I have not written in a few days as we have had a challenging time in navigation the last several days.    At the moment we are in the Delaware river heading for the C and D canal.   That will take us around to the Chesapeake Bay by the end of today.

In our last blog we were sitting in Great Kills Harbor having Thankgiving dinner and waiting out yet another small craft advisor to end.   A small craft advisory is issued when winds and waves are in a predicted state as to be hazardous to “small craft”.   Just so you know we are a “small craft”.    I have been in these conditions a number of times and believe me, you don’t want to be there.

After several days it did pass and we set out for two of the worst days in the cruise so far.    This was the Jersey Shore.   It is 100 miles long and all of the harbours along the coast are difficult to enter, even in calm conditions.     Since we did not want to spend the night at sea, we had to enter a Harbor about half way.   Even at that it meant a long couple of days.   The obvious choice is Barnagett, which because of the challenge entering the inlet is known as “The Bitch”.   We did enter it in very good conditions and it was still a bouncy entrance with seas breaking beside us and current and eddies sworling around us.    Of course as usual there are fisherman calmly standing on the breakwater casting their lines.    There were also many small fishing boats near the inlet as this must be the best (most dangerous) place to actually catch fish.    The sail down to Barnagett was with the wind on the nose 10-15, but this was the best weather window I could find, because the next day it would be behind us.      We spend a restful night and then it was out the inlet and down the shore again for another long day, but this time with the wind behind us.   While we traveled significantly faster the ride was just as bumpy and you had to wedge yourself between solid objects to keep from being tossed around.

We enter Cape may as the sun was beginning to set.    The next morning I decided for a less challenging day, so we slept in a bit, went over to Utches Marina to fuel and to walk to a store to get a few supplies.   We set out to go up Delaware bay at about 10.    It took the whole day to get half way up to the Cohanssay river.     It was a bit challenging navigating over numerous shoals  as I tried to make a direct route, dodge the crab pots and avoid the strongest currents.

At dusk we entered the river and slept well.

This morning we set out up the now, Delaware River, toward the canal.