August 23rd 2016
Ocean City, NJ
I awoke this morning feeling down, but this time it wasn’t from the paddling or what lay ahead, but today was Lexie’s 13th Birthday. I should have been planning a nice steak dinner for my little girl and not paddling 2000 miles trying to find Life after Death, but she’s no longer here and that is what I’m doing. Mommy and I miss you terribly Peanut. We tried everything we could to help you beat that cancer, but we couldn’t do it. You were a tough little girl and you put up a big fight. Maybe I need some of that fight right now. If you never got to meet Lexie, you can still see how amazing she was on her Facebook Page. Click Here
Al dropped me off at the Golden Nugget and I found Lex-T-Sea all alone in her slip. The big boat had sailed off bound for points north while I was bound for points south. I loaded up the kayak and hit the water.
When I got to the first channel on my right, I saw a small boat exiting from it, but it wasn’t the Intracoastal channel. I checked my navigation and it looked like it was a small backwater canal that connected back to the channel so I took it. I was glad I did, there were fewer boats here, all were small boats and all slowed down passing me. The other thing I liked was that the canal was lined with tiny homes and tiny boats, but even better were the people. Anyone I passed who had been out on their lawn or deck would say Hi and give me a wave; such a sharp contrast to paddling all day with no human contact. I was enjoying it. I even got to talk to a Bridge Tender as I approached the Railroad Swing Bridge and needed to make sure they would not be closing it anytime soon.
One short cut led to another and I ended up cutting about two miles off today’s leg. I also had high tide running with me most of the day so I decided to do something I’ve not done yet on the trip, buy myself a real lunch. I had begun looking for a lunch spot in Ventnor City as I figured there had to be one on all these canals, but nope. The first one I came across was in Margate City and I pulled in for a break at a marina and ate lunch at The Kibitz Room. The food was good, but damn, things are expensive here.
After lunch, low tide was now running strong which was good as I was now approaching the Great Egg Harbor Inlet, but there’d be another problem soon enough. I made the inlet in record time, but now the problem was that on the other side of the inlet, the same tide that I was riding would now be against me and it was running strong. I also had to get under a bridge and the current always increases in speed and velocity under bridge structures. In some places, it can turn into white water conditions.
As I crossed the mouth to the inlet, a sailor passed by and we chatted. He came about came back and we chatted some more. On his next pass, he shouted out his address and told me I was welcomed to come by. Unfortunately, he was in the wrong direction and I’d not be able to take him up on the offer.
As I reached the other side of the inlet, the breakers off my Port side were growing in intensity as low tide was nearing peak. I reached the bridge and battled the current to make it under. If that wasn’t bad enough, I had boaters passing within 100’ of me as I was trying to fight the current. As before, I was far away from the channel so there was no reason for them to be that close, but I do love how they would give me a friendly wave as they threw four foot wakes at me.
Once I broke free of the bridge, I began making better progress. It was close to 4pm so I checked my navigation to see where some marinas were. Some of the marinas indicated were simply boat clubs in buildings with no docks. When I reached an inlet to a small cove, I ducked in there to take a break from the current and to see if any of the homeowners would let me dock Lex-T-Sea there for the night. I only need to dock it as my friend Al would be picking me up again tonight. I asked the first couple I saw and they said they could not help me, but told me where the marinas where. I thanked them and paddled on. Just a few houses down I saw a few people up on a deck. I approached the dock and shouted up to them. A gentleman came over to the railing and I asked him if I could dock there. He said yes without hesitation.
Once docked and Lex-T-Sea was secured, I properly introduced myself to Bob and his friend Tom. Bob’s family has lived in Ocean City since the 1800’s. I joked and said he could truly call himself a local. Tom’s family is from Northern New Jersey. I also got to meet their wives (sorry I didn’t get their names) and their very friendly dog.
Al arrived in no time, as I was closer to his home than I was yesterday today than I was yesterday. We loaded my overnight bags into the SUV and headed to his home. Once at the house, Al loaned me some tools so I could modify the bracket that held my old SPOT so it would fit the new SPOT that is a different shape.
At the end of the day, I was felling much better today than I had yesterday, but I’m not sure if that is because I had my SPOT back, I had people to talk to and see, I had chosen Cape May as a possible break spot, all of the above or none of the above. It was just a good day. I still think I need to take a break, help Arlene move and reevaluate things, but I don’t think I’m done with this journey yet.
Tomorrow is going to be great. The day may suck, but tomorrow night, I am rendezvousing with a friend I met online, Rich Brand. If you think what I’m doing is remotely impressive, Rich is kayaking “America’s Great Loop” He started in the south and is now in Cape May, NJ. Tomorrow we will be camping together as our paths cross and then he will continue north, though he’s headed to Maine rather than taking the Inside Passage. You can follow Rich at Captured Heart Beats.
Day 53 Done
Not long ago I was chatting with a woman who had a rescued teacup yorkie she was training to ride on her motorcycle. Her yorkie really seemed to like it. She got the idea from a Facebook page she saw about a guy who was riding around with his yorkie. From that, she named her yorkie: Lexie.
Just thought you’d like to hear that. Her spirit lives on in others, now.