Crossed the Delaware Bay to Cape May…

Crossing the Delaware Bay we were rocked around a bit, but not horribly. We saw what looked like a ‘real’ pirate ship, a number of towboats with huge barges, passed by a New Jersey nuke plant.

'real' pirate ship!

lighthouse outside Cape May

Arrived in Cape May, where we had been able to get only one night in our preferred marina, Utsch’s. They had a big fishing tournament that lasts for the entire week, and after the one night, there was no room. With the weather on the Atlantic looking a bit rocky, we anxiously started calling different marinas and actually found one right next door, South Jersey Marina. The tie ups (pictured below) are because of the tidal shift...

first time we've seen this type of tie up

better view of the tie up

all the fishermen here flew a huge TRUMP sign! Go figure.

Cape May!

We have not found a more charming or beautiful town so far on our cruise. Cape May is a combination of Mackinac Island, Petoskey, and Charlevoix in Michigan! The oldest beach resort in the country, Cape May has the largest collection of wooden Victorian houses in the country. Wow. I couldn’t stop taking pictures! The homes were beautifully maintained, with paint jobs that would give professional painters a headache! Quite a few have been changed to B&B’s, but most are still private residences. Here are just a few of my favorites.

little free library

interior lounge of a B and B

lobby of the same B and B

Their downtown has three blocks of pedestrian malls, with cute shops, nice restaurants, and ice cream stores. They even had a fudge shop, ala Mackinac island! We had at dinner at the Ugly Mug, and had their special of a 1-1/2 pound lobster, salad, potatoes, and cole slaw for $19.99!! We took a bus tour around the island, where we saw their lighthouse and some WWII bunkers, mostly covered by sand now.

It was in Cape May that we met another couple on their boat, Sea Keeper – Allan and Kathy were docked right by the Kittiwake, so we had a chance to get to know them and swap stories. They were also headed to Atlantic City and we both decided to leave on the same day and take the outside route in the ocean. More about that adventure in my next post!