5/12/18 . Atlantic City - Aquarium Marina at Gardener's Basin
Ugh. This day was just NOT fun as a boating day.
We'd decided to not leave Utsch's but to ride out the predicted winds in expensive comfort for 3 nights. Then last night all predictions indicated a reasonable weather window today - winds SSE up to 10kts with gusts to 20, waves 3'/5 sec, swell 2'/6 sec. a little rocking and rolling but manageable - which would allow us to get to Atlantic City and maybe Barnagat well on our way up the NJ coast.
NOT! We never saw waves under 4'. Never saw wind under 16.5 knts and never from SSE. Who could see swells with all the disruption going on? It was a beautiful sunny day. We were sloshed around, somewhat as if being in a washing machine (okay, maybe the gentle cycle but washing machine nevertheless) for 6 long hours. Physically exhausting...keeping balance, holding on, moving around, trying to stand still. Exhausting.
Good old Grace kept plowing through. Neither David nor I were worried about the boat's performance. Amelia probably was. She buried herself under the covers, came out once and complained LOUDLY, after a bit of my comforting her back under the covers she went for the balance of the trip.We were all just very uncomfortable with the motion, with things sliding around, stuff falling off of wherever it was...dishes, extra food and supplies, cushions, paper towels. We managed to keep the phones and the ipad from flying. We'd hear something crash and shrug, "Oh well." Not about to deal with it now. In port would be soon enough to notice any damage.
And we all, the boat and our stuff survived with only a few scratches and bumps. I'm pretty sure I've some bruises from would fall into the aft berth that I took when petting Amelia and both the humans will be sore tomorrow or Monday just from the muscles we used so vigorously.
We've had an early dinner, hydrated Amelia, and will probably go to bed with the sun tonight. We're likely her until Monday and will check all our weather gods and sites and hope for more accurate readings next week.
Hydrating Amelia - I noticed yesterday that she was acting dehydrated. This morning before leaving she threw up overnight's feedings. So, it was 4 days since the vet hydrated her. David did the needle puncture. I turned on the spigot and held kitty. She's pretty docile about the process. This morning, knowing it would likely be a lumpy day - just not knowing THIS lumpy - I gave her the motion sickness medication the vets recommended. She foamed at the mouth but swallowed.
Meanwhile....Yesterday day was sublime as a boating day.
It was sunny. Calm. Really calm. We put both the main sail and the mizzen up, expecting wind to help us down the Delaware River/Bay. The wind was mostly exactly behind us AND the current was pushing us/helping us faster than the wind, anyway. We were in our Friday night port about one hour before David's estimate. Excellent. We fueled up, got ourselves to our slip, took naps, made dinner, took showers, studied the weather and went to bed.
There are photos but they're not uploading so....later.
Glad to be in port. Glad to be resting for a day or so. Anxious to continue north and get home for the beautiful part of summer.
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