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| People | Places | Phenomenon | Adventures |
2000 Was a Very Full — and a Very Fast — Year.
Before it gets away, here’s a last look at the People, Places, Phenomenon and Adventures of Chesapeake Country 2000
The Adventures of Bay Weekly 2000
First Person: I Am One Cold Polar Bear
by Christopher Heagy
A month ago it sounded like a good idea.
I had just gotten back from a vacation in San Diego. On a warm December day, as I checked in at Bay Weekly, general manager Alex Knoll asked me to join him in the Polar Bear Plunge for Special Olympics in January. I figured what the heck, how bad could it be?
Worse than I ever imagined.
Squirrely Behavior
by Sandra Martin
You've got to be smarter than your average editor to outwit a squirrel in the birds' dining room.
I can scarcely believe what I'm seeing. Mr. Squirrel is hanging upside down from my cedar pagoda, stuffing himself on oil black sunflower seeds and shelled peanuts. Only his twitching, bushy tail spills out over the rim. Hulls fly out as he eats. Has he no shame? What am I to do?
Bay Life: Becoming the Otter
by Christy Grimes
Hey: If I have to sack up as a giant otter to get attention, kindly pass me the whiskers and fur. I did just this at Bay Weekly's Birthday Bash, and for about 15 minutes I was the life of the party - sort of. At least I got the story: I Was A Middle-Aged Rodent.
Doug Alves, director of Calvert Marine Museum, originally doubled as the museum mascot. Volunteer Mark Guiffrid has lent his talents to the role on and off four years. And talent it requires, as I was soon to learn
The Old 12-Footer: A Reminiscence
by Captain Michael R. Lane Sr.
The 12-foot aluminum boat was bought for $100. Powered by a 20-year-old, five-horsepower SeaKing outboard motor, she came with two oars and a hand shake. That was some boat.
Some of the fondest memories of the 12-footer (for that was the only name she was ever known by) were those times that few fish were caught. For fish or not, her passengers had discovered there is no beauty anywhere on earth that can compare to the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
7th Annual Potomac River Swim: 51+ Hours in a Cold 'Washing Machine'
by Lori L. Sikorski
Under early morning skies gray as the churning water, 13 anxious swimmers - nine men and four women - board a boat that will transport them from Point Look State Park in Southern Maryland, across the Potomac River. As soon as they step off the boat their mission will begin. The seven and a half miles back will be made without the boat. In 63-degree waters, at a marked time of 8:30am they will begin swimming back to the Maryland shore.
The Seventh Annual Potomac River Swim for the Environment is underway.
We Kayaked the Bay - the Whole Bay
by the Kakayers of The Key School, as told to Christy Grimes
The Key School pushed off.
Their mission: To kayak the entire 181-mile length of Chesapeake Bay - from Havre de Grace, where the Susquehanna opens to the Chesapeake, to the south shores of Virginia, where the Chesapeake opens to the Atlantic.
Their plan: To reach the ocean, or as near as possible, in two weeks and two days. The Key schoolers would be on their own. Aside from two food drops, they carried all supplies - food, tents and drinking water - in their kayaks.
The Wayward Wind ~ First Person Chesapeake Adventure
by Bob Bockting
The engine quit. It didn't die. That would imply deceased and that wasn't it, I hoped. I felt confident that once in calmer water, my sailboat's outboard auxiliary could be revived. That would permit it to push us up Rockhold Creek and into our slip - once we made it into the harbor. If we made it. For now, to get anywhere, we'd have to sail.
The problem with that was the same that caused us to be motoring in the first place. The wind blew at a lovely, lively 15 knots, but from the wrong direction
Prehistoric Journey Home
by Sharon Brewer
I'm energetic, excited and late as we unload the car and carry tons of camping gear to the dock. A rare opportunity has lured 23 of us this August weekend from our homes in Chesapeake Country: standing witness as female loggerhead sea turtles emerge from the ocean to lay their eggs on this beach on the outer banks of North Carolina.
The dinosaurs are long gone but, for over 150 million years, sea turtles have survived. All six species of sea turtles in U.S. waters today are threatened or endangered. Hopes for their recovery are aided by programs like this Sea Turtle Recovery Trip
Second Chances
by Bob Bockting
There was a bit of Huck Finn behind this. For some years before we retired, we had discussed a trip down the Potomac. Sometimes it was to be in canoes, with tent camping; sometimes with a larger boat we could sleep aboard. It turned out to be the larger boat, my new sailboat, with my friends helping me bring her home.
It was now three years since my heart attack. That unscheduled event and subsequent by-pass surgery, a complicated recovery and a three month return to work delayed my retirement. It took the next two and a half years to find, decide on and buy the boat. Now I was bringing her home.
"One hundred and forty miles away, down the river and up the Bay." I muttered that little ditty, contemplating the trip and the problems I was buying into.
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Copyright 2000
Bay Weekly
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