A Summer on the Eastern Shore: Boats, Seafood, and More Seafood

Boating on the Bay: After this we retire to a local restaurant to eat stuff like clams and oysters.

We've settled into an unsettled summer, it seems. So much going on with family births (traveling to Seattle to meet our new grandson), book promotion, family illness of the kind that causes major transitions, that we seek solace by going out on the water. Our little skiff, a 17' Key West with a 50 h.p. Honda outboard is ideal for this: easy to maintain, to trailer around, to put in and out of the water, and economical to run. 

Last week my brother and I ran nearly the entire length of the Pocomoke River up in Maryland. We saw thirteen bald eagles. We stopped at the club house of a golf course that is right on the river and which welcomes boaters. We had a beer and an incredible cheese burger. We ran the boat fast, we ran her slow, we stopped and pulled her up on a beach when we reached the Bay and looked around. We had fun.

Yesterday, too. Terry and I took the skiff out to Ware's Beach at the end of Onancock Creek. We anchored off, not bothering to go ashore. We drank wine and relaxed in the sun. Terry took her new paddle board (she has become a queen of the SUP) and paddled against, and then, with the wind. We lolled about. I got sunburned and half in the bag. What the hell.

And now we're selling our sailboat, Seawind. Speaking of transitions. I've never been able to shake the feeling that sailboats are living things, have emotions, can be heartbroken, feel abandoned. That's the way it is now. We took her up to Deep Creek Marina and had her hauled out. There is a For Sale sign taped to her bow. I've already gotten a call from someone interested. Look at he--she's a beauty. How the can I do this?