May Day

Even though we’re a bit behind schedule in our goal to get to the northern waters, we decide to take some time off from traveling and spend  a couple of days here in Cape May. The long, grueling voyage yesterday has tired both of us out, and the various maladies that the boat has come down with, along with their resulting stress, has taken its toll. We have left our USB cord for the camera at home, making it impossible to get the pictures we’ve taken onto the computer. Very attentive readers will remember, we did exactly the same thing last year and had to go back to Baltimore to get it. By the time we discovered our mistake this year it was to late, so now we need to go into town here and buy a new one. Besides that, Rick has ordered a piece of equipment from a marine store and is having it delivered here on Friday afternoon, so we may as well relax until then.

Near the end of the trip yesterday the water again ran hot, sputtered and then stopped. We had been running the engine quite a bit, so we assumed that we had somehow overheated the water heater again. When we pulled in to the Utsch’s  Marina last night for fuel and ice, Rick thought he would top off the water tanks as well. It took FOREVER to fill those tanks – both of them were completely empty! How embarrassing; we had run through ninety gallons in two days without even realizing it. No wonder the water ran hot – the cold water had all been spent, and when the hot water ran out too, the faucets sputtered and then ran dry. Rick had unknowingly switched the tanks yesterday and that’s why we suddenly had water again.

The Alberg had two water tanks, totaling twenty-five gallons, and were accessed through foot pumps. We were always very careful not to waste water, even using outside salt water for anything we could get away with. I think we were so thrilled to have hot and cold running water on this boat that we completely lost our heads and luxuriated in showers and dish water. It’s funny, but it really didn’t seem like we were using much water at all. This little episode has me thinking about water conservation in general. Rick tells me that our family uses about one hundred and twenty gallons a day at home. Now granted, that is for three of us and includes laundry, flush toilets and watering the lawn. But still…

We spend a leisurely morning on the boat and then head in to the marina to rent bikes and find a Radio Shack. We have a harrowing ride through traffic to a not so scenic part of Cape May with road construction and strip malls. The temperatures today are in the one hundred plus range and I feel a bit nauseous when we arrive at the store, but thankfully they have the camera cord we’re looking for so it feels worth it.  It’s really too hot to do much of anything today, so we head back to the boat for a swim and a nap.

Late in the day we watch as a sailing school race is going on. Rick tells me a story about his early sailing career in turnabouts, similar to these. He and his friend Peter Wright were representing the Yale sailing team at a race in New London, CT., on a bitter cold and very windy November day.  Rick had had very little sailing experience at this point, so how he weaseled his way onto the team I have no idea. He and Peter managed to capsize right before the starting gun went off, and they had to be rescued! Needless to say, they didn’t win. I really hope he has learned a bit more about sailing since then.

Friday arrives and with it a cooler temperature. We decide to spend the day at the beach, but first have lunch at The Lucky Bones, just across the street from the marina. The Tour de France is being broadcast on the TV in the bar where we are seated, and it inspires me for our bike ride to the beach. Somehow, I imagine that I look like one of those competitors on my bike, all sleek and sporty. Forget the fact that we’re riding clunky old velocipedes with pedal brakes, and that I’m wearing swimming clothes and flip-flops, carrying a backpack. Lance Armstrong, eat your heart out!

The beach is fantastic. We rent a couple of chairs and an umbrella and settle in for the afternoon. During one of our swims we spy a family of dolphins just off one of the breakwaters, but we seem to be the only ones who notice. I wonder if dolphins are so commonplace around here that they have become sort of like pigeons are viewed in the city. Or maybe people are generally too interested in their own little sphere to look up and notice what’s around them. I know that I certainly have that tendency…

When the day winds down the chair and umbrella people take back their equipment, so we bike back into town for dinner at an Asian restaurant Rick found the last time he was here. They don’t have a liquor license but you can bring your own, and we buy a chilled bottle of champagne from next door to enjoy with our sushi. Peking Duck is also on the menu, and I’ve never had it before so Rick insists on ordering it, along with an assortment of steamed dumplings. It’s kind of a mixture of food nationalities, but we don’t care. Delicious!

After a rather tipsy bike ride back to the marina in the dark, we take the dinghy out to the boat and head for bed. I think we’re both really glad for the extra time here to relax and recuperate. Batteries recharged, we will head out on the ocean tomorrow for Barnegat Light.