The Bow Sprit
The ubiquitous (fid) egret
If the bird a yard away is standing in the water, it might be shallow.
How some people live.
How real people live.
Patterns.
The Good Guys.
One of our neighbors coming home from work.
Our slip in the South Jersey Marina.
CAPE MAY
Cape May, what can I say? Oh boy, am I getting bad. So we resolved the Bucky situation - he apparently fell off on his way up to the bow - roping him to the ladder didn't work, locking him in the cabin didn't work (after he ate half the stateroom rug, he broke through the cabin screen.) So now he wears his life jacket and is on his own - he bowsprits most of the time and really can do a number on the catwalk as long as he doesn't get hit by a wave. More thoros, more meandering, more shallows - this time we got her stuck good. In the middle of nowhere, with no one around, the radar gauge reads 14 ft and boom. We're stuck -really. 300 yards away two fisherman in a smaller boat eyed us. "Could you pull us out?" "OK - don't want to get too close, though." They tossed a line and after some discussion on fore or aft, we were pulled free. "Stay left of them green ones - the squares," we were advised. Whatever - these shoals change at will. Bless you, dear fishermen, for the pull-out - you guys were saints!
We headed for Avalon Point, a supposedly inexpensive marina. They had no fuel, no place for dogs, no real burning desire for our business. After saying thanks anyway, we headed our for Cape May. We still had time, (no water, but at least the dogs went potty after a 20 hour wait!
More twists and turns, accompanied by twenty trillion egrets, herons, seagulls, terns, plovers, and whatevers. Finally head into the Cape May basin. Beautiful Coast Guard Station with mega boats - saw a huge ocean-going yacht moored at another marina, then fell into the homeward pattern of the fishing fleet as we neared out marina. Dropped megadollars on fuel and lodging, but we had planned for it, as we needed repair time. This place is cool - more tomorrow!