CAPE MAY, NJ

This mornings weather forecast for the Delaware River and Delaware Bay was quite different from last nights.  The revised forecast now called for southerly winds at ten to twenty knots with one to two foot seas until later in the day when the winds would gust to twenty five and the seas increase to two to three feet.  That  sounded good enough to make the fifty one mile trip down the Delaware River to the Cape May Canal before the changes took place.  We were away from the dock and underway at 0635 hrs.  The wind was directly off the bow and the waves were as forecast until we were two hours from the entrance to the canal. That's when things became interesting.  The wind really picked up and we encountered two to four foot seas with reduced visibility.  There was constant spray over the bow and the windshield wipers got a workout.  On the way down the river we saw three huge ships headed in the opposite direction probably headed for Wilmington or Philadelphia so were were well aware of the commercial traffic and stayed well clear of the shipping channel. Chart plotters are a marvelous invention!  We were three miles offshore before we had visual contact with the canal entrance.  Fortunately we did not encounter any of the Cape May ferries that travel across the bay to Lewes, DE.
but we did come close enough to a nuclear power plant to be intercepted by a New Jersey State Police patrol boat that chased us farther away from the shoreline for security reasons.

We planned to stop in Cape May for fuel and then continue north on the ICW which paralles the Jersey shore.  Getting to the fuel dock became a task due to the winds and we decided get a slip and quit for the day.  The local weather turned miserable.  The wind is rocking the boat and is blowing a heavy mist off the ocean.  I'm confident that we will be staying here in Cape May tomorrow due to weather.

About an hour and a half after we were settled into a slip, a 32 foot Nordic Tug came into the marina and settled into a slip.  They had just made the trek down the Delaware River and really took a beating. I spoke with the captain who told me his wife was in tears during the encounter and was sure she was going to die. They had also read the same revised forecast!

I must say our boat handled very well in the raunchy sea conditions.

Y'all stay vertical,

Capt John and First Mate Sue