7/30/18 – 8/4/18: Even before we started sailing to Barnegat, we knew another multi-day weather system was only days away. We could make it to Atlantic City or Cape May before the next system hit, but we would be stuck there until the system passed. We contemplated bypassing Atlantic City altogether and just hopping down to Cape May, but since we hadn’t been to either place, we opted to stop at Atlantic City first.
There are several marinas in Atlantic City, but only one capable of supporting our draft. That one was the Farley State Marina at The Golden Nugget Casino. We’re not entirely sure the relationship between the state of New Jersey and the casino, but the casino certainly manages it. In our opinion, the marina itself was pretty dumpy. The bathrooms were run down, with broken tiles, showers that didn’t work, and mold growing in the corners. The laundry was located inside the bathrooms, which made it awkward if you were a couple, or if you wanted to wait for your laundry. People would work on their boats and didn’t care what got in the water. We saw little chemical slicks and bits of plastic floating around from people doing stuff to their boats. We really weren’t too impressed with the facilities overall.
Most of the casinos in Atlantic City are along the boardwalk, which runs about 4 miles along the beach. But there are 4 or 5 that are located a couple miles inland, and The Golden Nugget was one of them (to get here we followed the inlet for a mile or two to a dredged channel that led into the marina). We went into the casino to try our luck at the slots, and the first thing we noticed was how few people there were here. Being so far away from the boardwalk they probably don’t get the business (which we could tell from the condition of the marina). Anyway, we set a $40 limit on our gambling expenditure (big spenders we were with $20 a piece), and 1/2 hour later we walked out $40 poorer. That was the extent of our gambling days in Atlantic City.
As we expected, the next weather system rolled in, and small craft advisories were issued for three full days. We weren’t going anywhere. So for two of the days, we decided to take a walk down the boardwalk. From our marina to the boardwalk was about 3 miles (including the walk around the harbor), plus the boardwalk was 4 miles in length, so it was too far to walk. Luckily, there was a public transportation system called Jitney. These were small, 20 passenger busses that made the rounds to all of the casinos in Atlantic City, including a few extra stops in the downtown area. For $2.25, you could get on anywhere along it’s route, and also get off anywhere. It took 1/2 hour to get to the boardwalk, but it was cost effective, and nice to see other parts of the city!
The boardwalk was different. It runs parallel, and right next to, the beach. On the inland side are casinos, restaurants, souvenir shops, tobacco and vape shops, head shops, tattoo parlors (including henna tattoos), and psychic shops. About 1/3rd of the buildings were empty, probably leftovers from the 2008 recession. There were 3 piers sticking out into the ocean from the boardwalk. The first was a 3 level shopping mall which, like many malls, was dying. The entire 2nd level was empty, 1/3rd of the shops on the first level were empty, and the top level only had 3 small restaurants. The second was central pier, an arcade and go cart raceway. The last pier was Steel Pier, a small amusement park area. The whole boardwalk is basically a big tourist trap. Big screen TVs and loudspeakers were everywhere, blasting out all the “attractions” along the boardwalk. Most of the gift shops were the low quality, cheap kind, where every shop had basically all the same items at the same prices. Most of the restaurants were the kind you’d find at a state fair or carnival, but in buildings instead of outdoor stands. There were a few “upscale” restaurants within the casinos: Gordon Ramsey had one here, as did Guy Fieri.
As we were walking the mall, we found a nice little sitting area at the back of the third level. There they had huge glass windows overlooking the ocean and beach, with Adirondack chairs you could sit and relax in. So we did, for a couple hours. We also walked along the beach, and strolled through Steel Pier. We also found out that many of the casinos are joined together via skyways, so we walked through many of them. Inside the casinos were the “high end” gift shops (i.e. expensive and overpriced), as well as pastry shops, smaller restaurants, etc… With all the music playing, the noise of the slot machines, and the buzz of hundreds of people all gambling or walking around, it was definitely sensory overload.
We had a so-so time in Atlantic City. Would we return? Probably not. For us, it’s one of those “been there, done that” things. And, casinos are just not “our thing”. Yes, there were some nice things about it, but not enough to make us want to come back. We are looking forward to Cape May and getting up the Delaware Bay, so we can (finally) spend some time in the Chesapeake Bay. Come on, weather, start cooperating with us!
Pics of Atlantic City
