Day 44, Thursday, October 15th

Barnegat Light to Cape May

Track on ViewRanger

After an uneventful night I started this morning at 6:30, even though this was somewhat late to make Cape May at daylight. But I didn't want to exit Barnegat in the night, so I had to wait a little.
Outside was as good winds as yesterday, so I quickly switched off the engine and romped SW towards Atlantic City. By the time it came into view the wind was becoming boisterous.

Soon after this photo I actually put a reef in the main because the wind was slowly clocking W and beating into the wind with the Caprice means a lot of heeling, unless one reefs. By the time I was at Atlantic City the wind had turned so much that we slowed down to 3 knots. I considered putting into Atlantic City but didn't really want to lose half a day sitting in the anchorage there, so I continued and started motorsailing. Even with this however it became clear that I wouldn't make Cape May in daylight.

Beating into the waves that had built up by now caused a bit of spray and I put up the dodger to shelter behind. I usually sit by the companionway and read, and peek around the dodger every five minutes. On one of my peeks I noticed the horizon looking somewhat odd, and when I looked again closer I realized that a huge, strange barrier was stretching right in front of me, almost blocking my path. I changed course out to sea to get around that contraption. I had no idea what it is, and I wonder if it's even visible at night. It must have been at least 1000 feet long.

Soon after I encountered two strange platforms, again, no idea what they are. They appear to have some big pipes or hoses attached to them:

The sun set eventually and I continued in the moonlight. The sea had calmed a little and visibility was excellent, and I had no trouble entering the well lit channel into Cape May. Some dredging operation confused me a little but Navionics maps helped a lot. The anchorage south of the channel was crowded, and after driving by it a little I dropped the anchor at a decent spot, I thought. Soon I realized that I was probably too close to a neighbor,pulled the anchor again and moved a little. I repeated that exercise twice more before I thought I'm not likely to bump anybody or be bumped tonight. 
The Coast Guard cadets on shore were doing their screaming training, but at 10PM they went to bed and all is peaceful now.