St. Michaels, MD

On the eastern shore of the Miles River is this picturesque enclave of historic homes and churches that once was a shipbuilding center where swift Baltimore Clippers were built; it went on to be a packing house center for seafood (crabs and oysters.)  Today it is home to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, housed on 18 acres, providing a premier collection of Bay boats and a working boatyard where Shipwrights, apprentices and volunteers are currently restoring an assortment of wooden boats including the Rosa Parks, a Skipjack built in the 50's. The staff and volunteers were knowledgeable and patient in answering our questions and definitely piqued our interest in volunteering in the future.  The Hooper Strait screwpile lighthouse, built in 1879 and once located 40 miles south of St. Michaels, now adorning  on the museum grounds, offers a view into the trials and solitary life of the lighthouse keeper.  Of interest in the lighthouse was a system of 100 pound weights attached to a mechanism that when lifted (like a Grandfather clock) would "automatically"clang the fog bell for a duration of two hours.  I don't know which would be more of a challenge: listening to the bell clang repeatedly for endless hours/days or having to crank the weight back to the top of the two story structure every two hours until the fog lifted.

I have reflected that we are eating our share of oysters and crabs; finessing the tender morsels from the crabs is a challenge.  At a museum exhibit of the crab packing house,  a woman worker was featured and noted to have picked clean 22 gallons of crab meat in a typical work day!  There was no mention of the length of a typical work day, but I can tell you that it would take me a month of 8 hour days to produce 22 gallons of cleaned crab unless the crabs were the size of compact car.

Regarding the feasting on of crabs, last night I made crabcakes from a recipe gleaned from Gary in "Prop Talk," a local "free" boater's Pennysaver type paper.  After warning about the evils of using anything but "fresh, in-season, colossal jumbo lump crabmeat from Crisfield, Smith Island or Eastern Bay Regions," Gary promises that his father's recipe utilizes an "all killer, no filler philosophy."  We can attest to the perfection of the recipe that follows for "Ronaldo's Authentic Maryland Crabcakes:"
1 pound of fresh Maryland Colossal Jumbo lump crabmeat
1-2 slices of Wonder Bread, "it's among the best glue anywhere with it's inherent stickiness"
2 Tbs Hellmann's Mayonaise
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp parsley flakes
1 tsp Grey Poupon Mustard
1 large cage-free raised egg, beaten
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Mix all the ingredients together, gently add the crab, mold into 3-4 crabcakes, cook in a frying pan in 1/2 stick of butter, gently turning once until golden brown on both sides; yummy deliciousness!

Today finds us rolling down the Chesapeake after spending the night at Tilghman Island thankfully secured to a floating dock as a cold front bullied it's way through the region during the night. This morning our departure found us briefly stuck on hump in the middle of the channel, a gentle reminder of the force of Mother Nature.  Thankfully the wind gently rocked us enough to power off the "hump." The  morning is an overcast, crisp 41 degrees with 20 kn NE wind.  It's definitely a soup day as we tack south and west across the bay to reach the area around the Potomac River.  "Virginia" and her captain and crew are enjoying the bounty of the Chesapeake!