CAPE MAY...be another delay?

Tuesday September 30 “It was meant to be.” If we hadn’t gotten weathered in at LBI, we would have missed out on two more great evenings with Patti and Phil. We wouldn’t have gotten to know the Beach Haven Yacht Club Marina family so well, who surprised us with a much appreciated dockage discount for our extended stay. We welcomed spending more time with “SailBoat Linda” and her lovely daughters Coral and Pearl. I tried to absorb as much of Linda’s confidence and calming influence as possible. She has made the trip south 25 times and had lots of valuable information and stories to share. Now I have her phone number saved and can instantly phone a friend! She is really a gem, just like the beautiful beach glass jewelry she crafts. Gary got to talk more captain to captain with Towboat U.S. Captain Rick. We chatted a lot more with our buddy DockMaster Ernie as he assisted with fun Tessa chores like pump outs. Gary corrected radio functions, got the radar up and running, and installed a new depth sounder. After knowing Ernie for less than two weeks, I knew I would miss him as he waved goodbye to us from the dock early Saturday morning. If we hadn’t experienced the long harrowing night from New York to Long Beach Island, the 10 to 12 foot swells this past Saturday may have been scary. The “fear bar” has definitely been raised, and we actually enjoyed the nine hour trip to Cape May. Entering Cape May Harbor anchorage, we heard Tessa being hailed on the VHF. It was Solweig II, our Canadian dock partners on the Hudson at Hyde Park with good ole Captain Joe! Who would have guessed that we’d end up in the same anchorage after the delays south. Turns out they experienced their own delays. We had a great time sharing stories over a nice hot meal on Solweig prepared by Wayne and Lyndal. If we hadn’t been delayed, the stop in Cape May wouldn’t have coincided with my Cuzzin Chuckie‘s vacation. Sunday morning we dinghied into the recommended Utsch’s Marina to check out dock locations, since we knew Chuckie and family wouldn’t be able to dinghy out to an anchorage to see Tessa. Utsch’s is a top notch marina with excellent facilities. They even give you a welcome bag of soaps, biscotti, and a really nice bottle of private labeled wine. How good is that? We spent a memorable day with Chuckie, Linda, and Cara on Sunday. After meeting Tessa for the first time, they treated us to a fantastic lunch at their favorite watering hole, followed by a sightseeing trip of Cape May. Cara wasn’t having any fun at all!! I had to hold her hand as we walked to keep both her feet on the ground, she was so excited. That afternoon, I leaned on Cuzzin Chuckie, the Waitkus Family Fishing Expert, to help me choose a used rod and reel at his favorite tackle shop. The guy running the shop took a major shot at us sail boaters, said he can spot us right away because we want one rod, one reel, and one lure to catch every kind of fish in any body of water. SO what’s wrong with being FRUGAL? (Notice the FRUGAL CAPTAIN plug here.) He tried to steer us to a more expensive rig, but there was one certain rod that kept calling to us. I pulled it from the rack with Chuckie’s approval, dubbing it “an old work horse.” He helped me rig it up, so now BIG CHUCK is part of the Tessa crew. Chuckie saw us off early Monday morning as we headed out to the Atlantic toward the Delaware Bay. On our way out of Utsch’s slip, a sailboat neighbor asked if we knew the “short cut” around Cape May by hugging the beach, and invited us to follow them. Gary commented on the shorter route “ This will be fortuitous…. I hope.” Surely they draw as much as we do, since they’re about the same size, right? We stuck to Amazon like glue and slammed through the waves right behind them until they came on the radio and announced “we only draw four and a half feet and will be cutting across from here.” No thanks Amazon, we’ll go it alone from here following the shipping channel up the Delaware Bay. Do not let the word BAY fool you! It is a huge body of water with no sight of land across the majority of it, kicking up big choppy ocean-like waves for the first 10 miles (couple of hours) up the bay. Gary screamed from the cockpit and I ran above just in time to see a huge ,easy ten feet across, Manta Ray break the surface and do a flip for the third time right next to Tessa. What a cool sight (and where‘s the camera?)! Once the Bay began to narrow, the waves subsided a bit and I was able to throw BIG CHUCK out to catch dinner. I reeled in quickly when I saw the dipsy diver pop to the surface, to find my one and only lure chomped off at the steel leader! Darn! Looks like all we’re having for dinner are porterhouse steaks and sautéed mushrooms (with Myassis Dragon reduction sauce). Gary solicited advice from the closest TowBoat U.S. Captain Kevin out of Indian River, DE, who was really helpful but wanted us to go all the way to Delaware City to dock. This would have us arriving in the dark, something we agreed to avoid. So instead we took Sailboat Linda’s advise and headed for the anchorage in front of the Salem Power Plant at the entrance to the Delaware River. Just before dark, after picking our way through the crab pots, Gary signaled for me to drop the anchor. Except I had no power when I pushed the foot controls. Gary scrambled below and rigged up another battery, but still nothing. Last resort, pull the 3/8 inch chain from the locker by hand (his, not mine!) and drop the 65 pound CQR Plow and about 100 feet of chain manually. While I fixed dinner, Gary systematically checked the system and discovered the worst. The Ideal Windlass motor was shot. He got on line and sent an SOS to Ideal, and we went to bed hoping nothing kicked up in the night to which we would have to try to reposition Tessa. That would be a disaster. Captain Gary was up most of the night while I slept soundly knowing he would protect us from harm. So now I am up at dawn, well rested , writing my update and wondering what is in store for us as we find a safe harbor to have a new motor delivered. No worries, it can’t be all that bad. Whatever happens is just meant to be!