Captain's Choice blog: New Jersey to Maryland

If we were in Buffalo and Mark asked me if I wanted to go boating on a 39 degree day I would have looked at him like he had 2 heads and said nooooo! Well this isn't Buffalo but it was NYC and it was 39 degrees and we did go boating. It's not just us being cold but we are dealing with lines that are stiff from the cold, clear vinyl panels on the bridge that could crack if handled incorrectly and no heat or wipers on the bridge.
We left Staten Island at O'dark thirty and were rewarded with a magnificent sunrise. We had 4 layers of clothing on and with the brilliant sunshine warming the bridge we were able to shed a few by noon. When we left we wanted to get to Cape May (136 miles) but knew we had the opportunity to duck in at Manasquan or Atlantic City if the water was rough. To go all the way to Cape May we had to go faster than our normal 10 mph (referred to as trawler speed) and kick it up to an average of 17 mph. We like going slow, it saves on fuel and we normally don't care how long it takes to get somewhere because heck, we're retired.
This weather window we were dealing with was short...travel Friday or wait until Monday. Even with traveling Friday they were calling for gale force winds after 6 pm. We made it to Cape May by 4 with decent seas until about the last hour. Still nothing that we couldn't handle just glad we could see Cape May and know we were at the end of the day.
But oh the salt...Captains Choice was a salty mess and it was dark by the time we had her all cleaned up.

Now it was time to wait again for the next opportunity to leave Cape May and head up Delaware Bay. We took advantage of laundry facilities at Utsch's marina, fueled up and got some maintenance items completed. We didn't bring our bikes as we had when we did the loop but got our sneakers on and walked to the beach, grocery store and the town of Cape May...about 6 miles in total. We were also treated to a trio of weather warnings for Sunday; small craft warning, gale force warning and hazardous weather alert. This had us staying put for the day, making soup and baking...wind gusts on Delaware Bay were upwards of 40 knots (46 mph).

When we got up Monday morning and looked at the buoy reports on Delaware Bay they said the winds were 14 knots but they don't give wave heights so we had no idea what the bay really looked like. We made the decision that if we got out there and it was too rough we'd turn around and head back. The popular choice was to leave as 3 other boats from the marina headed out at the same time as us with a brisk temperature of 35 degrees.
The waves were about 2' with confused seas (waves coming from 2 different directions), nothing we couldn't handle. As we headed north on the bay the waves subsided and it was a pleasant run to Chesapeake City, 73 miles away. The best part... we saw our first dolphins! So excited to see them again...the captain yelled out "head south my friends" as we couldn't believe they were here in the cold and off they went.
Chesapeake City has a free dock with a nominal charge if you use electric but only 3 spots for boats to tie up. We were hopeful we'd get a spot so we would have heat all night but when we got close we saw the spots were taken. There is a small bay right across from the docks that we anchored in along with 5 other boats. It's a great anchorage with 10' of water and good holding. We ran the generator while I cooked dinner and warmed the boat up. By morning it was a tad cool, our boater friends would refer to it as "a meat locker" which is how they like to keep their boats in the summer running their a/c.

We have a bit of a different strategy as we head south, we still like to go slow but on the "good days" we are traveling longer to get as far south as possible. Today (Tuesday) we traveled 91 miles from Chesapeake City to an anchorage outside Cambridge, MD in Hudson Creek. This is a great location with protection from the winds, anchored in 9' of water with good holding.
What a day, although we started out with layers to keep us warm, the temperature rose to 70 degrees...we actually could have worn bathing suits on the bridge!

The next few days we will be staying at anchorages which has us up early and leaving at first light. The next weather event is the remains of Hurricane Willa which will hit the east coast this weekend.