Saturday

Saturday we're meeting at the take out, the municiple ramp just s. of Rte. 72 bridge in Surf City, at 10:30 a.m. Paddle will start at s. end of LBI with incoming tide and s. wind. Join us!

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Day 4 Atlantic City to Longport

Coldest water and most blustery conditions to date and yet some great photo ops.

The weather started out nice. I dressed without neoprene and with a heavy coat of sunscreen. The thermos of hot tea I left in the car. We put in on the other side of the wind farm and soon had the casinos of Atlantic City off our bow.

Starting at a leisurely pace, we noticed many photo ops. There was a school of young shrimp making its way along the bulkhead between the wall and the pilings. Wait till you see the video that I post soon! You can see their little legs swimming at a sonic pace and sometimes a spooked one darts off the screen. John caught one in his hand.

Soon after there was a solo jelly fish. He was alive and making his way north. Travelling along the bulkhead he was getting jostled quite a bit. This photo doesn't do his orange color justice. The structure is the bottom of my boat and the red is the line from my boat to the camera's underwater housing.

On the Inside Thorofare and the West Canal there were at least a dozen rowing crews practicing. Stopping for lunch at at the west tip of the Canal we sat with a rotation of 3 crew members from Holy Spirit High School. Their boys 8 team was doing "Seat Racing" - rotating 9 total rowers on each pass of a 1450m stretch to determine the final team. Each rower that sat out got out in his bare feet and helped launch the boat. Then he sat on shore, still barefoot, in a short sleeved shirt in the wind. We sat with dry suits on and before heading out I added another top of smartwool and a neoprene hood. The wind had been piercing right through my ears. Adding the hood was good timing.

Just after the lunch spot, heading along Beach Thoro we paddled into a heavy wind and it only got worse. We paddled the eastern shore and under every dock possible with exception of having to paddle around the low tide mud flat east of day mark G 223. We left the ICW when we paddled under the fixed bridge and headed south briefly to a beach takeout. That paddle was head in to a strong, constant wind and by that time the skies were overcast and the sun setting.

The security guard at the marina where we were allowed to park earlier for the take out at the beach wouldn't let us paddle within its water break but did let me use the restroom to get untangled. He agreed with us that the wind was probably double what the internet reported.

No rest after the takeout. Comedian Billy Elmer who friends and I had met a year or two before in Princeton had a 9pm show at the Borgata and we raced off to hit the showers. The economy must be bad as my hotel room at the Tropicana was $65 tax included! We just missed his show but he sat with us while we got a slice. He's there through Sunday.

Day 3 Ocean City to Strathmere

As I woke up with a hoarse voice and it was another windy day, we paddled another short trip between sounds - but only after a salt water gargle at Wawa and some sightseeing to wait out the wind.

All the way back to the start in Cape May, we explored the WWII concrete bunker on the beach and climbed the stairs to the top of the Cape May Lighthouse.

The bunker itself is sealed off in concrete and some of it is supported by wood pilings. Both the off-limits recessed areas and highest areas were covered with graffiti. A bird's egg had fallen at the base of the seaward side and its yolk oozed out on the sand.

The ladies who keep the souvenir shop for the light house were stocking its shelves. Lighthouse keeper Ed Hoffner was sitting on a deep window sill at the base of the lighthouse reading "Three roads to the Alamo." The lighthouse's Fresnel lens is elsewhere but the view on this clear day was spectacular. We could see both a ferris wheel on the Atlantic coast and land across the Delaware Bay.

A stop at the Wetlands Institute almost proved fruitless as it's closed on Mondays. However, the receptionist informed us that the Institute has kayaking! They offer moonlight, sunset and other guided tours with a naturalist. Before leaving the Institute, we took a walk out behind the building and I made this video to illustrate the day's gusty wind. The camera was hand-held and my swaying and at one point I nearly lose my balance.

At the put in under the 34th St. bridge, chosen using Google satellite images, we discovered the Ocean City High School rowing teams. The girls freshmen 8 were just putting away their boat. We commiserated with the coach a bit about the wind on the open water north of the bridge and marveled at the crews' lack of protective clothing or PFD's. Must be nice!

It turned out to be a spectacular paddle. The wind had subsided, the tide was slack and the sun was setting. Around one turn we met Mike Sheehy digging for clams. Around another we found 2 men in lawn chairs fishing. Twice the rowing crews passed us. There were birds everywhere and I found a small, dead skate fish. The water was shallow and except for Mike's tiny, vintage outboard, we saw no other motor boats.

Just as we pulled into the boat ramp to take out, an easterly wind came over the dyke on this narrow section of barrier island and hit us head on and the tide started to come in. Great timing!

Day 2 Avalon to Sea Isle City

No, it's not very far between Avalon and Sea Isle City. It's 4.6 mi., to be precise.

First of all, the cheerleaders woke up at 5a.m. - woke ME up at 5 a.m. Although I was thrilled to finally be staying in the StarLux in Wildwood (but not in an Airstream as they are under renovation), the walls are too thin to dampen the many hair dryers used by cheerleaders competing in Cheertech - "Best of the East." However, I met adorable 9-year-old Sara Hanellin in the elevator and doesn't she have the coolest eye shadow?!

Second of all, there was plenty of wind. Even the metal petals on the fake palms of the Starlux were fluttering - on the leeward side of the barrier island. And, as there were no guest day-trippers at the put-in who might have paddled the 3 sounds between Wildwood and Stone Harbor before and known what they would be like in the wind, we decided to exercise a new plan to paddle between sounds.

Lastly, and the best part of the day, was there was lots of bird activity to observe en route. There were bird baths, birds dropping shells to try to break them open, birds fending off attackers from nests, birds flocking, birds diving for fish, etc.

We noted this is one of the parts of paddling this area that makes it special - the wildlife. You don't see 1/10 as much on the Delaware River. The long vista is special too. If you look towards the mainland, all you see is wetland and birds, and today's paddle also had nice, puffy clouds. No boats, no houses, no people. Very relaxing - except for the wind.

Day 1 Cape May to Wildwood

Call me lefty.

The wind first came from the west, later from the northwest. And not 10mph as first predicted but rather worse with 20mph gusts! My boat wanted to turn left all day.

We put in at the western end of the Cape May canal. A ferry came in just before we took off. And, with it's engines running at dock, paddling through the churning water behind it was like being in the fun house. First you're going east, then north, then southeast. The rest of the canal was pretty calm - wide enough that passing boats didn't swamp you with their wake. A woman cleaning up her lawn waved. A work boat was driving in some pilings.

Crossing Jarvis Sound was a bit off-putting. Wind raced across the open stretch of water from the west as we headed north - putting the whitecaps nearly broadside to the boats if it weren't for the left thing, which rendered us at angles to the waves and being ferried northeast by the wind. I for one was exhausted at the other side and we beached in some mud to have lunch. It was a warm enough day but some hot tea in a thermos was somehow refreshing. There were many shells in the mud a crab or two. I almost left my boots there as the mud tried several times to suck them off my feet.

Headed north before Channel Dr., the marina and the Rte. 47 bridge we passed a boat run aground and sea town trying to pull it free. Sea tow motioned for us to move away from them and closer to shore and then encouraged 2 or 3 passing cruisers to blast by them and leave a huge wake to aid in their efforts. Thanks a lot, all of you. Those boats sent Tsunamis in our direction and had we moved all the way over as you wished, the waves would have tossed us up against the shoreline. Having just taken the boating safety course, I know you motor boaters are responsible for what happens in your wake. All of you should take the course again.

After the take out, we spent a few minutes calculating our wear and tear and what we could accomplish Day 2. It was decided to break the trip into 2 shuttles in case the first stretch, which includes not 1 but 2 open stretches of water, is too taxing. So, we spent the next 2 hours looking at and noting waypoints of 2 good takes outs - the first in Stone Harbor, the second in Sea Isle City. Some ducks were looking for a hand out at the latter site.

Pt. Pleasant Canal

You'd think it would be hard to miss two 3x4' reflective warning signs but we did.

On a training paddle from Gull Island County Park on the Manasquan River to Good Luck Piont on Toms River we entered the Pt. Pleasant Canal. We paddled right past the signs and a man picking up his yard on the east side of the canal waved and shouted out to us. He said the water was turbulent, the police would arrest us and pointed to the signs behind us. So, we turned back, which was an upstream paddle for a minute as we had timed the paddle through the canal to be with the current.

Question: what's the definition of "personal watercraft," which are not allowed? Several boaters as well as my NJ boating safety instructor said it applied to jet skis and all advised against paddling through it. So, it's unsafe and yet not illegal. And yet, John Strauss, who's paddling the true trip with me, called the marine police and they said kayaking the canal wasn't permitted. (Tragically, March 27, 28-year-old Aaron McLoughlin of Long Beach Township, who was attempting to paddle a canoe with 2 friends from Treasure Island in the Manasquan River to Maxson Avenue Beach in Point Pleasant, drowned after the canoe capsized. He wasn't wearing a PFD).