In the Chesapeake

Wednesday, Sept. 26

We stayed at Utsch's in Cape May another day and had a great day. We started with an
"apple ugly" from the bakery across the street and then walked to West Marine a half mile
away. We were checking the price and availability of new house batteries which are size
8D and not to be found around here because most boats around here are powerboats and
they use smaller batteries. While talking to the guys there they brought up the idea that
quite often electrical problems on a boat are best addressed first by a thorough cleaning
and tightening of all connections. I had forgotten this excellent advice and when I returned
to the boat I did this and found some suspect connections, with the result that I think our
charging problem is fixed, saving us big bucks and hassle (the batteries weigh 160 pounds
each).
We got out our bikes for the first time and rode 10 miles, traveling out to the lighthouse and
around town. They have some great wildlife displays at the lighthouse. Cape May is a
major migratory area for various owls and Monarch butterflies.
Happy hour was spent with Neil and Kelly on "Gon Bei", an enjoyable couple from San
Francisco. Neil made his money on real estate in the heyday out there and they are
conservatives. I didn't know that was possible being from San Francisco.


Thursday, Sept. 27

After much discussion and a phone call to Jan on "Rubaiyat" who did the Deleware two
days ago, we left Utsch's three and a half hours before low tide at Cape May. The Delaware
Bay is 54 miles long and has very strong tides and can be nasty depending on how you time
it. The guys at West Marine said "leave two hours before low tide", Skipper Bob says
"leave two hours after low tide", leaving us befuddled. We were facing a very long day so
followed Jan's advice which was we'd be OK if we left early due to calm weather forcast.
We ended up having a contrary current of 1 1/2 mph all day until the last hour of Deleware
Bay but with the calm weather it was fine. We only encountered one freighter all day and
we had been expecting heavy traffic. We made it up to the top of the bay and the beginning
of the C & D Canal just as darkness fell, which was a blessing. Just as we were getting
worried about finding the canal in the dark the current changed to favorable and we got
a big burst of speed to get there in time. The canal has lights all along the sides making it
easy to navigate and we didn't encounter any large boats, only on tug as we made our way
14 miles down to an anchorage area at Chesapeake City. We found our way into the bay
in the dark and got anchored by 9:00, a long day, but good. Shortly after anchoring the
sky was blocked out on the canal side of our boat. It was a "huge" ocean freighter going
down the canal, blocking part of the sky it was so big and close. We were glad to not have encountered that ship, getting in just in time.
Zero dollar day and very quiet anchorage. Slept well.

84 miles


Friday, Sept. 28

We stayed at Chesapeake City for another day since we have plenty of time to reach
Annopolis. We walked the town, visiting the shops in the historic buildings. There is a
pretty park on the harbor where many weddings are held, including one tomorrow they
were decorating for. We had lunch at The Chesapeake Inn on the water. There is an interesting
free canal museum by our boat. The canal is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.


Saturday, Sept. 29

After another peaceful night at anchor, with an overnight drizzle we left and headed for
Worton Creek, a secluded bay down the Chesapeake Bay. We were now in the Chesapeake
and we had a wonderful sail. Carol hit 8.4 knots (9.6 mph). While sailing along we watched
an eagle come alongside 50' from us and snatch a fish out of the water - awesome. There
were lots of sailboats out on the bay today but no bad traffic.
We pulled into Worton Creek which has a tricky entrance, especially at low tide when
we were coming in. We anchored in 5.2' of water and listened to owls all night. The full
moon was gorgeous and we awoke to a calm bay with mist rising around the sailboats and
geese, ducks and cormorants floating around. It was very ethereal.
Zero dollar day. The batteries and charger seem to be working well.

30 miles

Sunday, Sept. 30

We were able to sail most of the way to Rock Hall. Lots of sailboats were out again today
on a nice weekend day at the end of the season. We tied up to the harbor wall which has
free docking and soon met "Johnny Crash", a colorful friendly chap that describes himself
as a "sailing trotlining chicken necker crabber". In case you haven't figure it out he's a local.
We befriended him, listening to his tales while his girlfriend took the local trolley into
town to shop and he offered us 8 crabs he had just caught and steamed, ready to eat. He
wouldn't take any payment so we gave him a nice bottle of wine for his girlfriend. He was
a hoot and reminded me of my friend Wally Taylor on steroids (no slight meant, Wally -
you would have enjoyed him too).
We had lunch and watched a football game on TV at the Harbor Shack and then walked to
downtown, a half mile away for grocereies and ice cream. Motored over to North Point
for fuel and a pumpout ($) since we plan on anchoring out for the next week and a half.
Back at the boat we used our pliers and screwdriver to enjoy the Maryland blue crabs we
had been given - delicious.

22 miles

Monday, Oct. 1

We had rain overnight but it was nice in the morning as we left for Annapolis. It was calm
so we motored and it was interesting coming in to Annapolis by water after having come
here so many times by land. There are saiboats everywhere and even more right now due
to the boat show this next weekend. All the mooring balls were taken at the town docks
so we headed on to Weems Creek, our intended anchorage.It was very hard to find a spot
to drop our anchor due to all the private moorings and swinging room needed but we
finally got settled in and after lunch we dinghied to the end of the bay and then walked to
the downtown Annapolis harbor area (1.7 miles). We asked at the visitor center and the lady
working the desk being a sailor, was able to lead us to info on getting new windows put
in our dodger while in Annapolis. We were able to connect with Sean at Cover Loft and
they will do the work and have it back to us by next Wednesday. We'll be here for the boat
show and to connect with people from Geneva Marina and we will have some mail sent
here from home. This is a good place to spend some time and we have been making good
progress.

19 miles