Heading around Cape May

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Monday we awoke in Utsch Marina after a great nights sleep. We decide to stay today as the wind was not in our favor to round the Cape May point. Most boats use the Cape May canal which is more protected to get to the Delaware river, but due to our mast height we would need to go around. The passage around the point is more precarious due to currents and lots of shoaling (shallow often rocky areas). The wind and tide should be in your favor to make passage easier. So we needed to wait, which was fine since recovery from the last 2 days on the Atlantic had made us bone weary!

After breakfast and yoga we headed out to the bait and tackle shop to get my Penn Squal Wind Level reel spun and get some tackle for the Chesapeake. Jim’s Bait and Tackle could not have been more helpful. We continued our walk on down toward “town” and happened into an antique shop – always fun, like a museum!

A relic at Utsch’s Marina
An antique shop

The rest of the day was spent ordering groceries, Stew was editing and working on some of the photos, and I updated the blog. Later on I did some baking (brownies) and made some bean soup for our anchoring tomorrow.

Tuesday morning we rose to a bit of fog but no wind and little waves – a perfect day to set out for the Delaware River! There are several different ways you can go around the point – there is the “inside” which is much quicker, there is the “outside of the inside” which is what we did (due to the keel being 6′ it seemed a little safer). Then there is the “outside” which is much longer and you literally go south to the shipping channel and follow it into the river. Once we rounded the point the tide was now a flood tide so it pushed us along at 10MPH!! And the river could not have been more calm. Gave me a few minutes to try out my new reel and tackle.

Just exiting the marina – pretty calm so far
A bit rough coming around the point
Pete – always close behind no matter how turbulent
Trying out my new reel and tackle

The sky could not have been clearer and water calmer for our transit. Along the way we saw an Eagle – Stew thought it was a statue but once we circled back it finally moved and we knew it was real. I took so many pictures it was hard to just choose a few to post.

Checking out my Eagle pictures

We decided to stop at Cohansey River and anchor around 2:00. This gave us time to relax and enjoy the beautiful, quiet anchorage. Stew decided to take a swim – but quickly chickened out as the water was a cold 63 degrees. The rest of the evening we just read and relaxed.

Stew in “Time out”
Just a beautiful anchorage

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