Wednesday, June 12. Change of Plans

Delaware River Anchorage Adventure

We were in a safe but very uncomfortable anchorage due to strong river current with a strong wind blowing against it all afternoon. When the current switched direction, it was smooth for the next 6 hours, but at midnight we were both awake with the boat bobbing up and down.  Midnight discussion: have we had enough of this? Do we really want go down the Delaware and up the Jersey Coast for only about 4 weeks in New England before we have to go through this struggle again to come back.  We decided NO.  We have done this same trip south in 1977, 1987, 1990, north in 20025 and both directions in 2002, 2009, and 2011. We thought we could do it again but it's just not worth it this time.

Decision made, we got a little sleep and got up at 4:00 to catch the current going back through the canal.  It was still dark as Bruce was getting the anchor up and he yelled for a flashlight because something was hooked on the chain.  It was a huge sea monster composed of two giant loops of heavy rusty rotten metal cable, masses of old rope, and a thick stick of wood all wrapped in several loops of OUR CHAIN!  Below it was our anchor which was no longer holding us in place. I had to motor forward against the strong current while Bruce put out another anchor.  When it was holding, we confronted the monster.  I whined, "We'll have to call for help." But Bruce stared it down. He began to try this and that, hammering at the wooden stick, cutting away bits of small rope and trying to cut the cable with a hacksaw. I fetched tools and offered suggestions.

It was still very dark when I took this picture of the knot with the brown river flowing past it.

Eventually he put the dinghy in the water, tied as close to the bow as possible.  We cranked up the part of the chain and anchor hanging under the mess.  He detached the anchor and lifted it on deck. Then he passed the free end of the chain (about 15 feet) around the tangled mess 3 or 4 times while I took video.  (I'll try to put a video clip in later.  Don't know how to do that.)

All this took a lot of time and when we were done it was too late to go through the canal.  We had missed the tide as they say in 19th century novels of the sea. We would also have missed the tide to go down the Delaware, had that still been our intention. 

At noon we started through the canal and by 5 pm we were back in the Sasafrass River awaiting severe thunderstorms predicted for the whole area, to be followed by a cold front with NW winds blowing 40 kts. Fortunately, this didn't happen till the next day so we had a chance to rest and swim.

What next?  Have not made new plans yet.