Cape May to the Chesapeake

Turner Creek in the Morning

Bluffs Along Chesapeake Bay

Tuesday, September 30th

We've just anchored in Turner Creek just off the Sassafras River - one of the many rivers emptying into the long bay that is "the Chesapeake". We're here at last - one of our anticipated destinations along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Turner Creek is a pretty quiet little spot - a few boats on buoys, a few cottages in between stands of trees - glassy water - hawks flying overhead. However, Bob thinks that maybe we're in a little too close to one of the mooring balls so we were going to move - but the starter motor has failed - again. In addition to our starter problem earlier in our trip - we had starter problems all summer prior to leaving, which I will not go into. This could shorten our week of exploring before we fly home for Thanksgiving - but we'll see - Bob is tinkering and no decisions have been made as to next steps. We're comforted by our membership in Boat US - we can call them to tow us ---- somewhere ---- tomorrow.

Yesterday we left Cape May at 7:00 a.m. and went around the outside of the cape rather than through the canal. Times for the low tide that we needed to clear the canal bridges (in the middle of the night and the middle of the day) didn't work well with our preference to travel in daylight and get to an anchorage near the C & D (Chesapeake and Delaware) Canal before dark.

Wave height yesterday was more manageable than during the previous week but was still 2 - 5 feet and with a 12 - 17 knot wind on our nose, we found ourselves bucking and crashing our way through waves for most of the day. We were also slowed down considerably by an opposing current which by the end of the day had taught us that leaving in the middle of the night to catch a favorable tide would have much to recommend it!

Bob suggests that I describe our lunch on the bouncing boat: neither of us was keen to go below to attempt lunch preparation. Bob's solution was to grab bread, peanut butter, 2 bananas and a knife. With these he constructed a sandwich on his knees, handed it to me (I was at the wheel) and then made one for himself (no plates!). We also ate half our supply of gummy bears.

Near the end of the afternoon, we realized that we would not get to the Reedy Island anchorage before dark as we had hoped. We checked Skipper Bob's Guide to Anchorages and thankfully, there was an alternate anchorage close by. We turned toward the Cohansey River. At the mouth of the river, we were met with a field of bobbing markers signaling an oyster farm (so said the GPS chart). After much milling around going this way and that, we decided to pick our way directly through the middle. This was to be good training for navigating crab pots in the Chesapeake. Once in, we found the river to be wide and deep with marshes on each side - picturesque and not a soul in sight. We dropped our anchor just as the sun was going down - whew!

One other small problem awaited us: the end of the V-berth was wet. We had taken a lot of water over our bow through the day. Somehow some of the water was leaking into the berth. So - we emptied the stern cabin of bikes, cushions, extra sail, emergency bag, wash bag, etc. and moved there for the night. We've always wondered what the stern berth was like to sleep in!

This morning the sun was bright and the tide was with us - what a difference. We were at the entrance to the C & D canal and through it to the Bay in no time. The V-Berth cushions have dried out and we will be back in our bed tonight. Tomorrow we'll figure what to do about the starter and Bob says that eventually, he'll figure out a why water is coming in from the anchor locker in high seas. And now for a drink and then I'll cook dinner.