Day 12 Carrie toots her own horn, part 2

Well, folks, she did it again!

Fortunately, the biting flies were left behind as we moved toward Delaware City.  Still super hot, but without the bugs.  Because of this oppressive heat, the boat was quiet.  Talking was too much energy and no one had the desire to hold a conversation anyway.  We silently motored through it, holding wet towels to our necks and standing 5 inches from the fans.  

On our way into the inlet for Delaware city we had a few faster boats motor in front of us. One of these was a Nauticat motorsailer with a large diesel engine.  In contrast, our little lady has one fixed 40 horse power engine.  All steering is done by two rudders and a little swearing by the captain.

We were creeping along the inlet when we saw a large dredge.  The guy on the dredge was wildly waving the Nauticat directly in front of us toward his starboard side to go around.  The captain cut it too late and was going aground so he slammed it into reverse.  Puffs of black smoke flew in the air as he attempted to undo his error.  We also slammed it in reverse but with a 40 horse power engine and a 3 ton vessel that Nauticat was like an elephant backing up into a snail.

John started yelling to Carrie to grab the horn.  Carrie leapt into the cabin frantically looking for it. Michael’s arm jetted out from his workspace pointing her the right direction. Even though I was yelling on the bow the captain couldn’t hear me over his engine.  The moment was tense when Carrie finally reached the horn after climbing over the dining table.  With the horn finally in her grasp she pointed it towards the open roof hatch and blasted that sucker loud and long! There was an abrupt silence in the air for a moment after that.  Maybe it was out of respect for Michael’s eardrums or maybe it was the shock of that deafening sound. Either way, the captain of the Nauticat hit the brakes faster than John & Michael driving past an ice cream parlor and thankfully, Irish Eyes will live to sail another day.

As soon as we tied into the docks we left Irish Eyes for an air conditioned restaurant. We had to use sign language for Carrie and Michael with their busted eardrums, so ordering took time. This was not a problem since we wanted to extend our stay in the cool A/C. 

The captain of the Nauticat stopped by our table to tell us that he was headed to New London, CT and noticed it was our boat’s home base.  It turned out he was headed for the same Marina we had just left.  We told him about the lovely beach, the park, and the great restaurants and then we warned him about the crazy lady who likes to toot her foghorn in the early morning.

Delaware Bay to Delaware City

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