Juno 423: Sandy Hook, NJ - Sassafras River, Chesapeake Bay, MD

Oct 14 - Oct 16

As it happened, the optimal time to leave Sandy Hook so as to make the most of winds and currents was at 11:30 pm Oct 13th so we headed out of New York Harbor in the dark, dodging an active dredge but we didn't see any tankers or container ships in contrast to our last journey when six to eight could easily be spotted. We managed to sail about 9 of the 20 hours it took us to reach Cape May, NJ and while the sun shone, we saw two humpback [a YouTube viewer said they were humpback, not fin whales] whales close to our boat. Other than this, a sparrow and a little yellow Cape May warbler entertained us as they'd catch a free ride, fly off only to return minutes later and upon reaching Cape May as the sun was setting, dolphins were frolicking and feeding in the inlet channel. Oct 15th was more laid back as we had only 10 miles to cover to reach Henlopen, DE at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, where we dropped anchor and took a swim, scraping the bottom of the boat of the growth that we had neglected to have removed before our departure. Again we found the best time to move was going to be through the night so we took a short nap, watched a little of the Red Sox vs. Houston Astros and headed north at 11:00 pm up the Delaware River to cover about 50 miles to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The southerly winds held through the night and the favorable currents helped push us northward but in the wee morning hours, we had a near miss with an unlit tower marking a shoal as well as a moment of panic when we lost our GPS positioning momentarily.We continued our push west through the C & D canal in the morning of Oct 16th as we wanted to get anchored in a secure location before a front bringing 30-40 mile an hour winds was forecast to arrive. In the canal we spotted numerous turkey vultures and two bald eagles, one of which swooped down and carried off a seagull which he than devoured. We had to motor into the Sassafras River upon exiting the canal as a stiff SW wind was blowing right on our nose but once in the Sassafras River we found a nice quiet spot to drop the hook around 2 pm and as forecast, the bright sunshine gave way to clouds and torrential rains and high winds around 3:30 pm. We were relieved to be in the Chesapeake at last, stationary and dry.