Day 173

Daily stats
Start: 6:30 AM - Avalon, NJ
Finish: 11:30 AM - Ocean City, NJ
Time: 5:00
Daily dist: 16 miles
Total dist: 3500+ miles
Companions: None
Weather: Big head winds out of the NE, cloudy and chilly in the AM but nice later Notes: Got a lucky break and a great place to camp

My early starts lately (typ. 5:30 AM launch times) are designed to help me try to get as many miles in as I can before the wind builds. This morning at 4:00 AM I woke to the sound of my tent snapping in the wind. I’d already lost the race with the wind so I rolled back over and got another hour of sleep. My plan for the day was to put in about 32 miles to try to reach some spoil islands behind Atlantic City. The wind and tides had other plans for me.

Thankful that I was on the inside (rather than the more windy open coast) and still able to make some headway against the wind I slogged along for four and a half hours. Just as I came under the bridge in Ocean City I was faced with a long open bay with the channel markers leading me straight into the building wind along very choppy waves being pushed up by the opposing forces of the ebb tide and wind. At least at this moment I did have the tide at my back, but the thought in the back of my mind was that once I passed the inlet four sloppy miles ahead I’d be paddling upstream and into the wind along the river channel on the other side. At that point I was soaked from getting splashed by numerous waves breaking on my bow so I pulled into a small private slipway to pull on my jacket and check my maps. While I was there I drew the attention of a woman that was staying in one of the nearby houses and she asked if she could help me with anything. I said no, then jokingly said I did need to know where a camp spot was about four hours ahead. She suggested that I talk to the gentleman that runs the kayak outfit just down the way. I thanked her and paddled on into the wind thinking that if I did find the kayak place I may just stop in and see if the people there did know of any camp sites.

Bay Cats kayak and sail rental store from the water

Sure enough a half mile away I came upon a sign hand painted on the side of a dock in four inch white letters “Kayaks” and an arrow pointing right. There to the right was a perfect low floating dock set up for kayaks and a small kayak shop above on the dock. Figuring it would be a good idea to get some local knowledge I tide my kayak to the dock grabbed my maps and walked up to the store. Adorned in my full splash soaked paddling getup, I approached the owner with map case in hand. He said “can I help you?” and I simply said yes a woman down the way said you’d be a good person to talk to about camp spots in New Jersey. He simply said, “Sure you can put your tent on the dock… there is no hot shower but the hose is there and the bathrooms are over there. My name is Don.” That was it, no questions about who I was or anything else, he simply just offered up a place to stay. At that point I was still tired from the day before and the previous six days of paddling, I simply said “My name is Jake and I‘m paddling around the Eastern United States… thank you very much.” Sometimes you just don’t need to say much I guess.

After getting cleaned up I chatted with Don a bit and walked into town to check things out. Just like Ocean City, MD Ocean City, NJ is set up to cater to beach going tourists. In Ocean City you will find a giant octopus strangling a small shed at the mini gulf Corse along side numerous junk food shops and stores selling “I (heart) Ocean City“ T shirts.

Icecream cone on the boardwalk

When I'd had enough carnival type food to feed an army.  I returned to Don’s shop in time to visit a bit more before he left for the day. Aside from a few years spent in Wyoming, Ron has been selling and sailing Hobie catamarans from this location since 1974. He got started in kayaks quite a while ago as well and now runs tours on the bay in addition to rentals from his dock.

My North Face Minibus tent staked out with buckets of water

Now knowing how challenging camping can be in this region I took the time to get the next five days all planned out, including places to stay, tides, weather, etc. It’s a rare moment that I have than much planned out and I’m going to enjoy not having to do that kind of work every evening.