We took a ride down to Penns Landing today. It was our first time seeing the city from the river and the views were fantastic!
We decided to spend the night and contacted the Phila. Marine Center, by phone, on the way down to reserve a slip. The woman who works there is very nice and helpful (I believe her name is Barb) and she instructed us as to where our slip would be.
I was concerned about entering the marina from the river, because of the current, but it was really no problem at all. Getting into my slip was a different matter. She had us docking near the entrance and there was really plenty of room to maneuver the boat, I just miss-judged the effect of the slight current in the marina and the wind. As I was attempting to turn my boat around, to back into the slip, I got too close to the already docked boats. The wind was pushing me and I underestimated how much room I would need to turn. As I was passing, I clipped the anchor of one of the docked boats. It was the type of anchor that hangs off the front pulpit, as opposed to inside the pulpit, and it brushed up against the side of our boat. I barely noticed it. Until we got off the boat and noticed that the letter “C” was missing from the “Carver” logo on our starboard side.
I felt terrible. It was my first real mistake, and to make matters worse, I dropped my Armani glasses into the water as I was tying up. I was now depressed and the world was blurry. Trying to cheer me up, Lyn pointed out that we were now pirates. Because of the missing “C” our boat was now and “AAARRRVER!” Made me smile.
The Phila Marine Center is only a few blocks from Olde City Philadelphia, one of our favorite places in the city, so we spent the night bar hopping. Soon, I forgot all about my missing “C” and glasses.
Spending the night at this marina was a little different than at our home base in Neshaminy. Although there was really not much of a current in the marina, the swells from passing ships pushed the boat around a lot more than we were used to. Not so bad that it could cause any damage, but enough to make us throw on a couple extra fenders.
It was low tide when we woke up the next day and we were amazed to see that a large part of the marina was no longer covered in water. You could actually walk across parts, and there was a dry spot not far from our bow. We decided it was best to wait for the tide to come in, which gave us another excuse to visit Olde City for lunch!
This was the second marina in Center City Phila that we found had dredging issues. The other being Piers Marina.
The trip home went perfectly and we were very happy to have had our first real over-nighter in the boat. We also learned a couple of things on this trip; never underestimate the wind, and never visit Phila Marine Center at low tide.
