Greek's Folly on the Great Loop: Kent Narrows to Wye River / Shaw Bay and Shipton Creek

Friday August 19

Slow departure for today, waiting for current to slow and a bridge opening. All of that was suspended when we heard the marina had assigned our slip to another boat. A dock hand appeared, he helped us leave and we were off. We headed thru the Narrows and had a peaceful ride to the Wye River. This River has been recommended by many people as being peaceful and beautiful and a very relaxing place to stay. We anchored in Shaw Bay and observed the sea nettles had returned. Much to Toms disappointment, there would be no swimming today. A boat raced toward us while on anchor and we were concern. Much to our surprise, it was a free pumpout boat, checking to see if we needed his services. He was a nice young college kid who was just checking on us. We headed to Short Vacation for cocktail hour then a relaxing evening aboard Greeks Folly.

Saturday, August 20

The Wye River is a favorite place for crabbers. Tom watch a father and his 2 daughters as they set their trot line and began crabbing. His curiosity got the best of him, so this "shy" captain got in his dingy to acquire some first hand knowledge. The crabs are big up here, almost all of them are keepers- 5 and 1/4 inches. Their trot line was 600 ft, which can be purchased at the local hardware store. The local marina sells chicken necks, if you can't get them at Food Lion. The family crabbed for about 5 hours before the daughters went to a beach for a quick dip. Tom noticed the generator did not have enough water coming out the exhaust. He shut it down and checked the water intake which he found plugged with sea nettles. After clearing it with a water hose in the bilge, we moved up the river. We hoped the water moving by the hull would dislodge additional nettles and they would be less numerous if Tom had to go in the water. Once anchored again, Tom started the generator and all is well. It is nice when things work out! Time to go exploring. The four of us zoomed around in John and Pams dingy. We explored the branches of the river, finding new friends, the state park landing, and a wedding celebration on the rivers edge. A delicious shrimp scampi dinner was prepared by the best chef in the area and we enjoyed the moon rising and the starlight sky. Ahhh- Life is good!!!

A father and his two daughters, crabbing

Sunday, August 21

Awoke this morning to a nice breeze. Tom spent much of his morning watching crab fisherman. He is enthralled with their activity. Some watermen use a trot line which has chicken necks tired to a 600-1200 ft line. The lines have an anchor and a float at each end. The necks lay at the bottom of the river, the crabs grab the necks, as the lines are raised to the surface, the waterman scoops up the crab, tosses him in a basket as the line with the chicken necks fall back to the bottom for the next catch. This method works very well as long as the crab are moving. The Wye River is one of the best places to crab, especially in late summer. After a refreshing shower, the sun came out and the boys went again for a dingy ride. Being on anchor allows for relaxing days. It gives us time to update the blog, fix little maintenance problems on the boat, reading time, napping time as well as enjoying the eagles soaring and the noises of nature. Al and Jane in In Speyered 2 came to join us at anchor.