Day 288
Just as the Delaware City Marina harbor master had predicted, Friday, 06/25/21, was a clear and beautiful, perfectly still day. When we threw off our lines at 7 am, our cruising waters were mirror smooth, which was the absolute best we could ask for! We left the Delaware City Branch Channel, and headed south on the Delaware River toward the massive Delaware Bay. We couldn’t have chosen a better day to cross the bay. 🙂
Thirty minutes into our cruise, we passed the colossal Irmgard Schulte, an LPG tanker registered in the United Kingdom, transporting propane to the US. (Thank you, Marine Traffic app!) When Legacy crossed the bow and stern wakes of this vessel, she bounced like crazy, and we had to hold on tight. We knew the Irmgard Schulte was just one of many large freighters we would more than likely encounter out on the Delaware Bay. As we cruised, we crossed over the state line between Delaware and New Jersey, and then right back again, as this state line runs right down the center of the Delaware River.
We passed Cedar Swamp Wildlife Area, Woodland Beach, and Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge on the Delaware side of the river, along with Little Creek Wildlife Area, Kitts Hummock, and Bowers, DE. To our port was Egg Island Fish and Wildlife Management Area and Heislerville Wildlife Management Area in New Jersey.
Because of its massive size (land was barely visible anywhere around us for quite a period of time), cruising the Delaware Bay reminded me of cruising in the Chesapeake Bay, but the water conditions (on this day, at least) were completely different. Where Legacy had ridden anywhere from 1 to 4-foot waves in the Chesapeake, there were ZERO waves in the Delaware this fine morning.
Sure enough, on into the morning, we passed the monstrous Don Carlos shipping vessel out of Singapore, owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, of Norway, Sweden. The Wonder Sirius freighter passed us going north at the same time the Northern Magnitude container ship passed us going south. At one point, the two vessels appeared to be on a collision course from Legacy’s vantage point. Thankfully, it was an optical illusion, and both behemoths passed each other unscathed. We were in awe at the shear size of these ships as they slowly passed by us.
Of all things, and for the first time in weeks, we were suddenly ambushed by horseflies in the fly bridge again for about an hour. UGH! I grabbed the bug zapper and started slinging it all around Steve’s head, missing every single fly. He finally took it away from me before a mishap occurred…. FINE. During this time, we passed Slaughter Beach, DE, to our starboard and Pierce’s Point, NJ, to our port, and soon crossed underneath the NJ Highway 162 bridge.
We arrived at South Jersey Marina at 1 pm, after coming into Cape May Harbor, then turning into Schellenger Creek. The dock master directed us into a slip just two boats down from Bella Vita, a beautiful 53-foot Selene trawler that belongs to Anna and Phillip Rochat’s friends, the Sharps. Our two boats had been cruising pretty much the same course for months, but we kept missing each other. Anna was anxious for us to meet, knowing we would like each other. And sure enough, as we were on our way across the street from our marina to Lucky Bones for some afternoon libations, Brandee and TJ came out of their boat and we all introduced ourselves. Anna was right – the four of us felt an instant camaraderie. 🙂 The Sharps already had plans for that afternoon and evening, so we all agreed to get together later during our stay in Cape May.
Steve and I had heard great things about Lobster House restaurant, right next door to South Jersey Marina, so we dined there on Friday evening, 06/25/21.
Position: N 38° 56.904, W 74° 54.559
Distance traveled: 62 SM
Total distance traveled: 4106 SM
Total marina nights: 264
Total nights at anchor: 23
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 28