Cape May to Chesapeake City, MD - we hope

Sunday, Oct 3
We arrive in Cape May, NJ glad to have a safe harbor and not hit anything arriving in the dark.  We were all beat so went to bed at 6am and woke up late morning still feeling beat. We decided to not leave and were glad that we were in a safe place.   We were also kicking ourselves in the behind for not leaving Friday night like we had talked about for ? reason.  We didn't do much during the day. Phil emptied the water out of the dinghy and started to make bread and then fell asleep so I finished it and put in the oven. Poor guy was so tired after last night!  I cooked a beef stew with potatoes and cabbage and just before the potatoes were cooked - propane ran out!!  There will be no coffee for Phil and Vic in the morning.  We then had discussions about getting the propane tank filled.  I went into Goggle Maps on the internet and made a few calls - of course on a early Sunday evening most places were closed.   I was on the internet in the evening and then we played Wizard!!  I'm sure all our friends that we play cards with on Fridays are so sorry that they missed out - NOT I'm sure.  hehe.  We had a good time - turns out with 3 people it took 20 rounds to finish the game and Phil won.  We went to bed late needless to say.

Monday, Oct 4

Phil suggested this morning after we woke at 930am that we go to a marina which we did about 1130am that was down the harbor we were in close to where the canal to the Delaware Bay starts.  So we've been at Utsch's Marina (like Dutch but starts with the short u sound) which is a very nice place.  They have showers, which Vicki and I took advantage of first thing while Phil walked to the Shell station across the bridge so that he could get the propane tank filled to  make coffee - you see where HIS priorities are.  The marina has a laundry here - all front loaded washers and commercial dryers - 3 washing machines and 6 dryers.  So after the showers Vicki and I went down and washed clothes.  We still have some leaks on the boat.  One being on Phil's side close to the chain plate.  So we put his clean wet clothes in the dryer along with the towels that were clean but wet from the shower.  We met  Jeanie MacVoy on S/V Nemo a 39ft  Southern Cross sailboat who is originally from Chicago.  She has a daughter that lives in San Francisco, CA, who has 2 girls- 2yr & 4yrs that has a company that does brand marketing that outsources to graphic designers.  Vicki's husband, Nick, is a graphics guy with his own company with 2 partners called Impact Design Associates.  Phone numbers and emails were exchanged - small world isn't it.  Nick has his best friend Brian who lives in San Francisco, also in graphics.  Hope to make connections in the future.

While Vicki and I were doing laundry, Phil kindly heated up some water and warmed up in ziploc bags some leftover chili, rice pilaf and my chicken pasta dish from 82nd Cafe for lunch.  We ate while the laundry was in the dryer.  After the laundry was done and put away, we filled the water tank - went through half a tank already!  This time we didn't forget to fill the gallon jugs for drinking water like we did at the W79th St Boat Basin.

When I was putting the sheets back on the mattress in the V-berth - realized the mattress was wet under on Phil's side and when lifted up  the mattress to see - saw mildew on the mattress - yuk!  We used the new folding crate to hold up the mattress and put the heater on and a fan to get it dry.

Then we walked to the grocery store - about 1.25 miles away - did a large provisioning stop and hired a taxi to take us first to the liquor store for red wine and then to home.  We really enjoyed walking down Washington St seeing all the old houses.  They have quite the colors used on the houses and there is usually a lot of gingerbread and many different kinds of iron fences in the front yards.  Vicki would like me to knit hats for the boys - we saw a yarn store - but missed going inside as had closed 20 minutes before our arrival.   I did get every thing put away on the boat amazing as that sounds. You should have seen how much we bought.  Vic started  a bottle of red wine while Phil got his shower and put some tote bags I got wet in the dryer and I cooked supper of sliced sweet potato, boneless chicken thighs and brussel spouts for supper.  We also had some more of the bread Phil made.

As the supper was cooking I went to finish putting the sheets on the V-berth mattress and there is more water on Phil's side closer to the bow - Phil checked and the hull to deck joint is leaking - so he tightened it from the inside to help some.  Ugh!  We need a few dry days to tighten the bolts and to re-bed all the deck hardware to try and stop the leaks.  We haven't had this many leaks before and need to get these under control!!!  Phil has put his clothes in extra large ziploc bags to keep them dry until we can work on the leak problem.  Phil says it's been raining for 3 days - but I think this is still too much. 

It seems like the day flew by doing the things we needed to get down just to live. Since we have free wireless with the marina - we've been listening to music and having a nice evening together.

Tomorrow morning we are planning on leaving early - even though the currents from the tides will be against us. The winds are to die down tonight.   We want to get to the top of the Delaware Bay and go along the C&D canal until we get to Chesapeake City, MD about 3/4ths the way through the canal.  We are planning on anchoring there for the night.  Need to decide where we're going next and get in contact with April Majni-Holko who lives in Baltimore as we want to see her.

I love getting all the emails and keep them coming and feel free to call us on the cell phone.