The Snookum Lady remained tied up Sunday due to 5 – 7 foot seas. Our plan had been to leave AC at dawn and to make the 70 mile run to Sandy Hook, where we would shelter overnight. The ideal boat speed is about 7 knots, per Captain Steve, so Sandy Hook is about 10 hours away. The small boat advisory squelched that.

We hope that tomorrow brings calmer weather, once the thunderstorms roll through Sunday night. Until then, we are just forced to put up with the horrible inconvenience of the Golden Nugget Casino and Marina.

We find that the GN rooftop pool assuages the pain a bit.

My enormous thumb hovers over the view from the rooftop pool. The marina is pretty nice with clean facilities and it’s home to the casino, about 8 restaurants, 5 clubs and 10 bars. At one of those bars, Doug and I were able to watch the Bruins bust the Pens 3-0 in game 1 of the Conference Finals. Sweet.

I joined Steve and Beth for a second stroll down the Boardwalk this afternoon.

View of the Steel Pier. The Boardwalk is totally honky-tonk but a great place to people watch.

The beach stretches for miles. It was warm enough, but quite windy.

A statue meant to commemorate carefree days of youth at the beach. On close inspection, yes, they are wearing suits; it was never THAT carefree, evidently.

Under the Boardwalk. Not nearly as romantic as the song.

Tomorrow, we depart for Sandy Hook. Working as a crew, Steve, Rick, Doug and I laboriously swapped jibs today. I have to say that’s the first time I ever did that. The smaller jib will work better with the expected conditions tomorrow, per Captain Steve. I really look forward to learning a lot of sailing from Steve.

Doug and I have yet to sail a minute on this trip but we have to admit that we are enjoying ourselves. As expected, Steve and Beth and Rick are a lot of fun and, if you have to be stranded, being here with them is an excellent choice.

We sail at dawn!