Sag Harbor to Reedville Part Two

The next morning we woke up early, my Father-in-Law walked down the street and got our breakfast from Dunkin Donuts, while my Father and I got ready to leave town.  Once we were all fueled up, we headed out on our second leg of the trip.  Our plan was to make it to Cape May, and then up the Delaware Bay to the C&D Canal that day.  The weather report indicated that it would be partly cloudy with Southwest wind 5-7 knots.  This would be a great forecast for our trip, had it been accurate...  Within an hour of leaving Manesquan Inlet, we ran into some light rain showers which were no worse than what we had the day before.  Unlike the day before, this rain did not let up, rather it got worse as did the wind.  By the time we were offshore of Surf City, NJ we were in a full on Squall. 

 During the next three hours, we had 35 - 40 knots of wind, rain so heavy that I couldn't see more than 100 feet in any direction, lightening crashing into the water next to us, and at one point the wind made a 360 degree change (which tells me that there probably was a waterspout very close to us.). Needless to say, it was a little rough out during the time that we were caught in that squall.  The boat dunked her bow numerous times, and there was solid water coming over the cabin. At one point, the windshield wipers were slinging seaweed off of the front windows.  It literally looked like an episode of Deadliest Catch out there.  While I was doing my best to keep the boat headed into the waves, I heard my father-in-law ask how far surf city was from where we were, because he had received a weather alert on his phone indicating that there was a tornado touch down there.  I was too busy to answer, but my father told him that we were just 3 miles east of Surf City, and we were in the middle of the storm that dropped that tornado.  Finally, the squall moved offshore, the rain eased up the wind dropped down to 10 - 12 and the seas dropped down to 3' - 4'.  By the time the sun came out again, we were offshore of Atlantic City & we were able to make a straight shot to Cape May, NJ. 

I thank GOD nothing went wrong with the boat while we were caught in that bad weather.  The entire time that we were in that storm, I thought of a thousand things that could have happened, any of which, really could have ruined our day.  Short of losing the cover to the anchor locker, finding a leak around a front window and almost losing my breakfast on a couple occasions, we made out fine.  The boat carried us through that weather with no trouble, but I wouldn't want to be out there in a smaller boat than we were in, or in any worse conditions than we experienced.   

Finally, we made it down the Jersey Shore to the Cape May Canal.  We stopped at the Canyon Club briefly, topped off the fuel tank and continued on our way.  

From there, we passed by the ferry terminal, and into the Delaware Bay.  

The sea conditions in the Bay were 180 degrees from what they were in the Ocean (which was a welcome change to say the least).  Our trip up the Bay was great.  Sea conditions were calm and we were able to make good time, which allowed us to make up some of the time that we lost while sitting at a near stand still in that squall.  On the trip up, we passed numerous light houses that marked the narrow channel, and we also saw numerous "bodies" of bunkers that were thick enough to walk on.  

The entire time that we were seeing these huge schools of menhaden, all I could think of was how good the rock fishing must be there.  Who knows, maybe I will be able to return one day to find out for myself. We made the 57 mile trip up the Delaware Bay, into the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and landed at the Chesapeake Inn at Chesapeake City, MD by 9:00 that night.  

On our way into the dock, I noticed that the motor was running a little rough, so after we got tied up, I went down into the engine room where I noticed a problem.  There was an air leak around one of the fill holes on a fuel filter which was allowing air into the fuel injection system.  This problem seemed simple enough, but the air in the system prevented enough fuel from making its way to the injectors, which kept the motor from running after it was turned off.  Being as late as it was, I decided to wait until the next morning to work on the fuel system. 

We woke up the next morning to a strong NW breeze.  

Luckily, we made the decision to make the trip up the Delaware the day before because a NW wind blows directly down the bay, which would have made our trip less than fun.  Knowing that we would need help, my Father called in a favor from his friend David Canterra.  Luckily, Dad met him several years ago through the Chesapeake Buy Boat reunion tours that they both participate in.  Within an hour of Dad's phone call, David had his head Maintenance Man on site, ready to do whatever it took to get us running again.  

With access to a vehicle, we were able to get around to parts and hardware stores gathering fuel filters and other supplies we would need to purge the system and get running again.  Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, were unable to get running that day.  At 12:30, I decided to concede defeat, and admit that I needed a diesel mechanic.  Dad made another call to Mr. Canterra who put us in contact with Danny Craig, 410.708.3556 , who arrived at the dock by 8:30 the next morning.  

From the time that Danny arrived, nearly 20 minutes passed before we were running again.  Needless to say, Danny is a no nonsense mechanic who knows his stuff.  If you are ever broken down in that area, CALL HIM!  Once we were confident all was well with the motor, we took off.

In the next post we will head down the Chesapeake Bay.

Thank you for taking time to read this post.  If you are enjoying my story so far feel free to follow this blog.  

Take care,

Joe