Cape May, Delaware City, North Chesapeake Bay and Annapolis

 



Barnegat Light

We motored past Barnegat Light and anchored Tuesday night in Cape May with the first of the boats we were now to be seeing headed south. All of them were sailboats. We went ashore and took a nice, long walk into town to re-provision and stretch our legs. The sailors had to anchor much farther out, so we did not see any of them off their boats. It turns out that we are travelling quite a bit faster as we can go 20 knots plus and they can generally only go 6-8 knots. The sailors we have talked to seem to have a year or more planned for their trips.



We rode along the Chesapeake Delaware Canal.

Linda and Phil Winn visited us in Delaware City along with
old pal Lin Wiesinger and friend.

The next morning we headed out the Cape May Canal into the Delaware Bay. Not too much excitement on that waterway. I will try and stay away from the word boring as I doubt any of you care, but...

In Delaware Bay we were called on the radio.  It turned out to be Josh Allen and his family.  He recognized us as we had been in a slip near them at the 79th Street Boat Basis.  We would end up seeing them a couple of more times in our travels and becoming boat friends.

We stayed at a great marina in Delaware City just 2 miles above the entrance to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. We pulled our bikes off and took a great ride along the canal and around Delaware City. Full sun, shorts and short sleeve shirts! The gloves, wool hats and wool socks have been put away for now. Bill's cousin and her husband, Linda and Phil and our friend Lyn and her fiancé Ted joined us for a crab dinner at Crabby Dick's where we all got free balls. Classy joint!


Our boat is in the distance dwarfed by the freighter.

The next morning we had to wait for fog to clear and did some projects on the boat in the morning. Bill figured out why our AIS wasn't working and ordered a part to be delivered to us in DC. The AIS is a system that shows other boats around us on our GPS chart plotter screen. We got going at noon to go through the 17 mile canal. The first boat we meet at the entrance is the biggest thing I have ever seen. It appears to me that we are racing to enter the canal first. I yell at Bill to please not compete with a behemoth! What if we get in there and our motor stops again?!!! Bill appears not to hear a word I say and he guns the engine. So, needless to say, our motor works fine and we are faster then the big guy. We leave him in our wake in no time. There are other tankers and freighters in the canal, still very big but much smaller than the behemoth. We are following another cruiser and quickly learn from him how to ask permission to pass on the radio. We pass two and found the ship captains polite and friendly to the little guys and helpful giving info and advice.  Our fellow travelers, sailors Josh and Ann, got a photo of us passing one of the freighters.  Do you see our little spec?.

Once out of the canal, the Chesapeake opened up and we found a beautiful quiet anchorage in Worton Creek, on the eastern shore. After anchoring, with only one other boat anchored a little way from us (a Mainer!), we put our kayak in the water and explored the area. There were 3 small marinas, a few houses and what appeared to be lots marked off for future building. The water was totally calm. We saw quite a few blue herons, which are bluer and smaller than ours in Maine and very noisy. We were clearly on the migration path of Canadian Geese and saw/heard several skeins with at least 200 birds. (On the ground they are a gaggle!) They seemed disorganized, rude and competing for leadership. Hmmm...


Going under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge



In the morning we went by the Allens
 in Worton Creek.  They had arrived the
night before about 6 hours after we did.

Yesterday we got off early and took a morning trip across the bay to Annapolis. The bay was quite choppy. Approaching Annapolis, we crossed, under the 4 1/2 mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge.


We toured the Naval Academy.

We were able to pull up to the town dock in downtown Annapolis. After a harborside burger and beer, we explored the old city and took a tour of the beautiful Naval Academy. 


The United States Naval Academy

Our first meal in Annapolis

The State of Maine flag is up there.

Today, Bill's brother Bob picks up to spend a day at their home outside of DC, but only after we see the great harbor tug of war between two sections of Annapolis.  The Eastport section, across the harbor, won, indicating that the bartenders there are a little huskier than their downtown Annapolis counterparts.