Having no need to rush to Deltaville and being in a pretty spot, we spent the day in our Sandy Point home. The sun was out and there was a North wind at about 10 knots -- this kept everything and everyone "cool".
We considered taking a dinghy ride over to Reedville, the main town on the Wicomoco and home to the Omega Protein corporation, a large processor of fish into lipstick and food supplements. Reedville and Omega both live off of the menhaden -- a small, oily fish that thrives in vast numbers off the Atlantic Coast and that has been fished from pre-colonial times. Quite coincidentally, Jack recently had read a book, The Most Important Fish in the Sea", that lays out the case for the humble menhaden's role in food chains and the damage that Omega is potentially doing by its "over-fishing" -- a worthwhile read.
Did you know:
A short time after settling onto the deck for our evening libation, we watched Mike and Liz put up the sail on their dinghy -- taking a sail around the cove was apparently their afternoon activity. They sailed by our boat and we invited them to come and join us for a glass of wine; soon, they were on our deck and we were all chit-chatting.
Mike is an Oral Surgeon and Liz is a Family Physician, they had 7 kids and lived and (still) worked in Buffalo -- wow, we couldn't have thought of a more unlikely combination for a cruising couple. Mike told us he had bought the Hinckley from an old gent who had ordered it (it was the gent's 3rd Sou'wester) but never got to sail it (it took 2 years to build and he was 86 and ailing by the time it was ready). Even Mike's dinghy was a Hinckley -- it had lovely lines and was varnished to the nines. They kept their boat "in charter" for many years in Maine, but recently decided to move it to "South of the Mason Dixon Line" so they they could be warm -- he was quite emphatic about never venturing above that line again :-) Cruisers are the most interesting people !
After a nice conversation where we all shared our stories and got to know each other a bit, they left to return to their boat. We wouldn't see them again this trip -- they had to fly home on the weekend and had changed their plan, rather than leaving their boat in Deltaville, they had decided to put it into a marina in Herrington Harbor, much closer to Annapolis (and Buffalo!). Perhaps our paths will cross again.
We considered taking a dinghy ride over to Reedville, the main town on the Wicomoco and home to the Omega Protein corporation, a large processor of fish into lipstick and food supplements. Reedville and Omega both live off of the menhaden -- a small, oily fish that thrives in vast numbers off the Atlantic Coast and that has been fished from pre-colonial times. Quite coincidentally, Jack recently had read a book, The Most Important Fish in the Sea", that lays out the case for the humble menhaden's role in food chains and the damage that Omega is potentially doing by its "over-fishing" -- a worthwhile read.
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| The Humble Menhaden, perhaps more important than its appearance would suggest |
Did you know:
- The colonials learned from the Indians that burying a menhaden in with their seed would greatly improve the yield of their crops.
Well we decided to pass on the trip in -- it would be a long dinghy ride and Reedville is noted for the smell of its processing plant -- not exactly an enticement for us to visit. So we just hung out.
Around 4pm we went swimming off the back of the boat. The water was clean (we could see our knees, the deepest limb so far on the trip :-) and warm, a stark contrast to the cooler temperature of the air -- drying off would involve lots of goosebumps.
A short time after settling onto the deck for our evening libation, we watched Mike and Liz put up the sail on their dinghy -- taking a sail around the cove was apparently their afternoon activity. They sailed by our boat and we invited them to come and join us for a glass of wine; soon, they were on our deck and we were all chit-chatting.
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| Mike & Liz in the "mini-me" Hinckley |
Mike is an Oral Surgeon and Liz is a Family Physician, they had 7 kids and lived and (still) worked in Buffalo -- wow, we couldn't have thought of a more unlikely combination for a cruising couple. Mike told us he had bought the Hinckley from an old gent who had ordered it (it was the gent's 3rd Sou'wester) but never got to sail it (it took 2 years to build and he was 86 and ailing by the time it was ready). Even Mike's dinghy was a Hinckley -- it had lovely lines and was varnished to the nines. They kept their boat "in charter" for many years in Maine, but recently decided to move it to "South of the Mason Dixon Line" so they they could be warm -- he was quite emphatic about never venturing above that line again :-) Cruisers are the most interesting people !
After a nice conversation where we all shared our stories and got to know each other a bit, they left to return to their boat. We wouldn't see them again this trip -- they had to fly home on the weekend and had changed their plan, rather than leaving their boat in Deltaville, they had decided to put it into a marina in Herrington Harbor, much closer to Annapolis (and Buffalo!). Perhaps our paths will cross again.
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