DAY 9 and DAY 10: DELAWARE CITY, DE TO CAPE MAY, NJ

"In one drop of water are found 
all the secrets of all the oceans. "
Kahlil Gibran

And here we are, our bow gracing a sunrise. Clear weather is ahead and we make way to Cape May, New Jersey....my last port before returning to life normal. This has been a wonderful trip visiting ports I had always wanted to visit. My own sailing on the Chesapeake is usually a day or two and I am appreciative for a 10 day sail like this.

The Delaware Bay is fairly calm. With an outgoing current we are making 9 kt...incredible for a vessel like Liberty. We are making way nicely though I am aware that a changing afternoon tide will create some conflicting currents and rougher waters to deal with (and no more 9 kts!). But this will not be much to deal with. Cape May is about 55 miles. Not too bad and with the rate we are going this morning we should be there by late afternoon.

The Delaware Bay is a shipping channel with freighters  and commercial traffic coming and going. We stay clear of this traffic and stay on a relatively straight course to our destination.

I have been to Cape May several times, none by boat other than the transport ferry from Delaware to New Jersey. Cape May is the last port before heading into the Atlantic and John's final destination up the Hudson River where he will bed the boat for the coming Winter.

Upon reaching Cape May,  we find a slip at the local marina. Afterward we walk into town for a good lunch and a visit to the local marine supply to pick up needed items to fix the running lights. After our return to Liberty and some detective shakedown of the electrical system we solve the lighting problem and our afternoon is free.

My wife will not be here to pick me up till tomorrow evening so with time to kill I set to walking into town to catch some of the local flavor.....and maybe an ice cream. Cape May is a wonderful place, a real tourist type of place. Victorian houses line the streets lighted by old gas lamps. A step back in time until my distraction is met head on with an ATM machine....pardon me. Back to the here and now.

I visit the beach, bask in  the sun , shake the sand from my shoes and continue to walk. I know when I get back home I will have shop work to complete, dogs to walk, a lawn to mow, a truck to fix and a wife I missed terribly. It will be good to be home but I will miss the days on the water and a new port in sight.

Thanks for the adventure John.....

DAY 7 and DAY 8: BOHEMIA RIVER TO DELAWARE CITY

"LET US GO IN; THE FOG IS RISING."

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson Last words

Bohemia River is foggy this morning, perhaps a mile visibility. It will be a short hop to the entrance of the Delaware Canal. We are contemplating pulling off the canal in an anchorage on the South side at about the half way point. It is only a short distance but the weather is supposed to turn nasty by this afternoon.

After entering the canal, the fog has lifted somewhat and visibility is better. It is odd that we see no other boats. This is a through way of sorts to the Delaware Bay and on to the Atlantic or North to Philadelphia. Yet, we are alone. It's not until we dock that we learn the canal had been shut down due to deteriorating weather conditions. But, the boat radio was off so we missed the warning. A lesson learned. No matter, Liberty is on her way and the weather is holding so we decide to continue on to Delaware City and secure the boat for the coming weather.
It doesn't take too long to complete the canal (easy when you are the only boat). We enter the Delaware Bay only to be met with thick fog once again, only this time we have perhaps 100 yards of visibility! We have about a mile to go till we enter a secondary canal that borders Delaware City and our layover point for the coming bad weather.

Coming into Delaware City Marina to wait out a coming storm

Visibility being what it is, we have to rely on the GPS to determine course and buoy location. We follow the channel just outside the markers (hell, who wants to meet up with a barge with no time to get out of the way),  good decision considering our running lights have now failed due to a short in the system and we have no radar reflective device so oncoming traffic can't detect us....we are invisible in this kinda fog.
Before long we find the marker to make our turn to Delaware City and within minutes we approach the docking pier. We tie up and make our way to the Marina office to check in and assess the coming weather... which is not good. We decide to stay here for an extra day till the storm passes. And judging by the flotilla of boats docked here, we are not the only ones that are going to wait out the storm. A day off will be great. We have been going at a fairly fast pace and now I will have the time to explore and enjoy dry land for a day or two.
Delaware City (in Delaware no doubt) is a small wonderful water front town. Yet, when I mention this town to other people, this "wonderfulness" I am met with a kind of bewilderment. "Delaware City? It's a hell hole!"or "You mean Delaware City, that crime ridden place by the water?"

What am I missing? It looks tranquil with it's river walk, neighboring state park, coffee shops and quaint old Victorian houses. What am I missing? Will I be mugged if I walk alone tonight? Is the coffee shop actually a brothel and human trafficking hub for the mid Atlantic region? Do people ignore the posted dog leash laws? Is this place all that bad, or simply misunderstood? I will do a walk about and see for myself.
My first stop is at the local coffee shop called Cordelia's Bakery Cafe. I am met at the counter by Christine, the shop's proprietor. She is gracious and quick with a cup of coffee.....and a scone. I should say here that I have been on a lifetime quest for the perfect scone and usually purchase one with coffee when I get the chance. This is a blueberry scone, the largest scone I  have ever seen. And as far as my search goes...definitely a top 10. 

Canal walk

Christine tells me that Delaware City is entering a kind of Renaissance, a rebirth so to speak. Apparently is was a bit of a hell hole but is now at a point of change. And I like what I see.
After coffee I walk through the town. I come across a blacksmith shop with iron works and creative other metal endeavors hanging from the walls, ceiling and windows. This place is overstuffed with the tools of the trade and metal scraps and unfinished work. I love this place being a metal worker myself (did I mention I build custom bikes). I spend a lot of time here talking with one of the workers and looking about. All marvelous!
I go back to the marina after my walk to check on the weather. There is computer access here so I am able to check various weather information sites....it looks bad. Rain will be intense at times with unwelcoming water on the Delaware Bay for the following 24 hours. We will stay an extra day.
This makes real time to read, relax and explore Delaware City a bit more.....and sure, a scone or two. I had finished my book about the serial killing Amish dude (thank God! Oh Jesus, maybe I shouldn't say that.) I pick a fresh book from the lending library, a popular novel in a series about small town antics....no killing dismembering by candle light, at least not yet.
I talk to John about the weather and he agrees with the day delay and we plan on going to Cape May, NJ the following day if the weather holds. 

Blacksmith shop

The next day brings rain, a lot of rain! John puts a tarp over the cabin area to help stop the leaks. Seems to work well enough. I check in with the weather forecasts and the following day is starting to look good to set for Cape May.
We set sail early that morning to avoid the onset of boats that will try to get underway in this tiny canal entry. The weather is good as had been  forecast, and we are on our way to Cape May, NJ....and my last stop.

DAY 6: KNAPPS NARROWS TO BOHEMIA RIVER

."Mutiny on the Poop Deck!"

As I had mentioned in the earlier post that Knapps Narrows is a tough place to get into from the Bay side. There are tricky shoals that seem to change with each passing storm. John talked to some of the local waterman and they said to not pay attention to the markers as you exit but to keep the red buoy on your right....in fact the opposite as would be the case when leaving port. The alternative is to add another three miles to our trip by going around the sound side of the island. We chance the shorter route and John exits slowly. "Bump," we are aground but able to back out. "Bump" again, as we approach the buoy. John has a good feel for the boat and once again head down the channel. My common sense is telling us to stay right of the marker, but we go left.....and the watermen were correct! We clear the marker and head for open water.

The leg to Bohemia River will be a long one, some 60 miles. The weather is bad with rain expected most of the day. We don our rain gear and sit back as the rhythm of the diesel lulls me to a certain laziness. I read, nap some and talk to John of world order and complacent politicians.

It doesn't take long to reach the Bay Bridge  just outside of Annapolis, MD. I've been over this bridge many times when working on an old Columbia sailboat in Oxford, MD. It's a connector for eastern Maryland to the main land. Passing under this bridge is symbolic to me that in fact we are coming close to the end of our journey. Two more stops then Cape May, NJ our destination and my departure.

Did I mention the restaurant in Knapps Narrows and how good the food was? Probably ate more than I should have with a beer or two in the light of a Detroit ball game and an otherwise empty bar. Great way to end the day, right? Well, that meal was on it's own natural journey through me and for the first time on our trip I had to REALLY use the head....talk to the President as they say and this will require a little paperwork.

I excuse myself from the tiller and tell John I must visit the head.
"You can't. The toilet is not hooked up to the holding tank." Are you kidding me!
"What about a backup system, what am I suppose to do?" I realize my own system is backing up quickly.
"I don't want to get the holding tank dirty. I'll have to clean it" I wonder what a holding tank is for if not to get dirty.
"You know, this would have been information you needed to tell me before I agreed to come on this trip!"
"Look, I'll get you set up in there and you'll be fine," he says as he disappears into the cabin. I take the tiller and wait. He returns a minute later, "Go ahead and use it. Throw your toilet paper in the bag I set aside. It all good!"
"But it doesn't  flush, what do I do with.....well, the doo?"
"I'll take care of it, don't worry about it." John's a good guy and I figure he has a plan.....and I gotta talk to the Pres.....NOW!

After my visit to the head we continue on for about another 3 or 4 hours. The weather never really lets up and we find a slip at the local marina, in fact a free slip. One of the patrons of the marina wasn't using his for the night and said we could use it....nice guy.
"Well," John says, "You gotta clean out that toilet.  I've got some different size measuring cups to use."
I'm dumbfounded! Is this his plan? I could have just gone in a bucket to begin with and be done with it.
"You want to do it or you won't me to do it?" It's my property but the idea makes me gag.....a measuring cup, how many ounces will this be?
"Look John, I'll do it but you need to hook up the holding tank."
"It'll get dirty and I'll have to clean it!"
"Hook it up." I am defiant as I hold the tiny measuring cup in my hand
"You're a good guy Rob, I'll do it for you because you are good guy." John is a good guy too and I take him for his word. But just in case, I'll eat light tonight.

Once the task is done (no details please) I shower........ and shower and shower then take a relaxing walk around the marina. I love marinas, especially sailing marinas. Perhaps it's the sounds, that clinking of halyards against masts, a fog horn on a foggy night....maybe just the sound of water lapping against the hull. What ever it is I realize this trip will be over soon and I will miss it.

DAY 5: TANGIER ISLAND TO KNAPPS NARROWS, MD

"Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves."

Queen Victoria

This leg of our journey is a long one with a distance of about 60 miles. It was a motoring day at an average of about 5kts. Not too bad, in fact relaxing with great weather all day. I am impressed with the little diesel that powers Liberty. It's only 15hp yet keeps pushing us along. On Rufus, my 30 foot Bristol, I have a 30hp gas motor which seems to take the same effort as this little diesel. Like I said, the weather is wonderful and it's easy to fall asleep to the rhythmic beat of the motor.

Knapps Narrows is located on Tilghman Island, MD. Not quite as isolated as Tangier Island, Tilghman Island is a place of waterman whose livelihood depends on  fishing and crabbing as it has for generations. I had read that entry from the west side of the island can be tricky at best. We decide to enter on the safer, more navigable East side. 

Soon after entering the island's channel we come upon a draw bridge. We contact the authorities that be and the bridge is lifted (though after an odd delay...What are you guys doing up there?). We are informed by one of the local watermen that a near by restaurant will allow overnight docking with the purchase of a meal....no problem!

Draw bridge at Knapps Narrows

We dine at the Bridge Restaurant (yes, it is next to the draw bridge) after tying up for the night. Very good food with a low key atmosphere. Crab boats come and go like the tide. This is a working town. For those of you that like history, here you go:

" The Tilghman family owned it for over a century, beginning with Matthew Tilghman in 1752, and they were the last family to own it. It has remained Tilghman's Island ever since. The island was occupied briefly by the British invasion fleet in

John relaxing

1814, primarily to acquire provisions of fruit and livestock. The present community was established in the 1840s when James Seth purchased the island from General Tilghman and began selling parcels to farmers and oystermen in the area. When oyster dredging began in the Chesapeake Bay, the watermen of Tilghman's Island were quick to join in. Boat-building and blacksmithing were important businesses, as well as fishing, oystering and farming. Selling oysters to Washington and Baltimore became much more profitable in the 1890s when steamboat service was established. Many seafood processing enterprises sprang up, as did a robust hospitality industry. Many families escaped Baltimore's summer heat by coming to one of the fine guest houses on Tilghman's Island; husbands came over on the weekends. Other watermen took out hunting and fishing parties, and their wives provided guests with friendly accommodations. The island became—and remains—a popular get-away for vacationers, drawn by superb fishing and the hospitality of island residents. Although the seafood industry is now much diminished and the shucking houses and processing plants replaced by up-scale housing, Tilghman's Island remains an interesting and enjoyable place to visit—out in the Bay at the end of a long peninsula."  Ok Ok,,,,enough history.

Tomorrow another long day to Town Point on the Bohemia River. This will be out last stop before entering the Delaware Canal and on to Cape May, NJ. 

DAY 4: DELTAVILLE, VA TO TANGIER ISLAND

"On a day when the wind is perfect, the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty. Today is such a day". – Rumi

Short stay and an early morning rise in Deltaville saw us in route to Tangier Island in the middle of the Chesapeake. Tangier is a place I always wanted to go to, explore and talk to locals. The winds are good and we make sail almost the whole way allowing ourselves to motor in just before the entrance to a canal that bisects the island.

Tangier is an old place. It's has a rich history of prosperity and loss. Countless hurricanes have collided with this place. For almost 400 years waterman have fished the Bay from it's port. Founded in 1608, many of the original settler's descendants still live here. An older English dialect is still spoken here. This is a place of families. It's not uncommon to see a couple of family grave markers in the front yards of the homes along the Island's Main Street.

Main Street

The crabbing season is not as good as it has been in the past and many of the crabbing boats sit idle next to weather beaten shacks. Cats, cats cats call this island home, perhaps with  lineage dating to the 1600's when that first mouser crossed that gangplank.

This is a tourist spot where one sees named tagged school children dressed in matching school t-shirts bound off the daily ferry that also brings goods and needed supplies. There are few cars here. The streets are barely one lane wide and the need for a car is, well, not really needed. But there are golf carts, everywhere golf carts buzzing down the road, parked in golf cart size driveways and for sale in the used go cart lot.

Everyone is friendly. Always a wave or a hello. It is obvious I am not from this place but it doesn't seem to matter, I am asked how my day is....and they seem to mean it. I will be back, but tomorrow is a long day on the water  Knapps Narrows at Tilghman Island

Hey! Who let the cat on the boat!!

DAY 3: YORKTOWN, VA TO DELTAVILLE, VA

Leaving Yorktown this morning was met with fine weather. We are heading to Deltaville, a sailor's paradise located on the West shore of Virginia. It won't be a long day and we should arrive with plenty of time to

House boats!

 hang out and enjoy the accommodations.

JOHN AT THE HELM

We arrive at a marina recommended by another boater John knew. The rates were good and we settled into our slip. We were looking forward to a pizza and a beer but apparently Deltaville shuts down early so I hang out in the marina lounge, enjoy the sunset and begin my dime store detective novel I picked up from the marina lending library. It's an easy read about an Amish serial killer.....a killer in the worst way. Apparently he is very polite as he tortures his victims with, you got it, manual tools by candle light....gotta love the Amish.


We'll awake early and head to Tangier Island.....a stop I have been looking forward to.

DAY 2: PORTSMOUTH, VA TO YORKTOWN, VA

THE CROSSING BRIDGE AT YORKTOWN

Waking at sunrise this morning will probably be our standard routine. We will try to get out early and arrive early at our destinations allowing time to explore, relax and hang out a bit. The sailing (I mean motoring....which will happen a lot I suspect) is uneventful with a beautiful weather pattern that burns our skin a bit and lulls me to laziness.

It doesn't take long to get to Yorktown and we arrive about 1PM. The town is quaint in a touristy sort of way. Much Revolutionary War history, home style restaurants and a quick "hello" from passerby's. It's an easy going place....very nice.

CLASSIC SAILBOATS AT SUNRISE

The City Dock is well kept with dock attendants ready to help. It's a floating dock to accommodate the rising tides and occasional flooding.

But at about 4PM mother nature bares it all with a 25kt winds and pelting rain. This keeps up though the night. The boat is a leaker and John covers himself with his raincoat while trying to sleep. I experience a sort of Chinese water torture with intermittent water drops plinking my forehead as I drift off to sleep. I move my position but the water drops follow me and I surrender and dream of mermaids. Come morning I will dry out my clothes.