To Wildwood, NJ

            Ever since we crossed over the US, we have had positively delightful weather; that is until we reached the Chesapeake early last week. It hasn’t been really awful or anything, just kind of blustery and drizzly for the past few days. Oh well, if nothing else the cool weather makes for much more pleasant sleeping and the rains have kept the coat of salty grime that always encrusts the decks from building up too much.

Despite this weather, we had a lovely time on Chesapeake Bay. It’s a pretty place loaded with protected anchorages and cute little towns. After departing Solomons, we sailed/ motored up to Annapolis in a stiff Northerly breeze. I had taken a seasickness pill that morning that sufficiently knocked me out for the duration of the day. I woke up around 5:00 in the afternoon and had some breakfast. Shortly after that we went over to our friend’s house for dinner. Seeing them was great, they are awesome people and a lot of fun to be around.

The following day we stayed put and walked around downtown Annapolis. We toured the William Paca house, an obscenely oversized mansion with beautiful gardens behind it. William was kind of a big deal I guess, he signed the Declaration of Independence and was Maryland’s governor for a while. My parents had toured it 20 years ago and remembered it for it’s gardens, so we brought a small picnic of cheese and crackers and ate it out there after the tour. We walked through a bunch of little galleries and stopped in for lunch at Chick & Ruth’s Deli, an awesome little sandwich shop that is well renowned for it’s tasty subs and has been in business many decades.

We had dinner with our friends again that night. They have a daughter my age and she and I had fun listening to music and chatting about life in her room. We got back to the boat around 11:00 that night and collapsed, thoroughly exhausted from a long, happy day.

The next morning we were up and out early. We motored to the top of the Chesapeake, weaving our way through a slalom course of pesky crab pots. Late in the afternoon we anchored in Chesapeake City and went ashore for a walk around town. We poked around in every single antique shop/ boutique in town then retired to the boat for the evening.

Saturday the weather was rather icky so we remained in Chesapeake City. We went to the C&D Canal Museum in the morning and entertained ourselves by trying to figure out how the steam powered water wheel worked. More boutique window-shopping kept us occupied that afternoon, though it was rainy. I went back to the boat, knocked out some schoolwork, and went to bed before 8:00.

Yesterday morning we left Chesapeake City mid-morning to catch a favorable tide out to Delaware Bay. There was thick fog everywhere but we zipped along under power without any difficulty.  We anchored in the Cohansey River, a windy, scenic creek where we stopped last fall on the way South. My mom and I went for a walk and discovered that the gently rolling hay fields and big red barns of the town look strikingly similar to those of our hometown.

This morning we pulled up anchor and headed down Delaware Bay to Cape May. It was extremely foggy. We couldn’t see the horizon most of the time, but the water was flat calm and everything went smoothly. We anchored at Wildwood, a touristy suburb that is pretty much dead this time of year without it’s summer vacationers. We got pizza in celebration of our successful trip down Delaware Bay.

We’ll probably be stuck here for a few days waiting for good water to make the ocean hop over to NYC. After we make the passage to New York, we’ll continue up the Hudson to the Champlain Canal, then up the Lake to home. The Champlain Canal is closed due to high water until May 23^rd, but I’ll be home shortly after that. I can’t believe that we are actually getting close to Vermont. Wow, this year has flown by!