We puttered around the Chesapeake for a few more days. We were trying to catch up to our friends Hayden and Rayden on their IP-35 but as luck would have it, as we were leaving Annapolis for Rock Hall, they were going the opposite way. We did get to wave at them as they went by. We stayed at Spring Cove Marina for a night. They don't normally take transient boats, but since we were friends of Hayden and Rayden the owner made an exception for us. Very nice place. Our friends had left their car for us to use, so we had the opportunity to see some of the area and get off the boat. A dip in the marina pool also helped as it was 95Â; in the afternoon sun.

The next morning, we slipped out and headed north for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The tides in the canal can move at better than 2 knots so we wanted to be in a position to ride the ebb through the canal in the morning. The plan was to anchor near the entrance of the canal and head through at slack water at first light. It took us longer to go north than we thought it would and we ended up in a river mouth about 4 miles south. A huge squall was moving in and we wanted to put the anchor down before it hit. The thunder and lightening were pretty frightening as the bolts crashed down into the trees all around us. Fortunately is passed quickly with no damage.

This morning we were up with the sun and moving early to make the canal. The canal itself is very interesting. It was first proposed back in the 1600's but was not started until the 1820's. The original canal had locks and was 14 miles long and 60 feet wide. The current canal has no locks (hence the high tidal currents) and is 450 feet wide. One of the nice aspects of the canal is the banks are low enough that from the boat you can see the forest along the sides. Makes for a very scenic trip.

We are now making our way down Delaware Bay with the intention of rounding Cape May and heading up to Perth Amboy YC to visit Tom's cub scout buddy