Today is Thanksgiving Monday and Karen is cooking a turkey and all the trimmings. She was up early this morning as she wanted to cook it before it got too hot. The temperatures have been in the high 80's and we are enjoying every minute of it!

We left Atlantic City for Cape May in fog. Karen and Jim had not travelled in fog before and were a bit aprehensive but we convinced them to go out and have a look as we could always turn around and come back if we didn't like it or they were uncomfortable. It turned out to be not too bad and we continued on to Cape May. We anchored by the coastguard station and decided to stay in Cape May the next day to do laundry and groceries as we were both desperate to get some laundry done. It is a real chore to try to find a place with laundry and if you are at a marina with laundry, they usually only have one washer and one dryer so laundry becomes a whole day affair. Since we both had 3 or 4 loads each, we decided to try to find a laundrymat so we could get it done quick and meet the guys for lunch at the Lobster House. The toughest part was trying to find a place that would let us tie up the dinghy. This is sure not the East Coast of Canada where everyone is willing to give you the shirt off their back! We managed to get it done and then went for lunch and then walked to the grocery store ( which was awful). We were going to plan a night crossing up the Delaware to the C & D Canal but changed our minds and decided to leave really early in the morning and stop short of the canal for the night. We would have a bit of current against us but we found that a lot more enticing than staying up all night! We planned a 06:30 departure but when we woke up it was really foggy so we delayed the trip until the sun came up. We really didn't want to travel in fog and darkness. The fog was supposed to clear by 0900 but it did persist well into the afternoon. The trip was great otherwise with calm seas but it seemed like a long day as we didn't get anchored until after 6 that night, but it was a great anchorage behind Reedy Island and we could wait for an ebb tide the next day to go thru the Canal.

We decided to only go as far as Chesapeake City as we wanted to take a down day and celebrate Thanks giving with Jim and Karen. We had hoped to be with all of the other Canadian boats, but they were stuck in Great Kills Bay due to weather and had only left on Saturday to head down the New Jersey Coast. We did however get a nice surprise as Dave and Judy Burns had called us and said that they were coming back from the Annapolis Boat Show and wanted to meet up with us for a night. When we arrived in Chesapeake City, they were waving to us from the dock. We anchored in the bay in Chesapeake City, dropped the dinghy and went in to pick up Dave and Judy. Karen and Jim stayed bedhind on the boat. We were rafted together and when we got back it looked like a small powerboat was rafted along side of us until we noticed Karen and Jim with the boat hooks in their hands on our bow pushing the boat away. The small powerboat had anchored in the bay and then went for lunch. Their anchor was dragging and thankgoodness Jim and Karen had stayed behind as I am sure that there would have been damage done on our boat! Bruce took the dinghy to shore and went into the restaurant to find the people. He got lucky and the second people he asked belonged to the boat. They had to leave their lunch and come get their boat. I really didn't feel too sorry for them. We had a great time with Dave and Judy. They took us for groceries, propane and out for dinner of steamed shrimp and calamari. We had hoped that they would be able to stay another night to help us celebrate Thanksgiving but Judy had volunteer to work the election so they had to get back.

After Thanksgiving, we left Chesapeake City for a short trip to the Sassafras River. We did not go up the Sassafras as far as the town but anchored just inside the bay. Bruce and I did take the dinghy in to make a few phone calls and it took an hour each way by dinghy, but it was a beautiful day and the scenery was great! That night we got a bad thunderstorm but it still did not cool things off too much.

We left the Sassafras for Baltimore where we are now at a dock for a couple of weeks. Steve and Shirley and Mark and Carol arrived the next day so we are now all together again and all beside each other on the docks. We all plan to do a little sightseeing and get some work done on the boats. We rented a 15 passenger van yesterday to take us to the boatshow in Annapolis as we all needed to get charts etc. before continuing on. It looks like a great city with lots to see and do so it shouldn't be too hard to pass the time. Bruce and I are headed home for a few days, me to the Sault and Bruce to Toronto and then he will come back before me to get things ready again to leave. The winds have picked up and the weather has turned a bit cooler so this reminds us that winter is on it's way and we should get going again before it arrives!










Dave and Judy visit



Transiting the C and D Canal

Allister making himself at home on Con El Viento href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNAJDGyhUPiEC_L7D7m4WkDZx1M_pM-a3EjORccygVl428OUGaHsV47Il-cGHPSPLTMMKQK7DEWcnxfv-MJc_qJkPgng-bfmp119yhJzEQvHrAh-mtGZoI_msoU0LRwCM1SGDgr_TeMRVl/s1600-h/DSC00861.JPG">


Jim and Karen and Northern Reach