Jersey Shores

We left Delaware City Marina on Friday.  We were worried about the depth leading out of there.  This picture illustrates why we were concerned.  

This photo is taken from the cockpit of our boat, looking across the 6'dock to which we were side tied!

The marina owner, Tim, who has been right on the money with everything so far, assured us that there was plenty of water at the inlet, not to worry.  But, Billy from Godspeed and I wanted to be doubly sure, so we launched my dinghy and did a little RECON.  Billy had a hand held depth finder and I have one in the dinghy as well, so we were sure we were getting accurate readings.  My first mate thought this was hilariously funny for some reason and shot the following two photos.

This guy seemed unimpressed with our technology.



It turns out that Tim was true to form and we had nothing to worry about, there was plenty of depth even at fairly low tide.  So, Once Around departed mid-morning for Cape May, New Jersey, via the Delaware River and Delaware Bay.  Godspeed and several other loopers opted to sit it out for a day, as the wind was predicted to kick up a bit that day and to fall of on Saturday.  It was a little rough on the bay (not bad by California standards).  It reminded me of a normal day on the Suisun Bay.  In short, we got beat up a bit, but nothing too bad.



This is the only photo that gives you some idea of the seas we encountered that day.

We arrived at Cape May Inlet in the late afternoon.  The photo below makes it look really late, but that was due to a setting error on the camera, according to our staff photographer (another of my first mate's duties!).



This is the ferry terminal at the entrance of the inlet; boaters beware, they stop for nothing!

Not sure why I thought you needed to see the Marina from our slip, but here it is.

And, the view in the other direction, towards town.

We were met at Utchs's (OK, you tell me how to pronounce that, it's not a misspelling) Marina by our friends from Algonquin and met another looper couple from the Lady Jane.  We all had dinner together at the Lobster House, a Cape May Landmark.  Both of those boats left early Saturday morning, but Carrie and I wanted to relax...or so I thought.

First we spent an hour doing calisthenics in the engine room.  That's what I call it now.  It seems my back actually likes the abuse.  I wake up feeling all hunkered over, but after crawling around checking engine oil, transmission oil, coolant, sea strainers and whatever else the Admiral orders, I actually feel better once I climb out of there.  Go figure.  Best news of the day, Billy and I (see how I grabbed some of that credit?) did fix the fuel leak and there was no water in the bilge.  Yeehaa!!!  Let's go for a bike ride...WHAT???

Only two short days after the "Tour de Delaware", the Admiral got me back in the saddle, so to speak.  It was only a mile or so to the supermarket, but it sure seemed like a hell of a lot further.  And, that hill...OK, maybe it was only a small bridge, but still...

We stuffed $158 worth of groceries (and that's no meat or booze) into the saddle bags and slowly rode back to the marina.  No sooner had we eaten lunch than she who must be obeyed (I learned that one from my father-in-law) wanted to go back to town!  This time I did call a cab and we enjoyed the afternoon strolling around an absolutely beautiful Victorian town.  We even enjoyed a carriage ride and took some pictures of the outstanding Victorian architecture there.  Cape May is on the very southern part of New Jersey, and the town dates back to the 1700's, when it had it's heyday as a Victorian playground for the rich and famous.  Again, the pictures speak for themselves, although they are a tiny sample of what we saw.



 

 

 

Today's trivia lesson:  Did you know that the full body swimwear that the Victorian women wore was made of wool?  That because of the weight of the wool, they often tied ropes to their waist and to the dock so they would not drown?  That they wore this not only to protect themselves from the prying eyes of gentlemen, but also because tanned skin was considered "common" or "working class" and the lighter your skin the "higher class" you were?  That only their ankles showed, which was considered in itself quite risque?  That some houses had two staircase entries so that women could go up one and men the other to protect men from inadvertantly glancing at the women's bare ankles as they climbed the stairs?  All true...at least according to the carriage driver lady, who seemed honest enough...and sure had great ankles.

Finally, we got back to the boat (by cab again) just in time to see Godspeed arrive.  They had a very calm crossing of Delaware Bay.  What a difference a day makes.

Tonight (Saturday) we dined in; ribs on the Barbie and some other stuff.

We're off to Atlantic City in the morning.  Do you think the Donald will be around?

Where Oh Where, In Delaware?

Tuesday we had another great cruise of roughly 63 miles.  From Baltimore, we retraced our steps down the Patasco and turned north to pass through the most northern part of, and bid goodbye to, the Chesapeake Bay.  I hope someday to return here on a boat.  They say you could spend a lifetime on the Chesapeake and never see all of its rivers, creeks and anchorages.  The towns are boater friendly and when blessed with good weather as we were it was hard to leave.

But leave we must, so up through the north bay, the East River, and through the C & D canal, aptly named as it connects the Chesapeake Bay to Delaware Bay.  The C & D reminded me of the Sacramento River above Rio Vista as it was lined with rip rap and plenty deep.  It was built for, and is still used to get freight from Philadelphia to Baltimore. 



 
Delaware City is just north of where the C & D enters Delaware Bay.  The marina is on a 75' wide channel.  It is owned by Tim, the same guy who met us at Carter's Cove Marina a couple of weeks ago.  He was here to greet us, as were several other loopers. 



The Marina is 4 long docks end to end, probably 1,500' long.

Here's a shot of two of my favorite girls, Carrie and Once Around.

As every boater knows, when everything seems to be going great, watch out, something is broken.  Sure enough, the night we pulled in we noticed an idiot light (what my dad used to call them) on the helm telling us that our engine room bilge pump was running.  So, my bilge rat bride and I crawled around until we determined that:  a) there was some water in the well of the bilge, maybe 2 gallons; b) the bilge pump was NOT running, although it should be; c) there was diesel fuel mixed in with the water in the bilge!; and d) the problem was not an emergency and would wait till tomorrow.

So off we ran to Crabby Dick's.  Dick's is a unique little bar/restaraunt and we enjoyed the local fare.  Carrie also bought a " Crabby Dick's tee shirt for her dad, whose name is Dick and who would have loved this place.  She also bought one for me, I think just because I was acting like one. 

On the walk back to the boat we passed a little local construction project where they are improving the docks, putting in paved walkways, period light poles, etc.  This is exactly the kind of work our crews do, and I took a moment to give them an unofficial inspection.  Not bad work.  In fact, My first mate spotted one money saving device that we think Safety Ted back home should look into for us.  Here was someone's idea of a warning barricade.

It's a little hard to see in the photo, but the plastic chair holds up an inverted tomatoe plant cage draped with barricade tape (or was it crepe paper?) and held down by 4 rocks.  Cost effective!  Dina, be sure Safety Ted gets a look at it!

Next morning we entered the engine room again.  After an hour or two we had replaced the bilge pump and identified what we believe to be the fuel leak.  It had escaped our attention before due to it's location and close proximity to the bilge well, so there was no trail of red diesel to notice easily.  In any case, with a little help from Billy, another looper from Godspeed, (who happens to be a retired diesel mechanic!  It pays to have friends in high places on the loop) we believe the line is fixed as well.  Now, where in the heck did that water come from?  Still working that out.

Here is (from left to right), the motor vessel Godspeed, Pam, Billy and Sugar Baby.  They hail from Louisiana and are about halfway around their loop.  Great folks.

Due to the day spent in the engine room and a foul weather report, the Admiral and I determined one more day in Delaware City was a good idea.  So, today we got the bikes down and rode off on what we were told was a few mile trip to New Castle, Delaware, where William Penn originally landed and declared all around this area to be property of King George.  The town was gorgeous, I'll let the photos talk for themselves.  However, it was really NINE miles away, uphill with the wind in our face (both ways of course).  We'll sleep good tonight!

I think I was trying to call a cab!

Before we leave the topic of Delaware I must pass on one more bit of historical trivia.  Delaware rightly claims to be "The First State" (it even says so on their vehicle license plates, so it must be true right?).  Well, it turns out that the Delawarians (really that's a word) declared their independence from England on June 11, 1776.  It was almost a full month later that the other 12 colonies got on board and all 13 signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776!  I guess it's a good thing for Delaware the other 12 didn't say, "No thanks".  Gutsy folks those Delawarians!

Next stop...Cape May, New Jersey.  Is that anywhere near Tony Soprano's place?





The Rusty Scupper???

One more for the glossary of nautical terms:

Scupper-a drain that allows water on the deck of a vessel to flow overboard.

More about that later.

We had another great cruise from St. Michaels to Baltimore's Inner Harbor last week.  There was the usual "Thunderstorm warning" for the afternoon, which if we had over-worried these past few weeks we would still be in North Carolina.  They, and the accompanying "Small Craft Warning" for Chesapeake Bay were predicted for late afternoon, so taking as little risk as possible, we left very early from St. Michaels.  By the time we were entering the Patasco River which leads up to Baltimore it was begining to stir up a bit, but we had a glassy ride most of the way.  Here are a few shots of the calm bay and some of the sights along the way:



My first mate must have liked this.  She took about a half dozen shots of it, so here it is.

This guy did not have to honk to get our attention!

A captain's work is never done...

As we approached Baltimore on the Patasco, we came upon the Francis Scott Key Bridge.  As you will undoubtedly recall, he wrote the Star Spangled Banner from the deck of a ship here as the British bombarded Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.  Apparently he had a good view, as he and another American were at the time guests of an English Captain on board the HMS Tonnant, as they tried to negotiate the exchange of American prisoners on board the ship.  A side note, the song was not adopted as our National Anthem until 1916 during the Woodrow Wilson administration.

Here is the bridge named in Key's honor.

And in case you wondered, this is what it looks like on a nautical chart!

This bouy marks the spot of the anchored British warship.

Fort McHenry from the water today...our Flag still flying.

For quite a ways up the Patasco, we were reminded that Baltimore is still an important port. 

Our first look at the Baltimore skyline.

A sad reminder of better times.

Aa we closed in on our stop at the Inner Harbor

We stayed at the Inner Harbor for four nights, accompanied as previously noted by our friends from home, Rob and Denise.  Denise had lived in Baltimore as a kid and was amazed at the changes.  As I heard the story from David, the dockhand at the marina, some enterprizing mayor with a vision decided to turn an ugly, dying, industrial, inner-city port into a tourist destination.  And it is really pretty fantastic.  Our city fathers in Sacramento could learn a bunch from visiting here.  Imagine the National Aquarium, a first class Science Museum, an Industrial Museum, scores of first class shops and restaurants, two (not one, but two) major league sports facilities and every other thing you can think of or want.  All of it is available by water taxis which run from early morning till 11 PM.  So, if you are on one side of the harbor and want to go to say, Little Italy...no problem, hitch a water taxi.  The fare is $10 and is good all day!



Here is one of the smaller ones.

Two happy water taxi customer!

We wore ourselves out trying to do as much as possible in the city and still managed a trip to Walmart for supplies.  Baltimore rule #1:  The water taxis are safe...the regular taxis...whoa baby!  Taxi drivers everywhere are a little odd, here they are nuts.  And where is it written that taxis should have their rear suspension removed before being placed into service?  Anyway, we survived to cruise another day.

Oh yeah, Rusty Scupper.  That was the name of the restaurant and the taxi stop that our marina shared.  Who would eat at something that was named after basically a rusty roof or deck drain?  OK, we did.  Not great.

The last photo of our time in Baltimore is of the mystery woman who accompanied my good buddy Rob.  She seemed kinda camera shy, I think she might be married...