Friday – Sunday, June 14-16, 2019

We departed Havre de Grace at 10:30am. It was rather windy and rough on the upper part of Chesapeake Bay. Heavy rains the day before left quite a bit of debris in the water. Our route took us across the northern tip of Chesapeake Bay to the Chesapeake & Delaware (CD) Canal for the remainder of the trip to Delaware City Marina.  The CD canal opened in 1829 creating a link from the Delaware River to Chesapeake Bay and thereby avoiding the long trip around the Delmarva (Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) Peninsula. 

We arrived at Delaware City Marina at 2:30pm. The marina is located on a branch channel (an old canal) off the Delaware River and is subjected to fast currents and significant tides. There is limited room to turn around boats of our size, so the dock hands have perfected a technique to do it using the boat’s dock lines and the current. You approach the dock at 45 degrees, once the bow is near the dock, two dockhands grab both of your bow lines. They have you back away from the dock and wait. They allow the current to take the stern downstream, then slowly bring the bow into the current. It goes smoothly if you follow their instructions. It does not go smoothly if you don’t. The current in the channel is driven by the tide, so the direction changes twice a day. 

We were able to meet up with our Whiskey Business friends, Jerry & Debbie, once again for docktails. It was great to see them again!  This time Jerry gave Sue a shot of Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 15 year Bourbon (WOW – amazing!) instead of his signature manhattan cocktails. (Did we say they were in the “whiskey business?”) 

Delaware Bay can get nasty when the winds are up and the current is fighting the incoming seas. Tim, the Marina Dock Master, holds a travel briefing every day at 5pm. He has a large computer screen and goes over the local marine forecast and other weather forecast sources with the attendees. He won’t tell anyone what to do, but he gives you enough information to decide which day you wish to depart.  He and his crew are there at 5AM any day as needed to help anyone who wishes to leave at their suggested departure time – Ugh!  We ended up staying a day longer than planned due to the forecast; and we didn’t leave the dock until almost 8AM – we are such rebels!

Tim is currently trying to sell a nice boat for a couple who attempted the trip to Cape May in unfavorable conditions. The seas were so rough they had to call for help so they could follow another boat’s wake in to a safe harbor. The wife said she would never set foot on the boat again … so it is up for sale.