We were up at 5:15 a.m. and underway at 6:00. We were up for sunrise, but didn’t see it due to cloudiness. We wanted to take advantage of the tide on the leg up to Chesapeake City. We arrived at 11:00 and averaged 9 mph. That’s a record. Chesapeake City has a free dock they offer for a maximum stay of 24 hours.
We had planned to stay at Chesapeake City tonight and make the long run from there to Cape May tomorrow, but after some discussion, we decided to go through the C&D Canal today and then have a much shorter day tomorrow. So we took off again at 11:45.
The C&D Canal (Chesapeake and Delaware Canal) is a 12 mile man made passage between Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay. It opened in 1829 and is 450 feet wide with a depth of 35 feet. The largest ship able to take this route is 886 feet and requires powerful bow thrusters to keep them in course in the close quarters. Cargo ships and military vessels from all over the world pass through the canal.
We anchored at 2 p.m. about 4 miles south of the eastern end of the C&D Canal. We are close to the Salem Nuclear Power Plant. We had invited Bob and Margaret to dinner so they rafted up to us rather than anchoring and coming over in their dinghy.
