Stats for June 11, 2019

Origin: Baltimore-Anchorage Marina

Destination: Delaware City

Distance: 69.3 miles

Speed: 8.7 mph

Time on the Move: 7 hours and 56 minutes

Leaving Baltimore Harbor we remembered to look for the Stars and Stripes bouy that the city maintains marking the spot where Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that later became the Star Spangled Banner. I missed it on the way into Baltimore, so I was very careful to keep an eye open when we left. Sure enough, the sun was shining so brightly, it was hard to see and quite anticlimactic. Cool to think about, but not very exciting to see.

We headed out into the Bay at the most optimum time to get a push from the current up the top of the Chesapeake Bay and thru the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C&D Canal). It is important to pay attention to the current thru this section because it can be pretty strong through these bottleneck areas and can make or break your fuel economy.

After we turned and headed north in the Chesapeake, we had 2 foot waves on the beam for a while. Mike was trying to get some stuff done on the computer, so I was at the helm. We were rocking and rolling and stuff was crashing down all around–not the most comfortable trip, but after a few hours we neared land and the water calmed down.

Entering the C&D canal is kind of crazy because it is a long (14 miles), narrow (450 feet) canal that is used heavily for shipping. It was hand dug between 1824-1829 by almost 3,000 workers. The idea is similar to the creation of the Dismal Swamp, but the C&D canal is MUCH bigger and deeper, as it is meant for big ships, where the Dismal Swamp couldn’t handle a boat much bigger than INNTW. Also, the C&D isn’t near as swampy and woodsy nowadays, though it might have been more natural almost 200 years ago when it was built.

There is really only 1 place to stop once you’ve entered the canal, so once you’re in, you’re going all the way thru. As I mentioned earlier, the current is really strong in the canal, so it is essential that you look ahead to see the rate of the current and plan accordingly. Luckily, this information is on the Navionics app we use regularly as a back up for our navigation system.

There is an actual stoplight at the entrance to the canal telling you if it is safe to proceed or if you need to wait for oncoming traffic. I believe this stoplight is meant mostly for the large cargo and tanker ships that use the canal regularly because turning into the canal could be dicey if there was a ship right there heading out (those things don’t exactly turn on a dime). In the middle of the canal, there is plenty of room for these big ships to pass each other when they are just chugging along straight, but turning is a different story. In the canal we only passed by 1 big Army Corps of Engineers ship along the way. Unfortunately, I have 0 pictures of the canal?!

We exited the canal just south of Delaware City in the Delaware Bay. We headed towards the marina which was located down another long, skinny channel. We got very detailed instructions from the marina about how close to stay to the banks so that we didn’t run aground in the shallow channel. It didn’t really work, because we heard a loud bump that sounded like we hit something hard. Mike was annoyed, but there was very little water and no other alternative marinas, so there wasn’t much we could do beside proceed with caution.

We fueled up and then headed to the very end of the 1 loooong dock to tie up. The channel is so narrow that the dockhands have a very unique way of tying up boats. We pretty much gave them both the lines from the stern (starboard was along the dock). They pushed our bow out into the current, holding on to the stern lines tightly. The current caught our bow and pushed it around so that eventually our boat did a 180 and now the port side was along the dock. The dockhands then caught the port bow lines and tied us up. Confused yet?! It’s basically that they use muscle and the power of the current to turn these big boats around instead of trusting the captains to spin on a dime and parallel park. I’m not quite sure their plan is a better way to dock, but they have obviously come to this system for some reason, so who are we to say we can dock ourselves?!

After we checked in, we saw some other loopers headed out to dinner, so off we went. There is a small town adjacent to the marina so it was a short walk to Crabby Dick’s. How can you say no to dinner at Crabby Dick’s?! We enjoyed visiting with the other loopers and many of them have the same plan to stay one night and head for Cape May the following day. Traveling the Delaware Bay can be quite daunting as it is big water and very open to the Atlantic. The current again plays a big part of when you should travel, but you also need mid to high tide to get out of the marina here, so we touch base with the other loopers and everyone decides to head out around 7am.

Thanks for reading and following our adventures about our quick 1 night stop in Delaware City! Our one and only night in Delaware!