Introduction to Georgetown Yacht Club

Saturday, October 3, 2015          Georgetown, MD

The rain has let up with only drizzle and wind remaining.  Bob made several trips to land to visit the marine store and to take up recycling, as well as finding some ice cream that was on sale, as the season was almost over with.  He met Will and Eleanor who mentioned a pasta fundraising dinner tonight at the church a mile up the road.  We had seen the notice in the marine store vestibule a few days ago but didn’t feel like walking there in the cool, wet weather.  They offered to give us a ride which we accepted. 

Jeremy (Mainship next door) and Eleanor came by, later joined by Walt and Bob gave them a preview of Active Captain and Coastal Explorer.  Of course it wasn’t working well.  Bob found out later that the software had begun an automatic chart update and had been in the midst of that at the time.  They both showed us places to stop south of here.  For the rest of the day we went through paperwork and read all day with the heat on.  

At 5:15pm we went with Walt and Eleanor to the dinner.  The pasta was cooked to perfection, and the meatballs and sausage were spiced just right.  Nothing like a jucy meat ball sandwich made with  buttered french bread sliced at an angle.  It turned out that two tables had been reserved by the Georgetown Yacht Club which we ended up joining.  We sat at a table with Commodore John and Ed and Vicky and got more local knowledge of stops south of here.  Returning to the boat we soon went to bed to read and sleep again!  Ashore under the big tent there is a party going on.  I can just here booming now and then but Bob says it is the worst music ever!  Generation gap I think.

Dinner with new friends in GYB

Slept in and then slept in some more since it had been raining all night and showed no sign of letting up.  All day it has kept raining and the wind has picked up as well.  I had breakfast at 10 and Bob finally fixed himself something at noon.  

We went over paperwork and figured out how to bill pay on my cell phone.  For some reason the bank would not allow my phone to be connected with our account so it required some time on the phone with customer service.  Then tried to figure out the problem with Cape.com of my using too much “allocated disk space”.  Still did not find where all the settings are for email retrieval, etc.    

Joe and Connie (Manatee - Chesapeake) stopped by at 4pm to take us to dinner in Chesterfield.  Good food and good company.  They have been cruising since 2009 so were full of information and helpful hints for us.  10:30pm and no let up of the wind.  Still raining a little.

Another day in GYB

Thursday, GYB to GYB

We were up at 7am and put in our second load of laundry.  Hurricane Joaquin is still unsettled but now a Category 3 and expected to pick up more speed.  As there are limited stops south of here and this is a good place to weather the storm, we have decided to stay put until the weather settles down.  Hopefully we will be able to leave on Monday.  This afternoon we had Manatee visitors, Joe & Connie Moran who noticed Bob’s post on Krogen Cruisers.  It is nice to have the circle of Krogen friends.

Cohensey Cove to Georgetown Yacht Basin, DE

Wednesday, September 30, 2015 – Cohensey Cove to Georgetown Yacht Basin, DE

What a night!  Wind and current made for rocking and rolling worse than we have ever experienced.  Drawers were open and pens and pencils, water bottles and our master supply of toilet paper were on the floor.  Luckily it only lasted a few hours around 1am so we managed to get a good nights sleep after it was over.  Note to self:  Make sure all drawers are shut completely.  In the morning, mud on the anchor was tenacious and took a lot of water to wash it off, even after being dragged at the surface for awhile. 
 

Pipe line crossing on C&D Canal!

Good stopping spot in C&D Canal

 On the transit to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C&D Canal) we had our first rain and got to test our windshield wipers.  Several hours later, under overcast skies, we entered the C&D Canal along with several sailboats.  We were passed both directions by recreational vessels and tugs pushing barges.  Many of the southbound boats seem to be heading to the Annapolis boat show.

We decided to head up the Sassafras River to Georgetown for the night.  It was an hour upriver with many good anchorage locations along the way but we decided we would like a slip with unlimited hot showers for a change.  Georgetown Yacht Basin (GYB) turned out to be a gem, very protected with $1/foot rates which include water, electricity, heads and showers.  Only bad thing is that the docks are stationary which means that we had to learn another new thing – how to tie up to fixed docks.  Positive thing is that we got to use our bow access through the lifelines.  After doing a load of laundry and warming up with hot showers we walked the two miles to Sassy River Market in Galena, a grocery store with a small footprint and large prices.  We bought one of the two heads of iceberg lettuce and a few other items before heading back, just ducking in to the Kitty Knight House for dinner as the rain began.  Luck was again with us as they had a “Date Night” special, two entrees and a bottle of wine for $29, making the Kitty Knight House an excellent restaurant on all accounts.

Overnight to Cohensey Cove, Delaware Bay

Tuesday, September 29, 2015 – Overnight to Cohensey Cove, Delaware Bay

We arrived off the Cape May Canal at 10:30am and went through it to Delaware Bay which for us, at 7 knots, is about 7 hours long.  The Cape May Canal is very narrow with a few 3-4 foot depth marinas and limited anchorages at its north entrance. Delaware Bay doesn’t have much going for it other than water to get from one place to another. 

 

The best of Delaware Bay

Convenient bird roosting spot

 It is shallow with a channel up the middle for ships.  We cruised 5 hours to Cohensey Cove before stopping as there were no marinas available. Anchoring is good with lots of 5-10 foot depths and a mud bottom except there were crab pots like Maine has lobster pots!  It was next to impossible to find a place to anchor and back down without running them over but we managed.  Current and wind were opposing so it looked funny to have the boat facing one direction and the anchor chain going another.  Dinner, showers and to bed before 6pm!  It was a long day.  Overcast, breeze is picking up, high 70’s and humid.  Rain predicted for tomorrow.  We’ll see.  A radio station reported that the tropical storm off the Bahamas was now a hurricane.