Day 45, Saturday, October 17th

Cape May to Ocean City, MD

Track on ViewRanger

I woke up refreshed and in good spirits to a brisk wind. It didn't seem nearly as bad as yesterday and I decided to go ahead with the 'outside' route. The alternative (waiting for Tuesday when the wind was predicted to change to south) looked just too inconvenient. I didn't want to spend so long in Cape May, especially with the cold predicted to come with the NW winds. My propane heater is fantastic but I have to get new propane soon.

John had decided to stay, so I lifted anchor and exited the anchorage and went south through the channel into the ocean. John also told me that a friend of his had tried to go up the Delaware Bay yesterday but had returned back to Cape May when he found it to be too awful.

I had set the reefed mainsail and changed to my small jib already when I got into the mouth of the Delaware bay. As I made my way across it and toward Delaware, the wind increased a little and the seas got a bit choppier, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared.

The tide was running out and the wind and swells were all in the same direction, to the SE, which possibly helped to avoid the nasty effect of waves and swells working against each other that leads to awful chop.

I saw a freighter and a big tanker going up the bay behind me, but otherwise the traffic was minor.

John's friend Alex was now in group text conversations with us and he said he left the anchorage to follow me south. When I reached the Delaware coastline the waves diminished and I stopped the engine (I had run it across the bay to make good speed and get through the bay). The wind was perfect for my reefed sails, and Caprice whizzed south on a broad reach. I encountered my first few dozen floats from crab pots or fishermen's nets, I couldn't tell. But once I saw how they were in neat rows with pretty equal distances it was easy to avoid them. The whole day the wind was blowing perfectly, with a very brief calmer spell, and I got to Ocean City, Maryland in the early afternoon. The main season is over here, the beach and many hotels and condo buildings looked a bit deserted

There was a very strong current coming out of the channel and even with the indicated speed of 6 knots through the water my GPS showed only 3 knots. As I came through I saw a bunch of dolphins playing in the current. First dolphins! I hope they will be there again when I leave tomorrow, maybe it's their playground.

I turned left into an anchorage in the channel behind Assateague Island, a barrier island that I'll see the whole day tomorrow, too, as it's running down the shore all the way to my next planned stop.

The island is famous for its inhabitants, wild ponies, that are according to one legend the survivors of an early Spanish shipwreck. I'll look out for them tomorrow, they can apparently often be spotted on the beaches.

I found an anchorage close to the shore and quickly set off by dinghy to shop for propane and food. It was a long walk but I found both. I even found a place where I could refill my propane tank, but I hadn't carried it with me and I don't think I'll walk back all the way tomorrow. I had some trouble rowing against the current to the Caprice but made it all right, and soon Alex turned up for a brief visit and a sip of rum. He'll head down the coast early tomorrow to make it further than my own plan, to give him plenty time to reach Norfolk the next day. We'll stay in touch so he can explore for John and I.