"Don't Gamble!"

Atlantic City is not set up for transient cruisers at all. No dinghy dock or amenities to speak of.

The best part about it is our calm and protected anchorage where a lot of wildlife sit and just hang out.

There's a nearby beach where we see many people fishing pretty much all day, everyday.

Apparently there are 300+ trucks that park on the beach in the summer! Every single day. Yikes. It makes me very happy we have come during the shoulder season.

Yesterday it rained nonstop. But first we had to deal with our anchor dragging. Yup, the wind and gusts were a bit strong the previous night. Letting out some chain seemed to do the trick. Luckily we dragged to a better place in the lagoon. Well, there's always a first for everything!

We needed to get some parts and the closest West Marine was about 20 miles away. Getting an Uber there was more expensive than renting a car for one day, so we opted for a rental.

It was through Turo, a car sharing service. Very efficient and cost-effective.

The owner of our rental car was Bowen, a super charasmatic guy who works the craps table in two local casinos, secondhand smokes two packs of cigarettes per day and is (self-proclaimed) Atlantic City's most liberal Republican.

He had this frenetic energy about him, talking a mile a minute and driving like a race-car nut.

Just in our five minute exchange, the kids learned a whole host of new vocabulary like: junkie, dope, getting high, hustlers and weed.

I don't know what went on in their brains, but they were certainly wide-eyed and hanging on to every single word!

After West Marine we needed to do something active so we looked for a pool.

This was no easy feat. I called numerous hotels and resorts to see if we could pay to just use their pool for the day. We could, but the minimum age was 21.

In the end we found Ocean City community centre, about 45 minutes away. It was kind of on the way from West Marine so we decided to go there.

This morning we got up early and dinghy'd to get back to the car on shore. Our goal was to track down a brass fitting for the two hose pipes that we were replacing.

Based on a recommendation, we went to a plumbing store about 30 minutes away.

This place was on the main street of Egg Harbor and had been in business since 1890!!! The guys in there certainly looked like they had been around for a good chunk of that time.

Luck was on our side and the obscure brass fitting was found in the store!

When one of the men asked how we intended on fixing it all together, Matt kinda shrugged and the next thing we know we're following the older gentleman in his red pickup truck down some country lane lined with the most gorgeous fall leaves you could imagine.

Suddenly we turned into this brown shed building and inside was an incredible workshop!

Within minutes he had it all welded and fixed up. With a nod and strong handshake, we were on our way.

We returned the rental car just in time. Bowen had just come off a night shift and was going home to sleep. He wished us well on our journey and waved goodbye.

The last thing he shouts out the window as he zooms off is, "Bye kids. Have fun. DON'T GAMBLE!!"

Oct 27 and it poured and poured like crazy! 
Still, we had stuff to do so had to get to shore somehow

Our little Golden nugget car in front of the Golden Nugget casino.

You can typically tell what kind of place it is based on how many masts you (don't) see.

At friendly Sam's workshop.

Our boat is somewhere in that lagoon!

Walking back to our dinghy from ACME grocery store.

Beautiful new hose and brass fitting. It is the seawater hose that feeds the exhaust elbow. 

This is access to the engine on galley side. I'm holding a 
disgusting bag of oily rags just mopped up from the bilge.

Matt accesses the engine from the galley side.

Our engine has fairly decent access. I'm in the aft heads cleaning the bilge under the engine.

Parking Lot Dinners are our 'thing' now!

Oct 27 journal continued. "Dinner on the benches" = we bought fried chicken and a baguette from a grocery store and ate it outside on the bench. Yes, people stared and smiled politely at us.
But we were happy and enjoying our cheap dinner.