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| Shane at the helm |
Having guests onboard who like boating causes problems of
who commands the helm. We were off the
City Dock in Baltimore at 7:55 AM with south winds at 5-10 knots and waves less
than 1 foot, a delightful 7-hour run to Tidewater Marina in Havre de Grace, one
of the two final cities considered for our nation’s capital. Unfortunately, we had an unfavorable tide so
only averaged 5 knots most of the day.
Heather and Shane took turns on the wheel while I navigated the upper
Chesapeake. We took a turn up the
Susquehanna River for the 6-mile trip to Havre de Grace, an interesting
departure from big water and the Bay. Something
unusual was taking place up river as Heather counted 49 dead fish floating by our
boat in only 30 minutes. It’s still a mystery. Despite this unexplained fishcapade we were
anxious to visit the quaint village at the end of the Susquehanna and were not
disappointed after arriving. We walked
along the historic section of town and found an excellent hometown restaurant
followed by a visit to a local ice cream shop.
We planned to wait for Sandy’s return from Cape May there but decided
instead to cruise one more day. (Sandy
and I needed to get closer to Delaware City in order to position ourselves for
our Delaware Bay crossing), so off we went to Chesapeake City.
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| A portion of a container ship on the C&D |
The C&D Canal connects the Chesapeake
Bay to the west and Delaware Bay to the east
allowing a much shorter passage to Philadelphia and Baltimore for ocean going
barge and ship traffic.
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| Lunch at Chesapeake City Restaurant |
We’ve transited
probably hundreds of miles of canals but nothing like the C&D. With tidal currents that can be several knots
and flow both east and west, it’s 450’ wide and 35’ deep to the sides. It’s wise to plan the 12-mile transit to go
with the current. It took only 3 hours
to make the trip across the Chesapeake and into the first three miles of the
canal arriving at Chesapeake City Marina and Restaurant during a busy Sunday. We docked, washed the boat, had a bite to eat
and waited for Sandy to meet us. She
made it just in time to grill on the boat and even brought dinner – famous Cape
May scallops and shrimp. What a treat! We enjoyed live music from the marina-front
restaurant for most of the evening and watched the almost continuous boat
traffic in and out of the marina of Sunday boaters. After a restful night we said good-bye to
Heather and Shane and made our way east to Delaware City only 10 miles away.
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| June Super Moon over Chesapeake City |
Dockmaster Tim met us at the Delaware City Marina and proved
to be one of the most knowledgeable mariners we’ve met along the trip. At 5:15 PM he offered a weather briefing for
those of us planning a Delaware Bay crossing.
The Delaware Bay is a dangerous body of water and can turn ugly in a
hurry with no safe havens to duck into. As
it turned out, his predictions were “spot on.”
He suggested leaving Tuesday morning at 5:00 AM to catch the Delaware
River outbound tide and assured us favorable winds; tide and current that would
allow a safe and comfortable trip into Cape May.
For the first 3 ½ hours our speed never dropped below 10 knots. Considering we cruise at 6 to 6 ½ knots, 12
mph was amazing!!!!
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| Sunrise on the Delaware River |
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| Tour de Loop challenges a barge |
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| Nuclear Power Plant 8 miles into our trip on the Delaware Bay |
The 50 mile trip
lasted just about 6 ½ hours and we
arrived at Utsch’s Marina (along with our crossing buddies "Tour de Loop") hoping for
fair winds and seas for the first day of our Atlantic crossing along the New
Jersey coast on Wednesday. We enjoyed
dinner at the Lucky Bones next to Lobster House in Cape May, where Mark and
Natalie held their rehearsal dinner prior to their wedding nearly three years ago. Memories…
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| Bill, Kathy (Tour de Loop), Sandy and Dan |
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