We left Cape May after filling up with fuel and water, then waited out the tide at the entrance of the Delaware Bay. Around 4:00 we headed back out for the trip up the bay and into the C & D Canal. This is often a sloppy, rough trip but this time we had smooth and comfortable conditions. We did most of the trip after sunset and shared the bay with tankers, cargo carriers, tugs and barges. I’ll try not to wear everyone out with sunset photos… but at this point, I’m photographing any that make me ooooh and ahhh.
It was midnight when we dropped the anchor at Chesapeake City and finally got some sleep. In the morning we moved to the municipal dock where they kindly let you stay 24 hours for free. This is as close to family as we’ll be on our way south and we’d been looking forward to visitors. First to arrive was Skip’s nephew Miles and wife Lex. We don’t see them often and it was a treat to spend a little time together.
Next came some of my family… my dad and stepmom Sue, plus two of my three sisters, Leslie and Ruth. Third sister Rebecca is in Philly and is just a bit too far away to make the trip on short notice and juggle arrangements with 5 year old niece Maya. (Ruth: not crazy about being on the boat. Leslie: can’t wait to go sailing with us.)
There’s a place in heaven for Sue, who brought 2 kinds of homemade soup and a homemade pumpkin pie. The same goes for Ruth for bringing us killer homemade chocolate chip cookies, groceries and a few bonus goodies. (Thanks Carly for picking out the chips!) Everyone else gets a spot just for putting up with this venture of ours, oh… yes, and for loaning us cars to get Skip to the emergency room yesterday. (Can a day not go by without something telling us to stop/go home?)
Because it’s not funny and because it would be really mean, I won’t put a photo of Skip in here – but he looks like he was on the losing end of a really nasty bar fight. Shingles. Plus a bacterial infection. And apparently, according to the incredibly nice and thorough ER doc Carolyn Weeks at Union Hospital in Elkton, MD, it’s the “special” kind of shingles that if gone untreated can affect the optic nerve and cause loss of vision. Peachy. So we got our instructions got him doped up and back to the boat.
I should say that before we left Newport, we did the responsible thing and made the rounds with our doctors making sure we both had a clean bill of health. However, this health issue, as my wise father said, comes under the heading “Shit happens”. And it does.
The day ended on a good note; my mom and long time family friend Sally came down from Wilmington for a visit, treated us to dinner and got a chance to check out our floating home.
Now that we’re no longer pushing to get Saralane to Norfolk in time for Skip to take a boat down to the BVI with a customer, we’re working on plans C through Z to decide what’s next. We'll stay put for a few days until Skip feels better. We got the OK to stay alongside here at the town dock for another day or two, so I'm going to check out the town. Chesapeake City is a pretty nice place to be… plus, we have a stash of chocolate chip cookies and a pumpkin pie to keep us happy.