TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

5-28-08

I’ll try and get this latest update posted tonight as we’re planning on anchoring out for the next couple of days and you never can tell whether we’ll have cell phone reception or not.  We’ve been here in Crisfield, the crab capital of the world, for the past two days, with plans to leave tomorrow for Solomon’s Island.  The weather report is for 5-10 knots from the SW, which should be good for us, but you never can tell.  We’ve certainly learned that from experience! 

We’ve walked the length and breadth of Crisfield, and the people here are really nice and more into country music than any other port south of here.  We’ve also met nice people at the marina.  The sailboat Gaulois that we helped dock was captained by a retired Navy Admiral named Hal and his crew was his friend Brad who has a delivery crew business and does oceanic passages.  I guess we didn’t need to worry about them getting their boat docked after all, though they seemed very grateful for the assistance.  Hal came over yesterday afternoon and gave us some information about our proposed trip to Solomon’s.  When he told us that he was a retired Admiral and that he piloted ships, I asked him what kind.  He said, “Big ships – destroyers and submarines.”  We were impressed!  We also met two couples from Oriental, NC.  One of the men is a retired Master Chief, which is the highest enlisted rank in the navy.  Everyone is so eager to share information, and we have definitely learned about interesting places to anchor, and interesting life stories from fellow sailors.  It seems the sea is a great equalizer and a great melting pot of people with widely varied backgrounds that are all drawn to the romance of the sea. 

The marina where we’re staying is first rate.  Somer’s Cove Marina is huge, but the transient docks are a good ways away from the “regulars.”  There is a swimming pool, two sets of showers (I’ve found one that is not “fire hose” quality), nice, clean restrooms, Laundromat, and the friendliest staff you could ask for.  I highly recommend it to anyone considering cruising the Chesapeake. 

On our walking tour yesterday, we were saddened by the downtown of Crisfield.  Most of the stores are closed or closing.  The restaurants serve great food, but there are few patrons.  We understand that the city is in transition from the commercial crabbing industry to the condominium, resort community.  There is still a 24-hour business where crabs are picked, and several local soft-shell crab businesses, where crabs are in holding tubs with sea water flowing through them, watched continuously for the molting process to occur, because once the shell is discarded and before the new one has hardened, the soft-shell crab will be devoured by the other crabs if not removed immediately.  We saw what has to be the largest supplier of crab traps in the world on Main Street.  Colorful traps in red, blue and yellow are in tall stacks along with rolls of crab trap wire.  I think the life of the waterman is a tough life, so we will try not to think so unkindly of all the floats that litter our intended course.  Joe, the Master Chief, recommended a book called The Beautiful Swimmers that we purchased at the local museum.  It turns out it was a Pulitzer Prize winner and I look forward to reading it.

Yesterday, four small sailing vessels arrived at our dock.  We learned later that these were “Wayfarer” boats, and there is a whole cadre of Wayfarer enthusiasts who sail them.  These hardy souls were going to sail to Tangiers Island the next day, and several of them were going to sleep on their boats that night.  These boats are about 15 feet in length, and I think only one of them had an outboard motor.  They were a jolly crew and not at all daunted by the fact that 15-20 knot north winds were predicted for the next day.  We woke to cloudy skies and drizzle and were glad to see the Wayfarers put off their departure until later in the morning.  However, depart they did, in spite of the weather, and we gave them our card with our e-mail address and made them promise to let us know that they had arrived safely when they returned.

We decided to take the ferry to Smith Island, the only inhabited island in Maryland that is reached only by water.  En route, we could see the tiny sails of the Wayfarers in the middle of Tangiers Sound and wished them well.  As we approached the dock, there was a sign that said something to the effect of “Help protect our way of life and don’t support the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.”  We learned later that the Foundation decided that too many female crabs were being harvested and had convinced the state legislature to prohibit harvesting female crabs, period.  So, now it is illegal to keep female crabs, and it has negatively affected all the watermen in the Bay, but especially so on Smith Island where crabbing is the principal occupation.  There was not much to Smith Island, though we saw some interesting and unusual things.  We ended up waiting for the ferry by rocking in the rocking chairs on the porch at the museum.  Oh, we did meet one local who had moved there about 3 years ago.  He was formerly from Nashville and was involved in the sale of the publishing rights to the song “Wooly Bully,” which I’m sure most of you have heard.  He said he still owns the rights to the cartoon of Wooly Bully, but he hadn’t done anything with it.  I don’t know anything about the cartoon, but obviously the sale of the rights to the song enabled him to retire to Smith Island.

After we boarded the ferry, the crewman let loose the dock line before the captain, who was chatting with Bill, told him to, and the ferry plowed into the boat Captain Jason before the captain could dash up to the steering station.  Fortunately, only the stern rail of the boat was crumpled in, but, boy, was the ferry captain mad!  He also whacked his head in his haste to get to the controls, which made him even madder.  He had some choice words for the crewman, and I’m sure even more choice words after we arrived back at Crisfield and all the passengers had departed. 

We had filled up on a big breakfast and crab cake sandwiches and Smith Island Cake at the island, so we opted for a bowl of soup for dinner, and after I finish this blog and upload some pictures, we’ll make it an early evening.  Then, we’ll be off tomorrow for more adventures – heading for the area where we had our first cruising experience years ago on the Chesapeake.