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August 24, 2014  Day 119  Chesapeake Bay

Nanticoke River Marina
Seaford, DE

We left the town dock at Vienna, MD at 0800 and continued up the Nanticoke River to Seaford, DE.  We had a 1.5 knot current against us all the way so it took us three hours to cruise 17 miles. 

 

The cable ferry crosses this narrow section of the river

Another tow with barge -
we learned the sand goes to Baltimore

We passed one tow with its barge of sand, a few fishing boats, and a pontoon boat, but again not much boat traffic today. We did wait briefly for a cable ferry to cross the river, and for the ferry captain to radio us that the cable was on the river bottom when he docked so we could safely pass.

The Seaford, DE commercial wharf

We arrived in Seaford around 1100 and passed its commercial and industrial docks.  Shortly after that we were happy to see the railroad swing bridge open.  This led us into the marina. We did not have a reservation and when we could not reach them on the radio or by phone we went ahead and tied up on the face dock with the help of another boater who was there working on his boat.  The dockmaster came out and all was fine – he was very friendly and happy to have us for the night.  He did warn us about the work being done on the railroad bridge. It may or may not be open on Monday!  We will see what happens. 

Later in the afternoon we had a request from the boaters who helped us dock for us to come and talk to them and another boater about the Great Loop.  We spent an enjoyable time with Andy & Cheryl on Grand Folly, and Bill on Irony, talking about our looping experiences. We hope they will be able to take this amazing trip some day!

We came back to our boat and had dinner on board – chicken dijonnaise, yellow rice, green beans, and fresh cantaloupe!

Joyce finished the laundry and we planned our travels for the next week. The dockmaster will call us in the morning to let us know the status of the bridge!

Update: Monday morning – the bridge will not open until 3:00pm so we will leave then!