Tuesday...Sept. 18 Worton Creek, Maryland

Last night we were invited for dinner on "Cielo" along with the folks from "Cambio" which was the first sail boat we saw with their mast down on the Erie canal. We have been chatting and waving at each other for the three weeks but had never formally met. It was Kevin's birthday and he served a marinated pork loin and some excellent spinach wilted in olive oil and garlic. (I think that's all he did) The six of us were way too loud for the small crowded anchorage but no one said anything. Hopefully we'll catch up with both of these boats in Annapolis.

We were in no hurry this morning, primarily because we had no destination in mind. The only task was to find somewhere to get fuel, water and to do some laundry. Over coffee, we studied our maps and guidebooks and came up with a couple of ideas. Weighing anchor after everyone else was gone was new for us. We motored out of the canal into a .5 knot current and in no time found ourselves in the upper Chesapeake. Passing the Bohemia and Sassafras rivers, we left the main channel through a minefield of crab pots and headed up Worton Creek. About two miles up the creek we came to the Worton Creek Marina and headed for the fuel dock maintaining at least 6 feet of water all the way.

The place is exactly what I expected a Chesapeake Marina to be...laid back, with about eight work boats ..."watermen" tied to the end of the gas dock, and pleasant people. There is a huge travel lift and about three yachts (one is a Berger) in the 100 foot range, undergoing extensive work. I tried to buy some crabs from fisherman as they came in but was too late. By the time I got there the only person left was a boy guarding the bushel baskets holding the day's catch who didn't have the authority to sell anything. We have a slip on the end of A dock and the other side of the creek is wild land ... complete with eagles, deer, and other seemingly happy critters.

Kathy is on her second load of wash and has at least two more to do before we walk up the hill to a restaurant that looks very promising.

By the way... The Chesapeake is gorgeous.

After dinner... if any of you boaters ever are in the neighborhood, the Harbor House Restaurant was a huge success. While working on laundry, we had meals to die for... I had Crab Imperial and Kathy had a lobster / scallops with Vermont cheddar and zucchini wrapped in puff pastry and baked......we had salads with house lavender / honey mustard dressing that was very light.

As we were paying our bill our waiter asked if we needed to have his mom take us to the super market tomorrow ( he said they were boaters also)....We still have clothes in the dryer so maybe we can get a few entries posted before bedtime.

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September 17th ..... Chesapeake City

Today we sailed.

We left Cape May an hour an a half after low tide and headed out the Cape May Canal which saves going around the shoals at the mouth of the Delaware Bay. The down side was that there were two 55 foot bridges and our mast is 54 foot tall... we made it, but not without few tense moments. The Canal is only about 4 miles long but saves about 15.

Delaware Bay is similar to the west end of Lake Erie... most of the water is 18 to 24 foot deep and the waves tend to be short and square. We had our foul weather gear on as well as our life jackets, as we cornered into the seas under power with about a two knot current in our favor. The mizzen and stay sail went up for stabilizing as we pounded to the north. After an hour or so we hoisted the main and rolled out the head sail .... and turned off the engine for the first time in a long time.

We had a great sail into the wind, and with the afore mention two knot push, were cruising along at 8 to above 9 knots for the better part of four hours. As the Bay became a river, the winds slacked and we were back to motor sailing for the remainder of our Bay Cruise.

About 50 miles up the Bay we hit the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal which is about 20 miles long and connects the Delaware Bay with the Chesapeake Bay.

Chesapeake City is about 14 miles into the canal and has a small harbor with too many boats.
We make our way in and found the last suitable anchorage... our friends Steve and Carol arrived about 20 minutes later, took a spin around and headed for the next anchorage about 8 miles away.

We find ourselves traveling in a loose knit group of about 12 boats.

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Friday, Sept. 14

We left our home in the marsh at around 8:45 and motored out the channel against a three knot current and past the row of casinos that make Atlantic City famous. The seas were rolly, but not bad. Our experience with the Atlantic (all two day's worth) is that it is much like traveling up Lake Michigan. We stay between 2 and 5 miles off shore in much less water than I expected. The lack of water tends to limit swell formation although every once in a while a set o waves will roll through. Yesterday we had more wind...from the SE and my arms are tired today after steering for the better part of seven hours. It is hard to estimate wave height...my best guess is that they were 2-4 feet on top of the occasional swell of probably 4 feet.

During the day I purchased ,via phone, an alternator which is going to be picked up by Kris Dilts tomorrow morning. Our plan is for me to take the Cape May to Lewes Ferry (across the mouth of the Delaware Bay) tomorrow afternoon and meet Kris. We can't thank Kris enough for his help and I fear will never be able to adequately repay him for his assistance. .

We arrived at Cape May around 4:00 pm and had no trouble with the inlet. I had worried all day about what reasonably large waves going directly against an out-going tide were going do to us and it ended up being fine. We surfed for about 100 yards and then drove into a steady two knot current.

Although the harbor is large here, anchorage is limited. There are about 10 boats anchored in a cluster just south of the main channel in front of the Coast Guard Docks. Commercial traffic tends to roll us around some but it hasn't been too bad. A front is moving through tonight and tomorrow a.m. , so it's best to stay off the water tomorrow and get some work done.

Saturday, Sept. 15

The front came through as forecast on Saturday morning and the wind filled in behind, 20 knots gusting to about 30. We thought we had a good anchor set but it took some watching to make sure. Kris called to say that he had our alternator, but at the time I was not at all sure about leaving Kathy alone on a boat that could drag. After a few hours, I decided that I needed to make the trip to Delaware and that if Kathy really needed help we were within shouting distance of the Coast Guard. I set a second anchor, hopped in the dingy and headed for the only marina that would allow me to tie up the dingy for the afternoon. I called a cab for the five mile trip to the ferry dock and then waited an hour for the next boat. The wind was wild on the bay and the stabilizers on the Ferry were working overtime. They were still not enough for the motion sensors on some the cars on the lower deck.

I walked off the boat chatted with Kris for a few minutes... then back on for the 80 minute return trip. I arrived back at the boat at about 6:00.


Meanwhile, back at the boat... I assured Mike that it was all okay-I didn't think we were drifting, although he did. Of course, as soon as he left, I was sure we were moving! I finally just sat out back and read etc., and I could tell everything was fine, but I still got nervous when we were waked by the whale watching boats and fishermen. I did clean the boat some and our neighbors, Liz and Kevin stopped by to chat and then Mike came back, and finally we decided to get together on our boat and Mike went and picked up Steve and Carol. It was a fun evening-such fun to meet new people.

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