Crisfield to Smith River/ St. Mary's/ Olverson's

Wednesday, August 31, Smith Creek

We left this morning, traveling in sunshine and very smooth waters.  The seas were so flat that we could see the small ripples made by the crabs swimming on the surface.  They were everywhere.  We drove right past them as they casually paddled along.  Some were large enough to keep and some were very small.  We are heading to the western shore today as a weather front is coming in soon and we want to cross the Bay in good weather-and Captain Tom picked a perfect day.  Other boaters must have also planned ahead as there were many boats moving on the Bay.  Once again we passed the ghost ship as we headed into the Potomac River and up Smith creek to our chosen anchorage.  Once settled, Tom tossed out his first trot line of chicken thighs, and to his delight he caught his first crab-not large enough to keep but definitely success.  Unfortunately, this was his only success of crabbing for the day.  He will leave his line out overnight and check his luck in the morning.  Should be interesting!  Enjoyed a dingy ride, dinner on the back deck, and the peace and quiet and sounds of nature.  

So calm you could see crabs swimming around neat the surface

The Liberty ship out in the Chesapeake that the armed
forces use for target practice.

Looking for crabs

hunting for crabs crossing the Chesapeake

Smith Creek



Our first crab

If you don't pay attention to how you pull in your
trotline it gets tangled

Thursday, September 1,  St Mary's River

Pulled anchor and had to spray every link on the chain as this was a mud bottom and half of the mud was on the anchor. Tom checked his crab line first thing in the morning to find nothing, no crabs, no meat left and even no bones tied to the line.   Lesson learned- a long soak does not help the catching.  The ride up the St. Mary's River was a short trip, passing the helicopter training sight along the way. Anchored in Horseshoe Bend, a deep, well protected cove close to St. Mary's college dock.  We dinghied into the college dock, walked around the college and even ate lunch at the college cafeteria.  Oh to be a student again.  Tom said he missed his calling, a college that offers sailing classes and sailing coeds.  Relaxed back on the boat while watching the sailing team practice maneuvers. The whistle would blow and the whole fleet would change direction.  Took a nice long ride in the dingy, then enjoyed chatting on deck with John and Pam.  

A sailing class passing our anchored boat

The whole sailing class doing maneuvers
 

Never saw this at the college I attended. Bad choice on
my part

Helping out moving one of the sailing tenders

 

Friday, September 2, Yeocomico River, Olversons Marina

Northeasterly wind as we pulled anchor and headed across the Potomac River. The water provided a following sea which at times was a little rolly.  We pulled into the Yeocomico River, headed south into Lodge Creek and eventually to Olverson's Marina.  Fred and Cass Olverson are members of MTOA and we met them in Ft. Pierce this past April.  We want to be in a marina while the hurricane, mostly the leftover high winds blow through.  This is a homey marina, not fancy, but has everything we need and nice people.  We were met by 5 men as we pulled up to the dock-2 dock hands, Fred, and 2 other boaters- who caught lines and helped us pull in.  One boater, Mike Steele, from Steele Time, even gave us fresh white perch fish filets for dinner.  Happy hour consists of sitting at Liars Corner and talking with Fred and Cass and the gang.  We started talking about crabs and Sandy left and returned with a dozen crabs and proceeded to teach Tom and John how to peel and pick crabs.  (Colletta just watched). Fish fry dinner was served on Greeks Folly and we went to bed waiting for the wind and high water to arrive.  

Attempting to eat steamed crabs

A lot of work for a little meat. Don't share the locals passion'
for crabs

Sunset over the Yeocomico River

High tide with Tropical storm, Hermine covers docks
with water

Water rising

Still high tide and the wind blowing up the river

Saturday, September 3, Olversons Marina 

Tom was up thru the night checking lines, closing windows, and listening to the wind and rain.  We left to do reprovisioning at 10 and were told the high tide was around 2:30 and we should be back before then.  We used the courtesy car and drove around the area to purchase fresh veggies from a local stand, a crab small trap from R and W Sports ( with chicken necks for $9.98), beer, wine and supplies from Food Lion, and lunch at Dairy Freeze. We returned to the marina at 2:05 just as the water was rising.  We quickly unloaded the groceries and boarded the boat as the water continued to rise and cover the dock.  With the water ankle deep on the docks, there is always the concern about electricity dangers around water, so people generally just stay on their boats and monitor the changes from there.  Since we confined ourselves to the boat, Tom napped and Colletta read and by 5pm the water had receded so the docked were again safe to use.  A relaxed dinner and planning session with John and Pam concluded our day's activity.

Sunday, September 4, Olverson's Marina 

Tom's project today was to work on the forward head but not before church.  The Methodist church we were going to attend had the time misprinted so we missed that service and ended up in a Baptist church- including the singing, clapping, and dancing. Once the show was over the minister presented a good message about sharing Gods word and to " hang in there" in the world today with Gods help.  Back at the boat, the project of replacing the head took on a life of its own as seals were cracked, bolts were bad, gaskets were worn and things were leaking.  Tom and John spent the rest of the day traveling to Deltaville, 1 and 1/2 hours one way to buy a new manual head. They were "spent" by the time they returned so the rest of the evening was social time.  

Monday, September 5, Olversons Marina 

The replacement of the head was still the major priority so Tom and John continued to work on it.  After replacing hoses, moving the hand pump and tightening the clamps, it finally works.  They then worked on Johns toilet which also was leaking pressure from the pump.  Both guys had their heads in the toilets most of the day.  Colletta spent most of her time finishing the slide presentation of the summers cruise and it is finally ready to be published.  She has been taking copious notes to produce a second slide show-we will see how that works.  After joining Fred at Liars corner one last time, we cooked a frozen pizza in the clubhouse kitchen and called it a day.