Atlantic City

Hi kids!

Well, we made it from the top of New Jersey to Atlantic City. We had
to wait at the top of New Jersey to get a new computer chip for our
chartplotter. Then we had to wait some more because a gale was
blowing. (The astute meterologists among you will recall that a gale
is defined as winds from 39 to 54 mph. ) after that I was READY TO
GO! I had spent too much time just sitting around.

So we got up at four am and started sailing to the south. We had to go
a long, long way to the next harbor. By the time we got there it was
dark, another storm had kicked up and the boat was thrashing through
the biggest seas I had ever seen. We made huge splashes and crashes as
we limped forward at half our usual speed. The winds and seas were
holding us back.

At last we saw the harbor! It was dark, our charts were wrong and the
buoys inside were all different from what our charts said. But we made
it. At 11:00 at night! We got stuck on a sand bar before we managed
to anchor successfully but Jen got us off by putting up the jib sail
to make the boat lean over so it didn't stck so far down in the water.

In the morning we could see better so we left that harbor at maximum
flood tide by looking for big ripples in the sea. Big ripples mean
fast water which means deep channel, see. Deep enough so we wouldn't
hit any more stupid sand bars and get stuck again!

Then we sailed further south to this town, Atlantic City. The coast of
New Jersey is an almost unbroken stretch of sand beaches lying low in
thecwater. You go for mile after mile and that's all you see. Then you
see Atlantic City with all its bright lights and huge buildings rise
up out of the sea.

Tomorrow we will go further south again. But right now we are tired.
Angel Jen was too tired to even eat her supper last night. I've never
been THAT tired!