09/21/21 – Golden Nugget Marina in Atlantic City, NJ, to South Jersey Marina in Cape May, NJ

Posted on by Kristin

Day 376

Legacy and crew left their slip at the Golden Nugget Marina in Atlantic City, NJ, with ease at 8:00 am on Tuesday morning, 09/21/21. The waters inside the marina were fairly calm, but that was NOT the case once we traveled into Atlantic City Inlet on our way out to the Atlantic Ocean! 😐 Strong southerly winds were blowing perpendicular to the narrow, west to eastward-running inlet, stirring up huge swells of 5-6 feet in height, which tossed our poor boat all over the place like a toy boat in a giant bath-tub. Steve and I held on for dear life up in the flybridge, while multiple, once stationery items went flying through the air, and my recently-filled Yeti cup slid off the table right down into my lap, drenching me with cold ice water. Clenching our teeth and white-knuckled, we endured that torture for almost 15 more minutes before finally exiting the mouth of the inlet and entering into much calmer seas, on out into the ocean.

Conditions were calm and placid as we first left the Golden Nugget Marina on Tuesday morning, 09/21/21.

Fortunately, conditions were much calmer as we cruised outside in the ocean, several miles east of the New Jersey coastline. Waves were only 1-foot or less, and swells were only 3-4 feet, and hit us at much longer intervals than when we were in the inlet, where they seemed to hit us non-stop! We passed multiple familiar New Jersey beach towns as we headed southward toward today’s destination of South Jersey Marina, in Cape May, NJ. This would be our second stay with them, and we were looking forward to it.

Wildwood, NJ, gleaming in the morning sunshine, between Atlantic City and Cape May, NJ.

Refreshingly – after yesterday’s LONG travel day – our trip today took only 5 hours, total. After passing through Cape May Harbor, we cruised back through the now familiar Schellenger Creek to South Jersey marina, arriving at 12:30 pm. LOVE travel days like these!

As we entered Schellinger Creek from Cape May Harbor, we both felt a pleasant sense of familiarity.
Shrimp and fishing boats galore line the banks of Schellinger Creek on the way out of Cape May Harbor to South Jersey Marina.

Later that afternoon, we returned to Lobster House (one of our favorites) for cocktails, oysters for Steve, and another delicious dinner. Our wait was again pretty long – at an hour and a half – even though it was only 4:45 pm on a Tuesday evening. VERY popular restaurant!

One of our favorite restaurants of this adventure!
Even more beautiful than they were during our first visit earlier in the summer, the flowers at South Jersey Marina again grabbed my attention. 🙂

Position: N 38° 56.942, W 74° 54.501

Distance traveled:  44 SM

Total distance traveled: 4698 SM

Total marina nights: 352

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28