And this is why we cruise …

May 8: In addition to the gorgeous scenery, serene anchorages, visiting new ports of call and challenging our navigation and boat handling skills, another enriching experience of cruising is meeting interesting people.

Last evening, we were treated to a home cooked dinner on Alain and Judi’s boat, RAMHA.  They are the couple from Kingston, Canada who helped us into the dock in Chesapeake City, MD and have been across the dock from us in Cape May for the last six days. Interesting people with great stories; Judi is an artist, and ironically, while in his 20’s, Alain spent two years living and working in Greece as a laborer in a small village on the island of Santorini.   

Judi and Alain will be traveling home the same route as we; however, we will take a more leisurely trip while they are anxious to get home to Alain’s 92-year-old mother who was a member of the French Resistance before emigrating to Canada after WWII.  It would be fun to lock through the Erie Canal with them but it is likely we will not see them again until we arrive in Kingston.  Then they will be at home and we will be the foreigners. 

Alain and Judi, homeward bound on RAMHA to Kingston, ON

Tomorrow we follow leaving Cape May and depending on ocean conditions, hope to arrive at our next port of call, Jersey City, 120 NM away.

 This evening's view from SANTORINI, looking up the fairway, to the harbor and the ocean beyond.  Hoping the ocean is flat calm like this tomorrow!

Cape May, NJ

May 3:  The forecast for several days of wind and waves spurred us to depart Chesapeake City at 6:20 AM for a 62 mile run to Cape May, NJ before the wind could pile up the waves and to take advantage of wind and tide travelling in the same direction at our stern.  Consequently, we picked up an additional two knots of speed and had a quite pleasant journey until the wind began to howl in the last hour of a five-hour run AND we had to cross in a beam sea into the Cape May Canal.  Kapt. Karl remarked, “it isn’t even 11:00 AM and I feel beat up already”.  As luck would have it, we came pushing over the breakwater just in time for the Cape May-Lewes Ferry leaving the dock and taking up most of the channel.  The Ferry Captain radioed that we should snug up close to him so as not to go aground on the shoal.  All ended well with another afternoon at leisure in South Jersey Marina, a well-appointed facility with great staff.  We were told that captains who left Cape May this morning hoping to run the entire NJ Coast only made it as far as Atlantic City 45 miles away.  If you have to be “stuck” somewhere, Cape May trumps Atlantic City any day, unless you are Donna’s Uncle Nick.

May 4:  In 1620 Dutch Captain Cornelius Jacobsen Mey came upon the peninsula while exploring the Delaware River. Captain Mey named the area Cape Mey after himself; the spelling became Cape MAY City in 1869.

Native American tribes summered here, but a permanent community didn't form in the area until 1685. In 1688, Quakers formed the first government and others came to join the new whaling industry. Notorious pirate Captain William Kidd is known to have stopped in Cape May, during his pirating/privateering days.

In 1761 Cape May officially became the first seashore resort in America and was considered among the top vacation resorts in the country.

Amazingly, Cape May has never experienced major hurricane damage; however in 1878, fire wiped out thirty blocks of the town.  No time was wasted in rebuilding in the modern style of the day...later known as Victorian.

The home of Emlen Physick Jr., completed in 1879, open today as a museum.  A bachelor, Emlen was descended from a famous and wealthy Philadelphia family. Fun fact: His grandfather, Dr. Philip Syng Physick, was considered the father of American surgery and invented numerous surgical procedures and medical instruments still in use today. 

Presidents Lincoln, Grant, Buchanan, Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison all vacationed in Cape May as well as many of you; and now the crew of Santorini is enjoying a layover while waiting for calm seas to continue the journey north.