Staying Put in San Domingo Creek
Friday 28th May 2021
We decided last night that we would stay here in St Michaels, anchored in San Domingo Creek and wait out the nasty weather that is forecast for the next couple of days. We don’t expect to be able to move on until Monday but it’s a beautiful area, well protected from all directions and a short dinghy ride to the town dock. Whilst we were the only boat anchored here on Wednesday night there are now three other sailboats and six additional powerboats, one of which is uncomfortably close to us (but we figure that’s their problem). We spent the morning hanging out on the boat, mostly because we could see the crab boat “Family Traditions” moving up and down the creek working the “trot lines” that Gloria mentioned yesterday. Overnight the wind went round to the east and we are pretty sure that we swung over one of these lines, so we expected to have to move over to allow the crabber access. But in the end that didn’t happen and he never seemed to work the line that had us concerned.
We took the dinghy into town after lunch and spent another couple of hours back at the Maritime Museum looking at sections we had not seen yesterday. Our timing was perfect because they were in the middle of melting bronze and casting “gudgeon” (rudder fittings) for The Dove. It was quite a spectacle. We also talked to one of the riggers who works on The Dove. They have finished the mast (Douglas Fir) and all the main spars and are now moving on to make the standing rigging (forestay, shrouds etc). They will use polyester lines rather than natural materials such as hemp or sisal because you just can’t get adequate quality natural fibers these days. But they have built equipment to dip the polyester lines in an asphalt material to mirror how the natural lines would have been treated in the past.
The other highlight for me was an exhibit called “Between Land and Water” which turned out to be an amazing collection of photographs by David Harp. These covered a 50 year timespan from the 1970’s to now with a range of black and white and color photos depicting life in the bay. As a photographer I found it both inspiring and humbling. Our Internet connection isn’t great here so I haven’t had a chance to check what might be available on the web but his photographs are well worth searching out. The Maritime Museum also has the Mitchell house where Frederick Douglass spent at least two years of his childhood. We think the house was moved from elsewhere in St Michaels to this location as a way of preserving it and providing access to the public.
Tonight we had Thai crunchy chili peanut chicken and broccoli with rice for dinner and we were able to buy a Babka in town so may tuck into that later for dessert!
Mike
38 46.244 N, 76 13.754 W
I see a "pin" for St Michael's winery. Might be worth a try.
ReplyDeleteSadly we missed that ... but we did get to an Italian gourmet shop where we bought a fine bottle of Italian red wine for under $10
ReplyDelete