It was still dark when we arrived at the entrance to the Cape May Inlet. There was a commercial fishing boat waiting outside the inlet, and we slowed and waited to to see how the seas were breaking on the Inlet. That would give us some idea of how conditions might be if we rounded Cape May Point.
Another fishing boat arrived, and we listened to their radio conversation. The first boat had a steering problem, and the skipper asked the captain of the second boat for some advice.
Meanwhile, dawn was breaking and I was edging Robin slowly toward the point.
There appeared to be a couple of safe routes between the Inlet and the point. The one closer to shore seemed quite narrow when viewed on the chartplotter, and quite shallow. So I chose the one that started a bit farther from the beach and zig-zagged in toward the point.
There was no sunrise on this morning, the sky overcast as we edged closer to the surf line. At about 6:30, we were travelling parallel to the sand in about 15 feet of water, with no problems, when we reached the outer end of the point. If there had been bathers on the beach, we would have needed a bullhorn to talk with them, because it was a few hundred feet away.
I punched in a waypoint well up the Delaware Bay and we turned Robin toward that goal, some wind coming now from the south, and we motorsailed north.
I decided that I'd never go through the Cape May Canal again if the seas were calm. The experience had been bland and without problems.
We motor-sailed up the bay, running with the current until we were past Ship John Light.

A catamaran that had apparently come through the canal slanted toward us from starboard, slipped across our transom and finally edged ahead of us when we neared the Salem Nuclear plant. The boat entered the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal just ahead of us and it was tied to the town dock in Chesapeake City when we arrived. For the first time in our collected experience, John and I were able to moor at that dock behind the catamaran.
The crummy weather that had threatened us all day coming up the bay cleared to the north, and Engineers' Cove was lit at dinner time with billowing cumulus catching the late afternoon sunlight.

We showered, dined, and after a good night's sleep, we motored and sailed down the Chesapeake Bay to Robin's slip in Cambridge on the Choptank River, arriving in daylight, restored from a fine nine days on board.