06/28/21 – South Jersey Marina in Cape May, NJ, to Golden Nugget Marina in Atlantic City, NJ

Day 291

We got up early on Monday morning, 06/28/21, to help Bella Vita leave her slip at South Jersey Marina in Cape May, at 6:15 am, and then left our slip aboard Legacy shortly afterward, right at slack tide, which is the easiest, most stress-free time to leave or enter an ocean side marina. Bella Vita and Legacy were buddy boats for this outside crossing to Golden Nugget Marina in Atlantic City, NJ. As we progressed toward the east-northeast, the morning sun was RIGHT in our eyes. Fortunately that sun didn’t take long to rise above the top of the flybridge and out of our line of sight, so we could actually see where we were going.

Leaving Cape May, NJ, Harbor…
This osprey didn’t even flinch as Legacy motored so closely beside its nest.
Passing the NJ Highway 109 bridge, where the Cape May Canal opens into Cape May, NJ.
Passing Avalon, NJ. (Much too far away for pictures… 🙁 )
Sea Isle City, NJ.

We traveled out in the Atlantic Ocean, where the winds were higher. The seas were relatively smooth that morning, with minimal wave-heights, but the swells made our ride rolly. The winds were supposed to be higher today than we prefer for cruising “outside”, but we hoped not too bad. Just in case, I’d already taken a Dramamine that morning before we left. Since Legacy’s flybridge sits up so high (which only magnifies the rolling), we knew we could always move down to the salon helm for a slightly smoother ride, if conditions became too rough.

Following Bella Vita, which was cruising about 300 yards ahead of us, and to our port (since they were cruising closer to shore), we passed Wildwood, Stone Harbor, and Avalon, NJ, to our west. Although we could see beach house after beach house along the distant NJ shore, we were traveling much too far out for me to get any decent pictures.

Bella Vita cruised to our port most of this journey. Here they are passing Wildwood, NJ.

We passed Sea Isle City, Strathmore, and Ocean City, NJ, before we came to the inlet into Egg Harbor Bay and Longport, NJ. As we slowly progressed, we could just barely make out the skyline of Atlantic City, far up ahead to our northwest. At 10 am, the winds began to pickup and we began seeing white-caps here and there. Our plan (and sincere hope) was to reach today’s destination before those winds increased to gusty later on in the day. We wanted to be safely tied in our slip at the Golden Nugget Marina long before then.

The Atlantic City, NJ, skyline – far ahead, through the haze.
Bella Vita, riding the swells as she approached Atlantic City,
Needless to say, I was not thrilled with the ugly haze we encountered the morning of 06/28/21. (More Atlantic City.)

We passed Margate City and Ventnor City, NJ, before reaching Atlantic City, which loomed ahead of us in the haze. Bella Vita arrived first, and we heard them calling to the marina on radio channel 16 for docking instructions. Soon, it was our turn to receive our instructions, get into our slip, and tied-up. I had managed to stay feeling fairly well, but could feel some seasickness coming on (even with the Dramamine I’d taken), so it was a good thing we arrived when we did! I felt a little off of my game for the remainder of that day, but Brandee graciously shared some of their seasickness remedies of ginger gum and ginger beer with me, which helped. 🙂

And more of Atlantic City…
The brand new Revel Resort, still under construction along the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Behind it towers Ocean Casino Resort.
Ferris wheel on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. (The whole time we were there, I kept finding myself humming that old song.)
Views approaching the Golden Nugget Marina…
Harrah’s Casino in Atlantic City.
That’s the Atlantic City Hard Rock Casino in the background.
Coming down the fairway at Golden Nugget Marina, toward our slip. (The Golden Nugget stands in the center of this picture.)
The Borgata and The Water Club Casinos can be seen from The Golden Nugget Marina.
Someone had to tell me what the sign on this water tower meant… (Do Atlantic City.)
The gigantic, 150-foot Palmer Johnson yacht named Stealth remained tied at our marina the whole time we were there – right on our dock finger, where we walked past her several times a day. (Never got to tour her inside, though…)
The Golden Nugget Casino was literally a driveway away from our marina. We visited there multiple times during our stay to dine or to sight-see, but managed to resist the urge to gamble.
Scene from around Golden Nugget Marina…
Live bands performed on this deck almost nightly.
Legacy’s home at Golden Nugget Marina was on E Dock. (E For Elliott, maybe? 😉 )
Our view we saw multiple times a day walking from and to Legacy’s slip. (Bella Vita was also slipped on E Dock, closer to the casino.)
Sadly, the marina restrooms and laundry were about as far from E Dock as they could be, so we did a lot of walking at Golden Nugget Marina. This is the view from right outside those facilities.
Harrah’s is located right across the highway from our marina’s restroom facilities.
Every evening when walking down E Dock to our boat, we could look up at this huge, glowing orb atop the Ocean Casino Resort. One night, Steve actually mistook it for the moon! 😉
Evening views of the Golden Nugget Marina…

Position: N 39° 22.657, W 74° 25.608

Distance traveled:  45 SM

Total distance traveled: 4151 SM

Total marina nights: 265

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28