Oct 13: Through the C & D Canal and Beyond

     We knew the current in the canal wasn’t going to be favorable until after eleven am, so we spent a leisurely morning before setting off.  The Reedy Island anchorage might be handy to the canal entrance, but it had a strong current and was not all that protected from the big ships that went up the Bay to Wilmington and Philadelphia.  We felt every wake.  Dan set our flopper-stoppers, and that helped some.

Entrance to the C & D Canal

     The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is fourteen miles long.  We entered just before eleven, with the current against us.  By the time we got through it, the current was giving a steady push, something that continued right into Chesapeake Bay.  

Schooner AJ Meerwald

     The schooner AJ Meerwald was right behind us much of the time, and Dan being Dan, picked up the radio and struck up a conversation with their captain, letting him know we’d sailed in company with the Meerwald back in 2000 when we’d taken the Lewis R French to the Boston Tall Ships Sail-In.  The captain responded “Oh, you sailed with Danny!”  To which Dan replied “As a matter of fact, I am Danny.”  It’s a small world amongst the schooners captains.  The AJ Meerwald is the New Jersey flagship, built in 1928 to harvest oysters.  Now she does PR tours to help raise awareness of the ecology of the Bay.  We sailed with them through through the canal and into the Chesapeake.  They were Baltimore-bound, getting ready to rendezvous with all the other schooners entered in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.  

     We were also Baltimore-bound.  Well, heading for the mouth of the river that leads to Baltimore.  My brother Ralph, who lives in Georgia, just happened to be in the DC area attending meetings.  He contacted us, asked if we could meet for supper.  To make it an easier drive for him, we decided to push toward Baltimore instead of calling it a day someplace nearer to the end of the C & D Canal.

It was a pretty day, though the wind was was right in our teeth.  We had a fair tide  and it wasn’t too choppy with the wind against it.  We chased the storm clouds, and got caught in a couple showers, but they didn’t last long and were over and gone by the time we reached Bodkin Creek where we’d arranged to meet Ralph.  

    We took longer than we’d hoped, because the tide turned and slowed us down, but it turned out our travels were still faster than the greater Washington DC traffic.  We were half an hour late to the Cheshire Crab, Ralph got there about fifteen minutes after that. The food was good, and the time spent together was even better.  Thanks Ralph, for getting in touch. It made our Chesapeake visit even more special!

Sunset Bodkin Creek