Horseshoe Crabs !!

So, let me see if I can get all this technical jargon correct.  Our son’s college friend Joe (whom we had the pleasure of meeting earlier this week, along with his wife & dynamite daughter) is an authority on several migratory shore birds.  We could have called him an “expert”, but you have to live at least 50 miles out of town to be brought in as an “expert”.

I guess we could go ahead and call him an expert on the following birds:  Red Knot, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Semi-palmated Sandpiper (as real “snore” of a name), and the Willet.  Some of these birds migrate from Brazil & South America up to the Artic to breed (I could make a joke about traveling this huge distance to breed, but I won’t).  The point in all this is that all these birds stop along the shore of the Delaware Bay to feed, and many of them land along the restored beaches just north of Cape May.

“So, what do these birds eat around here to give them the energy to migrate so far”, you ask!  Why, they eat the eggs of the horseshoe crabs, which are spawning on the sand beaches this time of year.  So Joe goes to the beaches to count not only the birds, but also the horseshoe crabs.  And yesterday, he dragged along two city slickers who were astounded at what they saw!

 

 

Joe showing what's under the shell

We find that the horseshoe crab has been living in the Delaware Bay area in higher concentrations than in anywhere else in the world.  And the blood of a horseshoe crab has some special foo-foo dust (lysate) that is used around the world to test for bacterial contamination.  So the population of horseshoe crabs is monitored for several important reasons.

This crab had been trying to right itself & made a
pattern in the sand.  Yes, we put him back in the water

At the shore, we saw thousands and thousands of crabs along the beach.  Joe showed us how to tell a male from a female (that’s important if you’re a crab), how the female burrows into the sand to lay her eggs, and what an egg cluster looks like.  He explained how the crabs come to the beaches mostly at high tide, and we saw how sensitive the crabs were to the breaking waves of the surf (it’s been very windy & rough for a week around here, which is why we’re still in Cape May).  When the crabs get turned upside down by the surf, they try to right themselves by pivoting their rear joint & tail, which doesn’t work very often.  Sue & I spent most of our time righting the stranded crabs & placing them back into the water.

 

This crab is trying to right itself by pivoting its tail

These are the eggs which the birds are looking for

An egg cluster found on top of the sand

Let’s just say that we had a fantastic time, seeing and learning things we had never seen nor knew before.  It was much better than going to the tourist attractions around town.  And I’d think that most other transient boaters who pass through Cape May, can’t claim that they played with horseshoe crabs!

the female is buried into the sand to lay the eggs. 
She is surrounded by 5 males that have grabbed onto her

Some crabs won't make it back into the water.  The gulls
will eat the eggs or the stranded crabs.

A budding biologist!!

 

Cape May, New Jersey

This sailboat either wasn't watching his charts, or
dragged anchor at night.  Either way, he isn't
having a very good day, since he's at high tide now
& still can't get off!

Back at Delaware City Marina, the owner gives a nightly weather briefing (using NOAA’s Delaware Bay Operational Forecast System) to forecast the winds and seas on the Delaware Bay the next day.  The weather guessers all said that the next day is a no-brainer to make the 60+ mile trip down to Cape May.  So we departed at 0600 (do you realize how early you have to get up to depart at 0600?!?) in order to catch the ebb tide and a 2+ mph tail current. 

Good thing we looked in our rear view mirror!

All the guessers were right for the first 2/3 of the trip, but the winds stiffened to 10-15 knots as we got into the tide shift.  Being in an area where the winds oppose the tidal flow is never a good thing, but we were fortunate that the seas didn’t build as much as they could have.  It was a sloppy ride in the confused seas, with no real wave pattern.   Good thing that we have a nice big ya-chut.

 

 

Lots of commercial traffic on the Delaware Bay.
Lots of tankers moving crude oil.

Hey James, recognize this ferry?  Goes from Cape May
across the mouth of Delaware Bay to Lewes DE

 

Well, May 30 used to be called "Decoration Day"

We made our marina & took on over 150 gallons of diesel (and quickly spent this month’s Social Security check).  Because it is Memorial Day weekend, we decided to decorate the boat.  I’ve been accused of being a “flag-waver”, but since both Sue & I have military experience, I’ll have to plead “guilty” to that charge.

 

 

 

 

The following day we took a tour of the historic section of Cape May & saw the gaudy opulence of the Victorian gingerbread houses.  In the late 1800’s, all them rich-folk from New York & Philadelphia built their “summer cottage” in Cape May to enjoy the cool sea breezes, and to let everyone else know how rich they were.

 

 

 

 

Esther, Lucy & Joe

We also met up with a college friend of our eldest son, since the two of them have remained in contact through the years (and have taken some “memorable” worldly adventures together).  Joe, his wife Esther, and his daughter Lucy, led us to a wonderful local restaurant, and we really enjoyed their company.  Joe is a wildlife conservationist specializing in migratory birds, so he had some interesting stories to tell about the local wildlife.

 

As for cruising, the ICW between Cape May & Atlantic City has some pretty bad shoaling (to the tune of only 3’ deep at low tide), so we had planned to go offshore.  But King Neptune seems to have plans of his own, by keeping the winds at 20-25 mph & the seas 4-6’ for the next couple days.  So we don’t know how long we’ll be in Cape May.  I guess we’ll just continue to act like tourists & spread some of those Yankee greenbacks around town.

From Chesapeake Bay to Delaware Bay

Carol, here's an osprey nest you haven't
photographed yet!!  Both mommy & daddy are home!

We spent 3 nights in Rock Hall MD (because if you paid for 2 nights, you got the 3^rd night free) and ended up doing mostly chores around the boat.  Still trying to work down the list from the boatyard.  We didn’t really get out into the town like we did last year.

A Coast Guard buoy tender doing what he does best:
tend buoys !!

It looked like we had a good 2 day weather window to make the trip up the Chesapeake to its end (or its beginning, depending on which way you’re looking), across the C & D Canal (which links the Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware Bay, DUH) and then down the Delaware to Cape May NJ.  But as you know, the weather guessers are one of the few professions where you can be wrong 50% of the time & still have a job.

We departed Rock Hall on Thursday and ran in the cold 52 degrees rain all day.  But we had two good things on our side.  1) The winds and seas were quite calm, and 2) We caught a flood tide (with a tail current as much as 2.5 mph) all the way up the Bay and across the C & D Canal.  It quickened our planned arrival time by more than an hour.  I’ve learned that in this neck of the woods, the tidal current can be your real friend or your worse enemy.

In Delaware City, this is what low tide looks like.
The flat boat on the left is sitting on the mud.

The tides on Delaware Bay were not in our favor, so we diverted north 3 miles to a small marina in the small town of Delaware City DE.  On Friday, the winds on the Delaware Bay were causing 3-5’ waves, so we used our superior executive judgement skills, which we had honed over many many years of real-life working experience, to decide that you’d have to be an idiot to go out in the Bay today!  So we took a stroll into the quaint small town to discover its history, and we’re very glad we did!

As we’re looking at the old lock in town, we strike up a conversation with a nice lady who obviously knows quite a lot of history about this area.  We soon learn that Pat has lived in the area all her life, she used to be an American history teacher and loves the history of this area, and her father originally built the marina we’re staying in!  On top of that, we found that she must be the nicest & friendliest lady in town, as she invites us to ride with her to one of the historic forts across the canal.  And then, she takes us on a 5 hour tour of several nearby historic towns & becomes our personal tour guide.  Both Sue & I were amazed at her generosity and willingness to treat some visiting boaters like royalty.  Thank you, Pat, thank you.

The weather guesser promised us that the winds on the Bay will settle down tomorrow, so we’re getting ready to get underway to New Jersey tomorrow.

B-O-A-T (Break Out Another Thousand)

Crossing the Bay, we see these boats using nets to
catch menhaden (or "pogey" fish to you New Orleans folks)

So, we spent 1-1/2 days with the MARINE service tech aboard (the price doubles any time you hire a MARINE serviceman) and spent another “Boat Unit” of money (a.k.a. $1000), on top of the many many boat units which we spent just 2 weeks ago in the boatyard, but our aft head works even better than when we bought the boat.  That keeps Momma happy, and when Momma is happy, everyone is happy. 



 

 

This is why we come to Crisfield!!

We waited one extra day to let the winds & 4’ seas die down on the Chesapeake Bay, & then departed Deltaville VA on Thursday May 14, heading east across the Bay.  The seas were still 2-3’ with 15-20 mph winds, so there were whitecaps everywhere.  We gave the decks a good wash of sea spray.  Our destination was Crisfield MD, where we had spent 2 weeks last year & really enjoyed ourselves, stuffing ourselves with crab after crab.

Upon arrival, we gave the boat a fresh water washdown & then proceeded to feast on crab cakes & Smith Island cake for dessert (you’ll have to see our blog from last year to learn about Smith Island cakes).  And then the next morning, we had a crab omelet for breakfast.  Ahhh…life just don’t get no betta! 

 

Crisfield obviously has a major parking problem!!

 

 

Crisfield's past glory

We also wanted to buy some fresh crab meat from the hard crab picking house, but we were too early in the season for local crabs.  The watermen were going south to Cape Charles to catch the hard crabs, but they were catching peelers locally to put in the pens for soft shell crabs.  (You need to have read the book “Beautiful Swimmers” to know all about the life & movements of the crabs).

The second night we went to the new brew house in town, which we had read about on a boater’s website.  The Admiral has made a point of finding all the craft breweries along our route, starting in St Augustine FL.  Had some good food & drink as we “chatted up” the owners.  At the end of the night, we bought some lump crab meat from their kitchen for $18/lb!!  Try getting that price at any of your local markets!

Near our anchorage, this little tug boat at right
must be saying "I think I can, I think I can"

After 2 days of constant 15-20 mph winds, we finally departed Crisfield on Sunday May 17, and ran a long day to make almost 80 miles to a beautiful anchorage off the Choptank River.  Again, we had been in this area last year & loved it.  Even though the weather forecast was 40% chance of rain & thunderstorms, we decided to go anyway.  It was a good decision since the weather turned out beautiful, so calm that we let “Otto the Pilot” guide the boat most of the day.

While at anchor that night, we tried to figure out the tides & currents for later in the week, when we will head through the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, and then down the Delaware Bay to New Jersey.  The currents can run up to 3 knots, so we want them behind us as we crawl along at 9 knots.  And since the times change every day, we need to pick a day of good weather in conjunction with favorable tidal currents to make the transit.  As we’ve traveled up & down the coast, I’m surprised at how much planning it takes, with the navigation charts, weather forecasts, tides & currents forecast, etc, etc.

As we left our anchorage Monday morning and re-entered the Bay, the winds were dead calm & the seas totally flat.  We used that opportunity to “swing” our new magnetic compass to calibrate it to the boat.  For 45 minutes, we kept going in circles, and I’m sure the boats nearby were wondering who the crazy folks were on the yacht.

In the Chesapeake Bay ship channel,
these guys run 25 mph

 

The Navy came to save us!  The twin radio towers in the
background are landmarks just outside Annapolis MD

Monday afternoon we made our marina in Rock Hall MD (due east of Baltimore) for a couple days & to pick up our repair part for our shore power cord.  Since we started cruising just 2 weeks ago (it seems much longer than that), we’ve traveled over 550 miles.  Guess what?  We again had been here last year & really liked it.  And guess what we’re going to do here?  Wait for it……….  Eat crabs, of course!!!

Hey Carol!  I know you needed just ONE more picture of
an osprey nest !!

Underway for 2015

But Mr.Cargo Ship, the best fishing is right here
in the middle of the channel !!!

The boat was only 3 days out of the boatyard and we were still working our long list of things to do to prepare for departure, when a huge beautiful high pressure system created a perfect weather window for cruising.  So on Monday May 4 we cast off the lines from Southport NC & pointed the bow north.

Boy, this salt air sure makes a person tired!

Because the yard period took longer than expected (don’t they always?) we wanted to make up some time & push hard to get to Norfolk.  This meant that the first day, instead of staying in the protected waters of the ICW (and have to time our passage for mid-tide or better through all the shoaling areas), we would go “outside” in the ocean.  It was a good decision since we traveled over 100 miles that day, which would have normally taken us 2 days to travel. 

The seas were pretty calm, with no wind and no wind waves, but we had an irregular sea swell on the beam.  It became a long bouncy trip for our first day, and since we both hadn’t found our sea legs yet, when we went below into the cabin we became queasy.  The nice part was having the water so clear that we could see the dolphins approaching the boat to jump in our wake.

At the marina that night, as we went to bed early, we both heard an unusual dull crackling noise, similar to hot metal which was cooling & contracting, and it came from all along the hull.  After lying awake for an hour trying to figure it out, Sue realized that we had “snapping shrimp” along the bottom of the boat, an event which we experienced once last year.  “We’re not in Kansas any more, Toto.”



In the Great Bridge Lock with a few other folks
heading north

After spending the first night in Morehead City NC, we stayed on the “inside” along the ICW, and had a calm, almost boring, trip in the smooth water.  That is, until the last hour of travel when the winds suddenly kicked up to 20 gusting to 30 mph.  We had white caps & sea foam everywhere as we threaded our way into the anchorage amid the myriad of crab pots which we almost couldn’t see. I let out all of our 150’ of chain rode that night.  As they saying goes in aviation, “Hour upon hour of complete boredom, interspersed with moments of sheer terror”.

On our 4^th day of travel, passing Coinjock Marina (as the T-shirt says, “Wherethehelliscoinjock?”) and approaching Norfolk, we had to pass through bridges that opened only on a schedule.  We arrived at the first bridge exactly 2 minutes early, after a morning run of 4 hours.  Gee, who does our trip planning?  He must have been an engineer or something!

Leigh & the dachshund lovers........take a look at this!!!

We made it through the 4 bridges and 1 lock (with a whole 2’ lift), before finding our marina for the night.  We fueled up, taking on 200 gallons and costing “only” $2.39/gallon.  When we had stopped here last year, the price was $3.50/gallon & I was then glad to pay it!  This marina has a great restaurant on site, and if you spend $75 for an excellent meal, you don’t have to pay dockage for the night.  So we took advantage of the offer twice!

Passing the USS Dwight Eisenhower (CVA-69)
which has "IKE" on the front of the island

 

Leaving Norfolk on May 9, we had our most challenging day so far.  The first hour went smoothly (they normally do) as we passed the ships and shipyards of Portsmouth & downtown Norfolk.  As we approached the Naval Base (the largest US Navy complex in the world is here in Norfolk) we could see the fog bank ahead.  We turned on the radar, and for the next 3 hours we saw absolutely nothing outside the boat.  Visibility was ¼ mile or less as we ran through Hampton Roads & the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, dodging all the buoys and other boats & barges, and listening on the VHF radio to the aircraft carrier which was entering the harbor (and hopefully not where we were).  It was very challenging (a.k.a. stressful) to navigate only by radar & chartplotter for so long in a high traffic area.  And then, the crab pots appeared!  The only good thing about seeing the crab pots was knowing that then we were out of the main shipping channel.

This was all we saw for 3 hours!

The fog finally cleared as we approached Mobjack Bay on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, and tried to anchor in a creek called “Put-in-Creek” (yeah, all you relatives in Put-in-Bay Ohio should grin about this!).  The crab pots were too numerous to allow any swing room at anchor, so we went elsewhere for the night.  After a couple stiff drinks (to calm our nerves, of course), we both fell into bed exhausted.  And this is supposed to be PLEASURE boating!

We had a nice anchorage, as well as a good trip into the marina at Deltaville VA.  We were here last summer by car, when we met some cruising friends who were here for maintenance.  This time, it’s our turn for some minor maintenance.  We have 3 heads on the boat, and two of them need fixin’, which just justifies the saying, “Why do we have 3 heads on the boat?  So that we have ONE that works!” 

The Admiral celebrates her fabulous docking skills

What was really impressive was how Admiral Sue docked the boat today on a face pier, with less than 5 feet clearance on both the bow and the stern.  And in the wind, no less!  When we got to the dock, our bow pulpit and anchor were overhanging the sailboat in front of us.  Talk about “sandwiching” the boat into a tight spot! 

We’ll stay here for 2-3 days to take care of outstanding maintenance issues.  Besides, that little ol’ tropical or sub-tropical or whatever rain shower is supposed to come by & we may as well be in a marina.  And if I need something else to do, Sue will give me the TO DO list from the boatyard.

The Admiral used a shoe horn to squeeze into that space!

“Fruition Departing!”

“Make all necessary preparations for getting underway!”  For all you Navy pukes, those words mean that you’re heading out to sea, real soon.  For us, it means that tomorrow morning will find us underway for this cruising season.  We don’t have everything finished on our work list (we never will), but this 4-day weather window is just too good to pass up.

"Fruition" sitting pretty from the boatyard, as seen from
our apartment balcony.

Since the yard period took longer than we had hoped, we’re going to hustle during our travels this week.  We’re going to cram 4 normal travel days into two looooong days. We’ll go for over 100 miles/day, and at our trawler speed (Clint calls us a “crawler”) of 10 mph, it will mean some pretty long days.  Tomorrow we’re going “on the outside” to make a straight shot into Beaufort NC across the ocean (hopefully avoiding the live firing exercises within 15 miles of the coast at Camp Lejeune).  The Intracoastal Waterway has so much shoaling that we couldn’t make it in one day, having to time our passage through many areas for mid-tide or better.  Then Tuesday, we’ll make another 100 miles and anchor somewhere in the middle of nowhere.  If everything goes as planned, we’ll be in Norfolk by Thursday night.

Two events this past week showed us just how quaint and “old-fashioned” this town of Southport NC is.  First, we had to get fingerprinted at the local police station (no, we weren’t being arrested), and the Chief of Police himself was helping us.  That is, until he found that he had run out of fingerprint ink a week or so ago.  I guess that there aren’t many criminals in Southport who need fingerprinting!  Then, we went to a Notary to get some papers witnessed, and the notary did not charge us anything.  She said that, instead, we should make a donation to her project of the week – a local stray pet program!  Some people say that Southport is “stuck in the 1950’s”, but that ain’t necessarily bad.

Imagine hundreds of these B-17's flying bombing
missions over Germany

And then, to provide lots of distraction for me this weekend, the local airport was sponsoring flights on a restored WWII B-17 bomber, and it flew over this marina all weekend.  Every time I heard those four big radial engines coming overhead, I ran to find my camera.  Even though the Navy plane that I flew had only one tiny radial engine, I can still dream, can’t I?

For those who don’t know about our travel plans this summer, we intend to go up the East Coast to NYC, then the Hudson River to the Erie Canal & the Great Lakes, coming south through Chicago & the inland river system eventually to Mobile Bay.  We hope to make New Orleans by mid-November (as long as my credit card holds out!)