I mentioned in the previous blog that coming into Belmont Bay we bumped the bottom, Tom finally freeing us and getting Cool Hand into deeper water. The consequence of this bottom bump - our center board would not come down. Tom took a chilly swim to see if he could free it -to no avail. Resigned that we would need to pull Cool Hand out of the water, we decided to wait until after our trip in the , Dismal Swamp.
Sunday morning brought 37 degrees and frost warning, we needed to start moving. We also wanted to get past the Navy's Live Fire range before Monday so that we would not foul their range.
All in all our trip was cold and uneventful until we tried to find a Marina for the night. We don't have heat unless we are plugged into shore power. Also the forecast for Monday was rain, wind, rain, thunderstorms and rain. Tom decided to try for the Wicomico River just inside Cobb island.
We contacted Shymansky's Marina and with some confusing instructions we found our selves headed for wooden piling peer, no one to catch lines and shallow water. The good news is during the day with all the waves and current our center board jarred free and we could lower it. Bad news - looked like we were going to jam it again. The Pier was cover with bird leavings, you name it it was on the pier- I was not happy, but Tom promised Dinner at the Shamansky Crab house and it was only $40.00 a night to stay there.
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a woolly Caterpillar with no strip means a
warm winter - so why 37 degrees in October? |
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cold but smiling. My niece Dawn gave me this coat
Which serves as a perfect wind breaker. |
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| leaving Belmont Bay |
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We passed my Quantico - The roar of Helicopters and planes, belied
the peaceful setting on shore |
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coming into Shymansky's marina - this house looked like some
one stepped on it. |
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Now a word about Blue Water crabs. - and all those crap pots we dodge. I finally got to disassemble and eat one. This is a whole lot of work for little gain. I did notice that the other patrons of the restaurant ordered their's by the . dozen and attacked them with knife and wooden mallets , literally smashing the stuffing's out of them. One couple ordered a whole crab - fried,- yep dipped in batter - its little legs and claws stuck up in the air like a weird spider, then they beat the breading off to get to the meat in the inside. Nope I did not laugh as I was working on my own Crab. A very good diner but I don't think I will make a habit of the creatures. (below some interesting facts)
FALL: This is prime time for crabs. As the water begins to cool,
the crabs stop shedding and begin to fill up, so as to build fat for a long
winter's rest. The "rusty" crabs (hard, dark and usually dirty or
black looking) are full of meat and hard as a rock. These are the best tasting
crabs of the year.
The brackish (slightly salty) water of Chesapeake Bay
provides an ideal habitat for the blue crab. Integral to the State's economy,
its harvest is carefully nurtured and eagerly anticipated. In harvesting,
commercial crabbers use crab pots as their main tools. Trotlines preceded this
method and served well for many years. Indeed, stalwart recreational fishermen
still prefer crabbing the old-fashioned way, with a dip net.
Blue crabs are harvested as hard shell crabs, peeler crabs
(just prior to molting), and soft shell crabs (immediately after the molt). The
just-right salinity waters of the Wye and Chester Rivers and Eastern Bay
frequently result in the harvesting of giant males, called "jimmies."
In Maryland, the legal size for harvesting male crabs is 5 inches or more
across; peelers, 3 inches across; and soft crabs, 3 and 1/2 inches across. No
size limits are set for mature females ("sooks").
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