Last year we went to see the Washington DC 4th of July fireworks from the Potomac River in our trusty Windstar 223. Made it all the way out to Tangier Island where we made some good friends. This year we are moving up to an h34 and are planning Baltimore, MD to NYC's 79th St. Marina and back. We have the trip mapped out from Baltimore to Chesapeake City on the C&D Canal but looking at the Delaware Bay stretch from there to Cape May we fail to find any anchorages or ports in between. There is a nuclear power plant but it does not look like they welcome boaters. Any local knowledge or suggestions? We'll do an overnight passage from Cape May to Sandy Hook but are looking to rest during the inland runs.
Time to start planning.
- Thread starter Benny
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Deleware Bay anchorage
Hey Benny,
I have anchored up just north of the power plant in that little tiny bay. Think it is probably the cooling water outlet for the power plant, but enough water, decent holding, protected and didn't wake up glowing green. Also anchored up in a river that comes in on the east side about half way down. Good anchorage. Can't remember the name of it, and charts are out on the boat. I'm sure someone else will chime in.
Hey Benny,
I have anchored up just north of the power plant in that little tiny bay. Think it is probably the cooling water outlet for the power plant, but enough water, decent holding, protected and didn't wake up glowing green. Also anchored up in a river that comes in on the east side about half way down. Good anchorage. Can't remember the name of it, and charts are out on the boat. I'm sure someone else will chime in.
Last year we went from just south of Baltimore to Cape May. We left the C&D at 5am and got to Cape May by around 4 pm. I would suggest making the Delaware River and Bay run during daylight hours, for sure. It is very important to time your trip with the outgoing current, both for the canal and the Delaware. Makes a huge difference.
Benny, the only place to stop over in Delaware Bay is in the Cohannsey River located on the NJ side of the bay. We've never stopped but know that the entrance is difficult to find. Additonally the misquitos and green heads flys will eat you alive. I'm afraid once you hit the bay you either commit or turn back right away. At 7kts it's an 8 hr run from the far end of the C&D to Cape May Harbor. We make the trip every year and can provide you with more info if you'd like.
Mike
Mike
That's a good link and when you're in there I'd focus on the currents rather than the tides. Due to the length of the bay, the influence from the Delaware River on one end and the ocean on the other along with the numerous reporting stations it's easy to get your timing off. The current predictions will give a better picture of what you'll be facing. I try to time it so we're leaving the C&D on a slack tide. If you time it right you'll catch the ebb and a better ride down the bay.
Good to know that anchorage close to the power plant is good. We have no intentions of doing a kamikazi run. The admirals don't board till Cape May. Had looked at the 4-6 ft tides in the area for July and recognized that boat speed is to be highly dependent on currents. Recognized also that it will be a little tricky to predict the interaction of ocean, bay and canal so the advice to concentrate on currents is quite appropiate. Keep suggestions coming. Thanks
Benny,
We have made this trip many times. We always plan the trip based on an ebb tide starting about 7AM at the east end of the canal. You can ride the ebb more than half way to Cape May and arrive about 4PM. Once past Mau Maull Shoal the tide will switch but by then you are in the wider part of the bay and the current is less. We spend the night in engineers cove in Chesapeake City and leave early in the morning to catch the start of the ebb. It takes about two hours to moter out of the canal. A favorable current in the canal will not coincide with an ebb in Delaware Bay so you will have to buck the current out of the cannel. If you do not have a program with tide tables then the NOAA tide tables for Delaware Bay contain a current diagram to determine the most favorable time to transit the bay from multable points on the bay. As someone pointed out, the current tables are more usefull than the tide tables, for not only Delaware Bay but for the Hudson River and Sandy Hook as well.
A word of caution. There are two 55 foot bridges over the Cape May Canal. In periods of spring tides the clearence can be as low as 53 feet. After years of going under these bridges with our 53 foot mast we became complacent untill several years ago when we scraped the antenna. It was a high spring tide! Check your mast height.
Last year we had a very memorable trip. Here is a piece I did for our club news letter:
I frequently day dream of the perfect sailing passage, one where the wind is from the optimum direction, the seas in the correct pattern, and the weather mild. This situation seldom happens in real life; in fact, it may happen only once in years, or may never happen. It’s that anticipation that keeps us sailing, looking and hopping for that perfect sailing passage.
It finally happened. We left Rock Hall, MD on Tuesday bound for New York Harbor. The weather forecast was for a cold front to pass over the New Jersey coast on Tuesday night and a high to build rapidly over Cape Cod on Wednesday. As we sailed up the Chesapeake to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal the wind was light and at our back. We motor/sailed to the canal and picked up a strong flood tide to rapidly carry us to the first nights anchorage at Chesapeake City.
The front came past about 2 AM on Wednesday as predicted. We left the anchorage at 6 AM to meet the beginning of the ebb at the mouth of the canal at 8 AM. As we left the protection of the canal and entered Delaware Bay the wind was from the north at 15 to 20 kn with gusts to 28. We set a reefed main, joined the ebb and flew down the bay at 7 kn through the water and with the fair tide, over 9 kn over the bottom. We carried the ebb to Cross Ledge before it ran out. At that point the bay is wide enough that the new flood tide had little impact. We easily made the Cape May Canal, squeaked under the bridge with eighteen inches to spare and had a restful night in Cape May. Eight hours of downwind sailing in Delaware Bay is a rare treat on such a notoriously messy bit of water.
Thursday dawned calm with winds forecast to be light and rotating to the southeast as the high began to build. We left Cape May bound for New York City and set all sail in a west wind off the coast and in smooth water. We sailed at 5 kn in beautiful blue/green water and marveled about the weather. By noon the wind began to clock to the southwest and continued to strengthen. By 2 PM it was 15 to 20 kn and seas building. We were now running with reefed main and no jib. Our speed increased to 7 kn and surged to over 8 kn down the larger waves. We were having much too much fun to get any rest in preparation for nightfall.
As dusk came the wind lightened as anticipated and as a precaution we put a second reef in the main before darkness. This slowed us to 4 kn as planned so that we would arrive at the New York shipping lanes at dawn.
The night was beautiful. The high brought in dry air and stars were everywhere and seemed close enough to touch. We counted satellites and looked for constellations. A sliver of moon rose in the early hours of Friday morning and cast a red glow on the water as it rose and turned silver.
Throughout the night Lois and I applied the sleep strategy of alternating naps of 30 to 50 minutes as we had read in Erin Myers article The Sleeping Enemy. Amazingly it worked well. We both stayed alert and were not dead tired when we arrived in New York. (Those of you that read my review of this sleep strategy article know what I am referring to).
We arrived at Sandy Hook at dawn as planned, shook out the reefs and made course for the Verrazano Narrows. Twenty hours and a perfect passage from Cape May to New York. What a treat.
Our next treat is to enjoy New York City for several days.
Hope you can also fill your dream sail soon.
Dave & Lois Nance
S/V ARIEL
We have made this trip many times. We always plan the trip based on an ebb tide starting about 7AM at the east end of the canal. You can ride the ebb more than half way to Cape May and arrive about 4PM. Once past Mau Maull Shoal the tide will switch but by then you are in the wider part of the bay and the current is less. We spend the night in engineers cove in Chesapeake City and leave early in the morning to catch the start of the ebb. It takes about two hours to moter out of the canal. A favorable current in the canal will not coincide with an ebb in Delaware Bay so you will have to buck the current out of the cannel. If you do not have a program with tide tables then the NOAA tide tables for Delaware Bay contain a current diagram to determine the most favorable time to transit the bay from multable points on the bay. As someone pointed out, the current tables are more usefull than the tide tables, for not only Delaware Bay but for the Hudson River and Sandy Hook as well.
A word of caution. There are two 55 foot bridges over the Cape May Canal. In periods of spring tides the clearence can be as low as 53 feet. After years of going under these bridges with our 53 foot mast we became complacent untill several years ago when we scraped the antenna. It was a high spring tide! Check your mast height.
Last year we had a very memorable trip. Here is a piece I did for our club news letter:
DREAM PASSAGE
I frequently day dream of the perfect sailing passage, one where the wind is from the optimum direction, the seas in the correct pattern, and the weather mild. This situation seldom happens in real life; in fact, it may happen only once in years, or may never happen. It’s that anticipation that keeps us sailing, looking and hopping for that perfect sailing passage.
It finally happened. We left Rock Hall, MD on Tuesday bound for New York Harbor. The weather forecast was for a cold front to pass over the New Jersey coast on Tuesday night and a high to build rapidly over Cape Cod on Wednesday. As we sailed up the Chesapeake to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal the wind was light and at our back. We motor/sailed to the canal and picked up a strong flood tide to rapidly carry us to the first nights anchorage at Chesapeake City.
The front came past about 2 AM on Wednesday as predicted. We left the anchorage at 6 AM to meet the beginning of the ebb at the mouth of the canal at 8 AM. As we left the protection of the canal and entered Delaware Bay the wind was from the north at 15 to 20 kn with gusts to 28. We set a reefed main, joined the ebb and flew down the bay at 7 kn through the water and with the fair tide, over 9 kn over the bottom. We carried the ebb to Cross Ledge before it ran out. At that point the bay is wide enough that the new flood tide had little impact. We easily made the Cape May Canal, squeaked under the bridge with eighteen inches to spare and had a restful night in Cape May. Eight hours of downwind sailing in Delaware Bay is a rare treat on such a notoriously messy bit of water.
Thursday dawned calm with winds forecast to be light and rotating to the southeast as the high began to build. We left Cape May bound for New York City and set all sail in a west wind off the coast and in smooth water. We sailed at 5 kn in beautiful blue/green water and marveled about the weather. By noon the wind began to clock to the southwest and continued to strengthen. By 2 PM it was 15 to 20 kn and seas building. We were now running with reefed main and no jib. Our speed increased to 7 kn and surged to over 8 kn down the larger waves. We were having much too much fun to get any rest in preparation for nightfall.
As dusk came the wind lightened as anticipated and as a precaution we put a second reef in the main before darkness. This slowed us to 4 kn as planned so that we would arrive at the New York shipping lanes at dawn.
The night was beautiful. The high brought in dry air and stars were everywhere and seemed close enough to touch. We counted satellites and looked for constellations. A sliver of moon rose in the early hours of Friday morning and cast a red glow on the water as it rose and turned silver.
Throughout the night Lois and I applied the sleep strategy of alternating naps of 30 to 50 minutes as we had read in Erin Myers article The Sleeping Enemy. Amazingly it worked well. We both stayed alert and were not dead tired when we arrived in New York. (Those of you that read my review of this sleep strategy article know what I am referring to).
We arrived at Sandy Hook at dawn as planned, shook out the reefs and made course for the Verrazano Narrows. Twenty hours and a perfect passage from Cape May to New York. What a treat.
Our next treat is to enjoy New York City for several days.
Hope you can also fill your dream sail soon.
Dave & Lois Nance
S/V ARIEL
Dave, we'll have a 52' mast includying instruments. Thanks for the tide warning. I see a railway bridge on the chart but cannot tell if it is fixed or just opened all the time.
Benny,
The railway bridge is normally open. It closes several times a day for about 15 minutes for a local tourist train.
If you are going to stop in Cape May for crew, I recommend Utsch's Marina. Call them on your radio when you get under the last bridge for instructions on how to get into their channel. Call ahead for a sip reservation.
If you need to re-provision and make a crew change in NYC I highly recommend the Newport Marina. It is walking distance (three and five blocks) to several large grocery stores and one block to the PATH train to Manhatten. There is also a large mall across the street. You will have a million dollar view for $2.35 a foot (last year) and the most convienant spot in the city. If you go, call Iris and say Dave & Lois on Ariel said to call. She will always have a slip for you. Also, if you stay there, look for a Greek couple, Theo and Maria. They live aboard an Endeavor. If you make friends they will take you to the best Greek resturant in NYC (Astoria) and probably invite you to their fur shop in the garment district for mink 101. They are one of the last fur manufacturers in the US. NYC is a great place to sail to and visit.
Dave
s/v Ariel
The railway bridge is normally open. It closes several times a day for about 15 minutes for a local tourist train.
If you are going to stop in Cape May for crew, I recommend Utsch's Marina. Call them on your radio when you get under the last bridge for instructions on how to get into their channel. Call ahead for a sip reservation.
If you need to re-provision and make a crew change in NYC I highly recommend the Newport Marina. It is walking distance (three and five blocks) to several large grocery stores and one block to the PATH train to Manhatten. There is also a large mall across the street. You will have a million dollar view for $2.35 a foot (last year) and the most convienant spot in the city. If you go, call Iris and say Dave & Lois on Ariel said to call. She will always have a slip for you. Also, if you stay there, look for a Greek couple, Theo and Maria. They live aboard an Endeavor. If you make friends they will take you to the best Greek resturant in NYC (Astoria) and probably invite you to their fur shop in the garment district for mink 101. They are one of the last fur manufacturers in the US. NYC is a great place to sail to and visit.
Dave
s/v Ariel
Dave, thanks again. That Newport Marina looks fantastic, I have their coordinates and Iris phone number. We have an authentic Greek town close to us. The town of Tarpon Springs was settled by Greek sponge divers which practiced their trade in the Gulf of Mexico. If we do get there we will look for Theo and Maria. We will let you know about our experience when we return.
I have approached the bridge twice when it was not open, and it opened before I got to my mic.
South Jersey Marine is a good alternate to Utches. A tick more pricey, but a little closer to town and very nice. A little easier to navigate in and out, I think. A little roomier. I've stayed at both.
The ride down the Bay is usually uneventful, but a note on the return trip; if the wind is brisk from the northwest and opposes the tide you are riding, it can be a very rough ride and the chop steeper than anything on the Chesapeake. Be prepared to wait a day.
Enjoy! My father is an artist, has been painting historic houses in Cape May for 30 years, is represented in many galleries and shops, and took his family there so many times it feels like a second home. I must have spent just over a year there, 1-2 weeks at a time.
Another thing to watch is the Cape May Canal at peak ebb; the current can easily hit 4 knots under the rail bridge, perhaps a little more, and I have seen one boat hit the pilings.
South Jersey Marine is a good alternate to Utches. A tick more pricey, but a little closer to town and very nice. A little easier to navigate in and out, I think. A little roomier. I've stayed at both.
The ride down the Bay is usually uneventful, but a note on the return trip; if the wind is brisk from the northwest and opposes the tide you are riding, it can be a very rough ride and the chop steeper than anything on the Chesapeake. Be prepared to wait a day.
Enjoy! My father is an artist, has been painting historic houses in Cape May for 30 years, is represented in many galleries and shops, and took his family there so many times it feels like a second home. I must have spent just over a year there, 1-2 weeks at a time.
Benny before I'd anchor near the power plant I'd make the run to Summit North in the C&D canal. You're only a few miles away at that point and it would be a lot more comfortable than being out in the open on the river. If you're already in Summit North and heading south just check the weather for wind strength and direction. You don't want to deal with anything that's going to bring oppossing winds greater than 15 kts. The bay is shallow and kicks up pretty quick leaving short, steep chop. Lower wind speeds,even if oppossing or wind with current is good though and you'll have a heck of a ride. I can give you the full details of the ride to and into Cape May.
Mike
Mike
Benny more info on the run to Cape May. We usually run the NJ side of the channel, it's a little quicker and there seems to be deeper water. Just watch for the crab pots. Some of the floats can drag under water and be difficult to see during the ebb tide. Once you get past the Salem Nuclear Pwr Station the channel will be a straight run south. A heading of 150 will take you right to the entrance of the CM canal. The apx mid way point is Ship John Shoal light house. South of that point the bay starts to widen and you'll want to keep an eye on your compass. When on approach to the canal keep an eye out for dolphins as they frequent that area. More improtantly keep an eye out for the ferries that run in and out. There's a terminal just inside the entrance to port. If it's low tide don't get too close to the edges as they're tapered and shallow. Weekend power boat traffic can be heavy and they wont cut you much of a break, even at the bridges. I second the recommendation for Utchs. Very friendly people and you can grab a shuttle into town or rent bikes. We always walk the apx 2 miles as lots of nice houses to check out. Makes ure you get into town it's a very nice place to visit. When you make the turn to Utchs make it a hard one and then stay apx 20-30' off their sea wall. Theire transient docks are floating and there's always someone to help if they're open. They have fuel but no pump out. When in Cape May harbor stay in the channel, it's shallow outside of it. It's a great trip, enjoy it.
Mike
Mike
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