Days 310 through 313:

We wave goodbye to CC and Chris at 6:30 or so AM and head out of our anchorage off the Miles River YC into the Miles River, heading for Kent Island Narrows to get through the bridge there and proceed north to Rock Hall. It is early and we gain a lot of ground (while it is cool) and arrive at the serpentine channel at The Narrows a little early for the 8:30 opening of the bridge. This bridge is the skinniest that we have seen yet, and we have seen a LOT of bridges. Plus there is a ton of current in here. The bridge opens and we get through fine (Steve on the helm for this one). Once on the other side and under the fixed bridge there, the channel is serpentine again and a shoal pays out from Green 15 and it gets quite shallow. Again we get through this bit fine and then are off through the channel and into the Bay up towards the Chester River. We are making good time and decide to forego Rock Hall and head on up to Worton Creek for the night. We power into Worton Creek up to the Worton Creek Marina, with its full service yard, the gourmet Harbour House Restaurant and a POOL..our newest demand as it is once again stiflingly hot here (100 degrees in the heat index) and we are just not able to sustain the heat.

Pull into our spot here and after squaring away and refueling, we make a beeline up the hill (hilly here vs. the flat/marshy lands down the Bay) to the pool for a brief respite from the heat. Afterwards we head back to a BLAZING HOT boat and then an hour later abruptly turn around and hit the pool again for a few hours. It is the only way we can stay cool. Then on to COLD showers and dinner in the air conditioned restaurant. A front with some major league thunderstorms is due to come ripping through tonight/tomorrow. Maybe that will bring some cooler air. While we hate to leave this lovely Chesapeake Bay, we are seeing that the time to go is now as there will be the heat to battle going foreward.

Up and out of Worton Creek the next day powering right on the nose into the approach to the Chesapeake/Delaware Canal. We head through the C & D and turn into Chesapeake City Marina for the night. We hose the boat down, refuel, fill our water tanks and then walk into town for a paper. Spend the night watching the huge ships come through the canal which is always entertaining. Equally entertaining is what comes down the dock later tonight.

I have remarked to S earlier that that there is something like a prom going on here tonight as I had noticed cars being valeted out in from of the Marina/Inn but what also looked like a too-old-for-a-prom-like couple walking into the Inn. We don't know what but something is going on here... Later on this night, S is sitting in the cockpit as I am cooking dinner and some folks come up to him and ask if they can use Katannah as a backdrop for pictures. Steve says sure and hops off with our camera to capture this happy occasion for us. These are the prom-lookalikers who have just been married here. She for the fourth time and he for the fifth they say cheerfully (why someone would share that boastfully I do not know). The happy groom then proceeds to hike up the bride's dress, grab her by the thigh and hike her leg across his. Yikes, this is one smooth couple, but I guess it does take all kinds to make the world go 'round... The pictures are hilarious.

We cannot leave the next morning until the tide turns east in our favor which is about 9:30. An easy trip to the Delaware Bay end where we have a reservation at the Delaware City Marina. We decide to forego that and make a beeline down the Bay to the Cohansey River. There is a 4-6 knot current which runs up this river but Steve has determined that it is with us going in today and will be with us going out when we leave early in the AM. So up the Cohansey we go through a series of serpentine switchbacks in the marsh grass. We could swear that we are back in Georgia rather than in tidal South Jersey. Even the greenheads are back with a vengeance. Tie up in a fair amount of current at the face dock of the Hancock Harbor Marina where the folks are as friendly as could be. Their loaner car is a pick-up truck, and off we go in it to nearby Greenwich and Bridgton, NJ for the requisite newspaper, water and paper towels. We started in Maryland today and did Delaware and ended in New Jersey. Three states in one day!

Up at the crack of dawn to be out of the river with the tide and we get out to Delaware Bay to a 20-25 knot Northwest breeze. We fly downwind down the Bay with the genoa rolled out to stabilize the boat. Waves are 6 footers and the chop is short and steep as Delaware Bay is so shallow. We are glad that we were at Cohansey last night as it makes this day a shorter 30-mile day and puts us into the Cape May Canal to go under the 55' bridge a low tide which is at 10 this AM. We get under the bridge and hang a right into the familiar Utsch's Marina where we had been in the Fall. Pooped we reward ourselves with a lobster roll and a beer at the local restaurant next door to the marina, head back to Katannah to chill for the afternoon.

The next day, Sat, we spend five hours changing the engine fluids. Would you believe this is Steve's 10th (!) oil change (every 100 hours), and he does the transmission oil and Racor fuel filter as well. What a drill this is. All upholstered cushions go up on deck, S gets into his designated oil changing (i.e. already trashed) shorts and teeshirt. I spread trash bags with newspapers on top over all surfaces. Out come the pumps, pouring containers, huge detergent bottle to pump out the old oil into, rags, paper towels by the roll, gloves, you name it. The boat looks trashed down below as S does this time-consuming drill. The boat yard of course has done this for all these years, but now it's up to Steve. It becomes a two-person job and Steve is down in a cockpit locker pumping out the old transmission oil while I am in the quarterberth face down with a flashlight on the area and one arm into the engine steadying the funnel that the new oil pours through. Again, it is a drill. But it's a job well done. The laundry is next for me, and then we both call it a day.

Off up the Jersey coast tomorrow.

Pix in corresponding album.