Return to Seasons

After nearly a week in Georgetown and Frederickton, I was feeling a bit stir crazy and was ready to move. But we decided to hold out in Skipjack Cove until the 6th in order to allow some of the holiday traffic to subside. Finally, we pulled up anchor on Sunday, in the early afternoon, and motored down the Sassafras River with the intention of stopping over for the night in a place called Still Pond just south of the river and immediately off Chesapeake Bay.
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Our original plan was to leave Chesapeake City sometime in the early afternoon so that we could make it down to the Sassafras River. However, we decided to watch the US v. Belgium World Cup game in the afternoon instead. By the time the game was over, it was six in the evening. At that point, our options were to either stay another night in Chesapeake City or make our way to the Sassafras, knowing we would arrive in the dark.
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After ten days in Cape May, we had mixed emotions the Sunday before we left. As we tried to take care of last minute chores like provisioning and cleaning out Chip’s Jeep, we also managed to fit in a couple things that we had been wanting to do all week: walk through the lovely streets of Victorian homes, check out the lighthouse, and play mini golf. All the while, I felt elated knowing we would finally be underway again. But, at the same time, there was an ever-present sadness at the thought of departing, something I really have not felt before or since on this trip. I am sure my melancholy had quite a bit to do with leaving Chip and Barbara and their wonderful hospitality, along with some regret at not having done a few more of all the fun activities that they had told us about.
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While in Cape May, we finally got our outboard working with some serious help from Morgan at Whale Creek Marina. We also fixed our autopilot without much help from anyone but Google and Amazon.
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Our 5hp Mercury came with Bear when we bought her. The engine was something that was not in the listing, but the broker had mentioned as being part of the deal. We had almost forgot about it before we left Branford, but David, the previous owner, reminded us to pick it up from the yard mechanic before we cleared out. At nearly the last minute, I managed to track down the mechanic and get our engine. He had forgot that he had it too, but we were able to find it on a rack in the back of his shop. I suspect that with a bit more time, the mechanic would have serviced the engine, but we did not give him that opportunity. Instead, we just strapped the engine, which had been sitting for the past two years, on the stern rail of the boat and figured we would get it working at some point in the future.
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An hour or two after we arrived in Cape May, while I was still winding down with a few beers in the cockpit, we broke out Eldridge (a book of tide and current tables, along with all sorts of other useful information) to check when the currents in the Delaware River would be in our favor.
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