July 4th Cruise - Day 7
06 July 2006 | Cape May to Reedy Point
Sharon

We caught the rising tide at 8 a.m. and were out of the mouth of the Cape May Canal by 9 o?? clock in time to encounter the flooding Delaware River with trees and various flotsams causing us to be on our toes to dodge them all.
Three huge ships past eachother and us in the narrowest part of the Bay. It is quite hair-raising to see three massive freighters come barreling down at you when you have nowhere to go. We did enjoy listening to the VHF radio conversations between other mariners and overheard seasoned ship?? s captains chastising other leisure craft for bad seamanship while in shipping channels. Of course, we did our best to be on good behavior.
Despite our inexperience in navigating the infamous Delaware Bay we managed to leave at the perfect time to ride the tide all the way up to the C & D Canal. We motor sailed most of the way and made good time. Having the headsails up made it significantly more comfortable in those conditions.
We decided to anchor just shy of the entrance to the canal and only head on through it on the morrow. Using forward-looking sonar to dodge logs and other debris, we missed various dykes and managed to anchor securely behind Reedy?? s Island. Can you believe, we encountered a 2-knot current while at anchor? Amazing! We enjoyed another beautiful sunset in the cockpit despite having found ourselves once again anchored off another power plant (seems to be a recurring theme of this trip). Dinner was a chicken, almond, honey and famous South African peppadew dish ??" yummy!