May 22
We stayed at dock because of the weather forecast today
and felt vindicated when at 6 pm we were hit by heavy rain and marble and pea
size hail for about 20 minutes. It felt good to be tied up and secure. Did not
see any viable damage to start, but upon further inspection we have tiny
punctures in our strataglass on the port side of the boat. There is probably
not enough damage totally to cover the deductible on the insurance policy. We
can temporarily use clear packing tape to hold us until we get home.
We spent part of the day at Calvert Marine Museum. We
have seen it all before but we did go through a light house that was moved from
Drum point to the museum site on Back Creek. Pilings were screwed by hand into
the sea bed to hold the house above water. It was roughly 800 sq. ft. of living
space with 2 working floors above. See the picture below, if I get it loaded.
One keeper lived there for 17 years with a wife and 5 children.
We used the dinghy to get to the museum and tied off at
their dock. It is free as long as you pay the entry to the museum. They allow
transients to tie off at the dock for free after 5pm. This allows you to walk
to the restaurants, shops and of course West Marine from their parking lot.
Nice to know.
We go back to anchor on Friday with hope for a weather
window prior to the expected Sunday.
We have been traveling up the Chesapeake in primarily
north to north west winds. So we are missing the predominate southerlies.
May24
Stuck our nose out into the bay this am and decided we
did not need to move that badly. Returned and anchored in Mills creek, still
the Solomon’s, and will wait for Sunday.
May 25
We left anchor at 6:15 a.m. for a fairly early start.
Waves were 1 foot or less and little wind. Current of between ½ to 1 knot
against us, as usual. We ran 11 hours today and anchored in the first bend in
the Sassafras River. Good protection, but it is a holiday weekend so it is
going to roll us until dark when the skiers go ashore.
The weekenders played till 9 p.m... Given a choice I
would go for the second bend to anchor. There is a navigable stream behind use
where a lot of boats most be docked, slow going for them so when they get out
front it’s peddle to the metal. Still we
had a good nights sleep.
We plan to sleep in Monday as the current at the C and D
canal does not change until 3:30 pm. Current here can be for or against you by as much as 2.5 kts. Per
hour so it is best to have it in your favor.
Once you are through the C +d, you have a 60 mile run
down the Delaware River into the bay.
Our game plan is to transit the canal and anchor for the
night 2 miles up the Delaware River behind Pea Patch Island. No great protection here but it is settled
weather with the wind at 5 to 10 miles per hour,out of the southwest. This lets us get an early start to
a long day. The current is against us until noon by as much as 2 knots
according to our charts. I hate the Delaware Bay, just for the record.
May 26
Everything went per the game plan. We refueled a
Chesapeake City so we have full tanks for the Delaware. This is in case we need
to travel at 12-15 knots to beat the weather. The boat likes 7-8 gallons an
hour at that pace.
Tonight’s anchorage is fine in settled weather with winds
from the south or west. Current is a different story.
The current on the outgoing tide goes through the
anchorage big time and at 2.75 knots it sounds like the boat is moving. A
rising tide and current is not the same, does not affect the current the same
way, so you get at least 6 hours of sleep until you go up to see who is at the
helm.
Game plan for May 27 is to get a 5:30 start to catch the
last of the tide in our favor and try to out run the turn in tide to the mouth
of the Delaware Bay.
We are going to dock at Lewes, DE, to wait on Robert,
Claudia, Hayden, and Kirsten for the weekend.
May 27,
We got that 5:15 a.m. start we wanted with a 1.5 knot
current kicker that lasted about an hour. It then dropped to .5 knot help and
by 9 a.m. we had a 2 knot headwind. We finally got ahead again with 2 hours to
go and the average for the trip was normal at 8.1 knots.
Lewes is not set up for a large transient trade. Not many
docks available. Easy entrance of at least 10 foot in depth, with the
canal running an average of 12 foot at
low tide.
We will use a day to clean the boat, do laundry again,
grocery shop and make minor repairs.
We had quite a
time docking as we were about mid tide with a very strong current. Needless to
say on the fourth time I finally gave it enough power to make it into the slip
before the current turned me again. Of course I had the boat moving fast enough
that those on the dock to grab lines did not think I would have enough power to
stop it. Wrong, big engine. There was an outdoor restaurant behind the dock,
and seeing me dock must have been a great show.
