The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal may be the Rodney Dangerfield of canals. It doesn’t get a lot of attention although it’s one of the busiest canals in the United States. Most people outside of Delaware would be hard-pressed to find it on a map. It saves ships traversing from Wilmington and Philadelphia in and out of Baltimore about 300 miles. About 40 percent of all ship traffic from the Port of Baltimore uses the canal.

Not quite as long as the 17-mile Cape Cod canal , the 14-mile C&D canal, links the Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay in Maryland boasts a whopping 3-4 knots current. Slow boats like ours needs to wait for fair tide to cross over. After slogging up the Delaware Bay yesterday, we welcome the extra 4-6 hours to do boring but necessary chores like cleaning, vacuum and shaking out rugs.

We weigh anchor at 1:30pm to catch the current at 2pm. Not allowed to sail through the 14 mile canal, we motored along in the 3 knot current making about 8 knots total. There are 5 bridges on the C&D canal. 4 of the bridges have plenty of height with one railroad lift bridge that’s normally in an open position. Fortunately the railroad bridge was opened when we approached.

The whole canal was pretty, lined with trees and egrets. Not too much traffic on a Thursday afternoon. After exiting the western end of the canal, the waterway began to open up and the banks took back their natural uneven shapes compared to the straight and narrow canal. The landscape bright green with rolling hills and woods all around. We have officially arrived in Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

It was getting late so we headed towards the Sassafras River as Claudia prepared her famous Mexican style Chicken Quesadilla underway as we dine by a beautiful suset at a most peaceful and quiet anchorage before heading to the hustle and bustle inner harbor of Baltimore.