We left Baltimore on Monday, June 28th. We had a great time there visiting with friends and family but it was time to move on. As we left the Baltimore Harbor, we passed by the hospital ship ‘Comfort’ which we think was in Haiti after the earthquake. We also watched a huge container ship making its way out. From our perspective, it looked like it would be a tight squeeze under the Francis Scott Key bridge, but of course she made it with plenty of room to spare.
It took us about 6.5 hours to get to the top of the Chesapeake Bay and into the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. We had made a reservation at a marina (there is no anchoring in the canal) that was on the east end of the canal. We read in the guide that the C&D Canal was the busiest canal in the country and the 3rd busiest one in the world. You couldn’t tell that by our trip as we saw only one lonely tug pulling a barge.
We also passed by the beautiful old town of Chesapeake City. We stayed here a few years ago when Vicki and Norm had their boat renaming ceremony for Tide Hiker. Many of the buildings are from the early 1800’s. It is just a sweet little town.
Chesapeake City, MD
We woke up early and left the dock at 6:00 am to make our way across the Delaware Bay with Cape May our destination. The Delaware Bay is a large body of water and if the winds are high it can be a pretty uncomfortable ride. We lucked out and had a wonderful day on the water. The temps were in the high 70’s and the current was with us so we were really moving fast at 10 knots (about 12 mph!!). Hold on to your hats …! We normally cruise at about 7.5 knots so we felt like we were flying!
Passing traffic on Delaware Bay
To get to Cape May, which is on the southern tip of New Jersey, we left the Delaware River and entered the Cape May Canal which is a much smaller canal and arrived in Utsch’s marina which was very conveniently located. We had heard great things about Cape May and since neither of us had been there before we decided to stay for 3 days.
The second day we were there we pumped up the tires on our bikes and set out to see the town. We were quickly reminded that drivers in NJ seem to have the right of way so we tried to stay out of their way. What a great town Cape May is! Many of the old homes are inns or B&B’s. You could tell there was a lot of pride in the town in how the homes were kept up and flags everywhere for July 4th weekend. Here are some pictures of the town and our ride.
The ride into town
The following pictures were taken along the pedestrian mall
Guess who took this one!! When is the last time you saw a five and dime?
We stopped for lunch and watched the people stroll by then we peddled a couple of blocks down to the beach. These are the beachfront hotels. Lots of charm!
We stopped at a hot dog stand to get a cold drink and had a great chat with Joe, the owner, who just retired and is doing this for fun. We enjoyed talking with him but were disappointed that we didn’t get a picture of him.
That evening we had dinner with Bill and Maryfran, who own a summer home just north of Cape May and are best friends of Lynnie’s sister and her husband. We had such fun with them. We had appetizers and adult beverages on Rickshaw then they took us to a fabulous restaurant. On the way to the restaurant we stopped at the local KMart so that we could power shop and get a few needed provisions … ANOTHER coffee maker, the 4th, to replace the latest one fried by the power spikes switching from ship to shore power … they’re not very forgiving! We had not seen Bill and Maryfran for some time and it was just great to get caught up with each other’s lives. Thanks guys for a most enjoyable evening!
These pictures were taken down the dock from us in Cape May. Guess we are glad we don’t own a sailboat if you have to do this! The guy was working on his radar, we think.
Rick calls these ‘boat chaos’ pictures!!
The marina was full but #13, next to us, remained unrented!
These pilings are untreated tree trunks from a South American forest, reportedly hard as rocks
Today is Saturday, July 3rd, and we left Cape May for a 5 hour trip up the Atlantic coastline heading for Atlantic City. We wanted to anchor out but we feared that due to the July 4th holiday the anchorage would be full. So, we bit the bullet and are at the Trump Marina for 2 nights.
This parasail boat took off right in front of us. The kids looked like they were having fun.
Passing the rides at Wildwood, NJ
This marina is huge and we are at the very end of one of the long docks. It will be great for watching the fireworks tomorrow night. Then bright and early on Monday we will leave for the 10 hour run to Sandy Hook, NJ which is just south of New York Harbor.
We hope everyone has a grand July 4th holiday weekend …!
