173: BEST SHORTCUT EVER THROUGH THE C&D CANAL - We offer some tips for where to anchor before/after

It wasn't a great night of sleep. We were hot. Oh hi, don't I know you? We were hot, but the bugs were gone because we assassinated them all. The eating bugs were, but everything else was crawling on us. It was a little rough. It's so beautiful here, I could stay. The plan today is to go through the C&D canal. So it's 18 nautical miles up to the entrance of the canal. And it is 15 miles through it. And we're trying to time it with the tide and the current so that we've got the full current behind us. They won't let you in if the current is going the opposite direction from what we hear. I am on crab pot watch duty, and it is starting to rain. I don't think we've ever been underway actually when it's been raining, which is kind of crazy. And then at the white buoy, make a sharp left. You might be able to fit through those two. Alright, we're getting ready to enter into the Chesapeake-Delaware canal. I've always wanted to do this. Right now we are coming in, as you see. And we're doing 5.3 knots, not in the channel. And the current is supposed to be working in our favor while we're in the channel. So I'll be curious to see what the difference is. If there is a difference. The canal that we're going in should take us about three hours to get through. And we're going to punch through into the Chesapeake Bay, which is really cool. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, better known as C&D Canal, is a 14-mile long, 450-foot wide, and 35-foot deep ship canal that connects the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay. In the mid-17th century, surveys were made by mapmakers to consider possible water routes. But little was done until the late 1700s, when the idea was again raised by regional business leaders, including noted Philadelphian Benjamin Franklin. It wasn't until 1829 before the C&D Canal Company could, at last, announce the waterway open for business. Its construction cost of $3.5 million made it one of the most expensive canal projects of its time. The original canal had a water depth of 10 feet and contained four locks. It carried barges and sailing vessels towed by teams of mules and horses. Today, six bridges span the canal. They are the Reedy Point Bridge, St. George's Bridge, Roth Bridge, C&D Canal Lift Bridge, Summit Bridge, and Chesapeake City Bridge. We're now in the canal doing 4.7, so the current's not quite as strong as it was in the Delaware River, but it's supposed to pick up as we're going through the canal. Hey, you can get a picture of me getting in. The Reedy Point Bridge, a two-lane cantilever bridge, opened in 1968, and from the top of the bridge, drivers can see three other states, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. Whenever it rains, we take advantage of collecting water from the roof to use in our washing machine. So we are filling up the cooler right now with water to be able to do some laundry when it stops raining, hopefully in the next couple of days. I like this. Right now, we're making our way through the canal, and it's a long one. As you see, wow, look at that. So it dumps out over here, and then we're now doing 5.1 knots, so the current's picking up a little bit in our favor. All right, we're clocking six knots now. We're picking up the pace. I'm loving it. Second and third bridge. The St. George's Bridge, a steel-tied arch bridge, opened in 1942, and it was the first four-lane high-level crossing to span the canal. It replaced the original bridge that was accidentally destroyed in 1939 by a collision from a German transport ship. The Roth Bridge is a concrete and steel cable staid bridge, opened in 1995 and named after the senator who was instrumental in securing federal funding to build the bridge. Incidentally, Senator Roth also lent his name to the Roth IRA. The C&D Canal Lift Bridge, opened in 1966, is a railroad bridge with a vertical lift span. It carries the Delmarva Central Rail Line and is the only drawbridge on the canal. The bridge is kept open to allow the free flow of shipping traffic underneath, but if a freight train plans on crossing, the engineer must contact the bridge operator at least 30 minutes before crossing. This allows the bridge to be lowered. Most canal crossings occur at night when shipping traffic is at a minimum. The Summit Bridge, opened in 1961, is the second four-lane high-level crossing and carries a bicycle route that spans the length of the state of Delaware. This is Chesapeake City, and we were told that you could actually anchor in here, but this would have taken us five additional hours to get here, which we just didn't have the time to do that. The Chesapeake City Bridge, built in 1949, replaced a vertical lift drawbridge that was destroyed in 1942 by another German tanker, the Franz Clausen. The bridge is identical to the St. George's Bridge. No more Chesapeake-Delaware Canal. We are now in the top part of the Chesapeake Bay. Check it out. And we're going to go pretty much the whole length of the Chesapeake Bay to get to Deltaville, so we're in an ideal position to see the whole bay. The problem is, we've only got about five days to do it. We are in the Bohemian River, and this river has incredible history. It is a wildlife refuge with incredible animal life and bird life as well, so hopefully we'll get to see a lot of that. It's a beautiful, calm evening here on the Bohemian River. We are so thankful that we are here. And out of the path of Andre. The laundry is still drying, but it's time to head off. We are leaving this beautiful area and heading off to the crazy Farrelly Creek, which is supposed to be a bit sketchy to get in. If we hit that sandbar, it's going to be on video. You're going to be able to see it, so it's going to be a YouTube goal, yeah! I'd prefer not to have a YouTube goal. We'll see. Here we go. We have just started to enter Farrelly, and it is not an easy entrance. We've got a massive amount of boat convergence, and it's really hard to get a boat in and a boat out at the same time. And unfortunately, you approach the opening blind, so it's a little bit tricky. You've got to snake in, and then as soon as you round the bend on the sandbar, you've got to immediately turn to the right so that you don't get caught on the sandbar. So that's what makes it a bit complicated. If there's any kind of current, it's a problem. But right now it is low tide. We should have slack tide at this point. And we've got our friend's Cinderella behind us, letting us go first. Here we go. Wow! And we've got the audience watching us. We made it. And our friends on Cinderella made it. Well, this is definitely a happening place here. It is Saturday after all, so it should be a fun night.