Fri May 28: Chesapeake City to Philadelphia, Anchorage Marina in Essington

 In which we make a spontaneous detour for a Philly Cheesesteak ...

Rick and I lack the spontaneity gene - but upon waking we discovered that we had both decided we must take a quick detour, with KayDee, to Philly.  We have to sit somewhere, waiting for a weather window to get to Cape May, so why not have another adventure!

We took a quick, early morning walk around the little town.  Super cute, but now dominated by a giant overpass leading up to the bridge.  

 

Note road/bridge in background.

We helped the local economy by buying breakfast sandwiches (and CHAI!!) and enjoyed some of the local color:

As Rick likes to say - 'that thing is so camouflaged I can't even see it!'

I feel like there is a story here....  We saw this guy yesterday - walking two BIG dogs, with this sad sack on his back. Can't the little guy keep up?  Is he (the dog) paralyzed/old/other but wants to go with them? Does he dread that harness?  So many questions...

There was a moment of stress when we had to get off the dock in C City - with wind, current and shallow water, without crashing into the $$$ boat behind us, but it went smoothly - Rick's blood pressure stayed almost within the range compatible with life.

Rick had precisely calculated when we needed to leave in order to have max current push us from behind down the canal, and then again from behind going up the Delaware River.  He did a great job as the 6 hour trip only took 4, and we were going so fast (for us - 11mph) I thought about getting out the water skis!!  

 

HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS!!!

Down the canal - we don't have to worry about the height of any of these bridges, as they are designed for big tugboats!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have mentioned it a few times, but I thought (Rick here) it might be interesting for some of our 'many' readers to have some background information on the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal (C&D). We had never heard of this man-made transport corridor and I imagine you are on the edge of your seats with curiosity.  The C&D canal basically makes a cut across the Delmarva peninsula, connecting Delaware Bay with the Chesapeake Bay, thereby shortening ocean travel from Philadelphia to Baltimore by more than 300 miles. As early as the 17 century people started thinking about how to get goods from manufacturing centers in the north to the frontier areas further south, and the construction began on this 14-mile canal in1804.  It was all dug by hand and wasn’t finished until 1829.  It has been widened and deepened and now handles major barge and freighter traffic coming and going from the northern Chesapeake Bay out into the Atlantic Ocean.  We have read that it is the third most busy commercial canal (after Panama and Suez) - but we are skeptical about this claim.  If you’re interested in learning more:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_%26_Delaware_Canal

I guess it's a day to take pix of bridges.

We cruised up the Delaware River accompanied by major shipping traffic, and as we closed in on Philly the weather got colder and darker with quite a bit of wind and current.

We had reservations at the “Anchorage Marina” and pulled alongside the docks only to be greeted by airplanes landing at the Philadelphia Airport!  It was non-stop jet traffic, and we tried to celebrated the noise as the sound of the economy coming back to life!   With the wind and current we quickly realized that this was not going to be an easy docking.  We swung around and Melanie took the helm while I put down fenders and readied lines....once the current got a hold of us we were committed. Melanie took charge and brought us in for a beautiful, picture-perfect cross current docking, impressing everyone on the dock.  It is so great to have a co-captain with nerves of steel!

Our marina in the flight path!  

One of the things we missed out on last year with COVID was the social aspect of boating.  Well, we aren’t missing that now.  There are so many other “looper” boats out here that you almost trip over each other trying to come by and say hello.   We’ve re-connected with our friends from last year on Meander and made new friends with folks on KayDee,  Legacy2, Loop Princess, and many more.   

 

Our new Legacy friends, and their friends!

This is a beautiful, 56 ft cruiser with state-of-the art-everything.   We quickly took them up on their offer of drinks because we were DYING to see the inside of such a boat.  Even their toilet brush was a thing of beauty.

We had such a fun time meeting the crew/owners and have been in contact with them on and off for a few days now.   They will certainly leave us behind as they can cruise comfortably at 20+ mph, leaving us in the “dust” (or is it mist?) as we ramble along at a blazing 8 mph. 

ANOTHER pickle pizza - this one with potato chips!  What is the world coming to?????