Chesapeake Bay and the ICW

After sitting in Cape May and Lewes waiting out the weather, we finally found a suitable weather window to travel up Delaware Bay and transit the Chesapeake Bay - Delaware River Canal, known by boaters everywhere as the “C&D Canal”. Delaware Bay is quite large, and has no anchorages or marinas for practically any kind of deep draft boats, especially sailboats, so it was tricky to get from one end to the other, but we managed to find a bumpy anchorage in Cohansey Cove. 

The next morning, we made it through the C&D Canal having timed the tides and currents to maximize our speed through the day, and anchored in the Sassafras River in Maryland. 

Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Delaware Bay near the C&D Canal 

A mega-yacht transiting the C&D Canal with us.

The following day we found a marine store in Fredericktown up the river, and the store owner was kind enough to give us a ride into nearby Galena to buy some groceries, since the area had no taxis.

We continued down the Chesapeake to Magothy River, where we found a protected anchorage in the north side of Gibson Island to hide from a strong southwesterly blow coming. We slept well that night in flat waters.  The next morning, we took off with a nice breeze and had plans to put some miles behind us, but while making toast on the BBQ for breakfast, we ran out of propane, so our plans changed. We searched on the Internet and found a propane refill station in nearby Londontowne, just south of Annapolis, which was hosting the Annapolis Boat Show, and was jammed with boaters looking for room to dock, moor, anchor or just drive around and make people crazy…. Anyway, we found a safe anchorage and the nice people at the Londontowne Marina allowed us to leave our dinghy while we took a nice walk with all of our propane cylinders to the refill station, doubtful that we would only be less than an hour. Let me add that it was hot and humid that day, and the walk was up-hill for an hour. Ughh! Brutal would be a kind description of the hike, but we got the tanks filled, and cabbed back to the marina, set for another 4 months.

We felt this urgency to continue to move south, and while it was still hot here, much hotter than we’re used to back home, fall was coming, and there were signs everywhere: leaves turning colours, and flocks of birds of all kinds moving south – just like us, and the growing number of Canadian boats we were seeing.

A flock of Canada Geese heading south, maybe showing us the way?

We were picking our way down the Bay, planning each day where the next best anchorage would be, based on the forecast. Places like Solomons Island, Reedville, Deltaville, and Chisman Creek, outside of (maybe you’ve heard of it) Langley Air Force Base. A free air show!

jets flew by every minute or so...

Eventually getting to Norfolk at the very south end of the Chesapeake Bay, home of the USA’s Atlantic Fleet.  There was a lot of security here, so we felt safe.

The WWII Missouri moored outside of our anchorage in Norfolk, VA.

We left Norfolk to begin our trip down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) on Friday the 13^th of October, with an enormous degree of anxiety due to the legends of long keeled boats running aground on never-ending shifting sandbars and countless other shallow-water hazards.

The ICW is a connected series of navigable waterways along the southeastern USA's coast

As we travelled south, ecosystems change - here cypress swamps start to appear.

Well, we made it to Coinjock, North Carolina the first day, and East Lake at the mouth of the Alligator River the second, without mishap!

We have been plagued with low-battery power issues since the days had been growing shorter, and Tim found a loose wire on the alternator in Coinjock, and refreshed the engine ground, and for now the problem seems to have been corrected, but we are still thinking of a wind generator to provide power at night, or on cloudy days when we can’t expect much from the solar panels we have depended on for so long. We’ve also noticed that the days are growing shorter, so our solar gain on sunny days is barely enough to meet all of our electrical needs, and we aren’t running 24-hours a day on passages yet.

Sailboats sailing in Abelmarle Sound, part of the ICW.

Another glorious sunset!

We continued on down the ICW and made it to one of our potential jumping-off ports, Beaufort, North Carolina. Weather was fantastic, and it was like we were living in an endless summer!

Homes are scattered along the waterway, but now they have plam trees.

And Pelicans are everywhere!

We dinghied over to one of the many beaches outside of town and spent the day picking up littles seashells, one of my beach hobbies! 

One of the beautiful beaches near Beaufort, NC

Wild horses still wander the off-shore islands, today, we were lucky to see one!

We have seen many dolphins, but it was on one of these days, motoring down the ICW that we finally got a decent picture of one!

Dolphins swimming beside us in the ICW, and finally a decent picture!

We decided to continue moving south, as hurricane season wasn’t over yet, and ordered a wind turbine to be picked up a few days south in Wrightsville Beach NC, just east of Wilmington. We lined up a pole to mount the turbine on, and would spend a few days to install it.

Megalodon shark teeth on display (and for sale) at the Workshop gourmet sandwich shop in Wrightsville Beach

The Atlantic Ocean at Wrightsville Beach

Homes and boats along Banks Channel in Wrightsville Beach, NC

the path from our dinghy dock was just behind these buildings, literally steps to the beach!

Wrightsville Beach is a bustling little community with protected islands and watercourses inland, and a fantastic sandy stretch of the Atlantic Ocean! It was hot, so we had to check it out! The surf was wicked, and not many people were swimming, other than a bunch of crazy surfers who were having a blast!

Wrightsville Beach hurricane water level waning sign

Yet another storm brewing - the beginnings of Phillipe - one we'll also have to be wary of.

Anyway, we continue to watch the weather, and are trying to determine where to go after hurricane season; there has been so much destruction in the northeastern Caribbean, and many of the islands we planned to visit are going through hard times and rebuilding, and it would be unfair of us to visit them and consume their food, fuel and water.  We have some planning to do.