We slept in on Saturday and didn’t leave Cape May until almost 7:30 am! We timed our departure to maximize the current going up Delaware Bay. It actually worked like a charm. Running just one engine, we were able to average over 8 knots most of the time! Without a current boost, we can’t average more than 7.5 knots running both engines. We got into Delaware City late afternoon, in time for a free 5:30 pm concert in the park. The musicians were very good and they were all over 70, as was most of the audience. They played a nice assortment of music, including “Your Mama Don’t Dance” as we were walking up. The guitarist played some hot licks, spicy chords and never missed a note—reminded of my friend Dr. Bob Coates. It turns out this guitarist played with Bill Haley and the Comets for eight years and was his main guitarist. Everything he played was smooth and seamless, no matter how fast the notes flew by!

We spent an extra rainy day in Delaware City on Sunday, sneaking in an afternoon excursion to Fort Delaware. We learned a lot talking to the Union soldiers who were “in character,” from the loading and firing commands for a Civil War Union infantryman, to marching orders, to the purposes of the cannons on the three different levels of the fort: take out the sails and rigging, blows holes in the side of the ship, and skim across the water and gash the ship at its water line. They were “in character,” but not obnoxiously so. As thunderstorms rolled through, we were confined to the entryway. The ferry that got us to Pea Pod Island was cancelled until the storm cleared. We had visions of spending the night sleeping on a rock floor, but the ferry resumed and had us back to Del City by 4 pm.

Monday morning, we were back to our old tricks, off the dock and on our way to the C&D (Chesapeake and Delaware) Canal before sunrise. This time, the current charts lied. We were supposed to have maximum current pushing us through the canal, but instead we had a little current going against us. We pressed on with both engines running for about 3 hours and then a miracle happened: The current turned to help push us forward and the wind freshened, coming from a direction that actually allowed us to sail. Imagine that, a sailboat sailing! That hadn’t happened in a long time. We sailed for hours down Chesapeake Bay, under the Annapolis Bay Bridge and didn’t douse our sails until we made the turn into Annapolis! Boy, that was good!

As always, it was great to be in Annapolis, although there were two calamities. The 5.9 magnitude earthquake rattled the populace and caused some damage. Brooke was shopping in town and heard what she thought was a canopy falling off a roof (actually her first thought was that it was a sail on the roof, but that made NO sense). There was a bit of damage, but really not too bad. Brooke got out my cell phone to call David who was on the boat, but could not get through. As she looked around, at least 90% of the people around her on the street we already on their phones. It took about a half an hour to get through to David’s phone. He said he heard a little rumble and felt a small wave, but had no idea what had happened! But FAR worse was the unprovoked attack on our dinghy by a band of duck hoodlums while we were eating dinner ashore. They defiled our dinghy in ways that were disgusting and rude, to say the least. It took much spraying, scrubbing and a little gagging to get rid of the evidence. We will never again look at those cute little ducks swimming around with the same fondness.

David with Brooke

P.S. The picture shows a new development right after the earthquake: Previously, there was no gap between the two buildings!