Our plan was to settle in Chesapeake City (in the C&D canal) in order to wait for the right currents, requiring us to get up at 5am so we would be at Reedy Point at slack tide...Surprise: as we approach Chesapeake City, we find the anchorage totally full with dredging machinery! So much for planning! No other choice than going with the flow..at this point we were doing 7 knots..and continuing up to Delaware Bay. We anchored just around the corner of the canal at the bay entrance and the next morning, we did not have to leave at 5am but 7am..a more humane alternative!

The crossing of Delaware Bay went fine although the wind was a bit "skinny" for a couple of hours. As we approached Cape May, we listened to the weather forecast for the Atlantic coastline up to New York and decided to keep going...

We had a bit of excitement ahead of us however! Our mast height is 53.5 feet and it had been possible in our past passages to go inside Cape May harbour passing the 2 bridges which have enough clearance (56 ft). That day, however, the tide seemed pretty high and we slowed down a little to give it time to receed AND also to catch a glimpse of the clearance pannel, usually at the foot of the bridge.

It was Saturday afternoon...zillions of power boats zipping at incredible speed be sides us, not a good scenario to attempt a quiet passage under the bridge PLUS there was no indication whatsoever regarding the clearance of the bridge. Calling the US Coast Guard proved useless as no one was willing (liability?) or able to give us the information (their definition of mean high tide was incorrect !).

OK, after waiting 30 minutes, I stood on deck and signaled to power boats to stop...everybody understood the challenge as they saw the very very slim clearance left for us to pass under the bridge! 6 inches!!!! When you stand on deck, 6 inches looks like 0 and we had barely time to breath again when the power boaters resume their mad speed...

We had never seen power boats speeding so much in a harbour...negotiating the inlet in order to get to the ocean was difficult with waves of 3 feet created by boaters and wind against current. When we finally made it, we were exhausted but had another 120 miles to go before reaching New York!