At long last...

We are heading out into the ocean! No more ICW!  I am picturing crystal clear blue water, salty sea air, tremendous swell that will make Betsy bob, families of dolphins with baby dolphins that eat out my hand, great white sharks leaping over the bow, packs of killer whales devouring helpless seals, and seaweed. For crying out loud, I have been boating for over two weeks and have yet to see some seaweed. Even the oceanic plant life despises the south! Maybe I am asking too much for the Jersey shore, but at least we are getting closer to clean, blue water- the ocean as I know and remember it from childhood. I wouldn't complain if I saw a whale or three, but fortunately that will be easy all summer long back home.

Tomorrow we leave Cape May to head to Sandy Hook, ~120 miles away and straight up the coast. Captain Ralph was unimpressed with the dock-to-dock autoroute provided by SimRad as he remembers that there were shoals near the shore 10 years ago, and he would prefer to follow the "3 mile line" further offshore. I am inclined to utilize the track with the most current sonar info, which is much closer in for the most part. And therein lies the difference between Captain and crew- he makes the decisions and is accountable for the outcome, whereas I do as I am told and haven't a care in the world about driving into a reef and tearing a hole in our Airex core hull. My inflatable life preserver is kept within arm's reach ;).

Winds are 12-16 knots and will be hitting our stern all morning. 2-3 foot seas should be nothing for Betsy, and it should all die down in the afternoon. If all else fails, we will stop in Atlantic City to make our money back!

I made a time-lapse of us entering the C&D canal. Video editing is a tremendous PITA. I own a decent MacBook, and it is literally heating up to process the video. I also notice GoPro is only allowing 720p for time-lapse photos, which makes for a low quality movie. I have other modes to try like "timewarp" video that should work better. I haven't even tried to work with the drone footage yet.

Never mind, file size too big! Will try again tomorrow night if there is time.