Friday-Saturday June 3 & 4th:  Up the Bay to Rock Hall

     Friday we left Tangier quite early to take advantage of the tide.  At first we thought we’d head back over toward Solomon, where we’d visited the Calvert Marine Museum last fall, but we were making such good time, we continued up the Bay toward Cambridge.  The waters were calm and we were just about alone on the Chesapeake.  The skies were overcast and the forecast kept talking about thunderstorms, but nothing ever materialized.  On the way, we passed a bombed out shell of a ship that the Navy has used (maybe still uses?) for target practice.  We were very surprised that this wreck isn’t prominently mentioned on any of our charts.  It’s been around for decades.  

The bombed out wreck.

Hooper Island Light.

     When we got to the Choptank River, we’d already covered over forty miles and neither of us felt like continuing another ten down the winding river to Cambridge, so we just continued a little farther up the Bay and anchored in a little cove near Knapps Narrows.  It wasn’t mentioned as an anchorage in our book of anchorages, and we found out why around five in the morning on Saturday.

     This is a crab fishing ground.  The first fisherman showed up just before dawn.  He was very considerate of us, circling us very slowly and then leaving us alone.  Within an hour three other waterman came in and they all quickly divided up their territory, which they mark with inflatable buoys, and they all began dragging for crabs.  

One of our watermen.  You can see the drag net along the side.

     Not a good place to anchor.  We had breakfast, weighed anchor, and set off on our way.  Today is another grayish day, though the sun did come out for awhile.  We had an uneventful ride up to Rock Hall, where we will anchor for the night outside the marina.  Remember, this is the place Tommie went walkabout.  We’re not giving her the opportunity this time.   We’re planning to do a few errands - grocery, laundry - and will take my cousin Denny and his wife Laura out for dinner tonight.  Thunderstorms are again predicted.  Today it looks and feels like they will happen.