2008-08-23 39 -74

Jevanyn took a ride on his uncle's boat around Wildwood, and cruised right past a water geohash, not knowing it was there.

My uncle Bob (technicaly, uncle-in-law) lives in Cape May and owns a boat. (These two things go hand in hand quite often :-) His boat is docked at a marina in Cape May Harbor. That Saturday he decided that he would take us for a ride. We went around Wildwood Island, through several sounds between the island and the mainland. We may have gone around Nummy Island as well, but more likely we followed Grassy Sound Inlet out to the open sea.

On Google Maps, there is an island in the middle of the harbor known as Champagne Island. It's composed mostly of sand, most likely eroded from the Stone Harbor/Avalon beaches. It is only above sea level at low tide, which is why it is not included on many maps but visible on satellite photos. That day, the island was relatively crowded, with six to eight boats beached on the western side, and a number of people walking about, taking pictures and the like. My uncle didn't think the weather was good for hanging out on the island (there was a steady breeze from the east, which would blow sand at anyone on the island), so we forged out into open water instead.

Once we passed Champagne Island, we encountered some relatively heavy chop. The inlet as a whole is shallow, and those same easterlies were blowing over the water to make some three- to four-foot waves. Hoping to minimize the amount of time we spent in these uncomfortable waters, my uncle drove straight through them. Over this stretch, we passed with a mile of the geohash, maybe less than 1/2 a mile, whose location I was unable to determine until, well, Monday morning.

We turned southwest and rode along North Wildwood and Wildwood beach, passed the spot on the beach where we had been the day before (vacations are cool, I recommend them to anyone), and also spotted dolphins a few times. We continued around Cape May Point, got pictures of two ferries passing each other just outside the canal, then turned east through the canal itself. Then we grounded the boat on a tiny beach along the canal, where Lafayette St crosses over (the south shore near 4th Ave, if you're looking for it). I got a picture of a heron, and practiced some erosion acceleration techniques (i.e., played in the sand) while we stretched our legs. A slow ride under the bridge brought us back to the marina.

Ironically, the boat is equipped with GPS (as all boats should be), and the geohash would have been fairly easy, if uncomfortable, to reach, but as I said, there was no way to know the geohash was that close.

Pictures are up on Facebook, I'll post a link and copy a few over when I get a chance.

I owe you a silly grin on the boat
I owe you a dolphin picture
I owe you a heron picture
Did we get a picture of Diamond Island?

Ribbons

Curse of Unawareness ... except that I can prove I was there, almost!


Sat 23 Aug 2008 in Atlantic City, New Jersey: 39.0212979, -74.7773962 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox