Janes Island State Park and Blackwater NWR, Maryland

Upon departing Chincoteague, we ventured about 35 miles to our next destination.  At this breakneck pace, we should be back home a few years from now.  Actually, there are numerous fingers of land reaching out into the Chesapeake Bay, that offer opportunities for kayaking, biking, fishing, and crabbing.  We're just trying to visit as many as possible.  Camping sites in these areas are limited, creating a bit of a dilemma, but so far we've been able to find someplace to camp each night.

Janes Island State Park offers six different kayaking trails, totaling over 30 miles, and we secured a

campsite overlooking the marshy waterway.  Heading out in our kayaks, we had a rough idea of where we were going but wound up paddling over a combined 10 miles of trail.  Since our kayaking had been put to a halt last spring due to two broken fingers, this was our first kayaking in several months; it was gorgeous and peaceful.  Herons and egrets were elusive and seemed to fly off when we got within a hundred feet or so, but we managed to get a few photos.  Over the hours we spent on the water, we saw only a handful of other kayakers, and then they were tiny dots in the distance.  Horseflies, "big enough to wear a saddle," Alan said, were widely present in the park, but disappeared in the evenings, so we could enjoy our first campfire of the year.

Checking out the nearby, small community of Crisfield, the self-proclaimed "Crab Capital of the World", we couldn't leave the area without trying some.  Linton's Seafood, located north of town, has been selling and shipping crab for over 35 years, so that's where we headed.  Ordering a half dozen of the colossal blue crab, we returned to our campsite to indulge in the feast.  Without question, these were the sweetest and meatiest blue crab we have ever had.

Moving up to Taylor Island, we found an older, funky campground overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. Our destination was the nearby Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  With 27,000 acres, the refuge offers plenty of biking and kayaking opportunities.  Primarily, we spotted blue herons, white egrets, gulls, geese, and ducks.  One very cooperative bald eagle made several flights over our heads as we were biking, allowing some photo opportunities.  Once again, by visiting off-season, we missed the hoards of birds that use this refuge as an important stop on their spring and fall migrations along the Atlantic Flyway, but it was still a beautiful area for our visit.