August 17 – Friday
We left the dock at 06:10 bound for Rock Hall – we were going home. Polly noted that, to the day, it will be 10 weeks since our initial departure on Friday, June 8. Conditions were not bad and forecast to get better. There was no traffic on the water to speak of, and even the autohelm was behaving its self – it must have sensed that its brain was going to be removed and sent to New Hampshire as soon as this day was over. We passed a couple of north bound tugs pushing barges as we made our way down the Bay and into familiar waters. Only the local crabbers and netters were around to keep us company and remind us that we were back in crab pot territory, big time.
We clicked off the shore features we have become so familiar with these 20 years or so of Bay cruising – Turkey Point, Sassafras River, Fairlee Creek, Tolchester and finally, Swan Point. By 11:00 we were crossing the shallows at the north end of the bar, a short cut to the channel that leads into Swan Creek and FLIGHT’s home port. At 12:00 we were settled into our slip and sitting on the bridge having a celebratory beer.
10 weeks, 1700 NM, 112 locks, 285 engine hours, many new ports many new friendships and countless credit card receipts. When you include ZERO boat problems, it nets out to a great summer cruise.
The blog has been fun as well as helpful. Doing it served as a template for organizing our memories and maintaining a more comprehensive journal of our travels then we might otherwise have done. Knowing that others may be reading it inspired us to be more descriptive than we might have been for our private purposes. We continue to be pleasantly surprised by the number and extent of readers who have followed our Flight North – many folks we have never met. The cruise served us as a test for future adventures and has given us ideas for consideration – maybe a month on Lake Champlain or a cruise on the Trent-Severn, another Canadian waterway. Next year who knows, perhaps New England and some time cruising with new friends Maureen and Peter from Rhode Island in the summer and then head south in the fall for a winter in Georgia, Florida or the Bahamas. Plenty of time to decide and plan during this winter, knowing FLIGHT will be ready to take us.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
August 16 – Thursday
FLIGHT remained in port.
After the Delaware Bucklen household got started on their respective day, we decided we would do a bit of shopping and check each other out on our driving. It had been a long time since we had moved about at speeds greater than 10 MPH. We also had to stop back at the marina to check out the boat and make arrangements for another day’s stay. After a bit of shopping we decided we would handle dinner for everyone that evening and the idea of crab cakes popped into Polly’s head. Where could we get some really good ones? The best we know about in the general area come from J&J Seafood in Rock Hall. Off we went at 50+ MPH and returned with 4 plump half-pounders ready to pop in the broiler later – Cameron prefers chicken nuggets. Another stop at the supermarket for some salad fixings and the menu was all set.
Following dinner and some more playing and visiting, we headed for the boat so we could get an early start on the final leg to Rock Hall and slip D-21 at Spring Cove Marina.
FLIGHT remained in port.
After the Delaware Bucklen household got started on their respective day, we decided we would do a bit of shopping and check each other out on our driving. It had been a long time since we had moved about at speeds greater than 10 MPH. We also had to stop back at the marina to check out the boat and make arrangements for another day’s stay. After a bit of shopping we decided we would handle dinner for everyone that evening and the idea of crab cakes popped into Polly’s head. Where could we get some really good ones? The best we know about in the general area come from J&J Seafood in Rock Hall. Off we went at 50+ MPH and returned with 4 plump half-pounders ready to pop in the broiler later – Cameron prefers chicken nuggets. Another stop at the supermarket for some salad fixings and the menu was all set.
Following dinner and some more playing and visiting, we headed for the boat so we could get an early start on the final leg to Rock Hall and slip D-21 at Spring Cove Marina.
August 15 – Wednesday
We were both up just after 05:00 and decided to get underway as soon as possible to take advantage of the slack tide and then have the incoming tide current with us for most of the way to the C&D Canal. Checking the WX forecast again, it was similar to the night before but higher winds – 15-20 kts. with gusts to 25 in the northern part of the bay. Wave height was also a bit more, but direction was still the same. We were underway by 06:00 and motoring through the canal to the Delaware Bay end. There was a dredge working at the entrance to the canal and we were advised to stay tight to him in order to avoid the gear he had out. It was good to see the work going on – the bay side entrance was very shallow when we passed through in June. As we cleared the canal we were met by the 3’-4’ seas and the SW wind immediately. Because of the more southerly heading we had to stay on in order to reach the deeper water, the seas were in a confused state and wind was on our beam so we had a lot of rolling motion with spray. After about 30 minutes Polly needed to go below for an item so we decided to relocate to the lower helm station where it would be more comfortable. We remained there for the first 3 hours and thankfully, the autohelm handled most of the steering. As we reached deeper water near the ship channel, we were able to turn to a more northerly heading and also by then, we were getting to the narrow part of the Delaware Bay and the sea state was much more comfortable so we moved up to the bridge. Most of the traffic we encountered was made up of ships and tugs with the occasional fishing boat. Because of the crosswind, one particular tug that was towing a barge was having trouble keeping the barge away from the channel buoys while staying on his side of the channel to allow a nearby ship enough space to pass. It made for interesting VHF conversation between the tug’s skipper and the pilot on board the inbound ship. We made a point of running parallel to the channel but just outside of the buoys, to be certain we did not become part of the conversation.
We entered the C&D Canal at 12:00 and as we were passing under the first bridge (St. George’s), we phoned our son, Matt who lives near the marina where we planned to stay, and arranged a pick-up for later in the afternoon. We arrived at Summit North Marina about an hour after entering the canal and in the mean time, the ship we had been listening to on the bay, had also entered the canal and passed us about 10 minutes before we entered the marina. As we watched the ship bearing down on us from astern, it seemed to fill the entire space but as it overtook us, it was clear there was plenty of room for 2 ships to pass and we still could have been in the water, as well.
Matt’s schedule allowed him to meet us later that afternoon in time for us to accompany him to the daycare school where he would be picking up our Grandson, Cameron. Possibly the main reason we decided to make the stop at Summit North, that day.
We spent the night ashore, with the Bucklen’s and were amazed at how spacious a house seemed, after 10 weeks aboard a 36 foot trawler. As much as we were ready for the voyage to be completed, the WX for Thursday was not looking very good for the leg to Rock Hall so we decided to stay another day. Since the car we left behind was in our son’s driveway we thought we could use the day to learn how to adapt to road traffic again, by doing some shopping etc.
Small World Note: Not long after we arrived at Summit North Marina and were washing off some of the Delaware salt spray, another Monk 36 came in and the home port displayed on the transom was a town in Ontario, Canada. In a discussion with the couple who was aboard, we learned they had left their boat in Solomon’s (on Chesapeake Bay) for the winter and were now on their way back home. Furthermore, they had come up from Rock Hall, that day.
We were both up just after 05:00 and decided to get underway as soon as possible to take advantage of the slack tide and then have the incoming tide current with us for most of the way to the C&D Canal. Checking the WX forecast again, it was similar to the night before but higher winds – 15-20 kts. with gusts to 25 in the northern part of the bay. Wave height was also a bit more, but direction was still the same. We were underway by 06:00 and motoring through the canal to the Delaware Bay end. There was a dredge working at the entrance to the canal and we were advised to stay tight to him in order to avoid the gear he had out. It was good to see the work going on – the bay side entrance was very shallow when we passed through in June. As we cleared the canal we were met by the 3’-4’ seas and the SW wind immediately. Because of the more southerly heading we had to stay on in order to reach the deeper water, the seas were in a confused state and wind was on our beam so we had a lot of rolling motion with spray. After about 30 minutes Polly needed to go below for an item so we decided to relocate to the lower helm station where it would be more comfortable. We remained there for the first 3 hours and thankfully, the autohelm handled most of the steering. As we reached deeper water near the ship channel, we were able to turn to a more northerly heading and also by then, we were getting to the narrow part of the Delaware Bay and the sea state was much more comfortable so we moved up to the bridge. Most of the traffic we encountered was made up of ships and tugs with the occasional fishing boat. Because of the crosswind, one particular tug that was towing a barge was having trouble keeping the barge away from the channel buoys while staying on his side of the channel to allow a nearby ship enough space to pass. It made for interesting VHF conversation between the tug’s skipper and the pilot on board the inbound ship. We made a point of running parallel to the channel but just outside of the buoys, to be certain we did not become part of the conversation.
We entered the C&D Canal at 12:00 and as we were passing under the first bridge (St. George’s), we phoned our son, Matt who lives near the marina where we planned to stay, and arranged a pick-up for later in the afternoon. We arrived at Summit North Marina about an hour after entering the canal and in the mean time, the ship we had been listening to on the bay, had also entered the canal and passed us about 10 minutes before we entered the marina. As we watched the ship bearing down on us from astern, it seemed to fill the entire space but as it overtook us, it was clear there was plenty of room for 2 ships to pass and we still could have been in the water, as well.
Matt’s schedule allowed him to meet us later that afternoon in time for us to accompany him to the daycare school where he would be picking up our Grandson, Cameron. Possibly the main reason we decided to make the stop at Summit North, that day.
We spent the night ashore, with the Bucklen’s and were amazed at how spacious a house seemed, after 10 weeks aboard a 36 foot trawler. As much as we were ready for the voyage to be completed, the WX for Thursday was not looking very good for the leg to Rock Hall so we decided to stay another day. Since the car we left behind was in our son’s driveway we thought we could use the day to learn how to adapt to road traffic again, by doing some shopping etc.
Small World Note: Not long after we arrived at Summit North Marina and were washing off some of the Delaware salt spray, another Monk 36 came in and the home port displayed on the transom was a town in Ontario, Canada. In a discussion with the couple who was aboard, we learned they had left their boat in Solomon’s (on Chesapeake Bay) for the winter and were now on their way back home. Furthermore, they had come up from Rock Hall, that day.
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