With strong winds forecasted for Sunday, we had to wait out the day in Delaware City. We are sure glad we did! We began our day with a visit to Sunday’s Cafe 64. It’s a marvelous little breakfast place that is only open on Sundays. Well… some Sundays. Apparently they are very family-oriented and are known to close frequently for various life events. We were lucky that they were open and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast. We enjoyed it so much that we picked up some pastries and corn bread for the days ahead.

After breakfast, we walked to the shore to catch the ferry to visit Fort Delaware. The fort is amazingly preserved and partially restored to its 1864 glory. They had people in period characters in various areas to tell about life back then. Although the fort never fired a shot in battle, it was a major POW camp during the Civil War housing as many as 12,595 Confederate prisoners at one time. The island is much larger than it was during the war with marshes built from the dredged Delaware river. We really enjoyed our time there before heading back to shore to catch the weather briefing.

When we attended the weather briefing at 1600 at the Delaware City Marina, it looked like Monday would be the best weather day of the year so far to get down to Cape May and up the Atlantic to Atlantic City. The forecast was right!

We woke up at 0445 to be ready to shove off at dawn at 0536. Oh my… that’s early. As predicted, it was a perfectly calm morning and a beautiful sunrise. We tried a new skill to get off the dock with boats close to us forward and aft. We untied everything except a bow spring line and let the current push us away from the dock. I didn’t even use the engines as Wendy managed the line. Once we were out, Wendy released the line and I pushed both engines forward for an easy relaxing exit.

We were near high tide and saw no less than 8 feet over the shoal at the mouth of the canal. The sunrise greeted us as we entered the Delaware River and turned south.

We had the current with us most of the way down the river and saw over 13 mph at times at 1400 rpm. We passed a few other loopers, had a Corps of Engineers boat wake us, and generally enjoyed the ride.

As we got to the west entrance of the Cape May canal, we saw the ferry, a tour boat, and several dolphins. The water got a bit skinny near the entrance as we were at low tide by then, but the canal itself had plenty of water.

As we exited the east entrance of the canal into the Atlantic, the water was very confused, but once we got into the Atlantic, it was just rolling swells. Perfect.

The rest of the 40 miles north was uneventful. We saw a few dolphins, a dead turtle, and a few passing boats. The water got smoother as we neared Atlantic City making for a very enjoyable ride.

Entering the Golden Nugget Farley State Marina, we had to wait about 15 minutes for the fuel dock to clear before docking for fuel. By then the wind had started to pick up. After fueling, we moved to our slip. The wind was pushing us off the dock, but some friendly neighboring loopers masterfully managed our lines to pull us in tight. It was a 106 mile day, but easy sailing. We were looking forward to a few days in Atlantic City. Neither of us are much for gambling, but we like pretty lights, pleasant boardwalks, and ice cream.