Annapolis MD to Delaware City DE (at anchor in the river)

This morning I awoke early.  I was up before 6:00 and pulled us off the ball and headed out before 7:00.  

Yesterday we spent the day in East Port (across the bridge from Annapolis) and did dinghy exploration.  It was a good day.  Not many pics.     We went to the Marine Museum which is really a tribute to the Oyster industry (it's in an old canning plant).  It was interesting.  There are some nice houses on the backwaters of Annapolis.   You can tell it's really suburban DC. 

I guess I couldn't sleep with all of the bouncing in the mooring ball area in Annapolis.  The harbor there just bounces like crazy.  

The first thing we did today was head north under the Chesapeake Bay bridge and up to the Baltimore area.  We wanted to see the Francis c Scott bridge in all of its non-glory.  

Next we meandered up around a couple of islands and bays to the Baltimore Yacht Club for fuel, pump out, garbage disposal and some fresh water.   It feels good to get all of that done so we can be self sufficient for some days again before having to stop.  (Although I think we will stay in a marina tomorrow just because we haven't for a while). 

While we were filling up with fuel there were some loud explosions and we saw this across the bay we were in.  

We asked the attendant and he nonchalantly said 'oh, that's just the Aberdeen proving grounds for the army where they test their bombs'.  Lol. 

We spent the next hour driving past and up the river through the proving grounds water way all the while hearing explosion after explosion.  They must have been using up a bunch of old stock.    There was one huge series of explosions and then the black smoke quickly came to a stop.   I'm thinking they used a bunch of explosive to put out the fire that had caught.   There were definitely hundreds of explosions during the entire chain of events.  I'm not sure how I'd feel living near that.   The islands we cut between used to get used for target practice.  There are some really deep holes in the channel that don't show on the navigation charts. Lol. 

And we passed some trailers on the water.  It's been a long time since we've seen trailers on the water...    There are finally 'normal' homes on the water here also ...

As we cruised up the Chesapeake today the water turned solidly brown and nearly 100% fresh.   There were lots of sticks and logs floating in the river.   It reminded me of the Mississippi.  Hated that.   

Eventually we reached the upper extremity of the Chesapeake and entered the C&D canal.  (C for Chesapeake, D for Delaware).   This 14 mile long channel connects the Delaware River/Bay with the Chesapeake.   
People were out playing today on the water like crazy.  The water is in the 70s up here and the air reached 88 today.   They said it was going to be 91 but we never saw it.   It WAS hot though.   No AC at the helm.  Just a fan.  And with fresh water comes flies.   They weren't too bad for us today though.  Not biting even though they were hanging around.  It wasn't very windy so they were out.  

The birds swarmed our boat for hours today.  I think they go for the bugs and the fish that might get rocked by the props and stirred up.  

Eventually we entered the Delaware River which is huge up here....  And nestled into an Anchorage near the side of the river protected by an underwater wall/dike that was put in to reduce erosion.   

And yes I feel a little like Homer Simpson hanging out by the Nuclear plant.   It's right across the river from us....

A huge day today.   97 miles.  And a new state (Hello Delaware!). It will be a short visit as we go down the bay tomorrow early and end the day at the Jersey Shore in Cape May!
We are definitely moving along quickly at this point staying ahead of the looper crowd.  We kind of like the peace and quiet and lack of competition for slips and anchorages.   There are a few boats ahead of us but we are certainly in the early crowd.  

We don't need to be in New York until May 16 so that leaves us with a couple of extra weeks.   We are thinking of making a side trip down the Long Island Sound ...  

Awesome sunset tonight.  



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