First day in the Atlantic!

Yet another beautiful sunrise.

The early morning at Utsch's Marina was quiet.  There were a few fishermen who were getting ready to start off their day and not much more.  The morning air was still and quiet as I took Tank out for his early morning walk around the yard.  Tank didn't mind the new scenery every day, but he still had not figured out how to best negotiate the stairs to board back onto the boat.  This has been an ongoing thing with Tank and we will need to figure out a way to help him with stairs.  

Local fishing fleet at daybreak.

I was up earlier than usual and had time to wipe down the wheelhouse windows and have a good look at just how I would be getting out of this slip and marina.  I would need to back out of the slip and make a hard turn to starboard while in reverse going into a fairway between a row of slips to both sides.  I would then need to avoid the pilings while pivoting around them and would have to move the bow of Tropical Horizons II so that we were turned pointing towards the entrance to the marina.  Then I would need to make the same 90 degree turns to exit the marina and find my way back into the main channel in Cape May. 

The breakwater at Utsch's 

 The one thing that was working for me was timing.  We had timed everything in such a way that we would have a minimal amount of current to deal with.  The second thing that worked to our advantage was mother nature herself.  The wind and seas were nice and calm that morning which I was ever so grateful for.

Osprey tidying up there nest!

Cape May USCG station.

This is a reminder of what can happen!

The Atlantic Ocean lies ahead!

With a few more turns we were now exiting Cape May and finding our way into the Atlantic Ocean.  The sun was rising, which made navigation marks and small fishing vessels a little more difficult to see.  In the end we made it through and we were out in a calm and fairly flat Atlantic Ocean.  I felt good, the boat felt good, the crew felt good, this was a great start to our day.

A calm Atlantic Ocean.

An amusement park at Cape May.

The Atlantic can be rough but that was not our experience today.  We kept hearing Capt. Steve and Diane say over and over again that we were lucky, the ocean is never this calm.  We all enjoyed the ride as the autopilot took over and we could sit back and relax and just enjoy the moment.  At some point during our trip, Karen managed to spot what we thought might have been dolphins, but upon closer inspection of her photos turned out to be sharks jumping out of the water.  I've never seen this before!

Is it a dolphin?. (leave a comment)

Or a shark? (leave a comment)

We took the time to head out past the 3 mile limit and see if we could use the overboard discharge pump to empty our black water tanks.  This did not work so well as the pump failed to start for whatever reason.  I added this to my list of things to look after.  The day continued as I adjusted our course to shave off some time.  We passed by Atlantic City, and several inlets, we spotted plenty of working boats, mostly dredges as we continued north.  

Atlantic City.

A trawler heading out.

A research vessel towing an instrument array, most likely conducting a survey.

One thing that we spotted far too frequently and actually made me sad to see were party balloons floating by.  I really did not expect to see as many as we did and could not help but think about the amount of plastic and completely unnecessary garbage that pollutes our oceans.  Karen and I are big on recycling and waste reduction as much as possible.  

Garbage in the ocean, was that balloon really worth it?

When at a marina we ask about recycling programs in place, and I've even asked about composting programs.  At home on land, we participate in our municipal recycling and composting program in an effort to greatly reduce our waste and it works.  We sort, plastics, metals, glass and paper and we sort our organic waste as well.  This has lead to a small kitchen sized garbage bag of waste every two weeks for our household.  I can't say the experience was the same at the marinas where we stopped.  It would seem that marinas are lagging behind on the waste disposal side of the operation.

A brown pelican!

As we approached our stop for that day in the Manasquan River inlet, we hailed the marina, and ultimately called them for directions and slip assignment.  Manasquan would be a challenge as the current is strong and there is a very small window in which you can arrive where the current and tides are calm.  

Approaching the Manasquan inlet.

Fishing boats all over the place!

We were instructed to approach the fuel dock and tie up there to await our assignment.  These instructions were given out over the phone.  As we entered the inlet and saw the marina in sight I tired hailing the dock attendants on the radio and there was no response.  While we were on our final approach Capt. Steve managed to call the marina and was told that we could just tie up at the fuel dock.  The wind was blowing us off the dock and we were approaching and as Karen tossed the bow line to the dock attendant, he asked if we were taking on fuel, when Karen answered no, he tossed the line back onto the boat.  This was frustrating.  I finally instructed Karen and Diane to get the boat tied off and we would sort all of this out once tied off.

We were finally tied off and I asked the fuel dock attendant where our assigned slip was.  He indicated a small 40 foot slip just next to the fuel dock.  Given the wind conditions and current that was picking up, I refused the slip and asked for a better assignment as that slip was not adequate.  At this point it is up the captain of a vessel to determine if an assigned slip is adequate or not as the safety of the vessel, crew, passengers, and other vessels and property all are the responsibility of the captain.  I asked for a different assignment.  The dock attendant then pointed out a T head on a series of docks and said he could offer us that position.  I was happy with that and just before we were about to cast off again, he came back to me and indicated that he could not put us there as this was not part of the marina.  I was seriously starting to question our decision to stay here.  

Shipwreck Point....was this a sign of things to come?

Finally there was another slip that was beyond a railway bridge that was offered to us.  this was another T head which made me more comfortable given the current and wind and also given that our Bow thruster was not working well at all. (this would be a sign of things to come).  We passed through a railway bridge blasting our horn to alert anyone of the danger that we posed and to keep the channel clear.  As we made it through the bridge we docked and tied off the boat.

The entire experience was a real SNAFU.  As I did in the past, I turned to Capt. Steve and asked him what I could have done differently?  His answer was, this was a complete and total failure of the marina and their staff to deal with a situation in a professional and efficient manner.  We were given a difficult situation to deal with in challenging conditions and we managed to tie off and dock safely.  The whole situation was frustrating, but we managed to keep calm (even if I wanted to smack some people) and at the end of the day, we declined what we deemed to be an unsuitable dock and were able to obtain a dock space that we were comfortable with.  

Steve and Diane's first ever raclette.

Supper was served, this would be the first time Steve and Diane have tried a Raclette!  We all ate well and retired for the evening, tomorrow we head out to New York City!

Another sunset aboard Tropical Horizons II