We're off the Bay!

Morning photo before we left Worton Creek.

Yesterday we left Annapolis with Cathe and Tom, our friends from Atlanta.  We made a rainy but calm trip to Worton Creek.  Cathe and Tom were good cruisers, helping George as lookouts while I knitted.  We docked at Worton's Creek Marina, MD, our final night on the Chesapeake Bay.  It was in the middle of nowhere (MON) and we did not have internet even with our Verizon router.  We were a quiet crew, reading and napping for much of the afternoon.

At night we walked to the new restaurant onsite, which had opened that day and ate crab cakes and rockfish for dinner.  Thank you, Tom!  We slept soundly.

Cathe and Tom at the Worton Creek Restaurant.

We woke to sunshine and wind today and took off at 8:00 am for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C & D).  I was anxious because winds were predicted at 15 - 20 mph, with gusts to 30.  It was bumpy as we began the trip.  I settled myself by playing Solitaire. However, after we turned north to the C & D, the wind was behind us, and we traveled with just one foot waves.  Smooth! We saw 11 mph for some of the trip.  Having the current on our team was terrific.  It was quiet enough for us to ride up on the fly bridge.  Score this day as another win for George, who predicted we would be fine traveling.  His reasoning was that it was a fairly narrow stretch, so there would not be much fetch to build waves. Correct!  He did luck into the current since we had not expected that, and it made our journey quite pleasant.

Beautiful day for sailing on Chesapeake Bay

The morning flew by, and we arrived at Summit North Marina.  The marina is also in the MON, but we do have internet.  It is a large place with floating docks.  However, the space they assigned us was crowded with a 45 foot sailboat, and we could not fit on the dock too.  Tom and I secured Aunt Aggie, but we were not in a safe spot.  A dock hand came down after George called the office.  They advised us to move to a different slip, and we did.  The wind was picking up, and we were glad to get settled and tied well.

This is just an ok spot, but Cathe and Tom are troupers.  There is no town:  The marina seems to be the town; no loaner car; bathrooms are far away; one shower; just small bags of chips in the ship store.  Yes, these are first world problems.  We are safe.  The sun is shining.  There is $2.00 beer for happy hour at the bar on the hill.  We took an hour walk in the sun.  The wind is gusting.

George, Cathe, and Tom walking on a country road.
The C & D Canal is on the left.

Two looper boats, Knot There and No Zip Code, are here too.  It will be good to catch up  with them.  I hope we can see them at happy hour. We will cook a Mexican feast on the boat tonight.

Tomorrow we plan to go 69 miles down the Delaware Bay to Cape May, NJ.  (Our time in Delaware is short.) Delaware Bay is one of those big, challenging bodies of water that haunt me.  Our friends on Blue Willow are nearby, and they say tomorrow is the day for traveling to Cape May.  They say if we don't go tomorrow, then we may have to wait here a week.  So we plan to leave Cathe and Tom at the dock at 7:00 am and head to Delaware Bay.  It will be an eight hour trip.  Stay tuned.