We made it to Atlantic City NJ

The Golden Nugget Marina

We made it!  I got to say the Captain and I were not sure if traveling today was a good idea but we thought we would poke our nose out there and take a looksey.  It really was not bad, well that bad, the worst was probably turning into the inlet for AC, we had been taking it on the nose all day but entering AC it was extremely beamy.  Three boats left with us from Cape May and everyone is here safe and sound.  We heard some chatter going on from a group of boats traveling the NJ ICW among them was OooPik, we traveled the Mississippi River, Ohio River, Cumberland and Tennessee River with Bruce and Karen but when we got to Demopolis he suffered a heart attack and went back to Canada for 3 months, we were so happy to hear from him and to hear he is alive and kickin.  It sounds as though the group doing the inside route are comprised of mostly loopers (gold) from past years and as we listen to them along the way I know the captain is very happy he chose the Atlantic to travel.  We will see what stories they have to tell when they get in here.

The pictures of the day.......

Leaving Cape May

 Hello Atlantic City

This white building is the coast guard station a beautiful old building.
FYI for those coming this way in the next couple of weeks, although not advertised in Skipper Bob or any of the other books, the Golden Nugget is $2/ft until the end of May verses the $4/ft advertised.

Cape May day 4 leaving tomorrow?

Weather is looking better we hope to head out tomorrow morning to Atlantic City but if the seas are good we may go all the way to NYC.
Today is oil change day as it is a bit over due 250 hours.  So its a real good time to get off the boat and go shopping!
We are now just 400 miles (all big water) from home but still have not secured a slip, still waiting on 2 more quotes from marinas.  But we have a back up if need be.  I will let you know where we end up when we find out, as we are planning to sign up as harbor host once we have a harbor!  A decision will be made Friday. 
Jim took a walk over to Utsch's marina to get filters and the "Greatest Loop Boat" was there so he walked over to say hello and wish them well.  He said some women was on the boat who was most unfriendly, I guess she was not really a boater, I hope she isn't PR. for the company.

Read more about our past trips to beautiful Cape May NJ with more photos
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2011/05/cape-may-nj.html
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2010/10/day-5-atlantic-city-to-cape-may.html

5- 7 travel days until we are home? But then.......

Land Ho!

We made it to Cape May the Delaware Bay was very kind to us it was a very nice 58 mile trip across.  So now we sit and wait for good weather to travel up the NJ coast.

Entering the Cape May canal

Here is a look at the marine weather forecast for the next few days......

Well we are here and ready to go when it gets better.  It will not be tomorrow or the next few days unless something changes.  But we will be ready!
Forecast as of 3:40 PM EDT on May 13, 2012

Tonight

S winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt. Seas 4 to 5 ft. A slight chance of showers after midnight with vsby 1 to 3 nm.

Mon

S winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 4 to 5 ft. A chance of showers. Vsby 1 to 3 nm in the morning.

Mon Night

Se winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt. Seas 4 to 6 ft. A chance of showers.

Tue

Se winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 5 to 7 ft. A chance of showers.

Tue Night

S winds 15 to 20 kt...diminishing to 10 to 15 kt after midnight. Seas 4 to 7 ft. Showers likely.

Wed

SW winds 5 to 10 kt. Seas 4 to 5 ft. A chance of showers and tstms.

Wed Night

SW winds around 10 kt...becoming W after midnight. Seas 4 to 5 ft. A chance of showers and tstms in the evening.

Thu

NE winds 10 to 15 kt...diminishing to 5 to 10 kt. Seas 3 to 4 ft.

Fri

E winds 10 to 15 kt. Seas 3 to 4 ft. Winds and seas higher in and near tstms.

So all you loopers travelling up the Chesapeake Bay enjoy, no need to hurry! 

Shame on us! We should know better.

The only picture I took of the day (how peaceful)

We arrived in Deltaville on a Monday from Norfolk and we were stuck there for 4 days.  UGGGG!  We finally took off for the Solomons 54 miles but were hoping for a longer day to make up some time.  Well it was in the top 3 for OMG days, it was terrible out there.  We should of know when 2 other boats were leaving in the morning and they had one hell of a time just getting off the docks.  Irish Rover was one and he did make it.  The other was Present Moment in front of us he couldn't get off the wall so since we were on the end Jim backed off and powered it up off we went. But it took a great deal of power, glad we had it.  It was one of those days that you sit.  You don't get up to go to the head, you don't get up to make lunch, you just hold on.  The words for the day were ..... Hold on!  Here comes another one!  Other than that not much else was said it was very quiet on the upper helm.  But we made it through and actually made it to the Solomons and very happy to be there.  The last 2 hours of our 7 hour day were wayyyyy better the seas calmed down and we could once again move around.  Since we were not expecting it to be so rough we didn't properly prepare the boat and when Jim came up from below all he said is ....You do not want to go down there!  Of course I did and OMG what a mess.  But we were safely tied to a dock and the clean up began.

*Note to self.....your not on the ICW anymore, pick your days.

Today the only waves we had were from other boats

The next day was very nice and we made up time and travelled almost 100 miles.  A very long day but worth it. 
We are hoping to cross the Delaware Bay tomorrow to spend Mothers Day in Cape May.  I was hoping to spend Mothers Day at home with my daughter but it was not meant to be.  Ashley we love you and will see you in a week or so, hopefully.

Remembering that looper feeling

Hello again from Deltaville VA, yup you got it, we are still here and its looking like a go for tomorrow, the winds are finally starting to subside.  We are hoping to make up some lost time and travel 75 miles tomorrow instead of the 50 we have always travelled in this leg in the past.  So instead of our normal stop in the Solomon Islands which we have visited 2 times before we will shoot across the bay to the east side to the Cambridge, Oxford area.  We shall see what tomorrow throws at us.

I have read a couple blog updates from our newest looper friends who are finishing up at the AGLCA rendezvous, when they leave Norfolk more than likely they will be heading to Deltaville as its one of the next likely stops for them.  It really was nice to stop in for a couple days pre rendezvous in Norfolk to catch that looper fever again.  Remembering back just a year ago when we were starting out and that feeling of bonding and excitement of whats ahead.  I will admit we talked of staying for another day or 2 as we would of loved to hold on to that wonderful feeling but, this time is yours, and we look forward to reliving the loop and all its adventures though your blogs.  You are in for a truly wonderful year, take your time and remember to always stop to smell the roses.  The loop is like a series of funnels,you all start out together then wander off in different directions only to meet up again somewhere along the way, this happens throughout the loop. Remember you will never really be alone, and you will make new friends, some will last a lifetime.

The loop is a funny thing, in that it never really throws anything at you that your not prepared for, even if you may not know it at the time...........................ENJOY! 

We look forward to reading your blogs so blog away!!!!!!

And for the Loopers in the planning stage..WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Somethings just can't be rushed

We are currently in Deltaville at Doziers Regatta Point, we got here on Monday and its now Wed. and here we sit.  The weather on the Bay has been very windy and the seas are 3-4 ft today (on the bay) ! 
When we left Norfolk on Monday it was very choppy at Hampton Roads the waters very confused I knew that my insistence to get moving was coming back to bite me, Jim surprisingly, did not give me an "I told you so" but pushed on trying to find a speed in which we could travel in some kind of comfort.  Once we rounded the Hampton Roads area past Old Point Comfort and Fort Wool it really was choppy all the way to the Lighthouse were we made a starboard turn it got much better. 
We are hoping to move on tomorrow as the winds subside, from here the bay will begin to get narrower giving us a bit more protection.  If all goes as "planned" we will travel around 75 miles which will put us about 70 miles from Chesapeake City, and with any luck, we will get on the free wall for the night before crossing the Delaware Bay to Cape May NJ.
This will be the 3rd time doing this part of the trip we have never spent less than 3 days at Doziers and the same goes for Cape May.  For the loopers who will be leaving the rendezvous Doziers does a stay 2 nights 3rd night free after rendezvous or at least they did last year and its only $1.25/ft.  Theres a pool here a nice boaters lounge and 3, yes 3 courtesy cars and 2 West Marines within 1 mile, if you want a place to dine try The Galley next to the first West Marine.

Blog entries for Deltaville and Cape May 2011 with photos
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2011/05/cape-may-nj.html
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2011_05_19_archive.html

Below are our blog entries for 2010 Deltaville and Cape May
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2010/10/day-15-deltaville-va.html
http://sweetpeatrawler.blogspot.com/2010_10_13_archive.html

Norfolk VA...... AGLCA rendezvous

Hello from Virginia, no we didn't skip NC but on my last post I ended with ....next stop River Dunes in Oriental NC.  Well again the plans were changed, we shortened our day and ended up in Morehead City NC for the night (so we thought)!  But once we got into our slip we discovered that our friends Frank and Carrie on Once Around were due into Morehead the following day, hmmmm, since this was where they started their loop this is were they would cross their wake!  We decided to stay another night so we could be here to help celebrate their loop completion.  The funny thing was we were at this same marina when 1 year ago  their beautiful Ocean Alexander was delivered here.



Isn't she beautiful?

Oh yes, and the boat!



So off comes the white AGLCA burgee and on goes the Gold one which signifies you have now completed the Great American Loop.  A huge accomplishment indeed!



Ok, lets celebrate! 

Congratulations guys, and we hope to see you again sometime on the waterways, maybe even the Bahamas.  Have a great trip back to California, we will be looking for you.

We moved on out of Morehead and went past Oriental and on to Belhaven, Dowry Creek where we had been once before it is a very boater friendly marina they have a very nice boaters lounge at the pool house where cocktails are at 5pm.  There we met a couple of boats we were anchored with in Mile Hammock as well as a looper boat that just started their loop a couple of months ago in Florida though they are from St Louis MO

Here is Why Knot leaving Dowry Creek  (Lisa and Darrell) are heading to Norfolk for the rendezvous.  We traveled to Alligator River together since they are taking the Virginia Cut. 

Once at Alligator River we also met another looper that recently began looping from Florida, they are Laura and Ross from NYC on TheZone

The Zone

Now the 3 of us travelled to Coinjock NC funny how that happens, so once in Coinjock we did what loopers do best.............


Here we have Darrell and Lisa (why Knot) and Ross and Laura on (The Zone)

Next stop is Norfolk Va where the AGLCA rendezvous is about to begin, since the Waterside had room for us we decided to spend a night there where we could also meet up with some fellow loopers from our group we hadn't seen in awhile. 

SweetPea in Norfolk

We took the ferry over to Portsmouth to walk around and visit the Mile Marker 0 (marine store)

The Waterside marina

My Way came in for a night but they will be heading out tomorrow as well.

So that's the story and I'm sticking to it. Tomorrow we head out for the Chesapeake Bay