Cape May Harbor at Sunrise

Posted 6/18/08
By Jane Kashlak

Cape May, NJ - We try not to talk as we get into the small Boston Whaler. It's barely daybreak and Cape May harbor is just beginning to wake up. People in condos lining the harbor are still asleep.

The sound of the motor breaks the pre-dawn stillness as our boat slowly weaves its way out of the dock.

It's a weekday morning in June and, hard to believe, we are the only ones on the water.

It takes no time at all for the sky to start an amazing metamorphosis from gray and white to bright pink. Who can describe a sunrise, especially a sunrise over the water, especially when you're on the water?

Familiar structures like the Two Mile Bridge to Wildwood Crest become almost works of art against the sky.

We pass under the bridge and leave the enclosure of Cape May's harbor. As we turn directly into open water, we feel the ocean's chill, as if we had just opened the door of a refrigerator.

I should have brought a jacket. After days of hot, humid weather, the sudden chilly sea breezes catch me off guard.

We still speak softly, although we're all alone in the middle of the back bays.

There's salt marsh on one side and scattered islands here and there. We finally get to our destination - a stretch of water no more than five feet deep, alive with bluefish.

For an hour, we catch fish and throw most of them back. Then, just as the sun has finally risen and the day has started for the rest of the world, we head back to harbor, dinner in the net.

It's not a bad way to start the day.