Day 7 Delaware Bay

So all the other boat crews we talked to were in agreement that the smart way to run the Delaware Bay and the canal is to go up the bay with an incoming tide and to run the canal on ebb tide.  The incoming tide was at 1:00PM so we took our time in the morning with extra sleep, breakfast, boat chores, and fishing.   Sean and I caught a lot  of small croaker and spot.

 

When next we looked around, all the other boats were gone.  So much for the plan.  We waited until close to noon and then headed out.  There are lots of shallow spots in the Delaware bay to watch out for and a fair amount of commercial traffic.  We picked a route up the old channel to have plenty of depth but keep us out of the commercial traffic.

  

Once the tidal current kicked in, we started to fly.  This was the first day of the trip in which we were not fighting the wind but instead were running almost dead down wind.  For a long stretch we went wing-on-wing with the UPS sail and cruised along at a consistent speed over ground of 7-8 knots.

  

Our record speed of the trip, 9.6 knots, was hit as we came around the nuclear power plant.

  

Nice shot of a container ship we passed at sundown. 

 

We got to the C&D canal at exactly the time the tides switched over, perfect for running the canal.  The canal is like driving the boat down a highway.  It is lighted at night and with the exception of a surly tow boat driver or two, is a easy trip with lots to see along the shore.  Here is one of the 5 bridges we went under. 

There was no room in the Chesapeake City basin so we continued on out the other side of the canal and down to the Bohemia River.  There we met up with Healer, Last Mango, and Ariake.  We set the record for people in the cockpit on Healer and enjoyed good music, food, and drinks.  Michael has thousands of songs in his electronic collection and let's you request anything you want.  He will not play it but is happy to take the requests.  Last Mango brought some amazing home cooked appetizers and discovered that Sean will indeed eat any amount of food that you give him.  Tomorrow - home.