Florida to New Jersey Spring 2012

fwebster said:
THe 450DA holds 400 gallons.......
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400 gallons is a lot more than 334 to be sure. I'm good for about 240NM. Beyond that, I am at the mercy of the sea conditions as to if I will make it or not. I wish I had bigger tanks. I guess I will just have to buy a bigger boat.......:smt119
 
So our next leg took us through the long slow run into Norfolk. With all the bridges and the lock, its about a four hour run that spans about 12 miles. Norfolk is pretty cool though. You get to see lots of Navy and other military ships. This was an aircraft carrier that we passed. Didn't get the name though.

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The plan was to stay in Norfolk as the forcast was for some sloppy seas heading north. We got into Norfolk at about 11am, so even though its a long run out to the ocean, we decided to poke out and see what it looked like. The base of the Chesapeake Bay was a real mess. Very lumpy and unorganized. It stayed that way all the way through the bay bridge tunnel, and for the additional 10 miles until we got ourselves into the lee of the land. And this was what we were hoping for. Since the wind was out of the north west, we figured it would get better as we got closer to the land. And sure enough it did. So now we had our sights set on Ocean City MD.

We were passing OC at about 4:30pm and know we had quite a bit more daylight hours left, so we decided to run up to Cape May. I put a phone call into the Canyon Club Marina. They informed me that that may not be able to take me, but thier sister marina (South Jersey Marina) probably could, and that they would call me back to let me know. After about an hour I got a call on the radio on 16 from Canyon Club. They told me that sure enough they could not accomodate me, but South Jersey could. I had never been there, nor have I even heard of the marina. I also had no idea where it was or how to get to it. As we entered the Cape May Inlet and motored inside, I called the marina on the radio. They give me instructions for the approach and how to get in. I was pleasantly surprised to see this new to me marina. This will be on my list of places to make a weekend destination for this summer. Its a small cozy marina tucked way back by one of the better resturaunts in Cape May, the Lobster House. The marina is surrounded by fishing vessels and some very old school nautical type homes.

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The marina is in walking distance to four resturaunts including the Lobster House, and is right at the cusp of downtown Cape May. I'm really glad that Canyon Club couldn't take me. Canyon Club is a great marina to be sure, but now I have an alternate and very cool little marina to go to for a couple of days this summer.
 
The final day of the journey was an easy one. Cape May to Barnegat Inlet. With a gentle west wind, the seas were like a sheet of glass. I pulled into the dock at my house at 11am. Some boat cleaning, unload all my cloths and some left over food, and I am all ready for a summer of boating in New Jersey!
 
Welcome hope Cap'n Robert!
 
Great pictures, Robert. I'm glad you made it home safe and sound. Hope to see you soon.

Cheers,
Alex.
 
Robert,

Well done!! Thanks for the daily chronicles and pics! It made very interesting reading, especially for guys like me still on the hard!! Glad to have you back!

PS: I just confirmed for MYC!!
 
Great job Robert !....I have sat at the very same fuel dock that you took the last picture from in Cape May. Sure enjoyed meeting and visiting with you in Port Canaveral and hope to see you again soon!

Rusty
 
Great trip, thanks for sharing.
 
Bugsy24 said:
Sounds like a great trip Robert!! How long was the leg from Norfolk to Cape May?
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Well Coinjock to Cape May was 13 hours. We left at 6:30am and got in at 7:30pm. It probably would hve been closer to 11.5 hours if we didn't get behind one of the Carneval Cruise ships that was leaving Norfolk that afternoon, and if we weren't taking our time getting out of the Chesapeak because of really lumpy conditions. Figuring we left Norfolk at around 11:30 or so, that would put us at about 8 hours for Norfolk to Cape May. If we had left Coinjock at first light, and topped off the fuel in Norfolk before going out, I bet we could have run from Coinjock to Barnegat all in one day.
 
party of 5 said:
Robert
thanks for sharing your trip the pics were great. this trip is in my bucket list.
steve
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If you ever do it, please let me know. I have tons of way points, routes, I have al the bail points for decent inlets should the weather get bad while you are on an ocean run, I have all the good marinas noted, etc. I would be happy to share all of that with you. I've done this trip six times now. Three times down, and three times back. I've got a pretty good handle on it.
 
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What an awesome journey that I can only dream of! Thank you so much for haring and posting the pics. What's the total fuel burned on this trip?


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