Chesapeake Bay At Long Last!

PM's Perspective

In the weeks before we actually left on our current adventure, Bob and I would discuss our anticipated schedule.  We both thought for sure that we would cruise into Chesapeake Bay by mid August and here it was August 29, the start of the Labor Day weekend ending the summer, and we have only made it as far as Atlantic City!  Expectations can be a dangerous thing in life, particularly on a boat, so we have adopted the attitude of Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine fame of, "What, me worry?"  We have a general plan and we are moving forward!  So what if we aren't where we thought we would be?

Having no regrets about leaving Atlantic City after two nights and one full day in the Las Vegas of the east, we motored through the channel of Absecon Inlet and into the open ocean.  Sun flickered off the gilded onion top domes of Trump's Taj Mahal as we bid good riddance to this fair city.  I just don't get the attraction of the gambling lifestyle.  The six hour, 38 nautical mile trip to South Jersey Marina in Cape May went delightfully uneventfully.  Bob skillfully glided Velomer's stern into our slip where we stayed for Friday and Saturday nights.  During the day on Saturday we biked into town to get a taste of the flavor of Cape May and to re-provision at Acme supermarket right in downtown.  It was a typical tourist-town-at-the-height-of-the-Labor-Day-weekend event with heavy traffic and wall-to-wall people, not my idea of a good time.  On our return trip next spring as we start the Great Loop, I will make a point to revisit this charming town when less traffic is afoot.

On Sunday, we awoke early and got underway shortly after dawn on our journey heading north up Delaware Bay toward Delaware City on the east side of the C&D Canal, our gateway to Chesapeake Bay.  Dawn on the water is magical.  The rising sun kisses your face, the birds greet the day, and the surface of the water mirrors the sky above.  This Sunday was no different.  As we progressed, the day got cloudy and haze decreased visibility so that land disappeared from sight.  I initially found this a bit unsettling but was confident that the land was still there.  A few presses on the zoom-out button on the GPS unit confirmed my belief.  Seven hours and 54 nautical miles later, we maneuvered onto the face dock at Delaware City Marina expertly guided by the capable directions of Tim, the dock master who intimately knows the tricky tides and currents that haunt his docks.

We spent the next two full days and three nights in Delaware City enjoying the local flavor including the crab imperial at Crabby Dick's restaurant which I wasn't particularly fond of (why ruin perfectly fine crab with breadcrumbs and cheese?),  Cordelia's Bakery serving the best chicken salad imaginable, reading up on the history of Pea Patch Island, visiting the old C&D Canal and catching up on laundry.  Delaware City's reason for existence was the construction of the original C&D Canal which began in fits and starts and was finally completed in 1829 at the astronomical cost at the time of $3.5 million.  The purpose of the canal was to shorten the travel distance between Chesapeake Bay and the city of Philadelphia by some 300 miles.  The original canal, privately constructed, was 14 miles long, 10 feet deep and 66 feet wide and included four locks.  Teams of mules and horses provided the power to tow freight and passengers.  Steamships replaced the mules and horses.  In 1919, the canal was purchased by the federal government.  In the mid 1920s, the eastern entrance to the canal was moved from Delaware City to Reedy Point, its current location.  Delaware City has never quite regained the predominance it once enjoyed as the eastern terminus of the canal.  Over the years, the canal was been widened, deepened and otherwise improved to its current 450 feet wide and 35 feet deep, plenty of berth for passing barges and Velomer.

Blue bridge over the C&D Canal

Tim was extremely helpful with information on places to visit and marinas to stay while cruising in the Chesapeake.  We felt ready to roll.  On Wednesday, September 3, we planned to leave at 7 AM during slack tide to broach the C&D Canal and finally enter Chesapeake Bay.  The day before, Tim said he would be at the dock to help us shove off.  Sure enough, Tim came by a little after 7 AM to untie our lines as we bade farewell to Delaware City.  We glided out of the old canal into the Delaware River heading for Reedy Point where we entered the breakwater to the canal.  I took the helm and headed west toward the Chesapeake.  Commercial traffic was almost non-existent as this was Labor Day weekend.  The most memorable event was passing under the blue bridge that spans the canal near the Delaware-Maryland border.  As we neared the western terminus of the canal at Chesapeake City in Maryland both Bob and I felt a sense of accomplishment.

Ospreys nesting on channel markers

We eased Velomer into the mouth of the Elk River at the head of Chesapeake Bay.  We made it!  Several things have impressed us about the Chesapeake.  First is how shallow the upper bay area is.  We have had to be very vigilant about staying within the marked channels as any major deviation could send us aground.  Second is the abundance of bird life.  Almost every channel marker is a nesting ground for osprey.  Long necked blue herons fly overhead and feed on the river banks.  A wide variety of ducks and gulls grace the waters.

We have spent the last two weeks exploring the eastern shore of the bay spending time in Georgetown on the Sassafras River, Rock Hall on the Swan River and Oxford on the Tred Avon River interrupted by a trip back to Maine on business.  We could easily spend months exploring the nooks and crannies of this wonderful area.  We look forward to more exploration.