Boating Season Brings Back Memories

I wrote the following about our boat "Salvado I" on my Ocean City Condo Blog on February 2005:

From The Chesapeake To The Chincoteague Bay, Spring is almost in the air (nice today, but might be cold tomorrow). That means soon my husband (Carlos) will be preparing his boat to navigate the waters of the Chincoteague Bay and Ocean City. I don't know what it is about men that makes them so crazy about boating, and Carlos is a perfect example. No matter how much that boat keeps putting him through, he still loves it. He puts up with it better than he does with me. I have to admit, it has given us some of the greatest adventure stories of the Eastern Shores.

When he first got his boat, navigating it from the Chesapeake Bay to the Chincoteague Bay was one of the funniest (only because they lived to tell it) stories that circulated among our families and friends. First of all, and unfortunately, the bay has a lot of shallow waters. On top of that, in the spring, crab Pots are all over the place. Thus started the predicament he and my son got into.

Looking for gas, they got lost and somehow ended up somewhere stuck in the middle of crab pots, and had to spend the night. (that , of course, is a longer story, but I'm going to have to cut it short). The tow boat managed to pull them out the next day and so they went on to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (the one near Norfolk). They had been looking forward to seeing how it would look from the boat.

The experience of the night before was soon being forgotten and the sea had a welcoming feeling as they were cruising at a comfortable speed above 80 feet of water. All of a sudden the depth finder showed 2 feet and an alarm they didn't even know existed started buzzing. It sounded as if it was coming from the engine, so they took a look. It was completely under water! They were taking in water and had no idea where it was coming from. Luckily, there was a hand pump handy and Carlos instructed our son to start pumping.

Carlos had the idea to check at what speed the water was coming in the least and so kept the boat going at that speed. Land was nowhere to be seen. By now they had their brand new offshore jackets on.
Carlos couldn't see much in front of him, so our son had to be both pumping and looking for land. He finally saw, far away in the distance, and pointed to land which led them to a very small town called Willis Wharf. Over there they were welcomed with opened arms and a friendliness that they will for ever remember. (The Stuffing Box was the problem)

The whole story is really funny when told by them because they can tell you about the feelings, expressions and thoughts they had while it was happening. For example, my son says that when he saw the engine submerged in water, his first thought was that of jumping out of the boat!

Best of all, we got to know the people of the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. They are very, very friendly, helpful and hunger for company. That was a beginning of spring and the boating season.