|
MD - North Point to Rock Hall - 2008/08/30 - 24.3 miles
 |
With a beautiful late August day, we cross the Chesapeake Bay from west to east for crab cakes. |
|
|
We planned to cross the Chesapeake Bay to Rock Hall on the eastern shore to get crab cakes, then paddle back. The question was where to start from. Our choices were Rocky Point park for a 11.5 miles crossing, North Point park for a 10.5 miles park, or from somewhere in Pasadena, the shortest route at just under 10 miles. There really isn't a good spot to launch in Pasadena that didn't add miles to the crossing. Rocky Point park had some appeal to me as it was closer and the trip could have the catchy title "Rock to Rock". The fee at Rocky Point is $5.00 and its $3.00 at North Point. But the central location of North Point for all the final trip participants determined the location.
|
The park opens at 8:00 and the gate was securely fastened when I arrived at 7:45. A small line of cars awaited the attendant who showed up promptly at 7:58. We went inside and dumped our kayaks at the barricaded road end closest to the beach while Lisa transacted the fee for the rest of the group. With our cars moved back to the large parking lot and our receipts showing in our windshields we packed the kayaks on the moderate beach. We were moving slowly and it took an hour before everyone was ready to take off. The GPS crew huddled in long conference over the course while their 25th satellite checked in but soon we were headed out on a selected course to Rock Hall.
|
We made an uneventful crossing in winds of about 12 knots coming from our port bow quarter generating 2 foot waves. We made a course correction about half way over when it was apparent that we were not headed for Rock Hall. Someone had selected the similar looking Tolchester harbor in the small screen of their GPS instead of the Rock Hall harbor. The GPS was faithfully guiding us to the wrongly selected location, proving that it is still important to observe where modern electronics is guiding you, not just a blind faith in them.
|
|
The wind began dying as we reached the far shore of the Bay. The crossing was about three hours long. We stopped twice for rest break and water breaks. Lisa got in and out of her boat for her pee break - the rest of us had bigger tanks I guess and made it to the shore. We enter the busy Rock Hall harbor amid a flurry of boat traffic both motor and sail. We pulled up to a nice sandy beach located between the launch ramp and the Harbor Place restaurant, which was doing a brisk early afternoon trade. We arrived at 1:00 PM after leaving the other shore at 9:15 AM. |
|
We ordered lunch, crab cake sandwiches all around. They were good if a little small. I had the Maryland crab soup which was good but a little too much pepper. I like the taste of the crab a little stronger and the taste of the pepper a little lighter. |
|
We were back on the water by 2:00. The crossing back over was in calm conditions with only the crossing wakes of the many pleasure boats, some old classic buy boat conversions, out on this fine late summer day, providing an historical ambiance. We passed right by the lighthouse on the direct route back and got back to a park beach full of afternoon beach users. The quiet, nearly empty park of early morning was now full of people picnicking and wading in the water. We packed up and toted our kayaks the 200 yards to the parking lot which was now full. It had been a nice day for a large crossing across the open waters of the bay, with a pleasant lunch and comfortable trip back. |
|
|
Sp |