Delaware City/ C&D Canal

9/03-04/12 = Delaware City, DE

We woke up early (as usual) and were underway to the Cape May Canal by 0700, en route to Delaware City, DE just outside the C&D Canal.  Weather reports were for cloudy with a chance of showers in the afternoon, but otherwise our crossing of the Delaware Bay should be okay.  Around 1012, we had a stowaway join us for a bit!  A small bird landed on our port side stern railing...and seemed to just want to stay!  I guess the high(er) winds were too much for him to cross the Bay in, and our boat looked nice :) He was very comfy, even hopped off the railing and went for  stroll on deck...seemed to love the port holes!! 


our little friend hanging in the porthole!
 

We arrived at the Delaware City Marina at 1532, just as the skies were opening up and the thunder came!  At the dock waiting for us, were our friends from Cape May!  They helped us (again) tie off and were full of information about their crossing and the weather for the next day!  One of the cruisers, Mark and Lou, backed into a piling at the cape may marina, and destroyed the davits and railings off the entire stern of their boat!  Felt bad, but since we felt like idiots from the anchor incident in AC, figured ...well, he is a seasoned cruiser and this stuff still happens!!! Weather for tomorrow is to be horrible, so we will be staying here for tomorrow!
9/04:  Since I have the time (at dock for the day) will give you some info on our fellow cruisers:  The boat that had the "incident" is a 45' gorgeous boat (i am horrible at boat names/types...if it has a mast, its a sailboat).  The man and wife, Mark and lou, are originally from Michigan, retired, and came down here by way of the Erie Canal.  They also have an adorable yellow lab named Chester! He is sooo chill, can only hope Salty will be as well (not going to happen!!)
...and then the other cruiser...his name is Bob..he is alone..yet his wife is still in LI..didnt want to leave the grand kids, apparently...he seems soo lonely!!! ...and a little off...but I guess if you were doing this yourself, you would have to be!! As much as Mike and I will argue about things on this trip, neither of us would do it without the other!!!
But overall, they are super nice and helpful about a ton of things!  Its nice to have "friends" out here!

Anyways, we looked forward to a rain out type day.  Feels like we have been running for the past month to get this whole trip going!  The morning was overcast and wet...so into the laundry room we went (hence the previous blog)...but by 1300, the sun was shining, the weather was nice!!!  We took our bikes out for a ride into Fort DuPont to get some much needed exercise.  Fort DuPont is the child of Sandy Hook, NJ and Central Islip, NY! ha.  I think any place with old brick buildings, with just a hint (or more) of creepy will forever be compared to NYIT's Central Islip Campus!  ...and I fell...hard...ha!  Wasn't even on the bike at the time too!  figures, would fall when walking!  ha.  The rest of the day kind of pissed us off, as it was so clear!  But the weather reports from all over were horrendous, so I guess it was a good decision after all!


9/5/12  C & D Canal =>  Bohemia River, in the Chesapeake!!!!
0545:  oh, to sleep in would be wonderful!  Checked the weather (Bob even got up to watch it for us) and decided, that yes, we want to make a run!  The tide at the canal should have been in our favor, as it would have taken only 2.75 hours to cross....We entered the canal at 0630 and immediately felt the wind at our bow.  There is no sailing in the canal, as its a huge commercial channel, so the engine was pushing with all its might!  This created a very slow moving boat!  We were not making the progress we intended, and hit the beginning of the high tide (tide flows out to the Delaware) and our progress pretty much stopped.  We pulled into a marina (North Summit) for fuel (not much) and to wait out the tide.  At 1200 we started again: the tides were better, and the wind had shifter!  We were on out way!
I took over at the helm from Mike for a bit, blared my Preston and Steve Podcast and enjoyed an easy sail...until I heard the LOUD crack of thunder!!!  Glance to my right and HUGE DARK clouds!!! with lovely lighting streaks!!  At this point, there is not marina or stopping, we just had to go...and pray for it to pass!  Thankfully, the storm itself stayed off, but we did get some rain!  Could see ahead of us the sheets we were to go into!  The rain showers were kind of fun to go through...and a little bit refreshing! 

1400:  Cross into the Chesapeake!!! This has been our goal for soo long!!! and while it was an adventure to go through NJ and some of DE, this is where we start!!!  So excited!!!!!

We headed to the Bohemia River, not too far from the canal entrance.  All of our charts read depths were fine for us, so we had made reservations at a marina for a mooring the day before.  As we get into the river (a very wide, almost bay like area) the depth finder starts to go insane!  We call the marine to make sure we will be okay with depth...the marina lady says "sure"...and hangs up.  So we trudge on, watching the depth go from 6'6, to 5'4 (we draw 5'0)...and this is at high tide..hmmm...but okay.  Pull up to the mooring.  I am awesome at grabbing these things, and so I try...and notice the ball is super tiny, the lines attached are thinner than the sheets for the main sail, and we are sitting in 5'2 of water...umm, there is no way this will hold a 2 ton boat!! specially if the weather gets as bad as it was predicted!  So we call again...again she is like, well i guess it should hold up...and yea, you will be sitting on bottom all but highest point of tide...WTF!!!  seriously pissed off at this marina for NOT notifying us of their conditions!! Anyways, we take a chance and head off for what the charts say is deeper area and anchor for the night...and watch as a huge storm just barely misses us!  (wooo!)
We hope to get out of here early tomorrow, as this river has left a bad impression on me!!!