When sailing in the Chesapeake there is always a constant threat of entanglement in a crab trap or a fish trap. It is imperative to have a good bow watch, or be a subscriber to the random walk theory of sailing through hazards. I believe that we have just been very lucky not to be dragging one of the colorful floats and a box full of blue crabs.
Last week we sailed east out of the South River, across the bay, to the colonial town of St. Michael's. The winds were dependable out of the north east as a cold front had passed the day before. We had our good travel companions aboard, Kathleen & David Crist. Together we have been as far south as the Bofadora in Baha, and as far east as Rome.
Once we cleared the crab pots we set a course slightly south of east for to round Tiligman point and enter the famous Miles River on the Eastern Shore. It was a clear and crisp Saturday morning, and everyone who could was flying their sails on the bay. We passed several monohulls maintaining a good seven plus knots, allowing us to arrive in the St. Michaels bight just before 1500. The estates and vacation homes on the Miles were so brightly white and stood out in contrast to the reds and yellows of the fall foliage bouquets.
We arrived in time to spend a good hour at the Maritime Museum of the Chesapeake. The exhibits depicting the bay's heritage of watermen is made so real by the actual boats and tools along with recorded dialogue from the watermen themselves. The wooden boats, hand made for centuries along the Eastern Shore have been lovingly preserved in a perfect setting. Even all the original numbers of the sailboats of my youth are preserved: Hulls number one of the Penguin and Star just to name two. I was lucky enough to sail a few of these fabled craft in the wood before the sixties turned everything to plastic.
St. Michael's claim to fame comes from the War of 1812. It seems the British were bent on leveling the ship yard and the village one evening. The locals took advantage of the Brit's local knowledge that each building and home would have lights in the windows. Instead of lights in the windows, the ex-colonists placed their lanterns high in the local trees, thus causing the not to bright British gunners to shoot high and do no damage! At least thats their story, and they stick to it to this day.
We had the usual fabulous Eastern Shore dinner and dinghied back to ZT on a perfectly clear and cool fall evening. Just to knock the edge off we cranked up the generator and fired up the heater for a few minutes. Then, we settled in with Port and Kay's chocolate chip cookies to watch the eight and final episode of Hornblower!
Sunday we got to see many of the Chesapeake's weather patterns as the wind clocked around to the south east. We went from rain and blowy to soft and warm by the time we re-entered the Liberty Marina, under the Route 2 Bridge on the South River.
We topped off the weekend with a visit to McGarvey's Tavern on the Annapolis waterfront. Their mussels are the best around, and on Thursday you don?? t want to pass up their gumbo!
Back to Austin the next day for a busy week of the fall social season topped off by the Jewel Ball put on by the Austin Women's Symphony League. Deep in the heart of Texas!