Cindy & I really love our time in Maryland. One thing we never miss is the annual Krogen Cruisers Rendezvous -- we haven't missed one since 2002. This year will be no exception. We flew into Baltimore on Saturday and spent a few nights with Dr. Jane and Fuller in Annapolis. During our stay there we rented an electric boat for a two hour harbor tour and it sure was nice to cruise around Back Creek and Spa Creek again. We also made a day trip over to the eastern shore for lunch at St. Michael's. We've been gone too long.
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| Those look like fun. We'll take the red one! |
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| Trying to relax. Randy, Jane and Fuller...A motley crew indeed! |
The east side of Spa Creek is known as Eastport. Eastport used to be a rough-and-tumble community made up in large measure of African-American watermen. It was, in its day, a tough place. However, today it is gentrified - full of boatyards and marinas - formerly the home of iconic newsman and sailor Walter Cronkite. To those folks who call it home, it is MRE. On Superbowl Sunday in 1998, aggrieved by the aggressive actions of the City of Annapolis (the drawbridge was left open for maintenance) the citizens of Eastport seceded from Annapolis and formed the Maritime Republic of Eastport. This action is still celebrated each year by a tug-of-war (the Slaughter Across the Water) between the two sides...the bars of Eastport vs. the bars of Annapolis. Some of our favorite restaurants are located in Eastport. We always find our way to the Chart House, built on the site of the old Trumpy Yacht yard. We also ate at the Boatyard and also a new-to-us stop for lunch. In the 1930's African-American George Washington Davis opened a tavern in a rented house. Business was good and he soon relocated to a building he bought. Davis' Pub still operates today in the same location, albeit under different owners and a different kind of clientele.
Tuesday morning found us on the way to Solomon's Island. We always feel like we have come home when we turn off of Highway 4 onto Dowell road. I was again dockmaster for the weekend and Cindy was jack-of-all-trades helping where needed getting ready for the Rendezvous. We had the usual talks and mini-seminars, the always popular tools and gadgets session as well as the Krogen Crawl where people open their boats for two afternoons to show off their new improvements.
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| Jeff Siegel doing a seminar on emergency medicine? |
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| Joyce Acton, of "Jeremiah" helps out during the life raft demonstration. |
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| Diane showing Mikes favorite gadget. |
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The Solomon's fire department setting up
for the fire extinguisher demonstration. |
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Everyone brought out of date flares to shoot at the flare demonstration. |
But the Saturday night party....what a party!! The theme was "Woodstock" and since most of the members are approximately our age, it was a blast from the past. Our "house band", Classic Case, was back for the fourth year in a row and they did a great job as usual. The costumes were something else. There were a bunch of fake but well-rolled "doobies"--Hmmm. Our friends Jeff & Karen (non-Krogen owners who were there to speak) paid us all quite a compliment in their cruising blog when they said "One thing about these Krogen owners - they know how to throw a party!"!
Read Jeff & Karen's blog and view their pictures, including a great shot of all the Krogens from the water, at :
http://takingpaws.blogspot.com/2010/10/speaking.html
It turned out that like the original event 40 years earlier, we had three days of peace, love and music...oh yeah, and trawlers.
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How's that for a cake decoration!
Scene from the original three days of peace, love and music. |
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Rev. Al and his hippy chick....
No really...he was an Episcopal priest in another life.! |
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| Rasta-mon Joe. Were there really any Rastafarians at Woodstock? |
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| The dance floor was full ALL NIGHT! |
