| Start: | YMCA Camp Silver Beach |
| End: | Onancock Creek |
| Estimate Leg: | 19 miles |
| Actual Leg: | 19.7 |
| Estimate Cumulative: | 62 miles |
| Actual Cumulative: | 64.1 miles |
Today was a beautiful paddle from the YMCA Camp at Silver Beach to a little community called “East Point” at the mouth of Onancock Creek. All of the campers at the camp swimming beach gave me a good loud cheer as a send-off – that was really fun. I may request the same treatment from Ruth from this point on in addition to our traditional pray-and-kiss routine.
Biggest issue again today was trying to weave through the sand-bars. Didn’t have to walk today, which was good, but did have a couple momentary scrapes of the rudder tip in the sand. This was not just close to shore; I could be a half-mile offshore and look out as see waves breaking another half mile out–meaning a depth of about a foot a mile offshore.
Humidity was low, so I didn’t have the heat issue I had yesterday. Still forced myself to drink often and demolish a couple of Cliff Bars along the way.
In preparation for the trip, I got the recommendation for East Point from Bill Burnham at Burnham Guides. Bill and Mary Burnham have help put on the Onancock Challenge every fall for the past few years, and run a great guide service for kayak trips all around the Eastern Shore and in Florida (among other places). Great couple.
To find out more specifics on East Point, I did a reverse phone number lookup on a couple addresses collected from Google Maps. The second attempt was Ruth Reiter of East Point, who immediately was very enthusiastic about the trip and told me about the beach at the front of the Island. Ruth and her husband Charlie came to see me come in, but after waiting in the heat (they had not received my message via my Ruth that I was making slower progress than originally predicted) they went back home. Apparently I rolled in shortly after they left, and (again my) Ruth and our friend Cheryl Rondorf drove up a short time later.
Ruth and Charlie invited us in - had a great visit: Charlie has a deep background in biblical languages and a library that would cause most theologians to commit the sin of envy - even after he had to “downsize” to move into their home. Amazingly friendly couple, and so very genuine. Here is a picture of (my - this is getting old) Ruth, Cheryl, and Ruth and Charlie.
Staying at Spinning Wheel B&B in Onancock. Thom and Linda are friends of the Burnhams and their hospitality came highly recommended (rightly so). Thom did a great job with a “paddler’s breakfast” in the morning. After checking in, Ruth and I had a great meal at Market Street Grill. Really great food. Oh, Chudley, the three-legged house-dog was also a great host.
Tomorrow will be a crossing of the Pocomoke Sound heading towards Crisfield MD.