LAT: N 39° 31.6'
LON: W 75° 48.7'
SLOW TIMES 40s, sunny, winds NE 10-20 kts
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Crew Morale Record High, Temperature Record Low

Captain's Log

900 - We glide back through the Cohansey River.
1004 - Having an easy time with no other boats around.
1102 - Just passed the Salem Nuclear Power Plant (think the Simpson's Springfield Power Plant).
1207 - We're in the C&D Canal (Chesapeake & Delaware). The current is bringing us up a couple knots and it's a quick ride.
1311 - Docked at Chesapeake City town dock. Though shallow it was one of the easiest ties up. An easy day in general.

Arggg me maties, free 24 hour docking? Give me an inch and aye'll swim all around ya.


The Cappy says: "Click the location up in the top left corner to see a chart of our progress."

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Ain't it darling?

Shh! We're inside...


The Quiet and Calm of The ICW


The Monopoly Guy- guest Editor

We wound our way back out the Cohansey River knowing that ahead of us was the C&D Canal, and knowing that there we would finally be inside. No more open seas for us! The ICW, or Intracoastal Waterway begins for us here, and we will follow it all the way down to Savannah.

The Delaware Bay gave us no trouble and we found the Canal entrance with ease while we gawked and took pictures of Salem's Nuclear Power Plant (Lenny and Carl were no where to be seen). We picked up a couple knots and enjoyed the quiet and still surroundings.

After a short while we arrived at Chesapeake City. It looks like a small town, though we did not get any info on the population. It is uniquely separated by the canal. There is a large bridge that takes the traffic across, though we wondered about pedestrians. Are there any here? There is a mini harbor that is very shallow but that we found very accommodating. The wee town dock has free dockage for 24 hours so we gladly drifted over and tied up.

It was a beautiful day, we had a wake free, easy access spot and after cleaning up the boat a bit we stepped off and into what was the cutest town we have seen so far. It was dusk, and as we walked we realized that each house and building was the perfect size and shape [Now you can buy a Hotel! -Ed]. The few shops in town were still open and we went into a local artist's gallery (his house) and into the general store. We did not find out what it was like on the other side of the canal, but we decided that the side we were on was just right.

We stopped in to two different local dives and at the second, the Tap Room, we chatted with a table full of Delawarians. Everyone was eating Blue Crab and leaving the high piles of shells on the paper table cloth. We also ran into the owners of that awesome converted salmon boat that we had seen in New York. They were having a bit of trouble with the shallow waters in the harbor since they have a keel that runs a deeper draft than Slowly. So, we had them tie up next to Slowly for the night. It was our first real bonding experience with other cruisers.

As you can tell, we liked Chesapeake City, perfect for an autumn stroll. We give it 4 propellers!

Fun Facts!
Today's fun fact is about the VHF radio. This is the two-way radio that all boats use to communicate with each other. VHF stands for "Very High Frequency," a term you may remember from your TV channels 2 through 13, not to be confused with "UHF" whose frequencies are Ultra high. If you could magically turn your car radio past 107.9 and on up to about 160.0, you would be hearing, among other things, boats talking to each other.

The VHF is probably the single most important piece of electronics on the boat because it is the best way to signal for help. The international safety and distress frequency is on channel 16 (156.8 MHz). In imminent danger of loss of life or vessel, you use this channel to make the well known "May-Day" call. A secondary urgent call is "Pan-Pan" (pronounced like the chess piece) and the third most important call is "Securite" (pronounced Securitay).

Other channels of the VHF have specific purposes, and many can be used freely. We have heard that down in Bermuda there is even a "radio show" for cruisers every morning on channel 68. Broadcast communications seem increasingly antique as the cell phone is becoming the dominant form of voice communication. It would be cool for people to start using the totally unlicensed (and mostly unused but for truckers) CB radio to communicate and broadcast information over land since much FM and AM radio is now under corporate (ClearChannel) control.

Animal of the Day



We are not positive, but we think this is a one year old Bald Eagle. They take 4-5 years to reach their adult plumage, which includes the distinguished white head. This one has white underwings (which is different from a Golden Eagle), wide spread fingers and is quite dark. It was soaring up high around the town but we could not follow it to a resting branch. These birds are more common in the northwest, though there are still some to be found out here in the east. They have been regrouping most likely because of the programs that have started up in the past years to help bring them back and save them from endangerment.

Grub Report
We didn't plan on eating out, and we never really had a full dinner, but we ended up getting some grub at the two restaurant/bars we stopped into. At the first place, the Hole in the Wall at the Bayard House, we tried their apple cider vinegar Old Bay Fries with our Clipper City Pale Ale and Yeungling. At the second it was more Yeungling and a kind gift of blue crab from a table of people we met at the Tap Room.

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