Ducks taking a break on Damn Dink in Chestertown
As I mentioned yesterday, my day started at about 5:00 watching the crabbers going after their catches. I had a chance to talk to the group that included the two children and they told me that they were just crabbing for their own food. They put out 600 feet of rope into which they inserted chicken necks. They then lay the line on the bottom and the crabs come and grab on while they eat. As they come up, the people in the boat drag them off of the neck with fishing nets and flip them into a basket. This group worked the waters around our boat for at least 4 hours. They would go up in one direction, turn around and go back to the starting buoy and then do it all over again. Later as we were traveling down the river, I saw a man and woman, the man driving the boat, the woman netting the crabs. She pulled them off and left them in her net until she was finished with the run. I couldn’t tell how many crabs she had in her net when she was done but it was a significant pile.
Breakfast this morning was the Sausage Gravy and Biscuit special that we have had for the previous 5 mornings. This is the last of the sausage so it will be the last of this delicacy. (I thought I heard an amen and a thank you Jesus from across the table when I announced the ending.) Tomorrow we will start on the bacon and eggs with blob muffins.
Custsoms House in Chestertown - Early 1700s
Dingy Dock in Chestertown
After breakfast, we tidied up the boat and I took Damn Dink to the Chestertown Marina to top-off fuel in my portable tank. The main tank now sits under the floor of the cockpit and I can’t see the gauge or in the filler cap to determine how much fuel I have left so I filled up my 4 gallon portable tank and will allow the main 12 gallon tank to run dry before I refill it. I can go a long ways on 4 gallons. I am afraid that if I try to top off the big tank not knowing how much is in it, there is a possibility that I would run it over and I don’t want gasoline in the bilge of the boat. I also picked up a couple of blocks of ice and used their wifi to post yesterday’s blog.
Back at the boat, we got underway at about 11:00. We basically motored all of the way back to Corsica River where we had stayed the night before last. The river is actually narrow during most of the way between the Corsica and Chestertown and the wind was blowing in our face so motoring was the best option. The breeze was cool although the temperature was climbing towards another scorcher. Being Sunday, there were a lot of boats on the water, both crabbers and pleasure boaters. The water was constantly churning because of their wakes. Just past the mouth of the Corsica River, we swung around a point and entered the East Fork of Langford Creek. The creek flows south and we had a nice southwesterly breeze so we put up the sails and sailed about 6 or 8 miles upstream to Phillips Creek which bears on to the east. This is a very secluded anchorage with only one other boat and she was located in the mouth of the cove. We traveled about ½ mile back into the cove unto we reached water that was about 6 feet deep. Usually we start the motor and drop the sails well in advance of dropping the anchor, however, I decided that since there were no other boaters in the area, I would douse the jib, head into the wind, and drop the main sail. As the boat was stopping I walked forward and dropped the anchor. The wind blew us backwards and the anchor held so we were set for the night.
We pulled in to the cove at about 3:00 so timing was exactly right for a nap! It was really hot so sleeping wasn’t the easiest; however, I made it work. Janine picked up a new book at the marina in Rock Hall so she spent the remainder of the afternoon reading. Several years ago, I purchased a gadget called a Wind Scoop that you hang from the mast. It is sort of a wind collect sack that you place over a hatch and it directs wind down into the cabin of the boat. I have never used it but decided to try it out today. I hung it and attached it to our forward hatch and it worked really well. It even cooled the sleep berth which is usually a hot tomb. There is no mosquito netting over the hatch so we can’t use it at night but it is great for the day time.
I realize this is not Merlot and Steak but a typical meal on the deck!
Our evening meal began with Tillamook cheese and crackers with a glass of good Merlot on the aft deck, followed by a couple of grilled fine strip steaks that Tim Cotterman’s meat guys marinated and vacuumed packed prior to freezing them hard. They were absolutely super. Janine fried some hash brown potatoes and we rounded out this delightful meal with blob carrot cake slathered with cream cheese icing.
After cleaning up the dinner dishes, we put on our bathing suits, climbed into Damn Dink and went for a spin around the wonderful cove in which we are anchored. We were looking for a sandy beach where we could cool off, wash off and generally get refreshed. The tide was in so the beach areas were all covered with water. Our little trolling motor on the Dink makes virtually no noise so as we were rounding a small point moving into a smaller little cove, a huge bird flew from above us followed by two more. The three bald eagles, a juvenile and two adults squawked as they flew across the main cove and landed in trees on the other side. They sat and watched us explore the remainder of the cove.
I had noticed a sandy looking area not far from where we had dropped anchor and we decided to try stepping off the dinghy there even though all we could see was sea grass. We were rewarded with a really nice sandy area. The water was just perfect and most cleansing and refreshing. We probably lollied around in the water for a good half hour before returning back to the boat.
Back at the boat, we received a text/call from Stuart Harshberger, a fellow Balboa 26 owner who lives in the Baltimore area and has been following these blog postings. We talked of our upcoming travels into Baltimore and also set up a luncheon get together tomorrow in the town of Queenstown. I look forward to meeting another sailor with a similar boat. We do have much to talk about.
We had a bit more blob carrot cake before crawling into bed at about 10:00.
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