We're in Cape May; Tomorrow: Home Sweet Home

Last night we had a wonderful dinner with our friends, Betty and Fred Luderitz.


We left Chesapeake City's free dock at 5:45 a.m., motoring through the C & D Canal at 2900 rpms. SOG was 8.8 knots and SOW was 6.5 knots.

We were heading for the Delaware River and Bay and praying it would be a calm day. We started out in long sleeves, a nice change from four layers we wore the last few days at the start of the day! Chuck boosted up the rpms and we hit 10 knots.

At 7:15 a.m., we entered the Delaware River and the coats went on. It was colder in the bigger body of water. By 7:30, we were pulling out the main for better steering and a little speed. It stops the boat from pounding so much, creating a smoother ride. We were "bouncing" through the waves.

At 8 a.m., we pulled the main mostly in and let out the full jib sail for speed. We kept a little of the main sail out for steering.

We passed the Salem Nuclear Power Plant. There was a U.S. Coast Guard boat guarding the power plant. Jazzy was on my lap under two blankets. We were "hobby horsing."  SOW was now 6.8-7 k and SOG was was 5.7-6 knots. Winds were 8-9 knots and wave height was just one foot. The winds were from SSW and the tide was coming in. It was looking to be a smooth ride.

We passed lots of big ships, but stayed out of the main channel. Here's a photo of Bum's Rest passing the ship.

After the tide change, there was no wind, just two knots. Sails were just swaying in the wind, so we pulled them in. Woo-hoo. Our prayers were answered. It was a nice, calm day on the Delaware!

At noon, we saw 9 knots of wind, so the sails came back out. It got hazy and we took a different heading than Bum's Rest, so we couldn't see them.

At 2:40 p.m., we were a few minutes from the ferry terminal and heard Bum's Rest on the radio and five minutes later, we were right behind them.

We pulled into Utsch's fuel dock at 3:30 p.m.  This is a really nice marina and they give you a bottle of Cape May wine and a goodie bag of local items. It's a nice touch.

Patti's parents were here waiting for them to arrive. Jazzy was so excited to see Sailor's mom-mom and pop-pop. Then Ryan and Catherine arrived to go to the Lobster House with us for dinner. She was going crazy jumping around. It's like she senses that we are almost home.

Tomorrow we'll be back at our home dock...Viking Yachting Center...home sweet home! All three of our kids and some of the grandkids will be there to greet us. We've sure missed them!

Thanks to all who have faithfully followed our blog. I hope you have enjoyed it. We'll blog our other travels. We hope to take a few small trips this summer/fall.

Feel free to e-mail me:  kathymcgowan1@comcast.net.