Atlantic City (and back again) Part 4

Monday rolled around and it was time to motor back down to Cape May. Luckily we didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn this time. We figured it wouldn't be a problem to get to Cape May before check-in time at the next marina, but we also weren't in any rush. We were on the water at 9 am and headed south.

I never thought I would be able to say this but the ocean was "like glass." There were rolling waves but otherwise everything was calm. We were even able to get some decent speed. I had to have a picture of the GPS proving that we were in fact on the Atlantic Ocean. I was so happy when I also realized that this photo showed that we were about 2 miles off shore and able to get a speed of 28.4 mph.

It was a gorgeous day, I was captaining the boat while Doug got a sandwich, and then, wait, was that a fin? ....... DOLPHINS! I was finally able to see some. I yelled for Doug and we both watched so we could pinpoint their location. We slowly pulled closer and I cut the engines.

When we realized we really weren't close enough we turned the keys to start the engines. Nothing happened. The engines would not start. Had I flooded the engines by stopping too quickly? Had our engines had too much of the salt water? What now? We were two miles from shore with a dead boat. Doug, being the calm person that he is, told me not to worry he would figure it out. I was supposed to keep my eye on the dolphins' position so we could catch up once we started up again. Doug got the book and was trying everything he could think of - switching the batteries, checking the engine compartment. All the while, the dolphins were getting further and further away. Honestly, I don't know what made me think of it, but I wondered aloud if we were in neutral. Yes folks, I have left the boat in drive when I cut the engines, so of course they wouldn't start. We got the engines started but the dolphins were long gone.

We continued on our trip hoping to see more dolphins so we could get some pictures. We saw one lone fin and then nothing for a while. Finally, we found another pod. We think there were about 11 dolphins all together. Again, we didn't want to get too close. Dolphins are known to be smart animals but we didn't want to risk hurting one. We were finally able to get a few pictures:

 

We watched the dolphins for about 15 minutes but then decided to leave them be. We continued on down the ocean. After 39.04 miles we pulled into Cape May at 11 am. What a trip!!!