Cutter Marine to All Seasons Marina, Marmora, NJ.
Left Cutter at 0635 hrs. in cool, wet, overcast, but clear weather. It was quite rough leaving the Middle River, and we had to punch into 1-3’ waves as we headed into the channel. When we turned NE to head up the bay, we were still heading into the waves and we had to hug the east shore to make the going easier. Mary made lunch as we passed through the C&D canal, which we cleared at about 1100 hrs. (about an hour more than on the last trip in 2003) and headed down the Delaware Bay. At first the forecast (2-3’ waves) was accurate and we proceeded quite easily, quartering into the waves. About a third of the way down it started to get really rough, with 4-6’ waves, and a few even bigger ones. We were taking solid water over the port side of the boat, the port windows were leaking, and water was even coming in through the windshield wiper holes! We were about 6 miles offshore in heavy rain with low visibility and we had seen no other craft since we left the canal. Mary got really scared, so we headed north into shore and found the going a lot easier about a quarter of a mile offshore. When we came to the big bay on the Jersey shore at the southern end of the Bay, we decided to keep hugging the shore even though this would add several miles to the trip. Just past the Maurice River, however, we found ourselves in very shallow water and I was concerned we might hit bottom in the trough of a wave. We headed out again, and by the time we were in deeper water it was again very rough. So we decided we had to head straight for the Cape May canal, a very rough crossing which was very tough on Mary. We finally reached the USCG station at the canal after over 5 hours fighting the Delaware Bay, in marked contrast to the two and a half hours on both previous trips! The calm of the ICW was a welcome change. Mary tried to get us dried out a bit as we cruised through the rain and mist. By the time we reached Marmora I was looking for gas and we stopped at the All Seasons Marina. I made a hash of the landing, and bent the anchor roller on my first attempt. Unfortunately the marina was closed, and we chatted on the radio with a Tugboat USA captain who was moored nearby about other marinas in the area. He gave us some phone numbers, but they were all closed, so we decided to stay put at the gas dock of the All Seasons Marina. Mary made a delicious bean soup, and we went to bed exhausted after a harrowing and frightening day.