Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Park Marina, Tangier Island, VA

One of the many crab shacks that are fitted
 with tanks for the crabs. The crabs
are placed in the tanks until they molt.
They are then harvested and sold. The only
access to these shacks that dot the waterway
through Tangier is by boat.

The sun rising over Tangier Island

We left Cape Charles at 8:30 a.m. with a threatening sky and a steady breeze. We arrived at Tangier Island at 2 p.m. This was one of those days where I questioned the idea of bringing a boat from Florida to Vermont. It was only in the high 50's most of the day and it was a drizzly, very bumpy ride across the Chesapeake. We didn't see one other pleasure boat and only one or two boats of any kind. The only way to get through a day like that is to suffer through it. The end of the day turned out much better. Though it was still cold, the sun came out and Tangier Island is a one-of-a-kind place. There were only three pleasure boats that I counted on the island. The channel goes from east to west from Tangier Sound through the island into the Chesapeake. Tangier Island is known as the 'home of the soft shell crab'. Blue crabs periodically shed their shells through molting. The soft-shell is the blue crab in its molted state which is abundant in supply from late spring to early fall. 
We walked through town - it took about 20 minutes - and were struck by the simple life led by the people who live there. Mr. Park, whose marina we stayed at, was in his 80's. He claimed he had gathered millions of crabs over his lifetime. We spoke with a few townspeople who talked of living in Tangier their whole life. A sign in the grocery store announced high school graduation. There were to be three graduates this year. There was no cell phone service, the town was dry and the dock fee was a very reasonable $35, including electricity. Mr. Park's wife died recently and he was off to a weekly dinner for widows and widowers.