Tuesday, August 17, 1993 - Wilmington

Finally on our way to Wilmington! Got up at six and left a little before eight. Dead calm, so we had no difficulty leaving the dock.
Most of the day was hot, humid, hazy, and calm. Visibility was less than two miles, but there were plenty of channel markers, and they were close enough together to enable us to see the next pair ahead. A breeze came up briefly, so we unfurled the headsail, but we soon had to bring it in again.
Reached the entrance to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in the early evening. According to the guide book, there was a free government dock in the anchorage basin across from Chesapeake City, and the water was six feet deep there, so we decided to go there for the night. Our chart showed 9 to 11 feet of water throughout the basin. Ho ho. We barely started into the anchorage when we found ourselves aground in five feet of water. Fortunately, the ground was soft mud and Roy had been going very slowly, so he was able to back out. Then we went across the canal and tied to the dock in front of the restaurant. According to the famous guide book, we could stay there free while eating in the restaurant and could even stay all night. Ho ho again. They wanted a ridiculous $1.35 a foot! And it wasn't even a floating dock; we had to climb several feet from the boat to the dock. Roy checked the prices at the restaurant, and they were just as exorbitant, so we untied real fast and headed back up the canal. The only safe place we could see to anchor was just outside the entrance to the canal, near Welch Point.
By then, the thunderstorm had hit. Rain was pouring down and lightning was flashing. The temperature dropped dramatically. Roy could scarcely see the buoys through the rain and darkness. When we were almost to the anchorage, Roy saw a huge container ship coming towards us, so he pulled way over to the right side of the channel. While he was busy watching the ship in front of us, I glanced back and nearly jumped out of my skin--an even more humungous container ship was coming up behind us, fast. I told Roy, and he got out of the channel altogether. The two behemoths were barely able to squeeze past each other.
We anchored in six feet of water, 150 feet outside the channel. The big ships can't attack us here.