September 25, 2013

Hi everyone,

We arrived from Atlantic Highlands in the overnight sail at Cape May, NJ early on Sunday, September 15 and pulled into a dock, as we were so tired from the 22-hour night sail.  We now have made the New Jersey Coast as Cape May is at the southern tip of New Jersey!  We stayed there three nights to catch up on the wash, check our emails, read and write letters. I even made blueberry muffins and we got to Skype with our oldest daughter, Brooke, her husband Ben and our two grandkids, Olivia and Amelia! It was so nice to see them even if it was on a computer.

Then on Thursday, September 19 we left early in the morning before sunrise so again we got to see the moon, this time full and low on the western horizon, and then a beautiful sunrise.  I am so thankful to be doing this and being such a part of nature. It reminds me of when I was a young girl at camp in Wisconsin. We motor sailed up the Delaware Bay and through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. It was a very warm and sunny day, beautiful for traveling except Lynn missed having more wind.  We anchored next to our sailing buddies from Quebec at Chesapeake City, MD.  Lynn rowed our dingy over to pick them up and brought them over for some wine and cheese.  Francoise brought her English-French dictionary so we could converse as they speak some English but mostly French.  I have really enjoyed meeting so many interesting people!!

We left the next day, Friday Sept 20, saying goodbye to our sailing buddies as they were sailing to Washington, DC and we were going to Georgetown, MD on the Sassafras River.  The Sassafras River was beautiful, a lot of foliage on both sides of the river.  Anticipating a big weather front, again we went to a dock for protection from the weather.  The weather front turned out to be only rain but no lightening or thunder, thank goodness, and we had a very enjoyable two days. We had another couple, who are from Canada and Argentina, and are also sailing to the Bahamas over for wine and cheese during the pouring rain. It was very cozy being on the boat with the rain.   The next day was sunny so Lynn and I took a kayak ride and then stopped at their boat for a beer and Sangria!  We not only went for drinks but to discuss our itinerary for the next day. We decided to sail to Swan Creek, which is on the Eastern side of the Chesapeake River, about 35 miles south of the Sassafras River.

 So here we are at another lovely quiet anchorage on the Chesapeake. We are anchored in 7 feet of water and Southern Belle requires 5 feet 2in so it was a little tricky getting in this harbor without going aground but we did it! We have been here two nights. Yesterday we walked into town, about a mile and a half. We were shopping at this store and, when I picked up an ornament, the glass shelf fell, breaking several items.  It was embarrassing, but it turned out that the self fell because a bracket was missing.  So it wasn’t my fault.  Today I am writing this blog, which is a first for me.  And Lynn is out walking and shopping with some of the Argentinian Canadian sailing buddies. I’m also baking cookies.  It’s a beautiful, blue-sky day and Swan Creek is quiet and peaceful.

Miss all of you.

Love Lynn and Sally