Sisters, Sailing, and Sun

Me, Diana, and Catherine (Shawna can't be seen in the back)
on our way to Lusby, MD.

So the Relief Society sisters (aka women) in my ward (church) had a sailing trip this weekend.  We drove out to Lusby, MD where a family (I'm actually not sure how they are connected to our ward, maybe the father was previously the bishop ? not sure) has a house.  Last night, we drove out there, and had a short lesson on charity before we had other activities, such as games, movies, manicures, and just talking.  It was a good night.

Playing games

Since there were so many of us, we kind of had to find wherever we could to sleep.  A lot of women slept outside under the stars . . . including me.  I went to be around 1:30, but couldn't get to sleep because of the porch light.  I moved my bed from where I was sleeping to a place (still outside) much darker.  There I slept until about 5:30 when I woke up and realized that the place where I was sleeping was getting really dewy, and thus the blankets I was using were also getting wet.  That was making me feel cold, so I went inside.  I found a spot on the floor there, and hunkered down for the next two hours, sleeping restlessly until I finally decided to get up.

Catherine and Camille painting nails, while other girls
play Nerts in the background.

In the morning, there was crabbing going along at the dock.  I went down to check it out, and caught some nice sized crabs.  Basically, bait is tied to string which is tied at the other end to the pillars on the dock.  The man in charge also had some traps, metal traps with bait in the center that attracted the crabs in, who could then not get out.  Anyway, you have a net and then wait until something is nibbling on the bait.  You slowly reel the string in, slow enough to get the crab moving along with it, but not too slow.  You want to bring them to the surface without spooking them, then at the last moment, plunge the net under the surface and snag the crab.  It was really interesting to see.  We caught a female crab (who has red pinchers instead of the blue of the male crabs, and who also has a different design on the belly), but let her go.  I guess sports fishermen aren't allowed to keep the females, but the guy who was helping us said that his father taught him that long before the law was put into practice that regulates it now.  It makes sense because we caught tons of crabs, but out of all of them (about a bushel if not more of crabs, probably a hundred or so) only one was female.

Some girls waking up, others still sleeping, while
crabbing is going on on the dock.

I felt bad for the crabs I caught, and wanted to let them go, but I didn't.  I also didn't kill them, or even hurt them.  I just put them in a bucket and someone else cooked them later.  It was interesting though, because it seemed like the crabs in the bucket were talking to each other.  One time, this little guy started a fight.  Maybe he was freaking out about his predicament, and was going around attacking some of the others until finally a bigger guy pinched his arm and he settled down.
We also released any crabs that weren't large enough.  One was dumped on the dock, and it was interesting to see him walk sideways, pinchers in the air, until he jumped back into the water.  Reminded me of Finding Nemo . . . and then I didn't feel so bad about catching them because the crabs in that movie weren't exactly nice. :)

Our resident crabber, pulling a crab out of
his trap.

After breakfast, I went out on a sailboat with several other girls.  It was really relaxing, though I got burnt on my legs from that.  Actually, I got pretty burnt during the whole trip . . . I don't think it's too bad, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to have my massage on Thursday if my skin is still sore.  I guess I'll see then.
We came back from sailing in time for lunch.  After lunch, I went kayaking with another girl.  That was fun, but rather tiring.  After a bit, we went back.  Then I went swimming, before me and another girl decided to go out on a little sailboat.  We were so proud, thinking we knew how to sail . . . until we got stuck out there and couldn't figure out how to get back to the dock with the wind blowing against us.  Luckily, a nice older couple came to our rescue and towed us back.  They told us that we would have had to tack to get back (the zig zag into the wind).  Well, I don't think we could have done that even if we had known (though I recognized that tactic as soon as I heard it), we just didn't have the skill or knowledge to do it.
But we made it in, and then spent a while jumping off the dock.  The rest of the afternoon was pretty lazy until finally we cleaned up and left.  It was a good day.  I got home around 6:00.  And slept until not too long ago.  It's amazing how tired the sun can make you fell.  Especially when you are sun-burned.

Some of the crabs we caught.

Me sailing

One of the other boats we sent out.

Crabs!!!!

The house we were staying at.