Utch's Marina, Cape May, NJ - 5/23/12

When we pulled into our slip from the fuel dock, the starboard engine would not go from reverse to forward and I suspected a linkage problem.  Early Wednesday I determined that the transmission cable was indeed broken and with the help of another looper who had replaced his cables and knew where to find the stamped numbers, determined the length of not only the starboard but also the port. If one cable is old and breaks chances are the other may not be far behind and the job of pulling one cable 35 feet through the boat is not much more to pull two. Skip & I looked at the job and since neither of us are flexible enough to do this job, enlisted the marina mechanic who started the job about 11 a.m.  He was the only mechanic in this 500 slip marina today so had many requests throughout the day and had to leave Quest several times and is to come back early Thursday morning and finish the job. 

Skip & mussels

Across from the street from the marina is the famous Lobster House which we had to sample.  Skip loves mussels so he had an appetizer of at lease a dozen or more. The dinners were great and we had the cutest server who was well rewarded.

Lobster House

This place is huge.  This is only one of several dining areas and they must seat several hundred folks at a time.

Donations for Parkinson's Disease

A special trophy case is in the lobby with this boat and a lot of money has been deposited through the hole under the middle light.  The money is given to the Michael Fox Parkinson's Research each year and in January 2012 over $10,000 was donated.

30 lb Lobster

 Another trophy case had this big boy in it.

Lobster House

The whole restaurant won't fit in the picture but it has several wings plus a second floor in one area.

Utch's Marina

The marina is really pretty well thought out.  We are on a floating dock between pilings since there is a significant tide here.  It is full of boats and since each day has been foggy since we got here, the loopers are staying put and not leaving.  It looks like the first good travel day may be Sunday or Monday but with it being a holiday weekend, most will still stay put.

Thursday after the mechanic finishes we will probably catch a ride to the beach area and play tourist again.

Utch's Marina - Cape May, NJ - 5/22/12

Breakfast at Delaware City Marina

 After a breakfast of bagels, donuts and coffee at the marina, we decided to take off down the Delaware bay after discussing it with weather guru Tim, the owner of the marina, who told us the Bay would be nice but the weather may not be.

Moor $tuff

Quest led Moor $tuff off the creek and out into the Bay.  This is the first time the boats have traveled together since last August in DC.

Elliott

Looks like the Pink Panther had a rough night and is trying Ricki's coffee.

Tow Boat

 Wasn't sure what this was until we got closer and could see the tow boat actually pulling the barge.

Radiance

 Radiance was docked behind us at the marina.

20 Bucks

 And 20 bucks was behind Radiance at the marina.  We followed them down the Bay for several miles until we passed them.  Several miles later they stepped up their speed considerably and reached Cape May about 4 or 5 miles ahead of us.

Nuclear Power

We were warned by the marina to keep our distance from the nuclear power plant.

Boats following us

Looking aft we had several other boats on the water going our way.  This was a short weather window and rain was expected later in the afternoon.

Ship John Shoal Light

 We passed several lights on the 61 mile trip down the Bay.  The top floors are not faded but covered with bird droppings.

Beautiful Delaware Bay

Tim was spot on with his prediction for the day.  We started with a little current on the nose at 9:30 a.m. but within a couple hours we hit slack water then got a nice push for a few hours in the afternoon.  Our speed ranged from 8.4 mph to 11.5 mph running at 1,675 rpm.

Cape May Canal

 Cape May Canal is a few miles long and not very deep.

Car Ferry

 Several car ferries are docked near the entrance and we have been told that due to the turbulence from them maneuvering, shoaling happens right behind their docks, however dredging equipment was present in the canal.

Cape May Basin

We turned into the basin where our marina is located shortly after 4 p.m. and we went to the fuel dock before entering slip 14.  We had a problem with the shifter on the starboard engine and couldn't get it out of reverse as we entered our slip so will check the cable connections tomorrow.

We plan to spend several days here and hope our PA family members are able to visit while we are here since the next several days of travel will be in the NJ Inter-coastal until we get to the Hudson River.

Delaware City Marina - 5/21/12

Monday was "sleep in day" after such a long day Sunday.  About noon Skip & I walked up to the marina office to talk to Tim, the marina owner and weather geru, to see what he was predicting for the next few days.  According to him, a window would happen on Tuesday and if we left at 11 a.m. we would be leaving on a slack tide and would catch the 5 to 6 foot tide push about noon and could make to Cape May by late afternoon.

Skip getting a back scratch

 With this possible leaving in mind, Barb caught up her laundry and the ladies made plans to go into town and get provisions.  Tim had talked the local beautician, Julie, into opening her shop for a few us us to get haircuts.

Moor $tuff & Quest

Tim the marina owner

Tim provided transportation for the 3 or 4 block ride to the beauty shop.

Skip getting clipped

Before it was over Julie had a least 4 or 5 guys and several ladies get trimmed.  She did a fine job.

Chesapeake Smile

After all of Ricki's hard work cleaning the Dismal Swamp off of the bow, we got another "smile" traveling through the brackish water between Annapolis and Delaware City.

Busted

 This is what the captain's do while the ladies were shopping.

Dinner @ Crabby Dick's

 Dinner was at Crabby Dick's for their famous Monday night special of $5 hamburgers.

Loopers

Many loopers are now in the marina and we all hit the restaurant for the special.  We were even joined by a couple "live aboards" that are in the marina.

More Loopers

Practical Joke

 My friend (I use that term loosely) told the waitress that is was my birthday so he could help me eat the cake.

Engine Checks

With an open water run to Cape May pending, all the fluids and visual check of the engines was in order.

The marina at Cape May was full when we called for reservations but they were looking for a few of the boats to leave Tuesday morning and would give us a call before 11 a.m. to confirm room for us.  If there isn't room we may stay here and wait on the next window.

Delaware City Marina - 5/20/12

Bright and early (for us) we had all our cords and ropes ready to move at 7:40 a.m. for points north.  I had put routes in the Garmin that would take us about 55 miles up the Bay to Chesapeake City, MD on the C & D Canal where we plan to stop for the night and on to Delaware City another 20 miles or so.

Interesting Air Lift

 As we started through the harbor we heard this helicopter starting to lift something off the land on our port side..

Police Boat

 Then 3 of these cute little police boats with light flashing came into view.  Apparently they were going to stop boat traffic until the helicopter cleared the waterway. This one told us to hurry on through the area which has a speed limit of 6 mph so we bumped it up to 7.5 mph and the next cop told us to slow down.  Go figure!

Cargo Ship on C & D Canal

  Shortly after noon we entered the C & D Canal.  The canal is monitored by TV cameras in many places and has a signal at each end if it is safe to enter.  They do not allow sailing, water skiing or tubing on the canal cause these big guys show up really quickly.  The small boat on the port side is retrieving the port captain that got on the boat as it entered from the Delaware River.

Chesapeake City Docks are just past this bridge and since we were making good time decided to go on to Delaware City.

C & D Canal

 The actual canal is 14 miles long and about 500 feet wide.

Railroad Lift Bridge

The railroad bridge is normally up unless a train is coming.We have now left MD and entered DE.

Last 2 Bridges on Canal

  Tide runs around 5 feet in this area and we were running against a 3 mph current making travel pretty slow.

Delaware River Current

 We thought the current on the canal was tough ... we had to run 2200 RPM on the Delaware River  to move 8 mph upstream for 2 miles to the branch cut for the marina.

Our Marina

The marina is a series of 4 long docks along the side of the water.

Turning into the pump out station

We needed to get a pump out and with a very strong strong current, we had to put the stern upstream on the dock next to the pilings which was not a very big hole. Then we moved to our permanent spot right behind Moor $tuff at the downstream end of the docks.  Skip & Barb welcomed us and we had a nice evening chatting.

Looks like the next several days are going to be snotty so we probably won't move to Cape May until late in the week. That will give us time to provision since Skip has his car here plus do a few chores on the boat.

Our travel today was 76 miles and we got here just after 4 p.m.  This is the most miles we have had since last year going from Marco Island to the Keys.

Our position here is N 39  34.300  W 075  35.415

Baltimore Inner Harbor - 5/19/12

Our last day in Baltimore's Inner Harbor started with a water taxi ride to the aquarium which is one of Ricki's favorite tourist things to do.

Sky Writing

 As we were waiting on the taxi dock we noticed 5 airplanes writing in the sky.  They were flying side by side and the smoke came out of each plane in puffs.

Inner Harbor Light

 We passed the light on the way across the harbor in the water taxi.

Inner Harbor

Submarine

 The sub was parked outside the aquarium.

The following are just a few of the 132 pictures Ricki took inside the aquarium and rain forest.

Our Marina

 Our marina was right across from the aquarium.

Constitution

Lots of things to see and eat here.

I normally do the blog first thing each morning but on Sunday we left early for Delaware City therefore it is posted a day late.