FL to CT - Day 38
Chesapeake City, MD to Atlantic City, NJ

We were lucky to have our friends Jim and Cathy Fisher drive to Chesapeake City to visit us... we try to get together with them here when it works out... We had a great evening with them on SAILS... was really good to see them.
To optimize the current as much as possible we departed from Chesapeake City at 0600 while there was still a slight flood current... we hoped to ride it to the end of the C & D Canal where we would enter the Delaware River and catch the Ebb tide running to Cape May, NJ.
This sort plan sort of worked but we did have some times that the current was against us but for the most part we had current in our favor.

It was very cold this morning and also very foggy... shortly after leaving the Coast Guard announced on the VHF that due to fog the C & D Canal was closed to all traffic... we were already underway... we continued... they made this announcement several times as we transited the canal east toward the Delaware River. Just as we exited the canal they announced the canal was now open to traffic... there were several commercial vessels anchored just outside the canal... guess they were waiting to get the ok to enter. I think the announcement was directed at commercial traffic rather recreational boats... we were not the only recreational boats moving... both boats that had been at the docks with us were also moving... :)
We had the fog all day except for going through Cape May... it was clear as could be for the 4 or 5 miles across the Cape May Canal, Cape May Harbor and out the inlet... just at the end of the inlet we ran into the fog again... it was like a wall.
Since we had arrived to Cape May so early we decided to continue on to Atlantic City... it's about 5 hours longer and that would get us in about 1900... but we did not get current back so the trip up the coast took a little longer. It was also fairly rough conditions... large swells from the east... that were pretty close together and made the ride a little more unsettling for Susan and Lily.
Even with fog we did see a couple of whales breach very close to SAILS. They were both bigger than SAILS... would hate to run into one... I assume they were right whales. Very cool to see them.

Just as we arrived the Atlantic City the fog started to clear and lift forming what looked like low clouds around the buildings in Atlantic City... looked pretty neat.
We arrived to our destination at Gardener's Basin and were securely docked at 2000. Our location for the night
N39°22.600’, W074°25.265’. We traveled today for 14 hours and 30 minutes covering 99.6 nautical miles averaging 6.9 knots.


Posted at 7:57 PM
FL to CT - Day 37
Edgewater, MD to Chesapeake City, MD

We got a way a little later than planned leaving at 0700 and heading back out to the Chesapeake Bay with it lightly raining and a little windy. It had rained all night long... not terribly hard but steady and it did not look like it was going to stop real soon... radar showed us totally in the middle of a huge band of rain moving NE across us... it was a gray dreary morning.

A horrible day but still lots of people out fishing... and quite a bit of commercial traffic... tugs and barges moving both north and south.
We arrived to our destination at Chesapeake City town docks at 1500. Our location for the night
N39°31.628’, W075°48.668’. We traveled today for 8 hours covering 56.0 nautical miles averaging 7.0 knots.
Posted at 6:36 PM
FL to CT - Day 36
Crisfield, MD to Edgewater, MD


We departed from Crisfield this morning at 0630 with a forecast of E winds 5-10 knots and 1 foot seas. It was a little rougher than that early in the morning as we left the Little Annemessex River and turned in to Tangier Sound. Winds still appeared to be NE and blowing at 15-20 knots. It was not as rough as yesterday but for the first couple of hours it was rougher than anticipated.
It calmed down when we reached Deal Island and turned into Hooper Strait to go back in the Chesapeake Bay… winds switched to E and under 10 knots with seas less than 1 foot. VERY NICE!

Tons of boat traffic today… not cruisers per say but fishermen trolling with those trolling drones or whatever they are called… they look like toy boats out to each side of their boats and they don’t seem to mind crossing right in front of you… no controversy with any of them but still very annoying to have to deal with them.

We did have two really cool sailboats pass us heading south… both were identical and under full sail… very beautiful boats.
And the coolest thing to us at least was seeing “MI-T-MO” pass by heading south. We have covered a lot of miles cruising with her and her previous owner Mike Efford. He sold he last year and down-sized to a smaller trawler. But is was really cool to see the new owner is using her.

The bay as usual had a several large ships moving north and south… one large ship did pass us fairly close… they are massive and are really moving fast for their size.
Our planned destination for the day was Galesville, MD. We have gone there many times and docked at the town dock. As we were approaching Galesville we decided we would rather anchor out tonight. We have really been enjoying being on the hook. We decided to anchor in the Rhode River… it’s in the general area of Galesville but actually closet city is Edgewater, MD.
We arrived and anchored at 1700 for the night at
N38°52.573', W076°31.422'. We traveled today for 10 hours and 30 minutes covering 75.6 nautical miles averaging 7.2 knots.


Posted at 4:38 PM