July 27- Departed BYC and headed north to the top of the Chesapeake Bay and the C & D Canal. Plan to head to NJ and NY has been shelved until next year….they will still be there when I’m ready to visit! Have decided to do a little reconnaissance of the C & D Canal as far as its midpoint, Chesapeake City, and check out the anchorage.

The top of the Chesapeake Bay is considered to be Turkey Point at the convergence of the mouths of the Elk and Susquehanna Rivers. The former connects the C & D Canal to the rest of the Bay. The C & D Canal originally opened in the early 1800’s as a barge canal with 4 locks which were eliminated in the 1920’s, shortly after the US government purchased it. The C & D is ~12 miles long and reminds me of the Hobucken cut ….but much grander and wider (~450 feet) to accommodate huge cargo ships. They seem to fill the canal and I would hate to share the suddenly small space with one of those behemoths!

The passage up here was uneventful…the wind was 15-20 on the bow starboard quarter with 2-3 foot waves in the Middle River (Sue Creek and the BYC are located off Middle River). Conditions moderated (wind dropped to 5-10) after I was able to make the turn north into the Bay and then head northeast up the Elk River. I unfurled the headsail and motor sailed. Turned out to be a lovely day! I timed my departure from the club to catch the flood tidal current which goosed my speed, especially when the river narrowed at entrance to Back Creek which becomes the canal…..GPS said 8.2 knots! Abigail is restless in rough conditions but settled down for serious nap in cockpit with moderating conditions.

The scenery sliding by was beautiful! At the edges of the river, forests marched up hills which were occasionally interrupted by large areas of bright green grass surrounding a sizeable home. Only sour note were the “schools” of powerboats roaring by, throwing huge wakes as they traveled north and south. The wakes caused an almost continuous churning of the water which would have tossed Celerity around but there were so many powerboats of varied sizes, moving in two directions, that their wakes seemed to cancel each other out!

The anchorage in Chesapeake City is a popular layover spot for boats heading to or from Delaware Bay and Cape May. The entrance to the anchorage is just beyond the high rise bridge (~135 feet vertical clearance…far more than ICW 65 feet for cargo ship passage). It is an egg-shaped basin with plenty of water inside but thin water at narrow entrance. Celerity slipped across with 1.8 feet under her keel….but with 9 feet under inside! The Army Corps of Engineers has a large facility on one side of the anchorage with lots of green grass and picnic tables open to the public…they are responsible for managing/maintaining the Canal. A public boat ramp is on another and the Chesapeake Inn and Marina is on the third side with a small bridge and houses. A small City dock including a dinghy dock is at the entrance.

Basin has enough space for a lot of boats, depending on how comfortable one is with tight anchoring! I shared the anchorage with about 8-10 boats on Sat night. The Chesapeake Inn is a very popular restaurant and marina in the basin….an almost constant hail on VHF with requests by power boaters to come in for dinner…..unfortunately there was not enough slip/dock space for all of them…so they anchored and water taxi would pick them up. Typical of most large and small power boat owners (ok…maybe too broad a generality)…toss the Danforth, let out some rope rode, kill engine and board the water taxi. I was thankful the night was calm and that the boats did not seem to be the type for the people to stay on overnight. The anchorage became very crowded, with some of the boats separated by only a few feet! By nightfall, most of these boats had departed for home, leaving a trawler and 4 sailboats. Thank Neptune!!!!!

July 28- On Monday, I dinghied over to a Catalina 30, The Chance, and introduced myself…..John and Karen from the Magothy River in the Bay. Came up to Chesapeake City for couple of days and then would return home to go back to work (those dirty words!) We went to town to check out the charming shops including a vintage clothing store (wish I had a closet!), antique shops, fibers shop (amazing textures and colors of yarns), an artist’s studio and gallery, and several others. Not typical tourist shops! Walked couple of miles to post office, bank and gas station and rewarded ourselves with an ice cream cone at a walk-up window at a road-side grill.

That evening, we had dinner at The Bayard House, the oldest house in Chesapeake City. We were fortunate to sit on patio overlooking the canal…….Evening was cloudless and cool with a slight breeze. Perfect! Food was delicious (broiled Alaskan Salmon with shrimp and scallops and a Tomato Coulee…yum) and a dirty vodka martini, shaken not stirred. Marvelous! John and Karen were delightful and entertaining dinner companions. They cruised the Caribbean full time some years ago on a Tayana 37 (same name as their Catalina) and surprise, surprise, knew River Rats, Carl and Mary (Camryka) and Bob Nimmo (formerly of Christina). It is a tiny world! We swapped stories and told only a few lies (as boaters will). Am fortunate that they happened to come to Chesapeake City when I did……They will depart for home tomorrow. I hope we will stay in touch!

While we were at dinner, and before the sun set, we had quite an amazing sight in the canal…a huge car carrier cargo ship was emerging from around a bend in the canal and headed our way. There were 2-3 small powerboats in the center of the canal who were headed his way…they very quickly moved close to the edge of the canal! A tiny red pilot boat was moving alongside the behemoth to deliver a pilot who would take over control of the ship to get it safely through the canal (a highway bridge that crosses the canal is the state line between Maryland and Delaware…pilots have to change at the bridge when ship crosses state line). The pilot would have to climb a long rope ladder draped down the huge wall of the ship (seemed like the side of a skyscraper to me) to reach the bridge. The red pilot boat looked like a bathtub toy alongside the cargo ship (see pic). The tiny white speck on side of the ship, above the pilot boat, is not dust...it is the pilot climbing the ladder! No wonder they get paid big bucks!

July 29- Did I mention a public boat ramp in the back of the basin? On sat night, it should have been take a number boat ramp! Seems everyone wants to end their day of boating at the same time…..to load the boat on to the trailer and head home……so there was a serious boat jam at the ramp…..boats were in line waiting for the guy in front of them to hurry up, back the trailer down the ramp without taking 8 tries to get it lined up, and then don’t take 4 tries to get the blasted boat lined up on the trailer, and 2 tries to pull the whole mess off the steep ramp! And be sure you pull out of the way before you finish tying it down and moving all the water toys and fishing stuff to the tow vehicle! Hurry up! Tempers flared! It was kind of entertaining to be sitting at anchor watching the whole mad dance. Sunday night was downright boring with only a few boats using the ramp!

In addition to boaters, the edge of the basin at the Corps of Army Engineer grounds seems to be a favorite spot for numerous geese (is that a gaggle or more?) to hang out..may be because it is a green grassy area bordering the water and the government facility is closed on weekends so no workers are there. The geese pretty much have the whole area to themselves….On Sunday at dusk, a large goose was calling…..another goose would answer. He would call again…maybe couple of geese answered. He called again...more answered. Seemed like a goose roll call before night set in…..

July 31- Who would have thought that Chesapeake City would have been full of so many delightful surprises! In a few days, I will head west back down the Canal to the Chesapeake Bay and will spend the next few weeks gunkholing. Who knows what the next adventure will be!