Chesapeake City - at anchor

The view at Chesapeake City away from the anchorage towards the canal

I walked over to look at the bridge height board and found that we had 56.5 ft at low tide (0.9 ft plus low tide) which was plenty for our 55.3 ft mast so we left as we had planned at 9:00 am. Looking at the NOAA weather tide station by the ferries, they showed the water level to be 1.5 ft above normal due to all the east winds so actually the water level was 2.4 ft above MLLW datum when we left at 9:00 am and we still had 56.5 ft height clearance under the bridges.

I plotted an "inside" course up Delaware Bay that was far to the east of the main channel. I wanted to minimize the wave action coming off the eastern shore with the high winds. For the most part that succeeded. Since we left before low tide, the current was still against us when we exited the canal. Once we got close to the main channel as we headed north I noticed that my speed dropped to 6.6 kts! The current was still flowing south in the main channel. I moved back to the east of the channel and my speed increased to 8.3 kts! It pays to stay out of the channel when going north on a dying ebb tide in Delaware Bay.

View towards the anchorage - rather close from some but not for us

It was a long day for us, we left at 9:00 am and reached Chesapeake City at 6:00 pm, a 60 mile run. The anchorage had more boats in it then we expected, about 8 boats in all. We anchored behind them with plenty of room.

The weather Thursday has a northeast wind and a southern flowing current, perfect for getting to Annapolis. So we can't pass up that opportunity and we'll set out about 8:30 and expect to reach Annapolis by 3:30. We have our new crew member coming on board Friday, Sarah, our grandchild. Ann will be doing the home schooling as we head south. We're looking forward to it.