We enjoyed our stay in Cape May.It is a charming Victorian town with so many well-preserved late 19th century structures, the entire community was designated a national historical landmark in 1976.We happened to arrive on the 5th of June and the town celebrated D-Day with many tributes to the veterans of WWII and special tours which highlighted the role played by Cape May and its residents.We took a WWII trolley tour of the town, climbed the199 steps of the Cape May Lighthouse erected in 1859 and the 102 steps of Fire Lookout Tower 23 which is the only remaining tower in the series of 11 built to look out over the Atlantic Ocean during the war to spot enemy ships approaching the entrance to Delaware Bay.Once a ship was spotted, its location was radioed to Fort Miles, Delaware.With two stations reporting, the guns were able to triangulate to target the enemy ship.We rode our bikes all over town; Cape May was an unexpected pleasure.We had a weather window the first two days in Cape May but, as we wanted to explore a bit, we delayed our departure, then the weather turned and we were delayed several more days.We attempted to depart on Wednesday but turned back and spent one more night at Canyon Club Marina, an excellent place to stay while in Cape May.Thursday morning we departed at 6AM under foggy skies.The visibility never got less than a quarter of a mile but the seas were a little choppier than predicted.At one point, a wave crested ahead of us and a dolphin popped out of the water.What an incredible sight!We stopped in Atlantic City at the Trump Marina which is a hotel and a marina complex.We stayed an extra day there as the weather was once again not conducive to an open ocean transit.We spent our free day touring the casinos, the Trump Marina and Harrah’s are away from the main casinos and the famed Atlantic City Boardwalk with shuttle busses that run in between.All of the casinos looked tired and in need of renovation.The boardwalk was quite different than we had imagined and had souvenir shops and carnival rides on the piers that jutted out into the sea.We saw the steel pier where W.C. Fields got his start, billed as America’s Comic Juggler in 1899.It is said that he would fake drowning on the Atlantic CityBeach and be “rescued” by the lifeguards, when the concerned crowd would follow him to the beer garden, he would allow them to help him be “resuscitated”.Salt Water Taffy was invented here as well.
We departed Atlantic City this morning and arrived at GreatKillsHarbor by 1:00.The seas were relatively calm and the skies were clear so we used our speed in order to ensure we completed this 90 mile transit before the winds began to pick up in the afternoon.Great Kills (a Dutch word for river) is a snug harbor in Staten Island. We will move to Liberty Landing Marina tomorrow and begin our tour of the Big Apple.
