On to Cape May, New Jersey

Baltimore’s Waterfront Promenade is a seven mile long sidewalk that connects the historic communities of Canton, Fells Point and Federal Hill to the Inner Harbor.  Future plans call for an extension that will reach to Fort McHenry.  The wide brick path zigzags along the waterfront over what were once crumbling piers and rotting warehouses, replaced now by open green spaces and modern condos.  Anchorage Marina sits on the Canton end of the promenade and if the weather had not been so hazy, hot and humid we most likely would have walked or biked our way to the Inner Harbor; we walked the path into Fells Point before turning back to the air conditioned comfort of Lazy W where we awaited the start of the 4^th of July fireworks.

As showtime neared, a sprinkling of rain drops began to fall but that did not dampen the spirits of the many partiers on the marina docks.  The fireworks display got underway at 9:30 and 18 minutes later the grand finale brought cheers and horn blasts from the flotilla of boats idling in the Patapsco River.  While Baltimore was purported to have the biggest fireworks display in the mid-Atlantic region, I for one thought that previous Norfolk displays over the Elizabeth River had this one beat!

We unexpectedly spent another day in Baltimore after Frank’s routine check of the engine room detected a leak in the air conditioner fittings.  The plastic connectors that screw into the copper fittings had hairline cracks and were allowing water to drip into the bilge.  With a gleam in his eyes, Frank scrambled into action, removed the fittings, pried out the plastic stuff and headed off to the nearby West Marine to purchase replacement parts.  The repair itself did not take that long but the cleanup of the bilge turned into an all day affair.

 

The weather continued its hazy, hot and humid streak; the haze was so thick that it obscured the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge as we made our way back to the Chesapeake Bay bound for Georgetown, eight miles up the Sassafras River.  The guidebooks tout the river, named for the sassafras trees along its banks, for its scenic beauty and the villages of Georgetown and Fredericktown for their vibrant charm.  While the river is beautiful, there is not much to the villages except marina after marina after marina.  The dockmaster at Sailing Associates pointed us over the Route 213 bascule bridge, up the hill and, after a mile-plus hike, he assured us we would arrive in the town of Galena.  With temperatures already nearing 90° I was pretty sure I did not need an ice cream cone so badly that I was willing to trek to Galena, so we had an enjoyable lunch in the only café open for business in Fredericktown – one of only two businesses we saw in the village!

 

By now we had spent over three weeks cruising up the Chesapeake Bay from Portsmouth - it was time to move Lazy W on up to the C&D Canal.  We pulled up the hook on July 8^th and prepared to leave the Sassafras River behind.  At the northern end of the mouth of the Sassafras as we rounded Grove Point a mammoth southbound commercial vessel, the roll-on/roll-off Miraculous Ace, loomed ahead.  We gave it plenty of room in the channel to safely pass us.

 

A canal linking the Chesapeake and Delaware bays was first envisioned by Auguste Hermann in the 17^th century.  But it wasn’t until 1829 that the canal opened to ship traffic.  It took seven years and the backbreaking labor of 2,600 men to build the original canal which was ten feet deep and sixty-six feet wide.  There have been several expansions since 1919 when the United States government purchased the canal.  Its current depth is maintained at thirty-five feet and its width is four hundred feet.  Six bridges span its 14-mile length and bulky riprap lines its bank.

 

The traffic light at Town Point Neck, the western entrance of the C&D Canal along the Elk River was green, signaling that the canal was open to traffic.  This would be our fourth time traversing the canal and we are convinced that the sun never shines here!  Gloomy skies, sweltering heat and oppressive humidity were once more the order of the day.  While the canal is typically busy with tankers and barges, on this day pleasure boats definitely outnumbered commercial vessels.

 Approaching Chesapeake City Bridge under gloomy skies

 

We typically make an overnight stop at the docks in Chesapeake City but earlier arrivals there and in the anchorage basin crowded us out.  I pled my case for power and full A/C; the Captain agreed that a cool night in a marina would be preferable to a night on the hook so we continued east on the canal to Summit North Marina in Bear, Delaware.  The marina, on the north shore of the canal tucked in a basin that was dug in 1966 in an attempt to straighten the canal (that plan was later abandoned), still bears the scars from 2003’s Hurricane Isabel – grotesquely twisted floating finger piers!  Lazy W was assigned a slip with a relatively flat finger pier and we were quite satisfied to plug in, crank up the A/C and cool off – AAH!  But alas, around 2:30 thunder boomers rolled overhead, torrential rain fell and the power throughout the marina went out.  Luckily the outage was short-lived...

The rain did eventually stop but not before causing major headaches for many portions of the states of Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  We woke to hazy, calm conditions and finished transiting the C&D Canal shortly after 7AM.  There was very little traffic along the way – one eastbound sailboat and one westbound tug/barge combination – between Summit North Marina and the end of the canal on the Delaware Bay.

It was now time to face the long southbound trek down the wide open water of the Delaware Bay. Frank had skillfully timed our arrival on the bay so that we could take full advantage of the tidal currents (as much as 4 knots) for at least the first half of the 46-mile trip to Cape May, NJ.  He did such a great job that we reached a speed of 10.7 knots as we approached Ship John Shoal Light – woo hoo!  No trip down the bay is complete without taking a picture of the impressive Salem Nuclear Power Plant where Frank spent so much time in the early 1990’s.

Salem Nuclear Power Plant on the Delaware Bay

Many deep-draft commercial vessels were plying the shipping channels of the Delaware Bay; small fishing boats were bobbing in the ensuing wakes.  And the sun was shining! 

 

 Commercial traffic along the Delaware Bay

As we neared the entrance to the Cape May Canal, the Cape May-Lewes ferries were on the move – one going out and one coming in.  We politely let them finish their maneuvers before entering the canal.  Just on the other end of the canal is the very friendly and welcoming Utsch’s Marina where we took on 270 gallons of diesel fuel (ouch!) – no wonder the staff was so friendly!  We had arrived safely at one of my favorite places – Cape May, NJ.