It's All About The Weather

On our last post, we were heading north out of the Chesapeake Bay. The passage out is along the C & D canal. As far back as 1764, map makers had noted that the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River were separated by only a small piece of land. Regional business leaders, including Benjamin Franklin, realized that connecting these two bodies of water would cut over 300 miles off the busy shipping routes between Philadelphia or Wilmington and Baltimore. Construction of the canal was started 1n 1804 and was completed in 1829. As with many of the portions of our trip, our research and planning led us to believe this would be a potentially stressful 14 miles of a narrow canal filled with large freighters. Fortunately the canal does not appear to be as busy with freighters as it once was. The canal was certainly not one of the more picturesque portions of our trip but we never saw a commercial vessel and neither did any of our friends that have traversed this canal. The end of the canal opens up to the Delaware River and here we did see some freighters but none that were of any real concern to us.

Just up river from the canal is the the Delaware City Marina where we tied up for 2 nights. This is a very popular stop for loopers and serves as a good staging area for the run down the Delaware River. The Delaware opens up into the Delaware Bay and with its strong currents, any significant winds can create large, uncomfortable and even dangerous swells and conditions. Tim, the proprietor of the marina does daily weather briefings for boaters about to traverse the river and bay. His briefings are helpful in interpreting the predicted conditions to pick a good day to travel. We decided to wait 2 days for a good weather window and we were glad we did. A fellow looper that headed out the day before we did got hit with pretty heavy conditions that made his trip long, slow and uncomfortable.

Like most canals from the early 19th century, many changes were made to the C&D canal over the years. In its present day form there are no longer any locks present but Delaware City was the site of the end of the original canal and the remnants of some of the original locks have been preserved. One thing i found interesting was one of the original diving bells used by maintenance workers to clean the bottom of the locks. It is nothing more than a rectangular shaped iron bell like device with an open botom. It would be filled with air and lowered down over the workers so they had air to breathe. I cannot imagine what it would be like to work in the dark under that bell. Another reminder of the toughness of previous generations.

While awaiting good weather conditions we met some new loopers. We got along very well with one couple in particular, Dave and Karen on See Level, and decided we would buddy boat with them. Dave is a retired submarine captain and Karen felt very comfortable following his lead ( at least as long as he didn't want to take us down to periscope depth ). So after a 2 day wait, we set off down the river and into the bay for the 61 mile run to Cape May N.J. The weather and seas that morning were perfect and there was very little commercial freighter traffic. We arrived that afternoon safely after a very uneventful passage.

Cape may is a cute town at the southern tip of New Jersey and has long been a popular vacation spot. After taking on fuel and tying up, we had a quick lunch on the boat and hopped on our bikes to hit the beach and see the town. The town was just what you would expect of a beach vacation spot with a cute walk street, restaurants and beachy shops. But it also had something unexpected! When we locked up our bikes and started walking onto the beach, an old guy asked to see our beach passes. Our what? I thought he was kidding. But, nope.... thats a thing here. To enjoy the beach here you need to buy either an $8 daily pass or a $30 seasonal pass. This was new to me... I have had to pay for beach parking before but I have never had to pay to walk on a beach. We susbesequently found out this is not uncommon in the part of the country. It was already late afternnon so we passed on the beach that day but did cough up the dough to go to the beach the next day. It was a nice beach and it felt good to get in the water play in the surf. Surprisingly, despite having been on the boat for 2 months, this was only the second time we actually were able to get in the water for a swim.

Just as Delaware city was the staging spot for the Delaware River run, Cape May is the staging spot for the next leg north. Although there is an intracoastal route up the coast of New Jersey, it is very shallow and difficult to navigate safely so most boaters travel outside in the ocean for the 130+ mile run from Cape May to New York Harbor. That is what we did. Along the way there are a few spots to head into ports, the main one being Atlantic City. We traveled again with Sea Level for a very calm run to Atlantic City. We only spent one night in AC but it was one of the more memorable nights of our trip. Delaney's boyfriend's parents have a beach home 1 town away from AC. Despite the fact that Delaney and Griffin have been together for over 4 years, I had only met his parents very briefly and Karen had never met them. We were long overdue to get to know them. So that we did. They drove over and had cocktails on the boat and they then drove us out to see their beach house. They bought this beautiful, large, old home that needed a lot of renovation and TLC. We had heard alot about it from Delaney as she has spent a fair amount of time there, both helping with their renovation projects and just relaxing. They have done a great job bringing this home back to life. I know they will have many happy family vacations there. We were glad we got to see it. After that, the four of us went out to dinner. Betsy and Sean were a lovely couple and we had a wonderful evening getting to know them. Future in-laws perhaps?

Although we planned to stay an additional day in AC, the weather the next day was predicted to be perfect for the 90 mile cruise to New York. Although we got back to the boat boat later that night than usual, we made the decision to get up early the next morning and head out. In the morning, we buddied up again with Dave and Karen and headed north. Once again we had a perfect morning for running up the coast with calm winds and swells that never exceeded 1.5 feet. The winds were predicted to fill in later with the possibility of a little rain as well. So, we ran fast, 16-18 mph, for the first 4 hours of the leg to get some miles in and then settled back to our usual cruising speed around 9 mph.The plan was successful. Those that had travelled more slowly did ge caught in some rain. We rounded Sandy Hook, NJ to enter the outer entrance to New York Harbor. We couldn't yet see the Statue of Liberty but we could see the New York skyline and the hustle and bustle of ferries and freighters. By 1:30 pm we had grabbed a mooring ball in Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island. We had made it. After all of our worries, our ocean passage had been a breeze. We have either been lucky or just prudent planners, but so far, all of our worry spots spots, Lake Okeechobee, the Albermarle Sound, Norfolk Harbor, Chesapeake Bay, C&D Canal, Delaware River, and Atlantic Ocean, have all been a walk in the park! I have many people ask me how Off Leash handles big seas and I have to answer...."I don't know... shes big and solid and I suspect she'll do great... but so far, she hasn't seen seas over 1.5 ft!"