Thank you to those who have been checking on us — we are safe! Our Iridium tracking through PredictWind went out on Thursday morning, and as we were out of MarineTraffic range, it looked like we had disappeared. We should be showing up again now.

We left Block Island at first light on the 28th to start our passage to Delaware Bay. We started off on a fetch with one reef in, and fairly quickly put the second in. At nightfall we were about 75 miles offshore from New York City, and although we were so far out, we could clearly see a glow in the sky from the city lights. We were surrounded by fishing boats which we think were scallop fishing; there was also a lot of shipping traffic, and we experienced calling some of them on the radio to request that they steer clear of us (which they all did). Around 3 a.m. the wind quite suddenly swung north and built in at 20-25 knots with higher gusts, so the rest of the trip was a little wild with big seas – neither of us got much sleep! While it wasn’t particularly comfortable, the boat handled it well.

Around 2pm, we made it into Cape May Harbor, at the southern tip of New Jersey and set an anchor; however there wasn’t much room, there was little protection, and the standing waves in the harbor entrance had us concerned that once in there, we might be stuck. So we left and headed south for Cape Henlopen on the Delaware side of the bay. This was a beautiful spot and I wish we’d had time to spend a day exploring the beach. However, our weather window was rapidly closing and so after a peaceful night behind the breakwater we moved on again on September 30 to head up Delaware Bay. While far from picturesque, this was an interesting trip, with a lot of shipping traffic to watch, 2-3 knots of current under us, and a steady stream of sailing yachts all making the same progression as us. (We were among the last to get moving in the morning but we passed every one of these boats before we were in!) (Not that it was a race…..).

We made the entrance to the C&D Canal around 2 and were suddenly in calm conditions, although still with a lot of current helping us. By 3:30 we were in the Chesapeake. We made our way down to the Sassafras River, which looked like the only viable option for a deep-keeled boat. Even so, the depth alarm sounded and stayed on for the entire 8 mile trip up the river. The north end of Chesapeake Bay has a reputation for emptying out of water during strong northerly winds, which we’ve certainly been experiencing. The river is beautiful and remote. Just before sunset, we arrived at Georgetown. Maddeningly, the marina we were booked into swore there was plenty of water in the slip they assigned us, but we went aground just trying to get to it. We ended up tied up on the outside of the dock, where we might have had to push through just a bit of mud to get in. Finally, we were at the end of 6 days of hard passages and could relax! We will stay here for several days while bad weather passes through.

This was a tough trip for the two of us, with long days and challenging conditions, but we’re glad we did it. We worked well as a team, discussing the pros and cons of moving on each day with Hurricane Ian moving in, dealing calmly with problems that occurred, and gaining valuable experience. We have a list of things we need to fix, but that’s to be expected, and better for things to break now than on a 10 day passage to Antigua! We now have a month to explore this lovely area and get ready for our big trip.