Cheryl's Notes:

We discussed plans with Wes and Deann, and we both agreed that we wanted to visit Tangier Island. It is a small island on the Eastern shore of the Chesapeake. It is not connected to the mainland by any roads. The only way to visit is by boat. There are no safe anchorages because of current, so we will spend our first night in 16 days in a marina. We arrived at Park's Marina about 1:00 pm amidst all of the watermen returning from their day of crabbing. What a cluster. The "buy boat" was docked at the main marina dock, and the watermen were waiting in line to sell their crab. They are paid by the bushel based on the going daily rate. We were told that the rate is based on what the restaurants in New York are willing to pay. Liberty was docked around the corner from the end cap, and we were directed to a slip. Easier said than done, when four crab boats are jostling for position to raft with the buy boat. I pass this one to John, but we did get into the slip safely.

We were welcomed to Tangier Island by Milton "Daddy" Parks, the owner of the marina. He is 77 and quite the character. He calls everyone "Love" or "Lover" and is a descendent of one of the original inhabitants. He promptly loaded us into his golf cart for a tour of the island. We counted only six actual vehicles on the island. Everyone drives golf carts or scooters. The island is made up of three sections which they call ridges and they are connected by bridges. Most of the island is marshland, and the island is slowly eroding away. There are 600 residents that live on the island, and the community has a small market, a K-12 school, a health center and several restaurants and gift shops. Three tour boats arrive everyday from different ports. The tourists and crabbing are their main sources of income.

After both couples had enjoyed our tours with Milton, we proceeded to stuff ourselves with crab cakes at one of the local restaurants. Later we walked back into town to get an ice cream cone. We retired for the night to rest up. Saturday we loaded up with cameras and went on a walking tour of the island. It really was like walking back in time. We have zero cell phone service here, so I made credit card calls to home from the one and only pay phone on the island. As you would guess, everyone in town knows everyone else, and they are all related to each other from about six bloodlines. The common names are Crockett, Parks, Pruitt. Charnock, Dise and Clark. Milton told us that if you marry a local, they are probably your distant cousin. The island is also overrun with cats. They run wild everywhere. Milton told us that he has between 35-40 that hang around us house, mostly because he feeds them. We took about a hundred pictures. We will post as many of them as we can.

John's Notes:

In a couple of days, we will celebrate our first official year of living aboard. For all of that, Tangier Island has been the highlight of all the stops we have made. Coming from a family of professional mariners, my father would have loved this place. If you have read "Chesapeake" you know that these guys are called "watermen." Their seamanship skills are beyond belief. The crab boats run in the 40-45' range, low freeboard, and diesel powered. The way they can handle those boats in wind and current is a thing of beauty. That is unless they are screwing with the tourists, like us. When we arrived it was the end of the crabbing day. At least 11 boats are jockeying for position to pull along side of the "buy boat." We are in the middle of all of this and they force us to one side of the narrow channel. Obviously, we are now aground. Only took a couple of minutes to back off but later my new best friend, Milton, told me that they were just having a little fun at our expense. We are really getting good at handling adversity. Surprisingly, I'm handling all of this pretty well. This grounding was only mild inconvenience compared to freeing ourselves from a navigational buoy. Neither of us or the boat has incurred any damage. So far so good.