We departed Summit North Marina at 0540 this morning (ugh) and arrived in Cape May NJ at 1440. It was a really great ride, following seas, North winds, rocketed down the Delaware Bay at light speed…until we made the turn to the Cape May canal and played chicken with a ferry, we lost. We planned to anchor near the USCG Station but there were several boats already there and the winds were absolutely howling, I would bet it was gale force. We tried to anchor several times and it just wasn’t going to happen, anchor kept dragging etc. sooooo, we opted for Utsch’s Marina. Oh this day will live forever. Once we radioed for directions we “attempted” entry to the marina…and WHO RAN AGROUND, yes WE DID!! AHAHAHAHA LOL!! So it wasn’t that funny at the time but it’s funny now, no harm no foul. Actually we don’t feel too bad, there were several people that ran aground in various places of Cape May harbor at the same time. Long story short, it was MLLW or ultra low tide, we waited a little while for the tide to come in and backed out of the mud and tried again. Made it into the marina safe and sound.

Sun-up on the C&D Canal:

Delaware River:

Commercial traffic on the river:

 Ship chasing us down:

Cape May Canal bridges:

Oh there are NO pictures of the grounding incident! We should be off to Altantic City tomorrow, at high tide (depending on the weather).

We planned for a short second day so we slept in a bit, awoke to sunshine and deer walking on the beach. We had some breakfast, reviewed our plan and got underway. It was very windy, 15-20 knots with gusts to 25, and very choppy confused seas. We took a few waves over the bow and a few crashed over the side sending a nice spray of water everywhere, a couple of waves tried to make it into the cockpit. I tried taking pictures of the waves encroaching on our stern but they don’t really show much. The boat was rocking and rolling the whole day, it was a blast!

Motoring out of Still Pond:

Waves inches under the toe rail:

The closer we got to the C&D canal the more barge traffic we encountered:

We had the head sail and mizzen up most of the day. As we approached the canal the seas became almost calm even though the winds remained high. At times we rocketed along at over seven knots!

Entrance to Chesapeake City anchorage:

We opted to bypass Chesapeake City and stay at Summit North Marina which is almost at the mid point of the canal.

If all goes well we should be in Cape May by tomorrow night.

All seems to be going well! We left Herrington Harbour North Marina on the first of June and headed up the Chesapeake Bay. We motor sailed most of the way to our first destination, Still Pond (and it was). The weather was good in the morning but a line of thunder storms blew through in the afternoon and evening, winds were very gusty and seas got rough. All in all it was a very good first day!

Heading up the Bay, big ships in the distance:

One behind us:

Of the nine ships we came upon by the Bay Bridge, eight were at anchor:

Sailing under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge:

We sailed into our final destination for the day, Still Pond, an hour ahead of schedule! What a great anchorage and we had it all to ourselves:

The winds continued well into the night but we were completely protected in this cove. All we heard was the wind in the trees, the boat barely moved at all!

After pork chops, rice, and chocolate chip cookies it was off to bed!