Cruising down the Delaware River

 

 

Boat party in the cove.  Note downtown Philadelphia in the background.

finally aboard!

      Hello faithful readers!  Well I successfully made it up to New England, and am now cruising down the Delaware River aboard S/V Calmer Waters.  For now, it’s just the two of us:  skipper Ramon, and yours truly.  In a few days, his wife Lindsay and their twin 2-year-old boys will join us. 

dinghy pickup

      The adventure began on Saturday, when I flew into Philadelphia from Houston.  Ramon picked me up in his dinghy at nearby Stingers Marina.  A dinghy ride later, we were aboard Calmer Waters, anchored not far away in a little cove next to the River Winds Golf Club.  

beach boat party

       Then, throughout the day, a multitude of boats from all over came to the cove, dropped anchor, and cranked up some serious partying.  Here it comes:  THIS WAS ONE HAPPENING PLACE!  The festivities carried on till long after dark.

The helm.  All control lines lead here.

      Calmer Waters is a magnificent vessel!  43 feet long, nearly 30 feet wide, and nearly as big as house on the inside.  Three big roomy cabins, one head (aka bathroom), and enough storage space to make a landlubber envious.  It was fully loaded with every boat gadget and gizmo imaginable.  The engine compartment down below in the center hull was as big as my bedroom at home, and every inch of it was crammed with machines and contraptions and electronics and plumbing and tanks and everything.  Up on deck, all the control lines led to the helm; one person could easily sail this beast.

Delaware River and Bay

      The Delaware River runs through Philadelphia and Wilmington, and forms the borderline between Delaware and New Jersey.  As it flows southward, it gradually widens, eventually becoming the Delaware Bay.  Our cruising plan was to head down this waterway, out into the Atlantic, then northward along the New Jersey coast, eventually into the waters around New York City.

Ramon, sailing purist

      Come Sunday morning at the crack of dawn, we pulled up anchor and were on our way.  Why so early?  Well, it seems we had to plan our day around the tides.  Unlike the Gulf of Mexico, with its pipsqueak little one-and-a-half-foot tides, up here in these parts the tides are rather significant.  High tide today was at dawn, and so current was in our favor.  Winds were light and blew mostly from astern. And the temperature was a glorious mid-70s.  Sorry, all you folks down on in Texas with your 100-degree-plus heat wave!

     But all good things end.  At mid-afternoon, the tide reversed and the river currents flowed upstream!  And about the same time, the wind died.

     Now lemme tell you something about Ramon: the guy is one hard-core sailing purist.  This is a SAIL boat, by golly, and we use the WIND for propulsion, exclusively.  Yeah we have an engine, but that’s only for bona fide emergencies, and lack of wind does NOT qualify.  So if it quits blowing, or the current is contrary, well, we just go a bit slower.  Or maybe just drop anchor till the tide reverses again.  We’re in no hurry.  No concrete schedule for us, no sir.  So we kinda just sat still for awhile.  

ending the day properly

      But the wind eventually returned, and we made it to our first scheduled anchorage, near a picturesque New England village.  Oh and my hard-core sailing purist skipper does not even use the engine for anchoring.  Well, anchoring using sail power is a good skill to have for any sailor.  Anchor down!  Break out the sundowners!

quaint Delaware village

      On Monday we continued our southerly journey down the Delaware.  One aspect of this waterway that one cannot miss is the stark contrast between the two shores.  The Delaware side is all forests and quaint, picturesque New England villages.  

Jersey nuclear power plant

      The Jersey side is all power plants, factories, refineries, construction zones, and shipyards.

BIG ship on the river

      The river continues to widen as we approach its mouth into Delaware Bay.  I occasionally taste the river water, and yep, it’s getting a bit salty.  As the sun sets, we duck into a lovely little cove to anchor for the night.  It was as peaceful and tranquil as can be, and we were the only boat in sight.  We COULD have tucked into a small nearby creek for better protection, but the winds were calm and we figured, eh, what the heck, this is fine.  Little did we know that our open exposure to the south would become a poor choice.  A bodacious windstorm blew in overnight, and Calmer Waters was pounded by waves much too big for comfort.  But the anchor held, and other that a somewhat sleep-challenged night, no damage was done, and we lived another day to tell about it.

      More exciting adventures to follow.  Stay tuned!

gigantic suspension bridge under I-295 in Wilmington

Boat things break.  Ramon fixing watermaker.

 

two dudes on a boat, admiring the sunset.