Met after work Friday and headed out for a planned overnight in Cape May, NJ. The scheduling was tight - we had after-hours arrival instructions just in case.
Falling behind schedule, we stopped to eat and pick up some groceries in Philly. Rushing to Cape May to park in the dark and sleep lost a democratic election to going to Harrah's in Philly and boondocking in the parking lot. We played until about 11PM and made our way back to the camper which was completely surrounded in a packed parking lot. We climbed in back and went to bed.
When we woke up Saturday morning, we were the only vehicle in the lot. It was a little weird to think that people were walking thru the lot and moving cars all night right outside.
On to Cape May. After a brief detour for breakfast at a McDonalds AND a neighboring Duncan Donuts, an easy jaunt southeast brought us to Cape May. We were about an hour and a half early for boarding the "Cape May Whale Watcher" but went to the parking lot. Being early made getting in easy. We bought tickets then hung out in the camper for a while.
Eventually it was time to board. The CMWW is (guessing) about 100' long, with a large central enclosed galley, an aft seating area and open top deck seating area. Lately on boats like this I find myself wondering what they would cost and how I would fit them out as a full-timer.
Turning slowly thru a long harbor, we finally pass the breakwater and head out into the Atlantic. The wind was fair, and there was some surf to plow through. We noticed a fellow passenger having a really bad time with the motion.
We churned around in circles in sight of the beach for about a half an hour. We were chasing a small pod of dolphins. The narrator was passionate and knowledgable, and a tiny bit self-righteous.
We turned and head south to hook around the cape in search of whales. The docent wasn't making any promises... it started to seem to me as tho their business model is "show them the dolphins we feed, then give them a boat ride..." which is fine. It was a beautiful day to be on the water.
There were more dolphins near the wreck of the Atlantus, but no whales. Rounding the cape takes you past the Cape May Lighthouse.
We made our way back to the marina via the west entrance and canal, thereby circumnavigating Cape May. A nice boat ride, but not so much for whales.
We trucked up and headed to Wildwood to check out the boardwalk. We got stiffed paying for two parking spaces in a lot a block off the boardwalk. As annoying as that is, I can't imagine this would have even been possible with a mobile home or travel trailer.
Old jaded me remembers the excitement young naive me had at something like a boardwalk, but can't relive it. We walked past the scrolling background of T-shirts exclaiming all manners of "swag", fudge shops, ice cream counters, and novelties. There was a monster truck show happening on the beach. We watched from a distance until sated of monster trucks.
Further up the boardwalk, we got over to the water and walked a stretch of beach. We met some people with their dogs and took in the afternoon.
We got a kick out of what we called the "run away!" birds. I think they're Red Knots, or something related. Very funny to watch them do their thing.
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