May 14 - May 24 #7

Finally made it to Ashley’s Harbor after waiting for the small craft advisory to end. There is no definition of what a small craft is, “it is issued when winds have reached, or are expected to reach within 12 hours, a speed marginally less than gale force”. Good enough for me to stay put, and the Captain listens to the Admiral, sometimes.

This is Ashley's Harbor & Kate's sister house. Watermen dredging oysters out front, they seeded them a couple of years ago and they are still pulling them in

Ashley’s Harbor is where Kate’s sister Joanna lives with her husband Taz and their three kids . We pulled up to the dock right in front of their house where Kate and Mike were waiting. it is a beautiful home in a beautiful place and they made us feel most welcome.

The next morning we headed up the Bay to Solomon Island, still on the western side, where we met up with Mike’s daughter Hallie, a seventh grade teacher in Baltimore, and her girl friend Jean, visiting from Montreal, who works to engage students at McGill in community action. So great see these fabulous young people taking on the world with good work. They give us great reason to be hopeful.

Kate, Mike, Hallie & Jean

Also, Kate found a Taylor guitar at a antique/consignment/gallery store and an received an early birthday present from Mike, and we have been treated to a happy guitarist doing happy noodling ever since.

Next morning we continued up the Patuxent River and then turned up St Leonard Creek
 to a lovely anchorage where we happily kayaked about, went swimming  (some of us) and dingyied and kayaked over to Vera’s (an experience) for dinner.

Wild Rhododendron from the kayak

Joel flagrantly disobeying one of the rules at Vera's- baseball hats with brims forward only

After a pleasant stay at the Point Lookout Marina

Still morning at Point Lookout Marina, fisherman heading out to the Bay

we headed over to the Eastern Shore. We cut through Smith Island,

Smith Island. Brown Pelicans nest here

Smith Island, their graceful crab boats are like our lobster boats

which, along with Tangier is one of the last remaining old time Eastern Shore fishing communities, where you can hear an accent like no other. The economy is much like our Down East, fighting to survive like a lot of little Maine Islands and coastal communities. As far as I can see a big part of their tourist traffic and that of the mainland “city” of Crisfield comes from Road Scholar ( formerly Elderhostel) trips. There are 7 six day trips scheduled the spring & fall.

Climate change note: Smith Island is doomed. According to Wikipedia, “The Island has been shrinking in size for centuries, due to a combination of its low elevation and storm erosion. In the last 150 years, Smith Island has lost over 3,300 acres of wetlands due to erosion and post-glacial subsidence …To prevent the island from being lost to erosion, restoration efforts will be on
going for the next 50 year..."

This restoration effort strikes me as quixotic at best, or duplicitous at worst.  There is no way the state of Maryland and the US Congress are going to authorize the 20 million the Army Corp has budgeted for restoration. There are fewer than 300 people who live on the island and submersion is inevitable.  What are we going to do about climate change? And when are we going to do it? Vacillation between the hope generated by our wonderful young people, and despair about the enormity of the changes coming.

On the Eastern Shore we traveled from the economically challenged Chrisfield (used to be second only to Baltimore in population)

In Chrisfield, what remains, crab is king, and delicious

Onancock Wharf, Eastern Shore

to the lovely and unpretentious  community of Onancock  where we had a day of heavy rain, and then a sparkling reprieve, and, as always, good restaurant eating. 

Mike folds up the kayak and Joel cleans the grill, our last dinner together

Back across to the western shore and Ashley’s Cove where we said a sad goodbye to Kate & Mike, and Joanna and Taz.

On our own once more as we make our way north and then up the Potomac to meet Julie DeSherbinin on the 30th in Washington DC.