Clam Bake

Last weekend we went to Fairlee Creek for a clam bake and bonfire. The weather forecast was rainy and 60 degrees but we have some diehard boating friends and 5 boats made it out for the festivities.

I had never been to a beach clam bake before so I was really excited to see how this was all going to work. It's really easy and I highly recommend you try it if you like seafood.

First dig a pit in the sand. It only needs to be about 8 inches deep.
Next, fill the pit with charcoal and light it. Give the charcoal some time to fully heat up. Once the charcoal is ready, put some water in the pots and let the water heat up. I was really surprised by how quickly the water boiled sitting out in the open, especially since last weekend was so cold. The two end pots have only a few inches of water to steam the potatoes and corn. The middle pot was about half full of water. We used that pot for the shrimp, clams, and mussels. Adding old bay to the water is a great way to season the shrimp. You can make life easier by putting the clams, mussels, and shrimp in netting bags. You can do this while you wait for the water to heat up. The potatoes and corn take the longest to cook. Put them in the pots first. They should be ready in about 30 minutes. The shrimp, mussels, and clams take only about 10 minutes to cook. You'll know the shellfish are ready when they crack open. I was a little late to the game getting a photo of the results. Honestly, it all smelled so good that I dug in before thinking about the camera. I did get a picture of the remnants of the seafood. Can't wait to do this again!

Fairlee Bonfire

Fairlee Creek gets pretty quiet after Jellyfish Joel's closes for the season. This makes it the perfect spot for an end of season raft-up and bonfire.

After watching the weather for issues from the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole, we headed out Friday night. While I'm really glad we left, I would not have recommended anyone else venture out in that weather. There were white caps in the Inner Harbor and without the strataglass in place we would have been soaked. We were throwing water over the hard-top once we got out into the Bay.

Since we were the only ones in our group to actually leave Friday night, we figured Fairlee would be dead. We were right, there were only 2 other boats anchored in a spot that has a few hundred anchored boats during the summer months. Unfortunately, one of the boats was already at the beach. The whole purpose of going to Fairlee was a beach bonfire so we pulled up alongside the other boat. I guess I should really say that we struggled to anchor beside them. The wind was whipping and the current was strong. At least the wind was blowing us away from the other boat. After getting the bow anchor set and trying twice to set the stern anchor, Doug got in the zodiac, went to shore, and physically pulled the boat into position using the stern anchor line. It did not look like fun from my viewpoint but you do what you gotta do (or you man the helm while the captain does heavy labor).Once finally situated, we set up our "kitchen" for the night. As we said numerous times that night "there is just something about a campfire that makes you feel like a kid again." Hot dogs and s'mores cooked on long thin branches are a perfect fall dinner.

We were really pleased when the couple on the other boat joined us. We had a great time making new friends around the camp fire. When we said goodnight we made plans to merge our raft-ups in the morning and Doug and I looked forward to making even more new boating friends. People always ask me how we make boating friends. Well, basically it's as organic as the situation this past weekend. We are in the same place and the same time, we have a boat - they have a boat, we discover that we are all nice people, and Ta-Da! new friends are made.

By Saturday night, we had 7 boats rafted up together (3 we already knew and 3 new boats, plus us). We built another bonfire, we drank, we cooked, we made new friends, we talked smack about the upcoming Ravens/Steelers game (great win Ravens!). We also saw a really cool mode of transportation - wouldn't this be fun:

The entrance to Fairlee is a great spot to fish because of the strong current. Doug caught striped bass, catfish, croaker, spot/perch, and even a blue crab.

One tip for those who are unfamiliar with Fairlee Creek - follow your charts VERY CAREFULLY! The entrance into the creek is tight. The areas right outside of the channel are VERY SHALLOW! After all the rain from the tropical storm, it was difficult to see the beach/shoal that became flooded on the starboard side of the entrance. We saw a couple boats with near misses and one sailboat that was lucky that my husband and one other guy in the group are so nice. They had to push him off of the beach.