We had a leisurely morning in Kirwin Creek, watching a local waterman fish crab on trot lines. In a small skiff, the man slowly hauled up one long line, examining each baited section for a crab - the crabs grab onto the bait and hang there - ready with a net to collect any crabs. He patiently went back and forth along the same lines several times. Crab season has only just begun. We saw many boats loaded down with pots ready to be set.
We got to Rock Hall just before noon on Sunday May 21. Cousins Denny and Laura were working at Haven Harbor South Marina this weekend, and that is where they put us, at a dock in Rock Hall harbor. Dan and I took care of chores (laundry, shopping) while we waited for our to finish their work day. We took them out to dinner at the Blue Heron Restaurant where had great seafood and got all caught up with news and exchanging pictures of our grandchildren.
Denny had told us we’d have a great sunset view from our dock and he wasn’t wrong!
Monday we left early for the cruise to Chesapeake City. Our timing couldn’t have been better - the entire free dock was empty, and only one boat was in the anchorage. We chose the free dock for easy access to shore; we’d move to the anchorage later. We love this little town with its dollhouse-like houses and we spent about an hour walking up and down the streets, admiring front porches and poking our heads into a couple of the stores. We decided to walk around the anchorage basin to the C & D Canal Museum. It hadn’t been open last fall. We couldn’t tell if it was open for the season or even on a Monday, but we figured we’d take our chances. It was a nice day for a walk no matter what.
The Museum was open! It’s housed in the old brick building that housed the steam engines and flywheel that operated the old lock - and the machinery is still there and impressive to see. There are many pictures of the older versions of the canal and the ships that passed through them, as well as a diorama of the lock that once occupied this spot. It’s a small museum, but well worth a visit.
When we got back to the dock, our friends Joe and Lynn on No Rush had rafted to us and we all took drinks and chairs to the pavilion in the waterfront park for ‘docktails’ and spent some time getting to know each other. They are also on the Great Loop, having begun their journey in Michigan. After our drinks, Dan and I took the Willie Dawes over to the anchorage and No Rush settled into our spot at the dock for the night. Chesapeake City’s dock offers power and water for a nominal fee, but the overnight itself is free.
This morning we left around 0900 to head through the C & D Canal into Delaware Bay. It’s a long way to Cape May, and it’s not a bad run if conditions are good, but today we knew the NE wind was turning E and then SE, which would make it a long and lumpy run, so we had several possible destinations in mind. At first we thought we’d anchor just belong the nuclear power plant, then we thought we’d push on to Bivalve, and in the end we split the difference and anchored in the Cohansey River as white caps were starting to cover Delaware Bay. It’s pretty and quiet in here, mostly marshland. Already we’ve seen several bald eagles as well as osprey.
Cohansey River - much better view than the power plant!
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