Somers Cove, Eastern Shore, before we had a dodger and bimini.

The next few days we hopped down the Atlantic Ocean, inlet to inlet.  Most often the jumps were 30 – 45 miles to find inlets we could get into and anchor.  Caught three fish one day by trailing a “clothesline and some leader.”  We first thought the fish were mackerel, however, on further investigation it appears they were weakfish.  They provided one free meal at any rate.

Traveling the ocean is always interesting.  Each day’s waves, wind, storms, etc., are unique.  Some of the inlets provide little if any shelter and seem to take miles just to get into shallow water for staying overnight.  We’ve anchored in some strange places, next to a buoy (outside the channel, of course!), in the middle of nowhere (just because of the bottom) and when possible next to a Coast Guard station.

Well, we finally made the Chesapeake Bay!  Sometimes we wish we’d taken the C&D Canal, down from the northern end of the Delaware Bay, however, may cruisers say that the Delaware Bay can be a nasty trip without many good anchorages, so we went the long way, down the ocean coast.

Our first anchorage was superb, at Kiptopeke Park, a Virginia state park.  The anchorage is provided at no charge and the shelter is excellent due to 9 Liberty ships sunk for a barrier reef.  Many people fishing but the boaters aren’t like the crazies of Cape May or Ocean City!

The Village of Cape Charles has no anchorage space, so we moved on from there.  The next good anchorage is where we are now, in Crisfield, Maryland.  We spent a couple nights in the excellent marina and then moved into the cove to anchor for a few more days.  Our updated antennas for the chartplotters are available and we should be receiving them on Wednesday, the 20^th of July.  Lowrance updated them in less than a week.

Also on Wednesday we’re going to a huge crab fest, an annual event in Crisfield, which provides all you can eat of crabs, fish, corn on the cob, fries, clams, beer, soda, water, watermelon, etc.  This area is one of the largest in the world as regards crabs.  It’s the major industry, likely even ahead of tourism.  The crabbers are out every day picking up their buoys and traps, then transporting the catch to specialty houses for processing.  The crabbers are civilized (reasonable speeds, quiet boats, less boisterous) not like sport fishermen we’ve seen in other places.   There’s much history to partake, especially for us neophytes.  We’re soaking up the knowledge as we go.  Work hard, play hard.  That’s our motto.  In fact, Kathleen just caught her first crab using chicken skin as bait.  They hang on the outside of a bag (onion bag, whatever) and won’t let go.  This one was too small so we threw it back so it could grow larger before someone else grabs it.

Our next stop may be Deal Island, before we cross over to Solomon’s on the west side of the Bay.  It’s always interesting, planning the stops and estimating the time to make each one.  The wind, waves, weather, etc., all conspire to change the best laid plans.   Being able to handle whatever happens is part of the fun.  Incidentally, the weather here is much different than in the northeast.  Bermuda highs I believe they call it.  Thunderstorms are moving in several simultaneous directions and the weather doesn’t clear once they move through.  You just wait for more.  It’s also extremely hot during the day and cools to 82 overnight!

There was a lot of action last evening here in the cove.  One boat (trawler) was dragging his anchor, moving rapidly across the cove.  We blew a five rapid emergency blast and the people came out and picked up their anchor.  They wound up docking at the marina instead of anchoring.  Apparently another boat had a problem during the thunderstorms, with several people in the water and the Coast Guard brought some of them in.  Others came in on a different boat.  We never did hear all the details.

Here are a few thoughts from Kathleen, since Roland has been doing all the writing to this point:

            You MUST be low maintenance to live this life.  An honest to goodness shower may be days or even weeks apart.  I actually put on some mascara once in the last two months when we went out to dinner.  I almost poked myself in the eye doing it!

            You’d be surprised what you can “bake” in a pressure cooker on top of the stove.  Tonight I made cornbread for supper.  Of course, I don’t use the pressure part of the cooker, but the pan is heavy enough to act as an oven.  I also made biscuits, bread and rolls the same way.  The advantage of this method of baking is that the cabin doesn’t heat up as it would if you had to use the oven.

            I never tire of seeing the egrets, herons, ducks, osprey, various gulls and assorted songbirds.  The pelicans were the best!  Their flight is graceful and soaring even though they look like awkward things when they perch on the pilings.  A few minutes ago there was a turtle swimming past our boat.   Last night I caught a crab, although it was too small to keep.  They love raw chicken, hate raisins!

            I could give away half the clothes I brought and never miss them!  The sweatshirts and jeans are packed away until the fall when we probably will need them here before we head further south.  Of course, it’s been so incredibly hot since the first of June that we are usually in bathing suits or shorts and tees.  Actually, the only time I pulled out a couple of fleece throws was July 4^th.  We were in the cockpit waiting for the fireworks to start at 9:30, and the night air was chilly.  Then the fireworks weren’t even visible through the cloud cover.

            Almost every time I need to get something out, whether it’s to do a project or to cook, I do have to move at least six other things to get what I need.  And it’s true, “a place for everything and everything in its place”.  Otherwise I end up with so much clutter that it takes a full day to straighten up the mess.

            And last, most days we get up with the sun and go to bed with the sun.  No alarm clocks!  Eight to nine hours of sleep a night, and sometimes a siesta in the afternoon!

One in particular deserves special mention due to the extreme wind and storm which hit us at Solomons Island anchorage.  This is a great place to stay for a while but one evening we got hit with winds which were said to have been between 35 and 50-plus knots per hour (we did not have time to check the anemometer!).

There were many boats in the anchorage so most rodes were necessarily short.  We probably had about 120 feet of all chain and our main anchor, which is a 66 pound Bruce.  We actually heeled about 25 degrees in the wind just as if we were sailing.  We tossed another couple anchors overboard to assure that we wouldn't drag as most other boats were doing. 

One trawler drifted rearward and his anchor slid up a sailboats anchor line and the anchor was then thrown off by the sailboat owner.  It was a helpless feeling watching him hanging on his bow rail like a monkey while lifting the other anchor off his.  Later another sailor said, "Heck, anything that lands on my boat is mine!  You should have kept the anchor."  Another sailboat next to us dragged about a quarter mile down the river and was captured by a power boater who threw a couple lines on it and stoped it as it rounded the curve in the river.  Later, Roland went down and towed the sailboat back to the anchorage.  The starving artist owner said something about having engine problems and he never attempted to start the engine, so our dinghy worked for the tow.  He did offer to pay us but we said, "Just pay it forward."

We're now (August 6th) in Annapolis.  We've been here for a few days.  We purchased a new roller furling at Bacon's, and installed it the next day, ourselves.  The largest chore was taking down the old aluminum extrusions which were pop riveted together.  We were fortunate that we had sufficient parts (the old turnbuckle, etc.) that could be re-used to make the front mainstay the correct length (each furling, swivel, etc., are of different length).  The new one is a CDI and very simple design.  We've not yet been out sailing but it seems to function well. 

We spent time touring the Maryland State Capitol building and of course the Naval Academy while here in Annapolis.  We even saw one of Ray Massey's early paintings (and a black and white copy) of the USS Perkins in Battle, in the museum.  He said it wasn't one of his better works but it still is superb and something that most of us wouldn't attempt.  I'm sure that eventually he will have more paintings on display as people donate them to the museum.

Next project is likely to change our refrigeration to a  more modern and efficient compressor.  The one we have only runs on 110 volts and while it works well it consumes huge amounts of electricity.  Maintaining battery power is a constant problem for cruisers as we've met many and all have similar problems.  Some of course, do without refrigeration at all.  We feel that we need cold water if nothing else. 

Baltimore may be our next major stop, with perhaps short hops in between.  At some point soon we will get in touch with Dave Klein and Joanne Kois' friends who live in Pasadena.  We'll see if they want to go out sailing some evening or weekend.

Grocery shoping, laundry, library access, etc., are constant concerns and of course each town is different.  Annapolis is almost impossible to find groceries.  A dinghy ride each way, two buses and three miles later, there's a decent store.  Western New Yorkers are spoiled as far as grocery stores are concerned.  No Wegman's ot Topps out here!  Today we're at the county library for a brief visit.  Hot weather and thundershowers seem to follow us lately.  Last evening the chartplotter turned itself on three times during lightning storms. It appears we need to re-wire it so it's wired into the navigation circuit breaker instead of direct.  The "spurs" (spurious harmonics) seem to be real good at turning it on.

Skipjacks galore, Jerry!  Large flat working boats now used largely for tours as opposed to oyster harvesting.  This area is about number two as regards number of boats, second only to Fort Lauderdale.  By the way, we'll probably be back here in early October for the Boat Show (largest in-water show in the nation).  Have fun all, we are!  No regrets!