Mike
06/27/2008, St. Michael's, MD

June 25... Oxford MD to St. Michaels MD

We pulled out of Oxford around 8am and motored to St. Michaels via Broad Creek and arrived to find crab line running through our desired anchorage. At this time of year most crabbing is done by laying down a line that is baited about every four feet. Many of these lines are 500 yards long. The watermen then put the line over a roller on the side of their boats and drive slowly while the baited line is lifted from the bottom. Crabs hang on to the bait all the way up so it's a simple matter of netting them as the bait reaches the surface.

We dropped anchor in the middle of the creek until the guy picked up his line and then moved out of the main channel to re-anchor.

After a snack we dinghied to shore and tied up at the public dock where most of the watermen keep their boats. From there it is about four blocks to the downtown area through a very pleasant residential area.

Debbie and Kathy shopped for a while Davey and I stopped at a nice air-conditioned bar for a quick beer.

Our main goal for the afternoon however, was a meal at the Crab Claw where they paper your table and dump on the steamed crabs. So once the ladies found us, we were off for the waterfront.

The meal was excellent.

Before we left town we stopped at Big Al's for some shrimp and the gdrocery for some chicken necks for bait.

Our evenings entertainment was crabbing. Davey and I tied chicken necks to four lines and lowered them to the bottom tying the other end to the life line. Every few minutes someone would slowly pull up the lines and check for crabs. If one of the lines was heavy I brought the net and scooped. We caught three nice ones which were steamed and picked before I went to bed. It was great fun.

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Mike
06/27/2008, Oxford, MD

June 24th...Herrington Harbour to Oxford, MD

Kathy and I were up early and off to the laundry to get a couple of loads washed before we left the dock. It took a few last minute trips back a forth to the car but eventually we were ready to head out. It took all of us to back the boat out of the slip and get it headed the right direction but our plan worked to perfection and we were on way. Once out of the channel and around a shallow point off Deale we hoisted sails and had a nice down wind sail in about 15 knots across the bay.

Our goal for the day was St. Michael's but we ended up changing our minds and sailing to Oxford, leaving St. Michael's for tomorrow. We ran the engine for an hour in the Choptank to charge the batteries, but with that exception sailed the entire route.

We had a nice walk around town in the afternoon and ended up "Schooners" on Town Creek for beers and snacks before heading back to think about pounding conch, which had been in our freezer since Manjack Cay.

In order to serve cracked conch it needs to be pounded to break down the fibers that make it so chewy. I made a dipping sauce, tossed the conch in some flour, salt and paprika before sautéing for a couple of minutes. Kathy make a salad and we cooked some broccoli to round out a really good meal.

The evening was spent going through our mail, listening to music and finally some video before turning in for the night.

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Mike
06/27/2008, Herrington Harbour North Marina

June 23... West River, MD to North Herrington Harbor...Deale, MD

With unsettled weather and thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon we left our anchorage around 7:30 on our way to North Herrington Harbour. The trip was only about 15 miles and turned out to be uneventful. North Herrington is Jim and Nancy's home base and it seemed like a good place to meet Davey and Debbie who were expected in the afternoon. Although the place is huge, we had no difficulty finding and getting into our slip-it might have been because Jim and Nancy were standing on the dock waving.

We had shocked our water tank in the morning so one of the first tasks was to empty the tank and get it refilled. Jim and Nancy gave us the walking tour of the place and then we went to work moving things around, vacuuming, and getting ready for company who arrived around noon. We needed to find a Best Buy to see if our radio could be fixed so Jim led us into Annapolis where we left it. After a couple of stops on the way back. We wasted the rest of the afternoon on the boat before walking down to a restaurant for some dinner.

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