As Good As It Gets

Delaware Bay
39 01.15 N 075 03.13

I'm reminded of how differently people see things.

Yesterday we chatted with another sailboat on VHF as we left the C&D Canal. We were both heading for Cape May. The other captain said he wanted to make Capy May before sunset. I said that we were in no hurry and that we might anchor along the bay before reaching Cape May. Then the other captain said that he wanted to push ahead so that they could depart Sunday for New York. He didn't want to risk having the window close. Huh? How could that be? According to my weather sources, the window doesn't open until Monday afternoon. After some thought I realized that his definition of window was no wind, no waves, and that he planned to motor to New York. Our definition (see the recent blog post) requires wind.

I also mentioned the other day that we need to find places to get away from other people on holiday weekends. Well just now (Sunday morning) we passed through a fleet of 150 or so small boats all in a big clump, all anchored and fishing. Trying to see things from their point of view, I realized that today is about as good as it gets. It is a long weekend, the beginning of summer, sunny, warm, no rain, no wind, no bumpy waves. For those people tired of the drudgery of being indoors all winter, it was a prime day to get out here on the bay. There must be some reputation that fish bite in that particular spot in Delaware Bay, 8 miles from Cape May. Looking at my charts I can't see any underwater feature. If it's not the fish, I can't understand why they all anchored in a clump close together given hundreds of square miles of bay with similar bottom all around. Oh well, different strokes for different folks.

Our plan today is to buy fuel. Then, if the anchorage looks uncrowded, we'll spend the night at anchor there. If it is crowded, we'll find someplace else to anchor, even near the beach on the open ocean (which we almost never do). Monday, we'll head for New York. Monday afternoon, the wind is supposed to blow 10-15 from the southwest. Cool. It takes us roughly 24 hours to sail from Cape May to the Verazano Narrows.