Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026 Cape May, NJ to Lewes, DE 26 miles and 3.2 hours
Outstanding night's sleep. Never even woke up worried about or needing to check the anchor. Planning for an 8AM departure as we want to arrive in Lewes with time to start exploring. Short trip - just a few hours. We'll use the Cape May canal route which ultimately drops us out into the Delaware Bay. Takes a little longer due to no wake zones but keeps us off the ocean. Anchor comes up with some soft mud that washes off easily. One last look at this nice anchorage and we're on our way. Need to wait for a guy fishing in the middle of the narrow channel to get out of our way before we can get to the canal. He finally relents as we edge up closer and closer to his 16' jon boat. Pass by the Cape May commercial fishing fleet and under the bridge. Pass the Coast Guard station and the sailboats still anchored there.
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| Morning view of the housed shoreline protecting us from the SW winds |
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| A few of the colorful ships of the Cape May fishing fleet |
On the Delaware Bay end of the canal is the terminal for the Lewes to Cape May ferry. One is departing at 9:30 and we're right on schedule to intercept it. Just as we pass behind his berth, we hear the horn blast. Long-short-short-short. He's reversing out of the slip. We both take the same heading out into the bay before he finally overtakes us. Wind is still blowing SW - now across the open bay and kicking up some waves. Wind will be dying down, and the fetch will drop off making the final half of the trip nicer. For now - more wind-blown spray with every wave. Getting tired of these conditions, but glad they quickly diminish. Almost calm waters as we navigate between the harbor of refuge breakwater and the ice breaker rock piles before entering Roosevelt Inlet.
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| Lewes - Cape May ferry overtaking us in the middle of the Delaware Bay |
From there it's a scenic 2-mile cruise down the man-made Lewes - Rehobeth Canal to Lewes. There's a strong outgoing current as we head for our reserved dock space. A bit daunting. It's a 200' side tie dock with the 100' Cheoy Lee yacht Prince of Tides already secured. Our spot is the 60' of open dock in front of it. Beyond the dock is the base of the Route 9 drawbridge. I make my approach and simply can't get the boat against the dock. Makes no sense to me figuring that I'm pushing into the current. Getting the boat to point just slightly towards the dock and the current should work to push me towards it. Decide to back away and try again. Then I see the issue. Water is rushing out under the bridge but then creates a huge eddy and water swirls backwards along the dock. The trick is powering up-current strongly enough to get to the dock while also being ready to quickly back up as the reversing current takes hold. We get it done just fine on our second try impressing the spectators watching from the bridge and even get a "Good Job" from the dockmaster.
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| Lewes-Rehobeth canal heading into Lewes |
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| Some of the displays as part of the Maritime Museum |
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Approaching our dock space in front of Prince of Tides.
I just kept thinking "Don't hit that boat. Don't hit that bridge base."
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| Safely secured at the Lewes town dock |
Big decision once we get here. How long to stay. Certainly not a one nighter, but there's a good weather window Saturday if we want to keep moving along. Alternative is to wait out rain and winds from remnants of hurricane Isaias but that puts us here until Tuesday. Cute town, multiple museums, farmers market Saturday, good secure location with power. We opt to stay put for the extra days.
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| Journey for Oct. 8, 2026 |
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