Long Beach NJ to Ocean City NJ

Start time and hours                  0908                         3335.05
End time and hours                   1420                         3340.40

     After spending a comfortable night on anchor in Long Beach NJ we headed out for day two of our NJICW trek.  We would be passing through Atlantic City and stopping in Ocean City for a night on anchor.  

     Once again the horror stories of the NJICW were false.  We had no trouble keeping track of the markers and had plenty of depth.  We started our trip on a rising tide and had no problems.  

     This was the day that we would be requesting bridge openings for the first time.  I called it the Bascule bridge day.  I love it when people on the VHF radio call me Captain, makes me feel important.  All of the bridges opened promptly upon request and the bridge operators were friendly and helpful.  

     Again, we saw newer homes along the water.  They mostly looked like the other homes we saw on the first day, with a few exceptions.  We also saw plenty of birds and marshes.  There was little traffic to contend with, but at one point we got waked by a NJ State police boat just north of Atlantic City.  

     We got to the anchorage, the Rainbow anchorage,  fairly early and set anchor without any problems.  Our new #44 Rocna has so far held like a rock.  

     We had dinner and turned in for the night.  About 5am we were awakened by some severe rolling.  At first I thought that we were being waked by fishing boats going out but soon realized that this was not the case.  I got up and saw that the winds had picked up considerably and the waves were up also.  The anchor was holding wonderfully and we were not dragging so we went back to bed and tried to sleep a few hours more.

The anchorage on the first night

Current over wind, notice the rode.

Good dinner.

     We got up around 8am and looked out the window and quickly decided that we were not going anywhere today.  The seas and winds were a little too much for travel.

Our only neighbor in the anchorage

     We settled in for a day at anchor in bouncy conditions.  A little reading, a little napping.  It was good when the wind and current were consistent but at times the current was against the wind and were sideways to the waves.  At dinner time it was a little rough and we just had cheeseburgers and Kraft macaroni and cheese.  The anchor held perfectly and we went to bed with a little more than a gentle rocking hoping that the next day would be better.