It appeared originally that we would be stuck in Delaware City for more than a day.  As it turned out, however, we were only there two nights. 

We arrived there rather late in the afternoon after hauling all the way from Annapolis.  I had been to Delaware City before and I knew the entrance was sort of tricky.  My timing was off this time as we arrived a dead low tide.  No problem.  We followed instructions on entering the canal and made it with just under a foot of water under the keel clearance.

When we checked in, we were given a packet of “stuff” about Delaware City including coupons for free crab balls at a place called Crabby Dicks.  Yes, we went to Dicks to eat balls.  What can I say? So, we went there and thought to sit outside.  First, the hostess was going to place us way outside, like back behind the building.  I know we didn’t smell that bad.  We requested another table with perhaps some breeze as it was pretty warm and humid out.  So, the waitress moved us.  Then, we were attacked  by flies.  After declaring our surrender, we finally moved inside.  The flies won.

Once seated, we ordered a couple beers and the balls thinking to ourselves that this would tie us over until a proper dinner.  Well, when the balls arrived, I was dismayed.  There lying on the plate were two balls that were rather “smallish” and rather “roundish” and I remember thinking to myself, “Mr. Crab? What happened?”  I thought these were going to be crab balls, not deep fried testicles!  Well, the time had come and I had to do something, so I rolled one in the sauce that was dolloped on a shred of lettuce and ate one.  Not bad, but not what I had in mind.  So, yes, we went to Dicks and ate some small balls.  Believe me, I ordered another beer.

The next day was a do-nothing kind of day.  It rained all day, sometimes very hard, and there was not a lot to do.  We did manage to get a ride to a real grocery store, as opposed to the convenience mart in town.  We loaded up on some fresh food.  Our driver, a kid named Cory, got so lost, even his Iphone couldn’t help him.  Granted, Cory was definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed, nevertheless, we got to see some of the countryside.  There is not much going on in Delaware.  It is a tiny state with a lot of power plants and tax benefits, which I guess explains why so many business entities incorporate in Delaware.

So, after getting our groceries, we went to lunch.  It was fine and involved no anatomy.  The rest of the day was for reading and laying around.

We did not leave first thing in the morning like some of the anxious boaters also marooned at Delaware City.  We waited for the tide.  It is well documented that the tide can make or break your day on Delaware Bay.  Fortunately, our time to leave (high tide) was at around 0900.  So, at about 0845, we started the engine and headed out.  Believe me, coming or going through this canal is always easier at high tide.  Then we turned right and headed on down the Delaware River.  There was a lot of commercial traffic, but negotiating them was easy with the AIS.  Within a few minutes, we started feeling the pull of the outbound tide and were easily scooting along at almost 10 knots towards our destination, Cape May, New Jersey.  The sun was shining and the water was pretty flat.  We had a nice ride.

When we pulled into Cape May Harbor we stopped for fuel at some resort marina.  It was easy off and easy on the New Jersey ICW, so we kept things simple and stopped at the fuel dock.  There was another “Cory” working there.  This poor guy not only didn’t know anything about tying up a boat, but he had an even harder time comprehending instructions on how to do so.  We were both pretty tired, but Brian’s patience lasted longer than mine, so I let him deal with this guy. Although I cannot say it was a monumental achievement, we did ultimately get the hose and could start taking on fuel.  Our anchorage was within sight so we didn’t really care how long it took this guy to figure out how to uncoil the fuel hose.  After stopping several times to fix his hair, we finally got to pumping.  I understand that a lot of kids get summer jobs doing all sorts of things that, perhaps, they have never done before, but these are college kids, for crying out loud!  Between this “Cory” and the other Cory in Delaware City, I had to take the I out of IQ because, although we were dealing with some kind of quotient, it had nothing to do with intelligence.  Oh well.  Without too much drama, and because we can handle these things without help, we got off the dock and over to our anchorage out in front of the Coast Guard Station, where we had a quiet night.

 

At 0600, we pulled out of Cape May Harbor and onto the Atlantic Ocean.  It had been quite some time since Abreojos really got to stretch her legs on some open ocean.  I sensed immediately that she enjoyed it.  For the first few hours, it was smooth and easy running.  Our plan for the day was to make Barnegat Inlet and anchor for the night.  We were really looking forward to getting in as the wind had picked up and had made the ride rather snotty.  However, as quickly as it got snotty, it got better and as we approached Barnegat Inlet, it seemed to me that the better way to go was to just dig in and keep moving north and stop for the night at Atlantic Highlands, NJ.  This decision made a 16 hour day out of an 8 hour day, and an easy day time arrival into a slightly more complex night time arrival. Nevertheless, what we accomplished was making some serious distance in one day – 115.5 nm – and we picked up the day we lost due to weather in Delaware City.  So, by around 9:00 p.m. we were anchored behind the break wall at Atlantic Highlands.  The ride in was very cool, we got to see the Manhattan skyline as the sun was setting as well as the Verranzano Bridge all lit up, knowing that we will be there in the morning.

The Manhattan Skyline.  You can see the new World Trade Tower all the way over on the left, and the Empire State Building just off center.

So, after a great day on the water, a great dinner prepared by Brian, and a few minutes simply unwinding in total silence, we crashed.

Today, we will start making our way up the Hudson River.  I’m not sure where we will stop for the night, but we have to get up there as a significant weather event might be heading our way.  Yesterday, the National Hurricane Center announced the formation of Topical Storm Andrea (yes, the NWS had the audacity to name the storm which has all sorts of implications from an insurance point of view) in the Gulf of Mexico.  As of last night, the predicted path would take here into the Florida Panhandle and then east, north east across Georgia and South Carolina before heading north along the eastern seaboard.  A small part of New York is in the “cone of influence” so the farther up the Hudson River we get, the better.  In spite of the storm, there is still some fairly strong rain forecast for Friday late afternoon, so we figure to get tied up someplace we can wait out the weather………and get ice.  Those Vodka-Tonics are lousy without ice.

That’s it for now.  We’ll probably make the Erie Canal by Sunday, if not sooner, or possibly later.  Who knows?  We roll when we can.

Out.