Beach Haven, NJ

"The best laid plans....."

We awoke Monday, June 25, to thunder, lightning, pouring rain, and a severe thunderstorm watch.  The meteorologists were just a little off on the forecast.  No way will we leave today.  We did manage to get a walk in, but had to do some of it inside the casino to get out of the rain.  Though wind was predicted for Tuesday, we decided to head back onto the intracoastal (actually, Mary said why are we going in this much wind and John said it's the icw, how bad can it be).  We knew it would be rough in the inlet (where boats can go out to the ocean or come into Atlantic City) and it was.  It didn't help that a Coast Guard helicopter was assisting a training mission and its rotor blades were whipping up water and throwing it against us.

Rough water on the icw, taken from our marina in Beach Haven:

Once we moved onto the icw, conditions improved, although the wind didn't lessen.  We moved only 25 miles, as John said, "This just isn't any fun."  We saw 2 boats aground, one was a sailboat the other a trawler.  With wind like we had, one small miscalculation or being blown just a little out of the channel would be especially unfortunate, as the wind would just keep pushing you further.  Across a couple of bays, where the ICW was wide, waves had built as it's very shallow.  We had a very gentle docking.  No one was available to assist and there are floating docks, so Mary had to step off the swim platform.  She couldn't be up on the bow to help fend us off.  As the wind blew us into the dock, she braced for a thump as the piling and bow collided, but it didn't come.  John's timing was just right, as he gave first the stern just a little "kick" as it approached the dock and then the bow.  Wish we could bottle that perfect timing for future use!

Here we are at the dock:

Town is only a couple of blocks away and the ocean is just beyond, so we're off for a walk.  Plan for now is to leave here tomorrow, finish the intracoastal, and leave for New York City on Saturday.  Thanks, Rich, for helping us figure out how to read ocean waves and winds and figure what will work for us!  (Remember, flexibility is key! All plans subject to weather.)