May 21, 2019 – Today was a very short day, running the Chesapeake and Delaware (C&D) Canal, to its terminus at the Delaware River, and just a mile or two upriver to a strange little dead-end canal along Delaware City. The Delaware City Marina docks are a long stretch of floating docks along the canal, and all the boats come in the narrow channel and dock alongside; the staff then manually turn the boats around using lines, so that you are pointed in the right direction to depart.
We’d been there on our trip to Philadelphia last summer, so had a little bit of familiarity with some of the tricks to getting in smoothly; one of those is to call and ask them what time to arrive, so that the current in the canal is conducive–” 11:30 ” the dockmaster said, so it looked like we needed to leave about 9:45.
For the first hour, we didn’t pass another boat in the C&D and ran right up the centerline; then we saw the AIS icon for a commercial vessel coming in the other direction, so we readied ourselves to move to one side before he emerged around a corner.
Yikes! He was a big one, and fortunately running pretty slowly. We steered as close to the edge markers as we could, and even sped up toward a curve so that we could meet him on a straighter part of the canal. Once we were safely by, we thought that we should have taken a picture, so this is view as we exhaled.
After getting docked, we tidied up a bit and then walked along the town’s waterfront promenade to a restaurant that the marina staff had recommended- Crabby Dicks. When we got there, the dockmaster, Jim, from the marina was just setting down to lunch, so that was a good sign.
When we are traveling the loop, we have endeavored to experience some of the local culture and cuisine, and we spied something unique that we just had to try – Crab Poutine (french fries, cheese curds, smothered with cream of crab soup). O. M .G. Delicious! We split a salad after that, though, and had to take advantage of some sidewalk rocking chairs on the way back to the boat.
Conditions look good for our trip down the Delaware Bay in the morning, according to a briefing Jim provided later in the afternoon to all the assembled boaters who had been holed up here waiting for better weather. We all agreed to leave, right behind one another, about 6:00, so we will turn in early and be ready to go at first light.