Day 7 Atlantic City to Cape May NJ

We woke on the gas docks and all was quiet.  I guess Atlantic City does sleep, they sleep in!  John had a lot on his to do list as our battery power had issues.  He ubered to the store and found the parts while Michael and I worked dockside and Carrie managed the boat.  

Our plan was to stay in Atlantic city another day to give John time to work, but by 12:30 he was done and Carrie wanted to take off again for Cape May where we planned to stay a few days and relax on an actual dock with facilities and free transport.

The ride was gorgeous.  I read half of a book lounging on a beanbag, Carrie and Michael took turns at sailing with John as the instructor.  We reached Cape May in daylight and literally rode the waves in.  Cape May has a beautiful inlet and we anchored for the night as our reservation for the marina was the next day.

We had a lovely dinner with rice, vegetables, Tikka Masala and Dahl. Then we sat outside enjoying cocktails on our gorgeous table and discussed lessons we learned in our first week of sailing:

• Never spit in the wind.  LOL, no one did that but that would have been both gross and funny.
• Check to make sure you turned on the power before you freak out because your electronics aren’t working.
• Don’t assume you are being heard by the captain when you are on the front of the boat.  Get ‘marriage savers’ regardless of the size of your vessel.  These are headphone/microphone sets.  Get your mind out of the gutter.  Or is that just my mind?
• Wear rubberized yoga socks.  These are perfect for crawling around the boat bow safely and also will stop you from getting dirty foot prints in boat when you return to the living space.  Also a marriage saver…
• Wipe down the boat living space constantly.  I don’t know where the dirt comes from on the ocean, but it is everywhere.  Also, it is nice to have someone who might be a tad bit anal about organization (Michael) because it keeps things in order.

After our week on the boat we are finding our niches.  John is the captain and the fixer.  They say “everything on your boat is broken, you just don’t know it yet” and that is not the joke.  When I first heard that I thought it was and I laughed.  That is not longer the case.

I help with the cleaning and cooking and the anchors and docking but my main jobs are working for Charter Oak State College and writing for you.  Also, starting the water for coffee which is very, very important.

Carrie is learning all she can about managing Irish Eyes.  She is the first first mate and she is good.  She is intuitively getting in tune with sailing and pays close attention to John’s instructions.  She is also the main cook.  We are all what we refer to as flexible vegans although the cooler kids call themselves ‘plant strong’. Carrie makes amazing meals out of canned goods, limited veggies, tofu, jackfruit, and dried carbs like rice or quinoa.  We have had Mexican burrito bowls, vegan “meatball” grinders, multiple Indian dishes, jackfruit chicken salad, and sweet potato fries!  Lots of delicious meals that she has modified to make easier on the boat.

Michael, as mentioned earlier, is slightly anal about organization and that is priceless!  Living in 200 square feet that is constantly moving with 4 people aboard requires a tremendous amount of organization. Every day Michael goes through the boat and puts things in their place.  On top of that he is in charge of navigation, meteorology, and finding us spots to stay for the night which can be a mooring ball, anchoring out, or a dock.  This is a huge task as most places have no website and our books are a bit out of date.  All this and Michael is working full time taking meetings and managing his other team!

This is the end of the first week on what we believe will be a five week voyage.  We are loving it! We are learning lessons every day, finding our way, and no one has been pushed overboard.  Yet.

Goodbye, Atlantic City, thank you for the kind hospitality!

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