A view across the jetty from the hotel on Shelter Island to Long Island on the far shore.
We left the Pridwin Hotel and took the South Ferry off Shelter Island to Sag Harbor where we had breakfast. The rain was falling pretty heavily and it was a disappointing way to see Long Island as we drove about 20kms to see the mansions in the Hamptons.
Entering East Hampton.
There are hundreds of wonderful houses built along the Atlantic coast of Long Island, but most of those we drove past were hidden by high walls and hedges!
Believe me when I tell you, there is a large mansion behind this hedge!
We drove down to one of the beaches, but the rain and mist spoilt the view of what appeared to be a great sandy beach.
We drove due west along the southern coast going through Bridgehampton and Southampton. The weather was really atrocious and we decided to drive straight to New Jersey, rather than stopping at any more places on Long Island. Sorry to say, most of the photos we took of the Hamptons were through rain-covered windows and definitely didn't show the area at its best!
We have seen stalls on the side of the road selling pumpkins for Halloween. It seems very early to sell them with Halloween over a month away. A field of pumpkins waiting to be picked. I noticed they were behind a high wire fence, presumably to stop people stealing them.
The weather continued to deteriorate and at times visibility was very difficult. As we neared New York, the traffic slowed right down and in the central reservation concrete barrier we saw this SUV smashed up with its air bags inflated. I think the driver was alright as there was someone making a call standing by the side of the freeway.
We went past Coney Island and could see some of the Island's famous amusement rides in the distance.
As we approached the Verrazano Bridge that takes you across to Staten Island, the road became flooded and we had to dodge large pools of water.
Driving across the bridge into New Jersey.
The weather continued to be diabolical and at times the road appeared flooded, with huge sheets of water being thrown across our carriageway by cars coming in the opposite direction.
We took the Garden Parkway which runs parallel with the Atlantic shore. When we reached a place called Toms River, we pulled off the Parkway and had a rather good snack lunch at the Crystal Diner.
We re-joined the Parkway and, shortly after, we turned off to take a quick look at Ocean City, a well-known resort town on the Atlantic coast just south of the gambling resort, Atlantic City. We drove across a causeway, where a new bridge was being constructed, to Ocean City.
Once across the causeway, we entered the town and drove down to the sea where we got out of the car and took some steps up on to the boardwalk. At least the rain had more or less stopped in the town.
The remainder of our drive to Cape May was in driving rain. At times we could hardly see the road. We drove straight to the ferry to see if we could find a hotel near to the terminal for our 8.30am crossing in the morning. We arrived at the terminal at 6pm and were told that we could catch the 6pm sailing that was just about to leave! For the second time in two days, we were the last car on to the ferry!
Once on board, we consulted the AAA guide for Delaware and found a good-looking hotel in Lewes, where the ferry docks. We booked a room and settled down for the 80 minute crossing which goes from Cape May to Cape Henlopen, the name of the ferry we took across to Long Island. I had wondered where Cape Henlopen was, and now I knew.
Wendy sent a text to Bob and Thelma to find out how they were going and received one back saying they were on the New Jersey Turnpike heading for Philadelphia and then on to Washington.
We arrived at Lewes, Delaware in the dark and drove about a kilometre to our hotel, The Inn at Canal Square. We partly unpacked and then walked a few hundred metres into the centre of the town and found a very good seafood restaurant called Striper Bites, where we had one of the best meals of the trip. It was the perfect way to finish a long and, at times, very tedious day's driving. We are now in our eighth state of the drive.
Lastly, we went through the 4,000 kms mark of the drive, but we didn't manage to photograph the Garmin at the time.
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