The fuel truck finally showed up Monday morning about 10:00. Our battery was delivered about 9:30. Now this is a 125 lb. battery! Mike and one of the guys from the Marina had to take the old one out of the engine room and then get the other one on the boat and down in the engine room. It took a lot of maneuvering and struggling, but they did it. Mike hooked it up, connected all the terminals, crawled out of the engine room, closed up the compartment and was done for the day. But wait! The engine still wouldn’t turn over. It’s those gremlins again! Mike struggled with it for a while and finally traced the loose connection. Both engines now start right up and purr like kittens – or maybe like two Ol’ Cats – 3208 Turbo Caterpillars to be exact! Anyway, they are running great!
Now after all that, it turned out to be too late to head down the Bay. So we got to spend another night in Delaware City. That wasn’t really a problem. It was beautiful weather, there were other Loopers there and the Marina was giving us a really sweet deal! We hung out most of the day. Mike fixed various “things” including the front hatch that leaked – but only when it rained. We walked to the liquor store and around the small community. The town is only about 8 blocks by 8 blocks. But is has a small grocery, liquor store, post office, several restaurants, a city park, several churches and a blacksmith!
Since the canal is rather narrow and the current runs about 3 knots, the guys at the Marina “hand turned” out boat around. Now that was something to see - like a dance with everyone in step. NautiNell gracefully followed their lead and in no time she had made a 180 degree turn. She was now facing back toward the river, with a full tank of fuel and a brand new battery - She was ready to roll!
Jeremiah (Linda and Jeff) were also planning to leave soon. So we planned to go together early Tuesday morning. By early, I mean 6:00 a.m.!! By leaving this early we would be heading out with the tide and the current. This would be a big help to save on fuel and time.
Tuesday morning came all too early! But we ready to get moving. Our stay at Delaware City Marina was very enjoyable and Tim (the owner) and his crew did everything in their power to help make it that way. Any Looper that may be reading this and is planning to stop in Chesapeake City or another marina in the C&D Canal, we strongly suggest that you wait and plan your stop at Delaware City Marina. It will definitely be well worth it.
When the last line was untied and we had bid our farewell, NautiNell and Jeremiah set out to navigate the Delaware Bay and to arrive in Cape May, NJ. We left with a beautiful sky and light breeze only to have the fog encompass us as soon as we reached the Delaware River. As we ventured on the worse it got. At times we couldn’t see 30 yards. Jeremiah was in front of us and would disappear at times. She reminded me of a ghost ship that would fade away only to reappear again and again. This trip soon became very intense, especially when we heard on the VHF that a barge was on the C&D Canal near the bridge and heading east. This would put him behind us some but we weren’t sure just how far. His description of the fog was – “visibility zero”. Oh did I mention that we were in the shipping channel? We used the Chart plotter, GPS and the Radar. The fog finally began to lift in about an hour or so. Finally the sun broke through and all was good. Now that we didn’t have to creep along, we were able to make pretty good time. In fact with the tide and the current working for us, we were able to run 1500 rpm and make 11 knots! This lasted for quite a while. We moved along at a racing speed! The water began to get much prettier here. I believe because it is no longer brackish. Mike even saw our first dolphin!
In a couple of hours, the tide must have changed because at the same rpm, we were only running about 6 knots. Thank goodness we weren’t going too fast, because we hit a 2x6 board floating out in the middle of the Bay! No damage!! There was also a rainstorm behind that seemed to be catching up with us. However it must have went north of us because we made it to Cape May safe and dry.
At about noon, we were on the Cape May Canal. This Canal is decorated along both sides with really nice homes. Each home, of course, had a rather nice boat usually in a private dock. The canal opened up to the Cape May Harbor, a very busy place with lots of marinas and a huge Coast Guard Training Center.
Jeremiah had reservations at Utsch’s Marina. We had planned to anchor out somewhere and stay in a marina tomorrow night. We found a great spot on the east side of the Coast Guard Facilities. We dropped anchor and relaxed for a while. I would think we couldn’t get much safer than to anchor near the Coast Guard! There were a lot of large fishing boats going in and out of the harbor here. NautiNell would rock pretty good a time or two. However, she stood her ground! After a couple of hours, things seemed to quiet down considerably. We took a great dinghy ride to check out the area. We checked out several marinas who were full of huge interesting boats... There’s a whale and dolphin watching tour boat that goes out morning, afternoon and then at dinner time. I was shocked to find out that there are actually whales around here! However, I’m sure you have to go out in the Atlantic a lot farther than we will to see them. We found several other Loopers at Utsch’s Marina. Our buddies, Bavarian Cream, Jeremiah, Trident and several others were there. Hopefully some of them will still be there tomorrow too. I do know that some of them are getting a little anxious to get going during this nice weather and to head up to New York City as soon as they can. We plan to stay here at least 2 nights. We’ve been told that Cape May is really a great place to visit and has a great beach. We may rent bicycles tomorrow and see if we can find it.
After dinner on the sundeck, Mike and I watched the sunset. It was beautiful tonight with the sun a really bright red. The really cool thing was as the sun went down; we could hear the Coast Guard playing TAPS. That was really cool. It about made me cry!
Who knows what tomorrow may bring!
Till next time!
Admiral “C”
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