An update on our travels. We left the boat in the Chesapeake on April 25 and flew home for a month for chores and a wedding. My great neic Janey got married in Lansing, Michgan on May 17, so we drove from Ely to Lansing and back over a 3 day stretch for the wedding and had a wonderful visit with family. On May 25, we flew back to Baltimore, rented a car from Enterprise and returned to the boat where it was kept at Abell Custom Marine/Gingerville Yachting Center, which is a boatard with a few slips. This was Memorial Weekend and rather than tackle the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal on a busy weekend, we spent Sunday and Monday provisioning and doing few boat chores. Tuesday morning, the Abell Marine office opened, we picked up the packages I had ordered, squared up and pulled out, heading for the C and D canal. Right off, the autopilot wasn't working. I tried to work on it under way, but couldn't do much. Tusday night we stopped at an anchorage at Chesapeake City 3 miles into the canal and weathered a thunderstorm and I fixed the autopilot for now at least. I think the drive motor is failing and needs to be replaced. After checking the Raymarine website, they suggested hitting the motor "gently but firmly" with a mallet. I used a hammer and it works fine now. Yesterday we went through the canal at daybreak to catch the tide. The currents through the canal are 2 knots, then down Delaware Bay which is notorious for being rough. It was a flat day and an easy ride, pulling into Cape May, NJ early afternoon. The route cuts across the Cape May Canal for 3 miles or so to avoid the shoals at the tip of Cape May, and we anchored half way across the canal where there are a couple of reasonable anchorages just off the Coast Guard station. A small plane crashed mid day yesterday right off of the tip of Cape May killing the pilot, but the VHF radio was buzzing with chatter from the rescue teams. This morning we left about 6:30 and are now off shore heading for Atlantic City, then New York tomorrow if the weather holds. Every afternoon we have been riding out thunderstorms. The sailboat anchored behind us last night was blown off her anchor onto the beach. It was unoccupied, and the owner is going to have a surprise when he gets back.
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| Abell Custom Marine |
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| Lighthouse on the Chesapeake |
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| The Bay Bridge |
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| The Bay Bridge from below |
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| The Dole Pineapple boat. We have passed a ton of freighters the passed 2 days |
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| Delaware Bay light house |
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| Nuclear power plant on the Delaware Bay |
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| Pretty farm at the top of the Cheaspeake |
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