The sandy Jersey shore

Seaside Park - a friend's favorite childhood beach 

The view from our anchorage in Absecon Inlet (Atlantic City)

Absecon Light dwarfed by the big buildings

It has been a lovely couple of days with extremely calm seas and not much wind.  We sort of feel like we are piloting a trawler instead of sailboat.  The anchorage in Atlantic City was quieter than you might imagine.  It was interesting seeing the oldest lighthouse on the coast dwarfed by the tall buildings.  Leaving Atlantic City, the ocean was so calm that the big buildings were reflected in the water.  Passing Ocean City, NJ, we wondered which of you may have one day enjoyed a ride on the Ferris Wheel that looks gigantic from the water.  A pod of dolphins swam nearby as we entered Cape May inlet along with about a dozen or so fishing boats on their Sunday afternoon return.

We spent a day on the hook at Cape May, just off the Coast Guard Training Center - listening to night-time training ops, Reveille at 8am and the National Anthem which followed.  It was very cool.  The town of Cape May is very sweet and we enjoyed a good long walk and a little shopping.

Leaving at dawn on Tuesday, we headed out of the inlet, took a right around Cape May and up into the Delaware Bay.  There we skirted the 3/10ths mile wide Canal to avoid the ship traffic (of which there is always much!) and entered the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal mid-afternoon.

After passing under the six bridges along the canal, one of our local friends stood waving at us from the dock at Schaeffer's Marina as we tied up for the day.  We enjoyed a great meal at the marina restaurant with our new friends from "Sanderling," an Island Packet 45.  The menu offered 14 items in which Blue Crab was involved - from Sharon's point of view, that is the best!

We are looking forward to a couple weeks in the Chesapeake Bay.  This is where we bought Dream Catcher and spent the first several years enjoying sailing the waters.  It feels like coming home.