If my Loop trip were taken in anticipation of this day, I
would not have begun the trip. Oh joy, oh joy! We have been holed up in
Atlantic City, NJ for three nights and two days...a place you don't wanna be
'holed up' at all! Oh my, oh my. Atlantic City is a poor excuse for a modern
American city and with a very high unemployment rate. From what I've
understood, the government has dumped oodles and gobs of money into the city
for its redevelopment...and it hasn't worked. Just beyond the borders of our
Kammerman's Marina are broken sidewalks, subsidized housing in abundance,
trafficless 2- and 4-lane city streets, paid crossing guards for any and all
pedestrians of which there are precious few, a lightly populated nice city park
or two, entire city blocks bordered with chain-link fencing littered with an
untended attempt at landscaping and vegitation, frequent indentations of park
benches inhabitated by pigeons and their droppings.
Traveling companions Paula and Todd (Ocean Breeze) are
platinum Loopers and stuck just as we were at Kammerman's Marina, ok as marinas
go, but oh so not in a good neighborhood dominated by the above-mentioned
uglies: government-subsidized housing (some are kinda nice, yet kinda creepy),
broken sidewalks (making walking/jogging extremely treacherous), unkept
littered landscape to highlight the immediate area. We've been weathered in
since arrival Tuesday evening (winds, rain, lightning, and the like), but Todd
and Paula along with Clay and I made the executive decision that FRIDAY is the
day (to travel). The stretch of waterway from Cape May to Atlantic City
(Tuesday's travel) is open water Atlantic Ocean as is the trip from Atlantic
City to Staten Island. The AICW is undredged along these two stretches, forcing
boats of our draft 'outside.' So weather is a definite factor. And, this
stretch which we are currently traveling is 99 miles at 8.6+/- mph. That's a
LONG day.
So, knowing Friday is our travel day, we all opted for a
good night's sleep. Of course, our weather radio alert awakened us at midnight,
screaming warnings of a storm off the shores of Cape May with 40 knot winds and
'boaters seek shelter.' It screamed again at roughly 2 a.m., again alerting
listeners to severe weather. Good night's sleep? I was awake from that point
on, I do believe, listening to Clay softly saw logs.
Finally, knowing at 'zero dark thirty' we'd be leaving (in
our case 5:30 a.m.), I got up at 4:30 a.m. and did some of my stretches (2/3 of
the routine). Opting then to brew a pot of coffee, I left the yoga mat in place
and vowed to finish the routine once underway. Right.
By then Clay was up, trying to come awake and come alive. We
hailed neighbors Todd and Paula and set about the task of departing (singling
up lines, disconnecting power cables and water lines, stowing fenders, etc).
And, 5:49 a.m, we're off. My texts to sister Sus shortly after departure:
1. We left port at 5:49 a.m. Wildly tossing n the ocean.
Can't see how ANYONE enjoys this.11 hr day today. Should be in Staten Island by 5pm.
2. 2-3' waves 10 sec duration per Ocean Breeze captain Todd
who's n the lead. Tolerable he says. Yeah but...
3. I can't remember when I last had this much fun. Not!
4. Funsville. Mom would be barfing. And green.
I cuddled under an oversized microfiber bath towel, chilled
in the morning ocean air. Clay opened up the fly bridge, then even turned on
the oscillating fan. I then announced that I was going below. Cold. I figured
food wasn't gonna happen today. Trying to fix anything other than finger food
is out of the question; and retrievability is in question. Opening the frig is
out. Opening the floor and cabinets is doubtful. So, countertop food is the
menu for the day.
Staring at my purple yoga mat, I decided mind over matter, I
was gonna make the day as normal as possible. Now, I'm already trying to move
about the cabin like a drunk on an all-night binge. I oft have the feeling that
I'm in Dorothy's house during take-off, and today is no different; wave action is
causing the room to spin (or sway, take your pick). So, I set my mind to the
word 'normal' and stretched out on my mat to finish my stretches. That was
funny. Leg lifts went up, but followed an S-curve down with the sway of the
boat. Funny feeling. Try it.
Exercises done, I rolled up the mat with some difficulty
(remember, it is hard just to stand up!) and stowed it. Now to the task of
breakfast. My two not-quite-ripe cantaloupe are riding in the dish strainer;
pot of coffee is sitting in the sink as is my coffee cup. So, breakfast fruit
options are pears (ok, on counter), orange (oops, in hydrator), and
strawberries (on shelf of frig). I decided to attempt 'normal' and was able to
retrieve all three with relative ease. Surprise! I appeared up top where Clay
is cocooned in his captain's chair and asked if he wanted fruit. Of course.
Beyond that, his reply, "In a bowl, please." Duh, I'm not stupid. You
think a PLATE of fruit would survive the trip up the fly bridge steps intact?
I did it. Fruit for the captain. Fruit, coffee and a half
bagel for me, all of which I ate in the galley at the prep counter with feet
spread in broad base of support (you p.e. teachers understand that!) I'm still
wondering how the coffee cup survived the merry-go-round rotating trip in the
microwave to heat up!
For entertainment, I'm now typing YOU! With some difficulty,
mind you, because the tablet/keyboard configuration (which I want upright so as
to type) insists on sucumbing to gravity and the boat's motion and periodically
flattens out. My friend Linda (Tumbleweed) suggested I might see a whale, but
so far all I've seen are schools of dolphins. Cool, but still not a whale.
I'm thankful for Ocean Breeze in the lead with her platinum
Loopers aboard (platinum means they're doing the Loop for the third time--Clay,
don't even go there!). And, I'm thankful that the weather is broken clouds and
sunshine (after periodic showers during the night). And, I'm thankful we have a
home for the night (Great Kills Yacht Club on Staten Island), dock master John
having saved our reservation from previous nights due to our weather delay.
Apparently, dock masters understand weather delay (and mechanical issues, too).
I've now decided that typing doesn't agree much with me. Or
maybe it was the fruit/bagel/coffee. Siging off now...quickly.
Sal
Well, it's now MUCH later. As in 3:10 p.m. I'm kinda
reminded of the Allan Sherman song popular when we were kids called Camp
Grenada, which started "Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder, Here I am at Camp
Grenada." And ended, "Wait a minute. It's stopped hailing. Guys are
swimming. Guys are sailing. Playin' baseball. Gee that's better. Mudder,
Fadder, kindly disregard this letter." (They say as we get older, short
term memory fades, but long term memory is pretty darn good. Proof positive!
Sus, are you impressed? How many times did we rev up the turntable and play
that song? And sing-along!)
We're now 9+ hours into this day's journey (with only 2
hours to go); the showers, brief tho they were, have come and gone (I didn't
touch any metal); the 2-3' crests have calmed (maybe it's because we're in a
more-protected area and/or the day's forecast was for things to calm as we
progressed northward); my queasiness has tempered; and altho' a long day, we're
nearing SHORE!
The skyline of NYC is in the distance and our overnight stop
on Staten Island is much closer than it was this morning.
Life is good. Wish I'd come up with that slogan first!
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