrigley Field around these parts.  We cruised close to the beach today, mile after mile of gargantuan homes. Here’s a pic of one of the bigger ones, this one at Manasquan, if it’s not big enough to see, click to enlarge 😉 .

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Molly is leaning the ropes aboard, and taking to the dink. She hopped into it as we were lowering it into the water this evening, just walked across the boat deck and right into the dink! Barb had a bit of a surprise as the inside of the boat came into view and there was a puppy inside!

So tomorrow will involve some exploring by foot, we met some folks who offered to let us use their dock to land the dink, so we’ll have a great starting point. Harrah’s becons us from across the bridge, but unlikely we’ll succumb to that temptation! We were treated to a stunning sunset this evening, as the sun set, the lights of the casinos took over the evening skies!