The Delaware Bay

 

DELAWARE BAY: Coming out of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal we found ourselves among the shipping lanes passing a few giant cargo carriers fully laden with treasures. AIS is an amazing navigational aid. With the touch of a finger on the triangular spot on the touchscreen, reveals the boat's name, type, size, weight, speed, direction and a single push button to call them if necessary.

Cargo ship crossing our bow in the Delaware Bay

Motored past the Salem Nuclear Plant, not something we see in New Zealand!

TRANSFORMATION: As we headed south the color of the water transformed from brown to dark olive green giving way to blue as we entered the Atlantic seaway.  A welcome relief after the Chesapeake Bay.  You just can't get excited about jumping into murky brown water (even though it is just silt) in the Chesapeake.  Rising 90+F temperatures with the lightest of breezes. Flowing with the current made the first part of our ride up to 9.8 knots--a virtual speed record for a cruising sailboat!

This rusty lighthouse had a charm all of its own as it's horn rang out

CAPE MAY: By 20.15pm we were approaching Cape May and ready to head out into open ocean.  A double handed watch system was put in place 4 hours on/8 hours off.  Captain Charlie and Jeanie on 4pm-8pm, Tami and Doug 8pm-midnight, Bruce and Geoff midnight-4am and so forth.  Our night owl's happy with their watches and the early risers content too.

Calm seas, a seaworthy boat, good tucker, a magical sunset, awesome crew -
what more does a sailor want?

Doug takes the helm for the sunset cruise 8 pm - midnight watch against a strong adverse current.