On Sunday morning Oct 2, 2005, we left the anchorage on the Cohansey River to continue up the Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C&D Canal).  We went thru the canal without problems except for some of the powerboat wakes.  It seems the larger the boat, the faster they pass you leaving a bigger wake to toss you about.

At the end of the canal, the Chesapeake Bay is still very narrow with a marked channel in the middle.  We stayed at the edge of the channel to avoid the shallow water outside and to take advantage of the current in the channel which gave us a 1 to 2 knot boost down the Chesapeake.  Since we needed fuel, water, clean clothes and to get the anchor light repaired we decided to spend the nite at a marina.  We chose Worton Creek Marina as it only charges $1.35/ft for the nite which was the cheapest marina in the area.

After leaving the channel heading for the marina, the water depth read 8-10 ft all the way to the creek.  After our experience at Cape May, this did not bother us too much.  We went into the creek and the depth dropped to six feet.  Still okay as Island Time draws 4 ft 7 inches.  We stayed close to the green markers as advised by the marina.  We went by two marinas with the depth dropping to 5 ft.  As we approached Worton Creek Marina, the depth went down to 3.2 feet and we still were not aground.  From there we went back up to 4-5 ft at the fuel dock.  I guess our depth sounder in mounted below the water line by at least 1.4 feet.  This was still a different experience as the lowest depth we saw in Lake Champlain was in the 10 to 20 ft range.

Worton Creek Marina was pleasant being far enough up the creek to be free from wind and waves so the nite was very calm.  We took showers and then gathered the laundry and headed up the steep hill where the at the washing machine was located.  We decided to eat at the Harbor House Restaurant located next to the Laundromat while the clothes were washing.  This was a good choice as we met Paul and Cindy from Tom’s River, NJ who were delivering a 38 ft Hunter sailboat from the dealer in Tom’s River to the Annapolis Boat show.  They invited us to sit at their table for dinner.  They were live aboards for several years wintering in the Bahamas.  They gave us many tips about crossing the Gulf Stream and where to stay in the Bahamas.  They also knew many people and gave us a lot of names.  All in all, it was a good nite as the company was good and the food was also excellent.

Monday morning we went to the work dock to have the anchor light bulb checked as it did not show continuity thru the wires up the mast, so I assumed the bulb was burned out.  When the mechanic got to the top on the yard crane, he found the bulb okay.  I then moved the connector at the base of the mast and the light came on.  Apparently, there was loose connection in the 4 way plug used to connect the wires from the boat to those going up the mast.  I rewired the system removing the plug and replacing it with a terminal strip.  All works well now.  We needed to get the anchor light working as our backup battery powered unit burned out a bulb at Cohansey River so we were without an anchor light.  We also found the right bulb for our backup anchor light, so Island Time can now be seen at night at anchor.

It was around noon when we left Worton Creek Marina and the tide was midway between low and high so the trip out was much less exciting as we had at least 1.5 feet more of water.  We continued to motor down the bay as the wind was very light and we wanted to get to Annapolis in the afternoon to find a spot to anchor as it gets very crowded at boatshow time. We went up the Severn River to Back Creek to find a gadzillion boats already anchored.  Luckily, we found an open area and dropped anchor.  After anchoring about 4 tries we were finally situated where we were not too close to our neighbors.  We made it to Annapolis four days before the boatshow.