St Mikes to Wye River

Friday 9-25-09

Awoke to the sound of rain this morning.  Listened to NOAA weather to hear "small craft warnings", winds 15 to 20--the usual scare tactics.

We grabbed our rain coats and headed back into St. Michaels in the dinghy.   Didn't take the bikes today, because Pam wanted to "shop." 

"Shop" is a form of torture to the male of the species. (me)  "Shopping is where you go in each and every store, look at things you have no intention of ever purchasing.........touch everything, pick up some items, turn it over, shake it, put it back, and slowly go to the next item.  Then eventually on to the next store.  I stopped following her inside, and stayed on the sidewalk watching the hunderts of antique Bentleys go by.  Finally found out that the Concours d'Elegance auto show is in St Mikes this weekend.  So there might be some here from Naples.

We at lunch at the Crab Claw restaurant.  I'm doing my part to reduce the crab population in the bay.  Today it was crab fluff.  (Nothing like orange fluff.)

So about 1:30, we took the dinghy back out to the boat, and made ready for travelling through the "small craft warnings."  Put the dinghy on the roof, batten down the hatches and all that other nautical stuff.  By now, the rain had stopped, and the clouds were starting to break up.  We motored down Broad Creek and over through Knapp's Narrows.  The bridge tender saw us coming and raised the drawbridge without me ringing my bicycle bell.  (Actually, it must have been a different bridge tender than when we came through earlier in the week.  We fit under the bridge without it being raised.)  As you may be able to see in the photo, our tax dollars are being wasted at NOAA.  It was a nice day, and certainly not a day to stay off the water.

I told Pam we should anchor in the river tonight.  She said "why"?  I said yes.

So we're now anchored up the Wye River. 

There's hunderts of jellyfish in the water here.  I think they're called sea nettles.  Most are about 3" diameter, and I understand they sting.  We're not swimming.

I've tried "chicken-necking", but had no luck.  That's where you take a line, put a chicken neck in a slip knot, and let it down on the bottom.  When a crab grabs the chicken neck, you raise it to the surface, then dip the crab out with a net.  Pam wouldn't let me bring a bunch of chicken necks, so I substituted Gulp shrimp.  I caught a crab on Gulp shrimp while fishing for redfish in the Florida Panhandle.  A plastic shrimp looks as much like a chicken neck as it does a shrimp.

I purchased a fishing license for the bay.  A non resident annual license costs $15.  Less than a resident license in Indiana.  An out of state yearly license in Kentucky was $50 when I quite buying one.  Of course, I haven't caught any fish here yet, so this may be a case of getting what you pay for.

T