Boating with Sunset Delight: 2024 October: Enter Chesapeake Bay

13 October 2024
Depart: Brigantine anchorage, Atlantic City, NJ 7:30 a.m.
Arrive: Cohansey Cove along Delaware River, NJ 4:15 p.m.
Distance: ~ 72 nm

Clark did a lot of analysis to decide which route we would take today. The choices were Atlantic Ocean or Chesapeake Bay. Ocean travel would get us to Norfolk, VA faster by a couple of days. We managed to do that trip last year for the first time ever and loved it. We have been up and down the Chesapeake Bay more times than I can count, and it seems like every anchorage we stay in is called "Mill Creek"!

Unfortunately, the weather proved uncooperative for an ocean voyage this time, so we headed for an anchorage off the Delaware River for the night. Sadly, this not only adds days to our travel, but sends us northwards into colder weather expected over the next few days.

Before pulling up anchor, I watched the sun come up over the anchorage.

This anchorage has an intimidating entrance with a narrow entrance with marshes to one side and a beach to the other. The deeper water is along the edge of the marsh grass. We came in at high tide and saw no less than 4 feet of water below the boat.

We had a good view of the Atlantic City casinos from our boat this morning.

As the sun came up, it reflected in the windows of some houses by the anchorage.

Since we have been up and down the Jersey shore numerous times, the sites from the boat are familiar. I grabbed only a picture of the Ferris wheel at one of the resort towns along the way.

Having been underway for about 5 hours, we finally arrived at Cape May. We had been traveling all that time heading into the southerly wind and oncoming waves. The motion of the boat was comparable to riding a rocking horse for that amount of time. It might be fun at first but loses its attractiveness as time goes on! When Clark said the winds and waves would pick up in the afternoon, I was mighty glad he had decided on heading for the Chesapeake Bay.

We traversed the Cape May Canal to Delaware Bay and into the Delaware River. At 1:30, we entered Delaware Bay with calm seas and all looked good. Clark selected "Cohansey Cove" on the New Jersey side of the river as tonight's anchorage. Unfortunately, when we arrived there, we found it to be a mine field of crab pots.

Everywhere we looked in every direction, we found pot after pot. By the time we arrived, the wind had picked up. The associated wave action made the crab pots bob up and down giving us a hard time surveying the area for a place to drop anchor, so I went out on the bow for better visibility. We finally found a place big enough to drop anchor and have swing room as the tide changed. The spot was not ideal but seemed to be our only option.

As the evening wore on, we discovered that we had chosen one of our worst anchorage spots ever. The tide forced the boat sideways to the waves. Some rocking was so severe we were pretty sure it came from wakes of boat traffic on top of the waves formed by the wind. (We are only stabilized when underway!)

Walking in the boat was difficult as we rocked heavily from side-to-side. Cooking dinner was an interesting challenge. Hunting down and securing items swinging, banging, and falling in the boat helped pass the time. Clark yelled out, "Sundown", so I could grab a picture. I told him I was busy chasing pots around the kitchen, and he could take one. It did not happen!

We hoped it would calm down as the night progressed and the wind abated. However, at midnight, I was still being thrown from side to side in bed holding on to the side of the bed to stay mostly in one place. Clark suggested that the winds would calm down around 2:00 a.m. and it did but at 3:00 I was still awake! Needless to say, it was not a pleasant night and not conducive to sleeping.

14 October 2024
Depart: Cohansey Cove anchorage 7:35 a.m.
Arrive: Sassafras River, Money Creek, Anchorage, Maryland 1:50 p.m.
Distance: ~52 nm

Motion sickness is not something I generally need to deal with, but with so little sleep last night, and many hours since I ate dinner, I felt "peculiar" this morning. Clark said we needed to get going as early as possible today to catch the current going up the river. Given that breakfast would need to wait. I grabbed a handful of almonds and a glass of water and hoped for the best. (I did eventually feel myself after eating a full breakfast.)

As I waited for Clark to get the engines up and running, I took a couple of sunrise pictures. That was the best part of dragging my body out of bed this morning.

We got underway and continued our way up the Delaware River towards the C&D Canal. We had light winds and little traffic. Our last view of New Jersey is the Salem Nuclear Power Plant. Today it was brightly lit by the sun as we approached.

On the Delaware River, we passed the "Green Warrior" from Monrovia. I liked the "Pi-like" symbol on the ship. We were traveling outside the channel, so he had plenty of room.

Then, later, we saw a barge being pushed by a tug. These are a common sight in this area.

Entering the C&D Canal, we saw the usual sights. A few folks were using the trails along the canal - biking or running. Passing by Chesapeake City, we checked out the sailboats lined up at the town dock. It looked like they had a full house.

On the opposite shore, we spied the marina at Schaefer's Canal House with a pilot boat docked nearby.

Fall colors have just started to appear on the C&D Canal.

When we had entered the C&D Canal, Clark radioed a tug named "Rock Hall" for his plans so that we could navigate such that we did not get in his way. We followed him the length of the canal.

As we made our way along the waterway, we heard someone with a very loud mouth haling a vessel. Until he passed us, we did not know he was calling us. Our vessel name is clearly displayed. He did not use it. As it turned out, some sailing vessel replied to him in our stead. As he flew by us, I said, "Oh, he was calling us!"

Later, as that same loud mouth, approached "Rock Hall", he called on the radio "tug, we're passing on your starboard". He got no response. He tried again. Eventually, "Rock Hall" answered and said, "Are you haling 'Rock Hall'?" He then proceeded to give the haling boater a harsh lecture on boating etiquette and told him to use a boat's name when calling. The loud mouth gave a "yeah, sure" kind of reply - not polite and not quite totally rude. Clark said, "That guy is a jerk!" Harsh words from Captain Clark! To me it sounded like he thought he owned the waterways.

The wind has not been our friend thus far on the trip. Just before entering the C&D Canal, the winds suddenly jumped from 12 knots to gusts of up to 40 knots. The weatherman had said to expect a sudden change in wind speed, and he was correct.

As we departed the Elk River at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, we had 4 foot waves with a very short period causing water to splash over the top of our boat that stands almost 20 feet tall. At lunchtime I ate down below where the wave action was not so noticeable. I had a nice break from wind and waves.

Clark later told me about a sailboat that he had seen so far keeled over in the river that its rail was in, or practically in, the water. He said it looked "scary". He took a picture of the boat, but it was not keeled over at the time.

At 12:45 Clark asked me what I wanted to do - exit the Bay and enter the Sassafras River to look for an anchorage or continue on the Bay. Visibility had become somewhat poor, so I suggested we bail out and try for better weather tomorrow.

Even on the Sassafras River conditions were not ideal, and I prayed that Clark would find an anchorage that would allow me to sleep tonight. He said there looked to be a good place about a mile up river. We were on lookout for traps bobbing in waves as we entered the river in search of the anchorage.

As we traveled along, we collected a number of seagulls who must have thought we were a returning fishing boat.