6/6-6/9/12

Wednesday - I returned today from a 10-day trip.  My first leg was from Reagan National to Atlanta.  Then April, Charley, Brooklyn, Harper and I drove home to visit Elizabeth, Taylor and Jeremy.  We spent about 4 nights at home, then with Taylor, we all drove back to Atlanta.  The trip was fun and it was good to see all the kids.  They have such a good time together.  Jerry hung out on the boat in Pasadena, MD at the Pleasure Cove Marina.  He had a rental car over the weekend as well so at least had wheels for a few days while I was gone.



Elizabeth and Harper.  Harper is about 3 months old and just as cute as ever.  I love her smile and she coos when all is good.  You know, fed, changed and not sleepy.









Jerry met me at the airport,  then we went to the boat, gathered up laundry and my grocery list, and headed out again, taking full advantage of the rental car.  We ate dinner out, did our shopping and got back to the boat about dusk.  So good to be back home.


Thursday - returned the car (got a ride back to the boat), filled the boat with water and took off.  A short cruise from the marina to the Chesapeake Bay. It felt great to be back on the water.  Mostly uneventful day of cruising. 

Passed Coast Guard Cutter Albacore, rather it passed us.

This hill of houses struck me as odd.  Nothing else around it and the houses were crammed together.  Not much breathing room.




We went about 40 miles today.  Anchored just short of the Chesapeake and Delaware (C&D) canal in Veazey Cove on the Bohemia River.  A sailboat went in ahead of us so it was just two boats in the cove.  The wind picked up and it rained on us later in the evening, lots of lightning.  Most strikes were a few miles off so no worries.  Cooled off to the 60s for pleasant sleeping.

Friday - Off early today, expecting a long day.  Lots of logs and floating debris to watch for.  On the C&D Canal, we pass Chesapeake City.  C&D Canal is 12 miles long, sea level cut and has no locks so is perfect for commercial shipping traffic.  A dispatcher at Chesapeake City controls ship traffic by using red and green flashing lights at Reedy Point (off Delaware Bay) and Town Point Wharf (at the end of the Chesapeake Bay). 

 The free dock at Chesapeake City.  It's right on the canal with no protection from water traffic.

The entrance to the basin at Chesapeake City.  We thought about anchoring here, but couldn't guarantee a spot. Main reason we stayed in Bohemia River.

History lesson: in 1804 construction of the C&D canal began including 14 locks to connect the Christina River in Delaware with the Elk River at Welch Point, Maryland, but the project was halted two years later for lack of funds.

Canal construction resumed in April 1824, and in several years some 2,600 men were digging and hauling dirt from the ditch. Laborers toiled with pick and shovel, working for an average daily wage of 75 cents. The Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River were now connected by a navigation channel measuring nearly 14 miles long, 10 feet deep, 66 feet wide.
Teams of mules and horses towed freight and passenger barges, schooners and sloops through the canal. Cargoes included practically every useful item of daily life: lumber, grain, farm products, fish, cotton, coal, iron, and whiskey.

In 1919 the canal was purchased by the federal government for $2.5 million and designated the "Intra-coastal Waterway Delaware River to Chesapeake Bay, Delaware and Maryland."

Responsibility for operating, maintaining and improving the waterway was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers. By 1927 the eastern entrance at Delaware City had been relocated several miles south at Reedy Point, Del. All locks (except the one at Delaware City) were removed and the waterway was converted to a sea-level operation at 12 feet deep and 90 feet wide. These improvements cost $10 million.
Between 1935 and 1938 the channel was again improved — deepened to 27 feet and widened to 250 feet at a cost of nearly $13 million.
Through the years, as the sizes and tonnages of ships using the canal continued to grow, accidents and one-way traffic restrictions strained the canal's capacity.  In 1954 the United States Congress authorized further expansion of the channel to 450 feet wide and 35 feet deep. These improvements began in the 1960s and were completed in the mid-1970s.

Today's canal is a modern sea-level, electronically controlled commercial waterway, carrying 40 percent of all ship traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore.

Railroad bridge across the C&D.

The C&D Canal Bridge with the St. Georges Bridge in the background

Once we pass under this bridge, Reedy Point, we will be on the Delaware River which leads us to the Delaware Bay. 

This cargo ship is in an anchorage waiting for the tide/current to change before going through the canal.  We had some help, about 3 mph.  However, as we progressed on the Delaware, the current shifted and our ETA went from 4:04pm to 5:27pm. 

Dolphins!! - no pictures, but we saw them several times today.

Ship John Shoal Light.  As we are passing by this lighthouse, Swallow, a sailboat, was on the radio asking for help, he had run out of fuel.  He gave his location and Jerry said he was about 10 miles away, not much we could do to help.  Come to find out, the guy not only ran out of fuel, but didn't know where he was.  We could have helped him, he was just on the other side of this light.  We heard later that he had gotten some help.

Pulled into the Cape May canal.  This ferry was leaving the terminal as we came in.  Had to give it plenty of room and watch for wake.

One of the recommended anchorages was next to the Coast Guard station, just off the channel.  A sailboat was already there so pulled in behind them.  It was about 5:30pm when we got there.  The fishing boats returning to port kept coming by.  We must have seen a couple of hundred (maybe an exaggeration).  The boats were big and small. 

Sat on the sundeck and watched the stream of boats come by.  Our boat rocked as each one passed. Also heard the Coast Guard cadets singing or whatever they do, we never saw them.  We enjoyed a fabulous sunset.

Saturday - Jerry was up early.  The anchor alarm kept going off last night so he didn't sleep well.  We weren't moving, just changing positions. 

He caught sunrise.  The fishing fleet was off and running.  It was just the opposite of the night before.

Since he was up and the boat traffic was noisy, I got up too.  We took off about 6:00am on our way to Atlantic City, NJ via the Atlantic Ocean.  Our first run in open water on the East Coast.  Fortunately, the seas were relatively calm.  A 43 mile day.  Anchored in a basin north of the strip.  It's a popular place on weekends.  Must have been 10-15 boats in here.  Also, wave runners racing around.  By now, 5:15pm, it's only us and a trawler.