From the Captain.

On to the Chesapeake.

September 25.  Utsch's Marina, Cape May, New Jersey.

Today was a layover day. The commander used the time to pay bills and do a laundry. I did some work on Luna.

Luna has had a problem with the pressure water system since we got her. The tank drains too quickly, and the pump cycles too often. I have located the problem in the hot water tank: there is a leak in a fitting there. I have bypassed the tank, but in New York, I bought a bronze fitting to replaced the cracked plastic one. Today was an opportunity to replace that.

The leaking tank drains water into the bilge, and Luna collects a small amount of water there. Because of her centerboard design, Luna has a very shallow bilge that doesn't hold much water. If there is water there, it tends to spill out over the floorboards of the cabin when she is heeled over. So it will be a relief to fix the water system and reduce the need to pump the bilge.

I put a finger in the bilge water and have a taste. Definite overtones of salt with playfully subtle motets of soap and diesel fuel. It's the overtones of salt that concern me. That means seawater is getting in. Probably has been all along, but in Lake Champlain, you can't distinguish lake water from a leaky water tank.

All boats leak a little seawater, but I am determined to find the source. I check the propeller shaft and rudder stuffing boxes--no significant leak. I look at the through-hull fittings. Finally, I find a loose fitting for the cockpit drain. There is a little water around the seacock. This needs to be tightened, but unfortunately, it is a right angle fitting right next to the fuel tank, which will have to be removed to turn the fitting.

The best tool I have found to remove old hardened rubber hoses from hull fittings is a multitool. The hacksaw blade can saw through the hose so it can be slipped off the fitting. I accomplish this, and I also saw off the fitting at the seacock, which I have closed. The marina store has a straight fitting, and I buy a new section of hose and a couple hose clamps and eventually accomplish the repair.

I'm feeling pretty good that I fixed a couple of nagging problems. I take a walk to the near by West Marine to get a few things, then the commander and I go to a local restaurant for a pretty mediocre meal, the highlight of which was the appetizer: a dozen Cape May Salt oysters. We're getting down into oyster and crab country. Just our luck: it's an "R" month.

September 26. Cape May, New Jersey to Chesapeake City, MD. 60nm.

No one, it seems, has anything pleasant to say about Delaware Bay. There are strong currents, and it is rough when the wind blows. There is an active shipping lane that takes up nearly all the navigable channel. And before you get there, there is a 55 foot bridge you have to pass under. Luna's mast is at 52 feet, but there is a radio antenna on top, so we're close. Checking the weather and the current tables, it appears we have hit the trifecta: An east wind will blow us up the bay, low tide in the morning will increase the bridge clearance, and the current starts to flood upstream at 9:30. We leave the marina about 8, motoring under the bridge and up the short Cape May canal. I hold my breath as we pass under the bridge, which is 57 feet above sea level by this time, without a scrape.

Crossing the Delaware Bay

The bay is choppy. There is a brisk NE wind. We hoist the jib and motor sail with the current. Our speed increases to 7kts or so. We're doing fine. The Garmin GPS nautical charts have a very helpful feature: contour lines of the bottom show the depth of the water. We are able to remain outside the shipping lane, take a more direct route to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and skirt any shallow reefs along the way.

The GPS is useful in yet another way: it allows us to estimate currents. Luna has two ways to measure her speed. The knot meter built into her has a paddle wheel under the hull and measures flow of water. The GPS measures speed by calculating how long it takes to traverse a known distance. When there is an adverse current, the paddlewheel spins faster than Luna is moving through the water, so the knot meter reads higher than the GPS speed. The reverse is true for a favorable current.

The wind comes up and dies back, changes direction. We hoist or furl the jib accordingly. We reach the canal on the flood (westerly) tide, which means a favorable current. The knot meter is reading 6 kts, while our true speed (GPS) is 7.5kts. We encounter no large ships along the narrow 12 mile waterway.  Just a line of sailboats forming the rest of our parade to the Chesapeake.

Suspension bridges on the C &D Canal

At 5:30, we reach Chesapeake City, at the Maryland end of the canal, and anchor for the night with about a dozen other boats in a basin near the public dock. There is a pair of bald eagles roosting in a nearby radio tower. A ship the size of a large high rise building sounds its horn and moves slowly through the canal toward the Delaware River.






September 27 Chesapeake City, MD, to Bohemia River 5.1 nm

Today started out in a quiet and relaxed fashion. We launched the dinghy from the foredeck and took a short ride into the public dock in Chesapeake City.  We walked around the small center of town and looked at all the civil war era houses. We bought ice cream cones and took a tour of the C&D Canal museum. Our goal for the day was the Bohemia River, not too far away. All laid back, but we were about to learn an important lesson.

There is an unwritten rule in our household that if you are at the store and wonder if you need milk, you do. We had been wondering if it was time to pump out our holding tank. Actually, there was no wonder. We have a gauge that measures the level of its contents, and it was time in Cape May. But the pump at Utsch's was not working, and we figured we could get it done once we reached Chesapeake City.

The guidebooks list marinas and their facilities, and there are two listed for Chespeake City. Neither admitted to providing that service, however. We started calling other marinas in the area and got the same response. We found one who could provide the service up the Northeast River, but this was several hours away, and it was getting late. Finally, I found the Bohemia River Boat Harbor, generally in the direction we intended to go.  They are open until 5, and we arrived around 4. The dock hand there was very friendly and helpful. They charged $5.00 to pump out the tank.

The last time we emptied the tank was 10 days ago in Catskill, NY, and we've had company on the boat in the interim. Lesson: if it's getting to be that time, and there is a facility available, take the opportunity. The other lesson is that if you have something that needs to be done, don't get too late a start.

Across the Bohemia from the Boat Harbor is Veazey Cove, and we anchored there in about 10 feet of water. The river reminded us of Lake Champlain. This part of the river is expansive with hills in the distance. There are houses tucked in along the shore and green lawns and trees. However, while nearly all good anchorages on Lake Champlain will fill with boats, the Bohemia River was quieter and much less busy.

Sunset on the Bohemia River

Tomorrow we go to Havre de Grace on Maryland's western shore. There we will put Luna up in a marina for a couple days and rent a car (Enterprise will pick us up and take us to their lot then bring us back). We'll drive down to Leesburg, VA, for a family gathering before resuming our travel down the Chesapeake.