day one - a cool breeze

It is a chilly morning.  A cool 53 degrees as I leave the house in Chesapeake before dawn.  Cooler, at 46 degrees, as I arrive in Crisfeld, Maryland to launch Spartina.

I rig the and load the boat at the Somers Cove Marina, the only boat heading out, it seems, under the lowering clouds and chilly east wind.  I back the boat down the nice wide ramp at 10:40.  Just a few minutes later I cast off and raise sail in the harbor.

I sail wing and wing out through the narrow passage between the new condos on the north side and the old crab house on the south side.  I hear a man at the crab house yell "Bon Voyage!" as the wind fills in away from harbor entrance.  By the time I pick him out on the docks he has turned his back and is walking away.  I can't tell if he was talking to me or to the waterman in the deadrise that is just now pushing off after delivering his bushel baskets full of crabs.

Sailing downwind on the Little Annemessex River the breeze is stronger that I expected, and the sun starts to break through the clouds.  It feels good to be out on the water.  I leave the river at 11:30 and turn north on Tangier Sound towards Deal Island.  The overcast lowers and the wind cools.  I round up and point Spartina into the wind while I put on an extra layer of clothes and decide to find out if my new Buff protects as much against the cold as it protects against the sun.  It does.

Sailing up the Sound the wind comes and goes.  The shifting wind doesn't help as I try to decide where I want to anchor this first night out.  Deal Island?  Maybe a little too far with this wind.  Hazard Cove?  Not much protection from the waves coming in from the south.  South Marsh Island tempts me.  But in the cool shifting wind it is probably too far for this evening.
I finally decide to turn towards Back Cove on the at the north end of Smith Island.

I round a marshy point at 2:30 and enter Back Cove, a power boat pulled up along the shoreline and two fisherman seated in lawn chairs along the bank.  They wave, then one starts fighting a fish and reels in a skate.  I ghost along the marsh and make a few casts with my spinning rod.  I don't fish too seriously, I think instead about the chill and the fact that I had not brought any shoes or boots along on the boat.  I had never needed anything more than bare feet or sandals on any other trip, but I wish I had something for my feet now.  Two American Oyster Catchers, with dark heads and bright orange beaks, watch from a little point on a creek entrance as I drift by.

I drop the anchor a little before 4 and grill a potato for a simple dinner.  As I wash the dishes the weather radio tells me the wind will change from the light SE wind I have now to a strong NE wind in the middle of the night.  My achorage is open to the N and NE.  I raise the anchor and motor to a creek a couple of hundred yards away where I will have protection from both directions.  The weather radio also tells me rain is on the way.

I set up the boom tent, then the sleeping gear.  Still wearing my foul weather gear for warmth, I relax and read a book.
I climb into my sleeping bag early and soon find I am getting a lesson in different kinds of rain.  A light sprinkle, then a few heavy drops plopping down on the tent.  Then a driving rain followed by a steady drizzle.  I fall asleep tucked in the warmth of the sleeping bag and the dry cocoon of my bivy.

distance traveled          11.7 nm
moving time                 5 hours 4 minutes
moving average            2.3 knots

cover girl

I am very happy and honored to see Spartina on the cover of the May issue of Chesapeake Bay Magazine.  Pretty cool, don't you think?  That's her above anchored on Reed Creek of the Chester River on the last full day of the Back to the Island trip.

The magazine was generous enough to give six full pages plus a little more to photos and story about our nine day trip last May.

This all started on the day before that sailing trip began.  Bruce and I were running around like we usually do on the day before a trip, shopping for this or that, getting last minute supplies.  Stuck in a traffic jam on a bridge over the ICW I get a garbled phone call.  It was the editor of Chesapeake Bay Magazine asking for permission to publish a photograph I had shot a few years earlier.  I said "Sure, but you guys better have the photo in hand now.  I don't have time to track it down, I'm going on a sailing trip."
 

"What kind of sailing trip?" he asked.  I explained we were going to take my 17 foot open cockpit yawl and sail it up the bay from Onancock to Chestertown.  "Oh, I see," he says.  "You'll trailer to a spot, sail all day, then pull the boat out and trailer to the next spot."  No, I told him.  We'll put it in the water and sail north for 8 or 9 days until we get to Chestertown.  "Really?" he says.  "Give me a call when you get back."

So I called, sent photos and worked on some words.  This is the final result.  I can't thank the magazine enough for the publishing the story.  I'm thrilled with the photo selection (a nice batch shot both by Bruce and myself) a great design and the very helpful editing on the text.  The whole process was a treat.  This magazine will be something I will treasure for a long time to come.

steve

new gear

I am almost caught up after the five day sail and a one day weekend.  With any luck I will start the walkabout logs tomorrow.  In the meantime I want to mention a couple of new pieces of gear that I was very happy with on this last trip.

Above I am sporting my new redfish pattern (or puppy drum pattern, for those of us on the east coast) UV Buff.  I bought it, based on recommendations for friend and self-confessed gear head Kiwibird, for the sun and the heat.  On this last trip I was very glad to have it both for the heat and for the cold.  Much of the time I wore it around my neck like a scarf.  When the sun got to be too much or the temperatures got to be too low, I pulled it up over my face.  And I was very happy with the result.  In fact I'm considering ordering another Buff for the June trip, in the speckled trout pattern.  Thanks Kristen for the advice.

And there, tucked away in a phone pouch, is my new ACR PLB-375 ResQLink+ personal locator beacon.  It stays in the pouch on my pfd/harness whenever I am sailing.  Having the SPOT is fine for tracking and safety, a plb adds a little more safety.  And this model is so compact I forgot it was there.  Pretty cool.

I'll start with the log tomorrow (I hope).

steve

my email was hijacked

I rec'd an email from a friend with a valid email address.  "Hello" or "Hey" was the subject line.  I made the mistake of opening it, and it hijacked my email.  My apologies to those who rec'd the email from my account.  Lesson learned.

steve

the hissings of summer lawns

I seem to be running into a lot of snakes these days.  That should not be a surprise to me.  Anyone who spends time along natural shorelines in the south is very likely to be in the neighborhood of a snake or two.

I posted a photograph I shot of a snake on my last walkabout.  I was asked by a few people if it was a water moccasin.  I knew that it was not a moccasin, but I was incorrect in thinking it was a northern water snake.

Out on a boat this morning on Back Bay I saw a few more snakes.  Fortunately, I was with some wildlife biologists who were both thrilled to see the snakes and happy to identify them for me.  At the top is a banded water snake.  This is, I now believe, the same type of snake I photographed on the walkabout.

And above is a northern water snake, which is often mistaken for a water moccasin because of similar coloration.  Moccasins, which we had fleeting glimpses of today but not enough time to photograph, have a triangular "viper" head and a much thicker body.

Both the northern water snake and the banded water snake are non-poisonous.  But that doesn't mean they won't bite you.

This last one is the banded water snake, the same one in the very top photograph.

I have never had a problem with snakes.  But when I am walking along or near natural shorelines, I do watch where I step.

steve

the eastern shore

I had to run over to one of my favorite places, the eastern shore of Virginia, today for work on a day that started out with spitting rain but turned out to be beautiful.

It was one of those hidden places on the Bay side of the shore, the kind of place you would never find unless someone told you to drive down this road to that road and make a turn here, look for the sandy lane through the woods.

The place was hard on the bay, but back at the house you would hardly know it sitting in the middle of a thick pine forest.

It was a very nice visit, very relaxing.  It is taking me years, but I'm getting to know the eastern shore a little bit better.

Plus I learned where all of my old fishing lures ended up.

steve

gps track

Above is my gps track from the walkabout.  It is about 120 miles of sailing, which is pretty typical for the short spring trip.  I hope to start the daily log this weekends.

steve

is it just me?

Am I the only one that sees a similarity between this seed pod I found on the beach on Holland Island and a famous painting that just sold for a lot of money?

Okay.  It is just me.  Sorry about that.  Never mind.

steve

a few photographs

the driveway

Tangier Sound

Honga River

Little Annemessex River

Hooper Strait

Crisfield

a quick video

I'm back.  Good trip.  High winds and, sometimes, low temperatures.  

This is crossing Kedges Strait between South Marsh Island and the north end of Smith Island (really Martin National Wildlife Refuge but I consider it all Smith Island).  I was on my way to Back Cove for the night.  The little bit of land is Fishing Point.

I'll get some photos out this evening.

steve