One week later, with a bit of Q. Jones’s Killer Joe playing in the background and a G&T/Vodka Club firmly grasped, an update. We dropped the mooring on time Tuesday the 4th of October. With our crew, friend and Entertainment chair, David Volkman and old, did I say old, buddy Steve Jensen, we made our way down the East River right into the waiting arms of a very equipped Homeland Security gauntlet. Apparently a helicopter crashed with one soul unaccounted for. There are reports that one of the 5 news helicopters hovering above us caught Thai Hot on film. (film stock for later) . We backtracked enough to pass the investigation and made our way down current to a wonderful ride down the New Jersey coast with a powerful SW breeze gusting to 20. With a furled genoa, and a reef in the main, speeds hovered around 8 we made Cape May in 21 hours. Great ride. After tying up to Utsch’s of Cape May it was off to the C-View for a bowl of Chowder and a cold draft followed by some well needed sleep. Our Cape May hosts, Mickey and Barbara Baker with the help of Kim, Lucy and Nellie, showed us some of the treats of town and extended us great hospitality.
We left Cape May, passing at low tide beneath the two Cape May bridges on our way up the seemingly endless Delaware River to anchor just south of Delaware City. We enjoyed the close buzz of the ferry and the smells and sounds of commercial diesel barge offloading. Morning came just in time and we made our way through the Chesapeake Delaware Canal to the terminus of the Susquehanna River at Havre de Grace. A onetime bivouac for the French forces helping us out at Yorktown, the city now strewn with antique shops, quaint restaurants , local watering holes and enough bright paint to fill up the dry rot in the clap board. It does have fairly robust marina facilities and we took a mooring for two nights.
Tuesday the 11th, a pilgrimage of sorts, a sail to the first marina we had Thai Hot wintered at. Wharton’s Creek Marina on the East Shore of Maryland. 15 miles from anywhere but a natural beauty. We saw 2 female eagles on our way in and tons of migrating geese. No light pollution here. Pepper Gilbert, the proprietor, lent us his truck and we re-provisioned (amazing only the liquor box was empty). We’re fighting with a valve on our secondary propane tank and it might need a retro fit. Next stop St Michaels and the Solomans…
