Last summer we tried our first cruise - Shark River, NJ to Fire Island NY,
about 50+ miles in the ocean and then navigating the shallow Great South Bay
of Long Island to Sailor's Haven Marina. This year, I set my sights a bit
farther.

Cape May NJ is a victorian seaside town. Very quaint.

We planned a 100 mile run from Shark River Inlet (at Belmar, New Jersey) to
Cape May, NJ - the most southern tip of the state. Four of us left last
Tuesday with the expecation that we would return on Thursday. My most major
concern was having enough fuel to make the trip. I carry 130 gallons of gas
for twin 4.3 Merc cruisers. I had set the route on the electronics to go
from inlet bouy to inlet bouy, giving us the option to stop in Atlantic City
to re-fuel if necessary. I also kept paper charts at the helm at all times.
AC is approximately 60 miles from our homeport.

Other than setting the route to a few wrong bouys (had to go out further
than necessary), the trip south was uneventful - except for spotting a pod
of dolphins near Avalon. We generally stayed 2-5 miles off the coast, so we
always knew where we were.

We left our dock around 8:30am and arrived at Cape May Inlet around 2:30pm.
Easily navigated their simple harbor, gased up and docked at the Canyon Club
Marina and Resort. The Marina is a bit upscale, as was obvious from the rows
upon rows of Vikings and Ocean sportfishers. I was the small guy at the this
port. We were assigned a slip ($2.45 per foot per night), had a quick bite
to eat and took a nice refreshing dip in their pool. That evening we took
the local shuttle into Cape May to shop and have some dinner.

Awoke the first morning to find a newspaper and a bag of fresh fruit was
left on our swim platform - just like a fine hotel. After a relaxing
morning,we decided to try to find the pods of dolphins that I was told
about. It seems dolphins are regular summer vistors to the area. We saw some
commercial Whale/Dolphin tour boats heading in as we headed out the inlet.

I turned south out of the inlet and proceeded towards the southern tip of
the state. Shortly afterward I noticed fins breaking the water. Thar she
blows!! I exclaimed. Before we new it, we were surrounded by at least 50
dolphin, splashing and jumping in about 15 feet of water, about 300 yards
off the beach. It was a sight to behold and one I'll never forget. My son
took videos and still shots.

We then proceeded north around the point and found the sunken concrete ship
that's been there since the 1920s. We then headed a bit further north to
watch the ferry from Delaware arrive and depart. I hadn't realized that
there was a 3.5 mile canal that could take us back to the harbor. It was the
first time I've been able to open the throttles and really see how the boat
performs. In the 3 years I've been boating, I've never been in such flat
water. We topped out at 4200 rpms - 36mph.

That night we took advantage of the Canyon Club's offer to get us a
"special" reservation at the Lobster House Restaurant. It seems they don't
take reservations and the regular wait was an hour and 45 minutes. We
by-passed the first hostess, went to the second, told her the Canyon Club
set up a reservation for us and we were seated in less than 10 minutes.
Nice. Great meal. As we began to walk back to the Marina, it started to
lightening, thunder and rain. We asked the bartender to call us a taxi.

Fortunately, I traveled with our camper top, as it was quite stormy that
evening. We kept dry just hanging out. We had an issue though, as it related
to my brother-in-law. He needed to be back in NYC for an important meeting
on Friday morning. The storms were not expected to subside until mid-day
Thursday and then there were small craft advisories for Friday.

Thursday morning we arranged for a taxi to take the BIL to Atlantic City,
where he was able to catch an express bus to NYC. My wife, 16 y/o son and I
now had an extra 2 days in which to enjoy Cape May. We ended up having a
nice late lunch and did some shopping in town. There's a shuttle service
that's $2 per person. The shuttle stops at the marina by special request. We
got to know the two different shuttle drivers after a short time.

We had forgotten to bring games aboard, as we only planned to be away 2
nights. Since the trip was now going to be extended, we made sure we picked
up a deck of cards while in town. That night I taught my son to play gin
rummy.

Friday morning started out nice - read the paper, relaxed until around 11am,
when my son finally awoke. I wanted to see if we could find the dolphins
again - so we took a nice boat ride. Found them and had a blast watching
them play in the surf. Got back to the dock early afternoon and decided to
head to town to catch a movie. There was a Tuna Tournament scheduled for the
weekend and they closed the pool except for tournament members. We had an
early dinner at a nice place on the beach and went to see T-3 at the local
movie theater.

Back to the boat via the shuttle - ordered pizza delivery to the dock, had a
cigar and some cocktails and readied the boat for Saturday morning's
departure.

Left the inlet Saturday at 8:50am. Seas were as calm as could be - until we
got just north of Atlantic City - only 40 miles into a 100 mile trip. I've
heard the term "snotty" used to refer to sloppy seas - well we had strong
winds from the west creating a chop and the swells were 3 - 6 feet. It was
snotty. I had to constantly monitor the throttles as we kept coming off
plane as we were headed uphill and then back them off as we headed into the
troughs.

My wife never complained and we eventually made it back to our home port -
exhausted, but glad to be home.

We used 84 gallons of fuel on the way down and 86 gallons on the way back.
Touring the area used 34 gallons.

That evening, back on land, I found myself having difficulty standing up in
the shower - it was quite a rockin' experience.

The vision of those dolphins frolicking around us has lead me to want to go
back again next year - this time with our other 2 children. I'd like them to
experience the excitment of seeing such a beatiful mamal.

Lessons learned - the key was having the time to be flexible. Boating is not
like hopping in the car and taking off. The stormy weather on Thursday and
Friday's small craft advisories forced us to double the time we planned on
being away. Thank goodness for credit cards and ATMs. Also, even though the
local seas were calm for 40 miles, the early afternoon brought us seas I
would have preferred not to be in. We slowed down and just took it easy. I
also made sure to do radio checks every 20 miles or so, just to be sure that
someone would hear us in the event of an emergency.

Thank's for listening...
Sandy K.
1997 Sea Ray 290 Sundancer - Grateful Days