May 8, 2026 - Cape May, Atlantic City

I'm still running the engine hard, putting in flight hours with a minimum of taxiing and landings, breaking in the engine.

I start today by heading east, across the Eastern Shore, towards New Jersey.
   
Now over New Jersey's southern coast which is mostly marsh.  It's still brownish, but should turn velvet green in a month.
   
I decide to check out some New Jersey private grass strips I've never seen before.  Here, I'm looking down at Wide Sky Airpark, about 12nm NW of Millville.
   
Four miles to the west is Hidden Acres Farm Airport.
   
I couldn't see a hangar at first, but finally found it well offset from the grass runway.
   
I head north about ten miles to Salem Airfield.  It's a private grass strip, but yet is named after the town of Salem, visible at upper right.
   
I fly past an unusual bullseye pattern.  You never know what you're going to see from the air.
   
Descending and heading south over the New Jersey marshes.  People often just refer to them as the South Jersey marshes or the Delaware Bay marshlands.
   
Again, in a month this area will be bright green with a velvety texture.
   
Occasionally I come across some sandy beach areas.
   
A cell tower sits all by its lonesome.
   
There are a few waterfront houses along the Delaware Bay in this very remote area.
   

 

Gandy's Point and a little community called Gandy's Beach.
   
The south end of Gandy's Beach.
   
Time to repaint the sign.
   
Dyer Cove.
   
Rounding Beadon Point.
   

This area once housed a booming oyster industry.  There is a museum about it in that little village on the left.

The Manumuskin River heads north to Millville.
   
A schooner heads out of Manumuskn River into Delaware Bay.  Schooners were used in the Delaware Bay and the New Jersey marsh/coastal waters for cargo, fishing, or coastal trade.
   
Looking east down the Cape May canal, a 2.9-nautical-mile (3.3 mi) waterway connecting Cape May Harbor to the Delaware Bay.
 
The canal was constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers during World War II to provide a protected route to avoid German U-boats operating off Cape May Point and to become part of the Intracoastal Waterway.
 
The Cape May terminus of the Cape May–Lewes Ferry is at lower left.
   
Rounding Cape May Point.  The Cape May Lighthouse is visible at center.
   
The Cape May Lighthouse was built in 1859 under the supervision of U.S. Army engineer William F. Raynolds, was automated in 1946, and continues operation to this day.
 
The striking building with red roof at lower left  used to be a Catholic convent for retired nuns.  For the last two years it has been a small museum.  
   
Passing by downtown Cape May.
   
More Cape May including the Convention Center at lower left, jutting out onto the beach.
   

Further east is a good look at Cape May Harbor and the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center on ground known as Sewell Point.  It is the Coast Guard's only enlisted accession point and recruit training center. Cape May passage to the Atlantic Ocean is at far right.

Originally, the U.S. Navy built a base here in 1917.  After World War I, the base was adapted to accommodate dirigibles. The largest hangar in the world, 700 feet long and over 100 feet tall -- long gone now -- was built to accommodate an airship under construction in Britain. However, the R38 (ZR-2) crashed on its test flight and "lighter-than-air" craft were never fully adopted for Navy use.

In 1924, the U.S. Coast Guard occupied the base and established air facilities for planes used in support of United States Customs Service efforts. During the Prohibition era, several cutters were assigned to Cape May to foil rumrunners operating off the New Jersey coast. After Prohibition, the Coast Guard all but abandoned Cape May leaving a small air/sea rescue contingent. For a short period of time (1929–1934), part of the base was used as a civilian airport. With the advent of World War II, a larger airstrip was constructed and the Navy returned to train aircraft carrier pilots. The over the water approach simulated carrier landings at sea. The Coast Guard also increased its Cape May forces for coastal patrol, anti-submarine warfare, air/sea rescue and buoy service. In 1946, the Navy relinquished the base to the Coast Guard.

In 1948, all entry-level training on the east coast was moved to the U.S. Coast Guard Recruit Receiving Station in Cape May. The Coast Guard consolidated all recruit training functions in Cape May in 1982.
   
Passing Cape May National Wildlife Refuge on the left and approaching Wildwood.
   

Wildwood has a big convention center on the beach.

Just a little further up the beach by Morey's Pier is where the annual The Race of Gentlemen (TROG) takes place.  It's  a wildly popular vintage hot-rod and motorcycle event that recreates the spirit of illegal beach racing from the early days of American hot-rodding.  TROG features pre-1935 hot rods, vintage motorcycles, period-correct clothing and gear, flathead V8s, mechanical brakes, bias-ply tires, and stripped-down race machines and drag racing directly on the beach.

The event started in 2010 and grew rapidly because it feels less like a formal motorsport event and more like stepping into a living time machine.  Drivers race on packed sand, which makes traction difficult and racing spectacular. Cars fishtail, dig trenches, and throw rooster tails of sand.  People love TROG because it captures the raw danger of early racing, mechanical simplicity, American hot-rod history and do-it-yourself craftsmanship.
   
Continuing up the Jersey Shore.
   
ZZZ
   
Passing by Ocean City Municipal Airport (26N).  I used to like to fly to this airport because of the on-field restaurant.  But the Chinese Fly (Covid) killed the restaurant and I haven't landed here in years.
 
There is a highly regarded breakfast place called Uncle Bill's Pancake House less than a mile away, an 18 minute walk, so perhaps I should give it a try.   Open 7 to 2.
   
Passing Ocean City High School and their nice football field.
   
I crossed the Great Egg Harbor Inlet, then spotted the famous Lucy the Elephant in Margate City.   Lucy is a six-story elephant-shaped wood frame and tin clad building, constructed in 1882 by James V. Lafferty.   Lucy was built with the purpose of promoting real estate sales and attracting tourists to the area. Today, Lucy remains the oldest surviving roadside tourist attraction in America.
   
And then we come to Atlantic City.
   
On the left is Boardwalk Hall, an enduring 1926 performance center hosting well-known musical acts, sporting events & other shows.  At center is Playground Pier, a shopping mall on a pier.  Unfortunately, like Baltimore's HarborPlace or Glen Burnie's Marley Mall, Playground Pier is dead with no stores open and the top level closed off.
   
 
   
I'm always amazed at all the empty green space north of the Ocean Resort Hotel.  You would think this would be prime real estate.
   
I left Atlantic City, crossed the Absecon Inlet and am looking at the Jetty and Brigantine Beach.
   
Just past Brigantine is an area called the Brigantine Wilderness.
   
Horseshoe Island, dead ahead.
   
It's easy to see where the Wilderness ends and civilization begins.
   
Looking back at Atlantic City.
   
Heading back.
   
The golden MGM adn Borgata Hotels are always spectacular.
   
Approaching old Bader Field, no longer operational.
   
 
   
I continued southwest over the Pine Barrens forest to Woodbine Municipal Airport, an airport I have never landed at.
   
Only 16 nm from Woodbine, passing over big Millville Airport, where I have landed countless times.
   
Seven miles southeast of Millville is Dave's Aerodrome.  I know Dave, the owner, who is a RV-6 driver, and landed here once with Mugsy.
   
 
   
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