Warmer Weather

Well as we get further into the cruising life we are sure learning a lot. One thing is the tides and how to use them to your favor. When we came down the Hudson River we never really gave it much thought to look when the max current was to be. We just got up at day light and took off. So by the time we got to the Delaware River we were a bit more educated and thanks to others teaching us. Simple Pleasure and Mutual Fun headed out and up the Delaware in a head wind but with the tide we made great time. It was like riding the top of a wave all the way up the Delaware River. It was amazing to look at the speed we were doing on the gps and still having a head wind. We had to wait till just after 10 am to leave so we had max current going in our favor and went all the way up to Reedy island which is just before going into the C&D canal.
That connects the Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake Bay to each other. It is 14 miles long and 3/4 of the way down it is a town called Chesapeake City. A quaint little town and one that goes back in time. It is very interesting to see some of the small houses which have been kept up and the whole town was interesting wandering through it. We were lucky enough to get a free space on the city dock along with Simple pleasure for a night. The c&d canal is a main freighter canal that many huge ships pass through. We were very happy not to come into contact with any large ships passing on the canal. But we seen a few go by as we sat on the city dock watching. As we left Chesapeake City headed for Annapolis the weather was not the best. We had rain and winds out of the north which pushed us down the Chesapeake which it did. It was one of those days that your glad it is over but have to give our autopilot a lot of credit. I would look back as Simple Pleasure was following us and we both were wallowing through the waves and running around 9 kts. That did a lot of the work till it got to ruff that it could not handle it. The waves were on our stern most of the way and for the first time ever with this boat we had a wave come up the rear and flooded the cockpit floor. Tis what you wear rubber boots for right! As we got closer to Annapolis the rain had lighten up some. Arriving in Annapolis we had friends Marv and Roni that we were meeting up with as they were staying in a condo and it had a slip available so we rented the slip for 7 days right in spa creek. It made it nice as we had friends also coming to stay aboard Mutual Fun. John and Bev from our old marina stayed 3 nights with us and what a great time we had. The whole week was busy as we had many nights out with Marv,Roni,John,Bev and Mutual Fun going to different restaurants and eating out.
We had some other friends that I had met last year out in Annapolis and over the internet that we had a chance to see as well. Dave and Dona that has been working on a boat and will be cruising next year also. We were doing well on our budget till going to the boat show as we ended up buying a new main sail as ours was 20 years old and lost it shape. The 6 of us and Simple Pleasure ended up going to a cruisers party one night that was put on by a local yacht club while at the show. Their we met many more that were heading south and this time it felt different as we were a part of the cruisers now and had experienced a few things getting there.

After leaving the Annapolis we headed south down the Chesapeake towards Norfolk as it is very interesting seeing all the different places one could spend time here on the Chesapeake just sailing around and anchoring. Oh the other big thing one notices is the presence of the military when out in this part of the country. Jeannie and I do not know how many airshows we had while on the Chesapeake.
But it is was very cool. Ah the high light of this leg of the trip was the day we left Deltaville after seeing some other friends that were from Michigan, Mike and Kathy. We were around the Solomon Island area and on the vhf radio the navy was telling us of boats in the area of the bombing range to divert course towards shore. Well the navy had a patrol boat out making sure we did. About 45 min later we started hearing and seeing a lot of fighter jets and what a show. Then they disappeared but could still hear the roar of them going by and the water started exploding as they were dropping bombs at a target out in the range. Just our tax dollars at work. Getting into Norfolk we had sailed all the way and as we were entering the harbor and with navy ships coming in and as well. I went to start the engine and yikes, nothing, we had lost power to the starter and what it was is had a coolant leak onto some connections which shorted out the wires for the start system. So some quick thinking and a few checks and way it turned over. We knew there was a lot of military in the Norfolk area but did not know it was the largest navel base in the world. As well as many ship building companies. Where the ICW starts is called hospital point in Norfolk. That was one of our places we anchored along with about 15 other boats heading south.


The day we left hospital point and into the ICW, we got stopped by the navy as we were traveling with Simple Pleasure and some how they made it past but a new navy ship was being pushed out by tugs and the boys in the inflatable with big guns came over and told us we had to stop NOW! I asked if we could just slowly get buy and they said stop the boat now, OK OK. So we happened to be right next to a dock with a couple standing there and we got out lines and tossed it to them while we waited about 20 min for the ship to get by. After we got the Ok to proceed we then headed down the ICW and had a choice to make. Weather to take the Virgina cut route or the Dismal swamp route. So hearing so much about the swamp route off we went to it.
It is a long canal that is cut out of the swamp and is about 6 feet deep and has a lock on each end so the depth is controlled all of the time. We have heard stories of thumping logs and so on and it was true, we thumped something but nothing hard. Over half way through the canal there is a welcome center.
On one side it is a rest stop for cars and the other side is the canal. So we had a lot of people coming down and asking questions and wanting to talk. The dock has room for around 4 boats but what you do is raft off of one of the boats on the dock. So we rafted off a Catalina 30 and then we had a catamaran named Polar Pacer from Toronto raft off of us in all I think that night we had like 10 boats there. From there we took off and headed to Elizabeth city NC. Which was a nice stop over for 3 days.
Here we met up with many others that we have met along the way as now we are starting to be in a group as you can see that everyone is heading south. Just a slow progression. It is a nice way to see the east coast at 6 kts.

The night before we got to River Dunes marina we were anchored with polar pacer up a creek and the next morning we went to pull the anchor and it would not come up. Polar Pacer stuck around giving us a hand as they tried to hook on to the anchor and pull it backwards to break it free with now luck. We work over 1 1/2 hours getting it up and even called Tow Boat US for help. Well just before they got to us we got it up. Have no idea what we were stuck on either as it came up clean and no mud. River Dunes marina is one that is very new only 3rd season and it is the nicest we have ever stayed in. It is a treat for us both as the shower had 5 heads in it and only $1.25 per boat foot for cost.