Day 11: Delaware City to Cape May, NJ (52NM, 8.5 Hours)

We arose at 2:00am and by 2:58am were underway.  We were excited at the prospect of our first “night” adventure.  The wind was near nil and the current was in our favor.  Brian had the engines running at idle and we where made 8 knots out of the Delaware City channel.  In the Delaware River we were running at 12 knots with the engines set for an 8-9 knot speed.  It was extremely dark on the water.  Brian hugged the shipping channel, watched the chart plotter, radar, and AIS.  Occasionally, we could see lights on the shore but we had no idea how far away or what cities.  It was a smooth crossing until we approached the Brandywine Shoal Light - approximately 6 nautical miles from the Cape May Canal.  The wind and current changed making for a rougher ride than the previous 43 nautical miles.  Plus, our speed slowed to 6 knots so Brian increase our speed to maintain 9 knots into the opening of the Cape May Canal.  We docked at Utsch’s Marina before 9:00am.  We spent the rest of day cleaning the boat, walking around town, and having a wonderful lunch at The Lobster House, just a short walk from the marina.