Integrity Cruise

Day 59: Cape May to Tom's River, NJ

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Day 59: Sunday, June 5th: We got up and were underway from Utch's Marina by 7:15am and left in company with Candy Dish, Stephie's Choice and Skinwalker. Skinwalker sort of fell in with us and was a delightful travel companion.

We had all conferred and decided to go on the "outside," in the Atlantic Ocean, to try to make up time. Outside, one doesn't have to worry about "NO WAKE" zones, bridge opening times, shallow water or winding waterways.

Not the best picture, but this is Candy Dish and Stephie's Choice behind us, leaving the marina:

Once outside and on course, we enjoyed almost flat seas and none of the above worries. It was one of Mother Nature's best days. As they say, "No worries, Mate"!

Candy Dish off our starboard quarter, lookin' great!

It was about this time that Integrity's main engine began to run really rough and speed up and slow down unpredictably. A quick radio query to our traveling companions solicited the idea that the fuel filter had clogged due to the rolling seas. Sure enough, a quick engine room inspection showed that to be the case.

Thank goodness we had installed dual Racor filters back in Savannah. The dual filter is fitted with a valve that you can turn ½ turn and change from the clogged filter to the fresh filter. Bill spent the five seconds it took to flip the valve and the engine smoothed right out. WHEW! Problem solved! We didn't worry about it until Day 63…

Back to current stuff…

Sadly, the camera can't capture the perfect cobalt blue of the Atlantic Ocean. It was beautiful:

Along the way, we passed the famous city of Atlantic City, NJ with its casinos, boardwalk, and everything. This is as close as we want to get to this place (about 1.5 miles):

We turned into Barnegat Inlet, one of the few passes that are deep enough to navigate on the Jersey coast. This abandoned lighthouse marks it. Anybody want to adopt a lighthouse?

We dodged what seemed like a million Sunday boaters (shades of Lake Lanier) as we transited the pass and headed up Barnegat Bay. We turned into Tom's River for about 1.8 miles and dropped anchor(s) about 6:15 pm. It was a very long day, but we did cover about 95 statute miles - our longest day so far.

We had a beer (or two), showered, ate and hit the sack. Early up tomorrow..

Position tonight: N39 56.055 W074 08.931

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