Setback
What a nightmare, I thought to myself in that state of half awake/half asleep before even opening my eyes. My dream consisted of a trip to the ER and a diagnosis of a broken heel, which would have certainly put a damper on plans for heading south. But wait, why does my left foot feel tight and constrained? I cracked my left eye open and an unfamiliar ceiling lay above me. Tilting my head up and gazing down at a mass of cotton and Ace bandages confirmed reality.
The plan was to head south to Norfolk on Wednesday morning. On Monday night Chris and I went out for dinner and, long story short, I jumped 7' from a wall along the boardwalk to the sidewalk below and when I tried to get up, couldn't support my own weight. Some hours later, the ER doctor told me I had broken my heel. I took a taxi back to the dock where Chris was supposed to meet me, but his phone was on silent so I asked the driver to take me to a cheap hotel. He ended up taking me to Willdwood, a bizarre grid of cheap motels spilling over from Atlantic City.
When I got back to Cape May the next afternoon, I asked about how much it would be to dock my boat there for a month or two while I healed up. The woman behind the counter said they only had a day rate, nothing monthly, and that it would come out to about $1500 for 30 days. She said this with a straight face and a tone that implied $3000 for two months was a reasonable price. New Jersey; that's all I'm going to say. I walked out dumbfounded and a little scared. Where was I going to put the boat while I was banged up? I immediately put a post to a cruising forum asking if there was any reasonable dockage within the Delaware Bay area. I got a response within the hour that there was a dock in Baltimore for $470/month. Much better. A few minutes later, I then got another message from the same user saying he had just found out his friend was leasing theirs for $125/month, perfect!
We left the next morning, motoring up the Delaware Bay and River and anchored in the C&D canal basin at about 9 that night. I had my splint/bandages wrapped in a plastic bag as it poured rain off and on all day, sitting at the helm in my foul weather jacket and board shorts, hood up and covering my face. Another 9 hours of motoring the next day got us into Baltimore at about 4 pm. Chris and I buttoned up the boat and Elizabeth picked me up last night. I'm now in Arlington, VA and will be going to Hoboken, NJ for awhile followed by Sarasota with Mom. It should take about 6 weeks to be in full sailing mode again, at which point I'll fly back to Baltimore to continue to the trip south. The adventure isn't over, not by a long shot!
The plan was to head south to Norfolk on Wednesday morning. On Monday night Chris and I went out for dinner and, long story short, I jumped 7' from a wall along the boardwalk to the sidewalk below and when I tried to get up, couldn't support my own weight. Some hours later, the ER doctor told me I had broken my heel. I took a taxi back to the dock where Chris was supposed to meet me, but his phone was on silent so I asked the driver to take me to a cheap hotel. He ended up taking me to Willdwood, a bizarre grid of cheap motels spilling over from Atlantic City.
When I got back to Cape May the next afternoon, I asked about how much it would be to dock my boat there for a month or two while I healed up. The woman behind the counter said they only had a day rate, nothing monthly, and that it would come out to about $1500 for 30 days. She said this with a straight face and a tone that implied $3000 for two months was a reasonable price. New Jersey; that's all I'm going to say. I walked out dumbfounded and a little scared. Where was I going to put the boat while I was banged up? I immediately put a post to a cruising forum asking if there was any reasonable dockage within the Delaware Bay area. I got a response within the hour that there was a dock in Baltimore for $470/month. Much better. A few minutes later, I then got another message from the same user saying he had just found out his friend was leasing theirs for $125/month, perfect!
We left the next morning, motoring up the Delaware Bay and River and anchored in the C&D canal basin at about 9 that night. I had my splint/bandages wrapped in a plastic bag as it poured rain off and on all day, sitting at the helm in my foul weather jacket and board shorts, hood up and covering my face. Another 9 hours of motoring the next day got us into Baltimore at about 4 pm. Chris and I buttoned up the boat and Elizabeth picked me up last night. I'm now in Arlington, VA and will be going to Hoboken, NJ for awhile followed by Sarasota with Mom. It should take about 6 weeks to be in full sailing mode again, at which point I'll fly back to Baltimore to continue to the trip south. The adventure isn't over, not by a long shot!
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