Crabs Aplenty but no way to shower

On Saturday, October 3rd, we tried our luck at crabbing. The process isn't difficult. It's easy as long as there are crab lurking beneath the boat. That's where the luck comes in.

We tied half of a raw chicken wing (easier to find in the grocery that chicken necks) to a string and dropped the wing with a small weight to the bottom. We put down a total of four lines. We can usually tell if a crab is nibbling on the wing by movement of the string which I tie to the lifelines that circle the boat like a fence. When Mandy slowly raises the string to the surface, I scoop him (a jimmy) or her (a sook) with my trusty net. Then into the steamer they go fighting all of the way.

The problem Saturday was that there were seemingly no crabs to nibble on our wings. Then a young waterman passed near us working a trotline. To use a trotline, a crabber stretches a line on the bottom with bait attached about every 8 feet. The 50 to 200 foot line is anchored and buoyed at each end. The crabber picks one end off of the bottom then slides it over a roller that he has mounted on the side of his boat. As he motors slowly along the line rises to the surface on the roller, hopefully with a crab attached to the bait, and the crabber nabs the crab with his net. With luck, a crabber can fill a bushel basket with crab in 30 minutes.

Mandy hailed the young crabber to see if he would sell us a few crabs. He came alongside and said that he was doing just OK. He only wanted only to catch enough that day to feed his family but he would give us a few anyway. He passed a basket over with six jimmies locked together in crab warfare. We offered money. He wouldn't accept it. We told him to offer it to his church. He still declined. We told him that we would donate it on his behalf. He smiled and motored away.

We caught three more crabs that morning for a grand total of nine jimmies (new laws dictate the we throw back the she-crab because of declining crab population). I separated them with pliers and Mandy steamed them up. We put the pot of crab on the bow along with some beer and picked our lunch from their shells.

All was right with the world until we decided that we should take a shower. We heat our shower water from the 50 gallon tanks by running the engine. A diverter in the hot water tank circulates fresh water through the engine to heat it. But, Surprise!!, after a half hour of running the engine the water was still refreshingly cool. Must be a thermostat problem. We'll just take a cool shower. Surprise!! The new shower pump, which worked fine last month, wouldn't come on. I bypassed the new pump. Surprise!! The shower faucet exploded with water flooding around the handle instead of out the spigot. The water collected on the floor of the shower where a drain pump filters the hair out of the water and sends it over the side into the sea. Surprise!! The pump came on but the water never receded. In frustration, I soaped up and dove into the cold Swan Creek water. I felt refreshed and clean but I might need a pull-through operation to restore my manhood.

So,yesterday, smelling of sweat and crab guts, we motored down to nearby Rock Hall where we tied up in a marina with hot showers, ice, and restaurants nearby. This Monday morning, our batteries are recharged, we are iced up, fed and watered, and ready to move on. We plan to get to a nearby grocery and pick up a few items before we shove off. We'll need to make a plan to fix the thermostat, replace the shower faucet, clean the drain, and fix the shower pump.

Wow!! Retirement!! Welcome to the seven day weekend.