Delaware City Marina - at a dock

Can't come from the south, that bridge gets in the way

We had intended going to Chesapeake City in the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal but we reached there by 2:30 pm and we still had enough tide to average 9.0 kts! There was plenty of daylight left and so we set our sights further on and found the Delaware City Marina. It's located in the old canal that was later replaced by the new, much wider and deeper canal we took today.

Just one, long dock - very narrow canal

To reach the canal, you must exit the new canal and go north to the old, northern entrance. The southern entrance is no longer navigable. The marina consists of one long facedock. What makes it interesting is the 2 plus kts of current that runs through the marina as you try to dock. Furthermore, the canal is so narrow, that there's no room to turn around, especially with a 2 kt plus current running! So the boat handlers are adept at using the current and lines tied to your boat to reverse the direction the boat faces. You just stand and watch as your boat swings 180! It's important to face the direction you want to exit if you're leaving at first light before you might have help.

That brings us to Monday. Our goal is to make Cape May by 1:00 pm, some 50 miles away. To do so we'll leave as soon as we have daylight and hope for the best. The current will be against us early on but later in the morning, it will push us along at up to 2 kts. From there we have a small window, we think, to make Atlantic City the next day, unless the forecast changes once again. However, once in Atlantic City it looks like we'll be there awhile, the winds pick up to 15 to 20 kts and waves increase to 3 to 5 and even 4 to 6 ft thereafter. Eventually, they will subside and we'll head north again, we just don't know when.