Beyond Cape May...

South Jersey Marina

Seven days after arriving in Cape May, we finally got the short weather window to escape and continue on our journey.  Don't get me wrong, this town is a beautiful little spot and I would recommend it to anyone, the old Victorian homes, the miles long beach.  But, we just needed to move on and inland, now that hurricane Matthew is getting revved up.  So, finally on October 2nd, our chance opened up and away we went.  Just getting out of the marina was a challenge with the current/tide, and after another little bump on our little boat we were out and on our way.

Lewes Ferry Terminal

Cape May proper is actually an island as there is a canal that cuts across the cape a few miles from its tip. This canal shortens the distance to the Delaware Bay; cutting off several miles that going back onto the Atlantic and south around the cape adds.  However the canal has limitations; you can't have a mast height more than 55 feet. We fall into that canal category, we think our mast height is 50 feet. We came to the first bridge and the measure board said there was 54 feet of room, .... the bridge looks awful low and our mast looks really tall.  There's no stopping...and the gut wrenches because you're not 100% sure you've got enough room...the perception from the boat deck is that you're going to crash.  We did have enough room and by how much,... I have no idea, but enough.

Wave action on the Delaware

Just as the canal enters the Delaware Bay is where the terminal for the ferries that cross the Delaware to Lewes in Maryland.  They are big... and thankfully were not scheduled to move as we went by.

barge and tug combo

We came out into the Delaware to more big bumps, it looked harsher than what the reports said, but manageable.  To boot there was fog, so thankful for a chart plotter because you can get very disoriented without a compass bearing to follow.  A little lataer we put up a bit of sail to help stabilize the boat.  We were running with the tide,  clipping along over 7 knots so didn't need too much sail or we'd be a bit out of control.  The water settled down after a few hours and we continued along at a good pace.  This trip can be a long and tedious day, the plan for passage is to have a tide with you all the way or at least most of it and with the wind from the south.  We had the tide, but the wind came from the east, not bad, out of the north is the worst.
About 15 nautical miles away from the canal, the engine warning alarm came on... it was overheating.  We shut it down and Al went down to assess the situation.  To get to the engine compartment, a lot of stuff had to be moved, which happened quickly.  Did I mention we were on the edge of the shipping channel... and now the wind had completely died...and the current is nearing the end of the flood.  Not a great situation to be in.  These ships throw out a lot of wake, never mind the larger stink pots that don't slow down for sailboats.  Their wake can be as big or bigger than some of the ships.
One sailboat that had been behind us, haled to see if we were ok.  Al was still assessing at that point so there was nothing they could do for us.  Meanwhile, I am trying to find any breath of wind to keep us moving forward and out of the channel. Oh did I mention there was a big channel marking buoy, sitting on the bottom that I had to get us by too.  As it turned out the fan belt had blown, we had a replacement, all is ok... well not really Al couldn't for the life of him get it on.  The cabin around the motor at this point is really hot, as you can imagine from an engine that's been running for several hours by now.  Al sweated and struggled for most of a couple hours trying to get this stupid belt to go on - no luck.  He finally brought out another old belt that the blown one had once replaced.  It was just looser, not blown, so he put that one on and we carried on.  Now the tide has turned and our 7 - 8 knots is now 3.5 - 4 knots and the end of the day is closing in on us.  When the sun goes down at 6:45 its dark within half an hour.  There really is only 12 hours of daylight to deal with here.
We finally got to the canal at 6 pm, with 8 nautical miles to get to the marina where we were going to stop for the night.  The good part is now the tide is with us again and we're back to 7 plus knots.

The canal lights are on the stands

The canal is very wide, and has a mercury vapour light (amber street light) every 500 feet, so that part is good.  We got to the marina just after the sun went down, so there's still enough light to get through their very narrow entrance and tie up to the dock, phew, and then it was dark.
This marina is in the middle of no where, doesn't really have amenities other than a bathroom and shower (in bad shape).  We were spoilt with the showers at Cape May.  The walk to the bathroom if we didn't want to use our boat head is 647 steps... each way, I counted.   We had hoped to order in from a place that delivers... they were closed on Sundays.  Al instead made a great dinner for us, which we enjoyed in our cockpit, with some wine and chocolate (chocofellars, ya!!) and were glad that the day ended as well as it had.  Things could have been a lot different.

Big ship in the canal

Next morning, we slept in...tried to get a mechanic to come and get the new fan belt on and do a service on the engine.  We are still assessing our hurricane plan; this marina is a hurricane hole, but Matthew is still a week away it seems, and there's not much here.  So, as the tide turned to our favour, we decided to push on to the next hurricane hole to check out, we hadn't heard from the mechanic either so on we went.

Chesapeake City on the canal

Coming into Chesapeake Bay

We passed Chesapeake City in the canal which is considered the home port, so the green cans and red cones switch their meaning.  Red right returning... so now the red is on the port and the green on our starboard as we're heading downstream now.  When we got to the end of the canal it opens out to the Chesapeake Bay.  It is quite beautiful, with many varying depths.  There is a shipping channel down the middle which is best to stick with.  There can be very shallow places where it looks great, but not. The picture of the bay below and to the right had a depth of around 2 feet though out except a narrow channel down one side that is dredged.  We didn't bother with the sail as we were again well over 7 knots with the tide and had to dodge and weave through big waves all along the way.

Chesapeake Bay

Another reason to stay in the shipping channel is that there are crab pot floats everywhere else.  We know of two boats already that have had an altercation with them being wrapped around their props, and we really don't want that to happen to us, or anybody for that matter.  Being vigilant at all times is imperative, as they are of all kinds of colours, black and blue being common, go figure, on dark water.

The moon and Venus, barely

Evening in Worton Creek

Later in the afternoon, we finally arrived at our next hurricane hole, Worton Creek and the marina named after it.  Oh its shallow, Al thought we were plowing snow coming in as there didn't seem to be any depth to the place at all, but we didn't get hung up and made it to the dock.  We were greeted by the dockmaster who was just leaving for the day, they close at 4:30, but he hadn't quite left so helped us tie up at the fuel dock for the night.




There were these two fellows in a boat somewhat smaller than ours that are stopped here overnight. They are working their way north through the Delaware down to Cape May and then north to New York city. We offered what we'd experienced coming from that way, because that's what you do. They've had quite the journey so far too. We chatted with them for a while, then they and us ordered pizza to be delivered to the marina for supper.  Cold beer and pizza, can't complain, it was warm out.


This morning, we had the mechanic come by to get that darn new fan belt on, change the oil and put in a new impeller.  We should now be good to go for another 50 hours. The belt even took him quite a while to get on.
We are staying here tonight, still considering just staying here until Matthew goes away.  We are in no way going to take chances on getting in its path to be sure.  This little spot could be just the ticket.... as Matthews route becomes more clear we will adjust our plans.  If we stay here, there will be some prep to be done on the boat to give her the best chance of getting through this, without us on board.
So it's nearing the end of another day, Al is making a seafood chowder for supper, yum... and I'm typing, all is good.
We are lucky,... friends we made earlier in our trip chose to go the outside route to Norfolk and are now stuck on the outside coast right in line with Matthews route as of today - sure wish we could do something for them.  Their plan was sound when they made it, but Mother Nature being as she is changed the game plan.  They are prepping their boat already, getting ready to leave her as best they can with the best hope for a good outcome after the storm passes.  We are all hoping the storm makes a right hand turn and goes further out to sea, lets all hope.  There is a lot of damage and carnage in this storms wake for sure and there will be lots more.
Hurricanes are much scarier when one is closer to the line of fire.
Talk again soon....