Cape May to the Cohansey River

Cape May Light House

I hate getting up early but Monday morning we got up before dawn.  We knew we were facing a potentially 10-12 hour journey to the Cohansey River 25 miles up Delaware Bay.  We would be fighting an adverse current and a headwind with no possible alternative stops.   I had been apprehensive about taking a short cut through shoals to get around the cape rather than travel many miles out to the ship channel.  I had visions of Symphony heeled over as the keel dragged sideways across a shoal.  Cruising guides warned that the shoals were constantly shifting and that Eph shoal in particular was moving toward the beach.  Maryanne had the first shock of the day when she couldn't turn the wheel as I pulled up the anchor.  I forgot to tell her about the lock on the wheel.  My bad.  She was not happy.  Because the seas were almost flat and the wind was mild I decided to follow some waypoints that were given to me this summer by a more experienced cruiser.  If the depth finder read 10 feet or under I planned first to panic and then to make the fastest U turn that I could.  My course brought me right straight into the beach by the Cape May lighthouse.  My stomach tightened at one point when the depth finder went to 15 feet but before I could implement my panic mode the depth increased.  The path through the shoals wasn't all that bad.  The adverse current only slowed us by 1 - 1.5 knots.  Just beyond the cape I could see a ferry headed across our path.  The Twin Capes seemed to be bearing down on us at 3 times our speed.  The AIS showed us clearing the ferry but just to be safe I called the captain on the VHF.  I offered to change course.  The captain was very reassuring.  "Skipper, I have you .3 miles ahead of me and clearing me by .1 of a mile but it's your call."  I told him I would maintain my course.  "OK, have a nice day" was his response.  I am really getting to like AIS.  It gave him and me the data for making the decision about collision avoidance and it gave me his name so that I could call him.

After 10 hours we arrived at the Cohansey River.  I didn't quite panic when the depth finder read 4 feet even though our draft is 5'5".  I was concerned.  Eventually I found deeper water and entered the river.  The Cohansey river experience will not soon be forgotten.  Swarms of flies converged on us by the thousands.  My pants turned black from all the flies.  If I shook my legs they flew around me and landed back on them instantly.  I couldn't even shake them off.  They bit painfully.  We were miserable.  It seemed to take forever to get far enough into the river to anchor.  That anchor got set as fast as I could get it over the side.  Maryanne backed down on it and we tried to duck into the cabin as our relentless pursuers followed.  I discovered that the flies inside the boat were drawn to the porthole screens.  I could push out the bottom of the screens and get them to fly away.  I was a little obsessed with this task for a good hour.  Meanwhile after a long exhausting day Maryanne decided to undertake an equally difficult culinary task.  Dinner was apple raisin stuffed pork chops, quinoa, and stir fried vegetables and salad.  Mmmm... unreal!  Although we were exhausted we decided that it would be best to leave the river the next morning before the flies had enough light to fly.