Kayaking Southern Maryland

Our original plan was to head out of Derr Marina in Lusby a couple Saturdays ago and paddle up into the headwaters of Mill Creek. That didn’t happen.

We launched out of Derr Marina, which should never have been built. It’s on a steep hillside with a driveway that leads straight into a ramp. Very little room to maneuver or park. They wanted $10 to launch out of the narrow, pollen clogged ramp. There wasn’t a soul in sight, but we paid anyway. Gotta support local small businesses!

After battling to apply our spray skirts for protection against the chilly breeze, we arced around the marina’s pier, which juts far out into the creek like a malignant tumor. It wasn’t long before we found a low-rent rock dam blocking our path. The damn was passable. But we had very little motivation to loosen our warm skirts or drag our Eddylines over the rocks. We left that adventure for another day.

And that was unfortunate. Because Mill Creek is like Cuckold Creek in St. Mary’s County (with a touch of Deep Creek Lake) – pleasant, but very inhabited and very boring. Lots of small piers, sailboats, expensive houses and riprap.

There was one interesting note to the trip. Laura spotted a sailboat with the name “Octoflugaron.” Neither of us had heard the word before, so we looked it up. That was a blind alley. It nearly stumped Google. It turns out that the actual word is spelled “octoflugeron.” In naval aviation, it’s the term for the chaos that comes with an unplanned maneuver. One of our friends suggested that the misspelling might be intentional, as “garon” is a French term for guardian or protector. Sure, we’ll go with that…

I set an arbitrary goal of reaching Annmarie Gardens on St. John Creek, two miles away. The strong wind gusts turned the already soporific trip into a slog. Good exercise, but not an experience we’ll quickly repeat.

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The Derr Marina pollen trap.

This rock dam (and gas pipeline) blocked our progress at the north end of Mill Creek.

This sunken sailboat still had the mast and sail intact.

#Food: I’se Da Bye serves portable breakfast on the go

There is a real dearth of decent breakfast options in St. Mary’s County, especially if you want it on the go. If you can’t abide the usual fast food chains, I’se Da Bye’s Kitchen and Catering has you covered. Their food truck frequently loiters around the parking lot of the Brass Rail, near the intersection of Routes 5 and 471 (Indian Bridge Road), serving up Real Food. Lulu and I stopped by the…

A quiet evening with the Pirates of the Patuxent

I went out kayaking with the Southern Maryland Paddlers once or twice last season, but I never could find the time to hang out with the crew that runs out of Solomons and ominously call themselves The Pirates of the Patuxent. On Thursday, I got that chance. It wasn’t an “official” Pax Pirates event. One of the members organized a pre-season paddle out of the Pirates’ usual haunt at the beach near…

Turns out there actually is a creek there!

Lulu and I found the marshland that serves as the entrance to the Budd’s Creek network just north of the Wicomico Shores public boat ramp. The stream is marked on Google, but the real path bears little resemblance to the mapped one.

It was a strange experience. The breeze rustled above our heads as we slalomed through the tall reeds. Fish, birds and turtles abounded. We saw storm flotsam and even an abandoned boat. The atmosphere was very like the mystical air of Moll Dyer Run in Leonardtown – except that every 10 minutes we would hear a loudspeaker soaked in reverb blurt something unintelligible. Then a roar of mechanical fart noise thundered through the trees as another unmuffled muscle car blasted down the straightaway at MIR.

We attempted to reach a small pond that the satellite image showed just north of us. The downed trees and diminutive width of the stream prevented us from reaching it. However, we did take one wrong turn that ended in what will be a lovely picnicking spot until the bugs come out.

See if you can spot the snake before I did.

Muskrat nest … or otter nest?

Another view of the lovely headwater area of Budd’s Creek.

The Wicomico Shores Boat Launch was littered with storm debris.

This little detour will be a lovely picnicking spot until the bugs come out.

Dee by God, Capt’n!

I’ve gone my whole life in Southern Maryland hearing the acclamation: “Dee by gawd, cap’m!” The phrase appears to be a unique part of Chesapeake waterman culture, as far as I can tell, and it supposedly means: “Indeed, by God, captain.” Growing up, I mostly heard it from Navy brats ridiculing the hicks from Ridge and the Seventh District of St. Mary’s County. I was an adult before I heard a…

Adulting sucks.

However, the fates aligned last weekend for a quick sprint across St. Mary’s Lake. Felt good.

And then I had to go on travel for work.

There are several designs for PVC kayak stands floating on the digital ether, but the particular design I used comes from Yak Fish. See that link for measurements and step-by-step instructions.

To cut my PVC, I used the radial arm saw at PaxSpace. I assembled the unglued pieces with the assistance of a rubber mallet. And the I used quick clamps to hold the two sections still, while I drilled the bolt holes. The assembled structure makes use of cargo straps to hold the frame in place and support the boat. Ingeniously simple.

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Sawing the PVC.

Parts and tools.

Assembled sections.

Bolt closeup.

Completed stand.

If I can’t find a kayak GoPro stabilizer, I’ll make one instead

The entire Internet almost failed me. Days and days of searching Google, Amazon and kayaking forums for a waterproof, non-motorized device to stabilize my GoPro yielded next to nothing. I started seeing my own article show up at the top of searches. I had some promising hits, like the dude who asked about a stabilizer in a sports photography forum. The first respondent suggested a helmet mount.…

Anyway, for what it’s worth, Lulu and I kayaked out of St. Mary’s City and headed into St. Inigoes Creek earlier this year. While there, I tried to find evidence of the USS Tulip memorial from the water. Young trees block any view of it from the water. All we could see from the creek was an osprey nest platform on the neighboring property.

Later this summer, we took a drive around the St. Inigoes area while trying to get The Empress to fall asleep. We decided to try to find the obscure memorial site again from a different angle. At the end of Cross Manor Road, we stopped dead at this:

Ted Koppel’s House

Yes that Ted Koppel, the news anchor. That’s his house. Or it was as of 2013. However, if you look off to the right, you’ll see this:

That mostly overgrown dirt track heading down the foreboding fence line of Cross Manor is the only bit of infrastructure supporting a memorial to one of the United States Navy’s worst ship procurement disasters. The interpretive signage is in rough shape, covered in what appears to be fractured Plexiglas:

The USS Tulip incident is as embarrassing as it is tragic. It’s tempting to think that the signage and infrastructure around the 75-year-old memorial are signs of neglect. However, the commanding officers at NAS Pax River have made it a point to honor the memory of the disaster with a ceremony every year for most of the last decade. Surely, part of this is due to a resurgence of patriotic fervor among the military as a result of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. However, the USS Tulip incident also offers an interesting case study in the importance of proper procurement and safety procedures, two things that Pax River specializes in.

The Scrambler has seen a bit more wear and tear since I overhauled it last winter. Due to careless loading and unloading (It’s a poly boat. Invincible. Right?), the front paddle park grip popped off. Lulu confessed that she had little love for my chosen paddle park setup anyway, so I removed the back park as well, leaving the holes filled with cheap rivets and Marine Goop. I then installed a nylon hook near the bow and pressed two existing pad eyes into service for a new paddle park using leftover bungee cord.

The front half of my aftermarket paddle park broke free of the rivets.

So, I took the other half off and replaced the rivets.

This new paddle park is fashioned from existing pad eyes, a new nylon hook and a bit of leftover bungee.

I also installed a Scotty fly rod holder and flush socket behind the seat of the boat. This was exceedingly easy. I watched a few YouTube videos and then went to it with no trouble. My advice: use plenty of Goop to ensure a good seal, both around the flush socket hole and the rivets or screws.

Lulu requested that placement. I didn’t want to use the circular flat spaces on the boat, because I plan to install hatches there. She didn’t like the idea of putting the holder on the side of the boat, since it would likely impair her paddling stroke. Putting the holder behind the seat requires her to turn around to get the rod, but it isn’t like the Scrambler is a tippy boat.

Lulu recently acquired a GoPro of her own, and we did a lot of videoing during our reverse run of McIntosh Creek Oct. 17. Unfortunately, updating my PC to Windows 10 has caused some little-understood problem with my legacy video editing software and the machine’s drivers. I’m still learning to use Lightworks, so I don’t have a backup editing solution right now. But the winter will be long, so I might be able to trot out edits for Mattawoman Creek and the McIntosh Run for a cruel tease after the season ends.

Stop groaning. You haven’t even heard what these things are called yet…

Nite Ize Spot Lit. (ugh)

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Despite branding that falls somewhere between 1950s road signs and 90s gangsta rap lyrics, these little LED carabiners are amazing as kayak lights. You can find them under various brand names, sold for various purposes. Some are marketed as dog collar lights, some as key fobs. Some are multi-colored. They all feature a surprisingly forceful carabiner clip and a rubberized exterior with a stiff on/off button. Pure simplicity.

Not only are these lights simple to attach to your boat’s deck lines, but they emit a diffuse glow that announces your presence without entirely ruining everyone’s night vision. We attached a white light to our bows and a red one to our sterns. Then we launched out of Clark’s Landing and took a lap around the horseshoe area of Back Creek, off the Patuxent River.

Doing a night run around Back Creek (your GPS map name may vary) is something you have to do at least once a summer. We did it last year after a sunset paddle down Cuckhold Creek. The natural harbor bordering Myrtle Point Park there is a favorite anchor spot for sailboaters who don’t want to pay for a transient slip in Solomons. It’s generally quiet, with the occasional party echoing across the water. You can even get a quick dinner at Clark’s Landing now that it has reopened.

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Where’s the GoPro stabilizer for a kayak?

I need a camera stabilizer for my kayak. Having a GoPro on the bow of my boat is fun, but watching the videos, like the one we took of the windy day on St. Mary’s Lake, can be nauseating. The foreground image of the bow remains fixed, and the horizon jumps around wildly. If it weren’t for the GoPro’s digital image stabilization, it would be unwatchable. Horizon True C2000 Hydraulic Cleat Mount…

The kayak Launch Maps page is fixed (for now)

I don’t know if Dropbox ditched them after too many downloads or if I accidentally deleted them, but the Google Earth file links went dead on the Launch Maps page at some point in the last couple months. Go and download them quickly before Dropbox or I delete them again…

There is very little boat traffic.

They are infested with blue heron.

We were buzzed incessantly by very loud test aircraft.

You can’t paddle there unless you have access to the base as military personnel, civilian government worker or government contractor.

If you are lucky enough to be one of the thousands of people in Southern Maryland with base access, Harper/Pearson is a must-see.

GPS track

 It seems kind of strange that such a beautiful area is cordoned off from the general public, especially when you consider the unique amenities that surround it, such as the Cedar Point Golf Course, Hog Point observation bridge, picnic areas, playgrounds and boat launch. The only other park that comes close in St. Mary’s County is Point Lookout State Park, and it’s nowhere near the county’s population centers.

But it’s also strange to consider that literally none of these amenities would exist had the Navy not seized and developed Cedar Point over the last 70 years. The former plantations that made up the Cedar Point area would likely still be private farmland or some kind of private resort with the same kind of slow-burn economy you seen up and down the Virginia Northern Neck.

Harper Creek

Hog Point Observation Bridge

Harper Creek

Blue Heron

Harper Creek at Hog Point

Cedar Point Road Bridge over Harper Creek

Harper Creek

Patuxent River