May 13, 2019 Cape Charles, VA to Crisfield, MD

May 13, 2019

We had done all there is to do in Cape Charles and it was time to move on. It actually was a quaint little town worth the couple day stopover.  Today’s weather forecast was questionable with a cold front moving through and pushing a NW 10-15 knot breeze down the bay with clouds, rain and gusts.   This was a long day run in open water plowing into waves that were at times a good bit more than the forecast 1-2’ seas.  Nothing much to see and we needed to keep our focus on the waves anyway to brace for the occasional bigger one.   Click the link for a quick video of the view from the flybridge as we hit some  waves.  

https://youtu.be/g3iIcyPkO4o

Maybe not the best day to be out on the bay

We normally have our dingy hooked to our swim platform with a product called Weaver Davits.  They are clips mounted on the platform as well as loops mounted on the dingy.   It stores flipped up resting against the stern and can be flipped down and   floats level off the platform when deployed.    Due to some of the bigger waves and bouncing the dingy disconnected from the davits and was hanging by  a  rope secured  to our rear sundeck railing.  Fun times dragging that up and over the railing onto the sundeck while the boat was bucking up and down.  I suspect the issue was low pressure in the dingy tubes due to the cold weather that let the clips flex too much.  I’ll need to  investigate  it a bit closer.  Looks like no harm done to the dingy or stern of the boat.

Dingy rescued and taking up space on the sundeck

The rain finally stopped late afternoon, so we went out for a quick walk to town and dinner.  So far Crisfield is not too impressive.  It was founded based on the oyster harvesting in the Tangier Sound.  As that got depleted it became the “Crab Capital of the World”.  Their specialty are the crab shanties along the waterfront where molting crabs called "peelers" are kept until the process is complete and they can be sold as soft-shell crabs.  

Colorful mural on side of downtown building

Crab pot manufacturing company and their "wooshy" windmill in the background

Clearing skies and partial sunset

One of the reasons for coming to Crisfield was because they have ferry service to Tangier Island.  It’s   an isolated island in the bay only accessible by boat.  The inhabitants have a unique accent going back to Elizabethan England.  The island itself is rapidly disappearing due to the constant erosion from waves.  Parts once inhabited are now underwater and it’s expected the remaining inhabitable parts of the island will be gone within the next few decades.   I guess we should have checked things closer because daily ferry service doesn’t start until Wed and we need to be moving to Solomons by then. 

So today we walked around town and stopped at the  local museum. Crisfield's  history is similar to Cape Charles.  A rail line was brought  into town to ship local produce and seafood up to Philadelphia.  It was quite prosperous at one time and was the second biggest town in MD after Baltimore.   Unlike Cape Charles where everything was focused on the waterfront, here the waterfront was/is  all commercial with seafood packing houses.  The old downtown was a few blocks  further inland and the residential area is  further spread out.  You can tell there was money at one time with some remnants of   nice Victorian era homes but most are sadly falling into disarray.    Sort of sad and disappointing but we couldn't even get a crabcake in town as most restaurants are closed until Memorial Day and the start of their "tourist season".    So much for the  Crab Capital of the World. 

Journey for May 13