MTOA Chrisfield, MD

Marine Trawler Owners Accociation
Somers Cove Marina Chrisfield, MD
Monday-Friday September 26-30

We left our anchorage in Duck Point Cove as soon as we had enough light to see. There was not much sleep rolling side to side all night but underway we had a good angle to the wind and waves so we made short work of the 34 mile trip to this rendezvous. Chrisfield is a small Maryland town suffering from economic depression we think due to the decline in crab industry. It is a pretty little town but lots of closed businesses. The marina is lovely and they are going out of their way to make this a good experience. We checked in, bought shirts, received a nice embroidered bag and attended a pot luck supper Monday night. On Tuesday we took a 3 block walk to the waterfront and had lunch at the Waterfront Cafe after visiting the local museum. The main industry here was oysters through the civil war until the early 1900. After that the industry turned to blue crabs. It was fascinating to see the evolution of boats used by the watermen to collect oysters and crabs. It is shallow waters here and the boats can not draw much since they crab in 2-3' of water.

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On Main St

The MTOA group plans group talks each day we can attend with lots of good information. Some of the topics are AC-DC systems, batteries, new  gadgets, shutterfly, women's ideas on food and clothing storage aboard. The fee provides food each day. 

First nights dinner

Cute centerpiece

Italian night

Wednesday night we went to the Waterside Cafe 50's lounge for a choice of burgers or philly cheese steak with drinks, sides, and dessert. We arrived at 6:16 and left at 9:00. It was a long wait.....clearly the little cafe was overwhelmed by apx 80 people at once. A picture is worth a thousand words!! LOL

 Tuesday someone organized crab races. Ours was #36 and was third out of the gate going strong until nearing the bottom then it just stopped and sat there. We came in last!!

Chrisfield's mayor introducing
each crab.

Preparing the ramp

Peter pointing to our crab
It is the first one near the bottom

Number 36......stopped just before victory!!

Another fun time

Friday's weather was not great so we opted to stay in Chrisfield until Sunday. Friday evening we had dinner aboard m/v Next Dance, Mark and Pauline along with 4 others. Everyone brought something to offer and it was delicious. Peter brought along his after dinner drinks and a very good time was had by all!! Saturday evening 6 of us went to the Chrisfield Inn, a local but very nice restaurant. It's owners trained at Johnson and Wales, Providence RI in the 80's. It was also delicious.

Delicious salmon