Monday, June 17, 2019

We departed Delaware City at 7:50am to take advantage of the tide as much as we could. The forecast turned out to be correct, so our trip down the Delaware River and across the bay was smooth and uneventful. We were surprised when we spotted a bald eagle along the way - we haven’t seen one for quite a while!   

We entered Cape May channel around 1:30 and made it to Utsch’s Marina by 3pm.  Utsch’s (pronounced like Dutch’s, but without the “D”) is more of a boatyard than a marina. It’s a little rough around the edges, but the people were nice and there was a good restaurant a couple blocks away. We’re not sure how this happens, be we almost got caught in a downpour again as we were leaving the restaurant. Fortunately, we stopped to chat with a Looper couple at another table on our way out, and the rain began while we were talking. If not for that short conversation we would have gotten soaked on our way back to the boat! Lucky for us, there was a bar that we could sit at for a quick drink while the storm passed, then we still made it back to the boat to see a golden sunset. 

There is a canal that runs up along the New Jersey coast, but it is extremely shallow and full of debris, so very few Loopers take that route.  Just recently, a Platinum Looper (Platinum means you have finished the loop 3 or more times – this couple has just finished their 3rd loop) on the boat M/V Magic got stuck in a shallow area. Even after the tide came in they had to get towed off and have repairs. Guess the “magic” is in name only, the captain was unable to work his magic to get unstuck – but he is a great guy that everyone knows and he knows everyone, and he has a very tolerant wife!

So tomorrow, we avoid the canal and head offshore into the Atlantic Ocean for a few hours to our next stop in Atlantic City, NJ.