After departing Herrington Harbor Marina at Tracy’s Landing, the plan was to transit the C&D Canal, stop for 2-3 nights at Delaware City Marina, then head down the Delaware River to Cape May. All of this would be the farthest north we’d be with Twin Sisters so far. This would be our first time in Cape May by boat via the Cape May canal that leads in off the Delaware’s eastern shore near the mouth of the DE River.

The good thing about protected places is that they ARE protected. The bad thing is you DO NOT know the exact state of conditions outside of that protection, no matter what the weather services say. But we kinda know the Chesapeake and venturing out on the Bay in winds (and therefore waves) that you are moving into will not be pleasant (for us anyhow) with a wind velocity greater than 8mph- ish.  A 5- 10 forecast became 10-15 on departure morning, but fearless cruisers pay no mind and deal with the cards you are dealt. Yeh, maybe for a few hours they do but then they become wiser, very uncomfortable, and bail out!

I looked for a protected anchorage within a reasonable distance off the Bay and found the Magothy River with a few options. Oh and I think we anchored here heading south in 2010, because the Glass House is kinda memorable.

Our spot at the end of the cul-du-sac (you get the idea) was lovely and protected- just what we wanted. Two osprey nests kept the binocs and camera busy. One nest appeared to missing Dad for a very long time, but I am happy to say that he eventually showed up with food.

The nastiness of Friday behind us, we had a longer day Saturday but it was pleasant except for the active power boat zone before the C&D’s western entrance where blessed “No Wake” signs smiled upon us.

We last visited Delaware City Marina October 2010 where the friendly marina staff made a lasting impression as did the warmth and yummy meals at Crabby Dicks. This time as then the darn Wx*#x*!  misbehaved and we’d be tucked in for three nights before moving on.

Tara, the marina’s office mgr is a twenty-something local who shows city pride with the info folder she assembles and eagerly gives you the low-down on places to eat, etc.  Crabby Dick’s had competition now from Lewinsky’s on Clinton. Isn’t that convenient how the main street down to the water is Clinton Street?

The marina sits alongside what was the original eastern entrance stretch of the C&D canal. When the canal was widened and deepened in 1927 the entrance was moved two miles south to its present spot at Reedy Point, leaving a narrow and protected stretch for the marina, dock space for the ferry to Pea Patch Island and the city’s fire & rescue boats.

Sunday geared up to be quite the windy gusty day as confirmed by the crazy boats out in it; at least 8 arrived to join us. No rain with this front so walking around town and out to the edge of the river was doable. A pretty Trumpy, m/y Aurora IV (68ft built 1955) slid in to her spot like “what wind and current?” We’d seen her around and her sister too, m/y Enticer.

 

 

The marina wi-fi  doesn’t reach farther than 100ft from the office, but with our Alpha booster antenna we picked it up easily. The Alpha was an early acquisition that has proven a smart choice and an excellent value for what it does. The cord is long enough so you can put it most anywhere, including outside the boat if needed, which we often did on Ortolan.

The marina offers bikes and we took the two best ones for short ride along the Canal Trail. The path is fairly recent, only a few years old with a couple of very new stretches.

 

We hadn’t brought water so after a while I turned back while Russ kept going for a bit. I returned just in time to see m/y Merlion (like Mermaid I guess) arrive. Why do I mention this you wonder? Let’s just say we don’t know the boat but we do know the guy at the bow.

Tuesday, with low winds and current in our favor we motored (oh right, that’s all we do now) down the Delaware, which for once didn’t look like the Blah Yuck River.

Across the river from Cape May is Lewes, Delaware and the large ferries run regularly back and forth. A dredge is working across from the Cape May ferry dock, hopefully making transit better for all boaters, so the smart if not cautious boat waits outside the jetties if a ferry is about to depart or enter. Yes that was us and a couple of others. Boy that ferry terminal is impressive.

Our hope was to spend a couple of nights anchored by the Coast Guard (training) station and experience some of Cape May- like the lighthouse, beach, seafood dining and pretty Victorian homes. Nope, not gonna happen. We fueled up at Utsch’s Marina, winner of the narrowest fuel docking spots, then dropped the Ultra close but not too close to the CG Station.

Dyad is a very identifiable vessel; you may recall a photo from 5 or 6 years ago, this baby is big and badass unattractive. I was going to say ugly but that’s not nice. Plus she’s a catamaran and well, we are too.  Most cruisers know of Dyad and we knew she was around after we spotted her leaving our hidey hole off the Magothy, and again the day we biked the canal trail.

A bunch of boats anchored there, most probably heading north like us, each with a different ability and plan to get to somewhere north. Those with speeds of at least 9kts can make NYC in the ample daylight available this time of year. Love it. Slower boats need to travel overnight or tuck into another New Jersey inlet (not many safe ones) if night travel isn’t appealing. We considered it, briefly. Nah, just bought diesel, so use it. That was the plan.

If all went according to our hopeful plan we’d zoom up the New Jersey coast to Sandy Hook on Wednesday, then take a day to get as far east through Long Island Sound as possible (within reason of course), ending up the CT River on Friday.

The trip up to Herrington Harbor North at Tracy’s Landing was a rather short four hours. Along the way we reached the 3,000 nm mark, about 3,450 statute or land miles. The big excitement of the day was retrieving Bonny from her outside winter “home” at Skinners Turn Storage, just a 10 mile uber trip away. She looked good and started right up after Russ re-connected the batteries. A bit musty but hey that will dissipate.

Packages awaited us at the marina office where we confirmed a week’s stay (at least) and got a pool pass (can you believe it went unused?) Haha

I’d been waiting with very high expectations for these new babies ever since Russ attended an electrical/solar/battery talk on Volleyball Beach in George Town, Bahamas. These replaced the not-very-old AGM dudes. The Trojans are designed for constant and deep discharging. Since we rely on our batteries to keep two or three fridge/freezers running all night, these new ones can handle discharging down to 12.3 (or lower) and still come back swinging full force. Life on the hook just got a positive boost. Leave it to a Trojan to provide great protection, right?

So we are sitting at the salon table, I look up to see a boat about to kiss our exposed starboard side- what the? Turns out they had engine troubles, no power and so we helped them tie up around the corner. Weekend outings are so precious; we remember those times.

Time got carved out for a short drive down to Herrington Harbor South where Don on s/v Blue Dancer now had a slip. We’d met him during our stay last Sept/Oct. He headed south but due to circumstances never got farther than Swan Point Marina in NC where we last saw him, preparing to be hauled out then fly home to Hawaii. A genuine, really nice man who loves to sail and I am certain is an excellent sailor. (maybe he and Patti should meet!) A lovely evening and my first Mojito in a long time. (thanks for planting the idea Benj)

The dreaded day arrived. No, not leaving the marina. The day we’d spend 15 hours away from Twins driving Ms Bonny to Connecticut and shelling out $67 in tolls for the pleasure of the shortest (fastest?) route on I95 and the NJ Turnpike. All in all the trip was good. Our EZPass is a life saver. We stopped at Tweed New Haven Airport for the Hertz (best price) car we’d drive back to MD, grabbed a delicious fast lunch at Lobster Landing (you should all be drooling and very jealous now), picked up our mail, dropped off Bonny, and back we went. Oh, I should mention that a HUGE mass of rain and thunder storms was headed east. PA got it bad but location and timing was our friend today and only had some light rain a couple of times on the way back. Whew, I was very glad we dodged that.

Google saved us a 90 minute delay on I95 before the GW, routing us on the Hutchinson and Saw Mill Parkways. The bridge seemed half empty, mostly due to the backup, we figured.

Finding a place for dinner is my challenging job. Was easier in pre-smartphone days when you almost had to stop at a service plaza or take a chance on some exit. I used a couple of different methods to find a place not too far off the interstate where we could wait out any commuting traffic slowdowns. Thanks for the help honey.

Texas Roadhouse came out on top and while 6 miles off the interstate, we just knew we’d be pleased. Oh ya babe, sure were. Only our third time ever in a TR; each time the entire experience has been delightful. You know how often the first time can be so great and then the next is so-so. Not so at TR and since this was our first time at this particular one, they lavished extra attention upon us. But not so hovering that we couldn’t stand it.

Inside that rounded dome thing that sat forward of the solar panels is a mini 360 degree directional dish that moves to find the station you want- or some such nonsense. You have to subscribe to DIRECTV in order to watch anything. I will spare you the LONG story on this but we tried it for a 3-day trial last Oct, and for a whole bunch of reasons, decided it wasn’t for us.

A few days before arriving at Herrington, Russ placed it on ebay along with the box and wiring, making sure that the darn thing still worked. yes it did. He listed it for pickup only and at the end of the auction- SOLD to a local guy who came when he said he would and took it off our hands. Weight off the boat is a good thing; so too is $$ in our PayPal account.

 

For many days the June 10 forecast promised 5-10, but from the north so we said, OK we need to get moving, we’ll do it; how bad can it be? Saturday looked much better and after a short day we’d be nestled in at Delaware City Marina, hunkered down for 3 nights.

Lots of possibilities here, as we enter the home stretch; Essex/Deep River CT only 375 nm away.