The ospreys are coming through early this year. Capt. Speed Lackhove called Tuesday afternoon, the first day of March, to say he had spotted the first one of the new year. “I saw it at 8:30 this morning near the DeVries Monument [on Pilottown Road in Lewes] and later in the morning it was hanging around the river park.”
Our coastal ospreys usually show up within a week of St. Patrick’s Day so Speed’s bird is a good bit earlier than usual. Hopefully that signals an early spring. The river park is Capt. Speed’s boat, storage and business yard at the end of Pilottown Road, along the banks of the Broadkill River. The arrival of the ospreys also means it’s a good time to fish for perch in the river.
All call for surfing memorabilia
Nancy Alexander, director of the Rehoboth Beach Museum, is all fired up about a new exhibit being gathered for an opening in May. “We are gathering artifacts about surfing and skimming along the coast of the Delmarva Peninsula and have made contact with Skip Savage and Rick Lantz. The attached photo is from the documentary Waves of Reflection by Will Lucas which we will be screening. It is of Bill Wise and George Pittman’s surfboard buggy from which they sold boards. What a great image!”
Alexander is looking for memorabilia to borrow for the exhibit. “We’ll take T-shirts, vintage boards (we already have a 9-footer) and photos. The exhibit opens May 27, but we need items by mid-to-late March. We are working with the Surfrider Foundation as well.”
Anyone with surfing- and skimming-related items they would be willing to lend for the exhibit can contact Alexander at the museum, 302-227-7310.
News from the Oyster Eat
You never know what you’ll hear at the annual Oyster Eat, the last Friday in February every year. An awful lot of talking goes on between the slurping of beers and oysters and the smoking of cigars. The Oyster Eat is one of the few indoor public places where people can still smoke. The men probably figure the oysters and beer will counter any negative effects from the cigar smoke and if any kind of fire starts there’s usually about three or four hundred firefighters in the building to jump on the problem.
Two of the first guys I ran into inside were Klaus Wuttke and Tom Greenwood. Klaus and his wife, Roberta, have operated the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Lewes for the past 10 years and in Rehoboth Beach for six years before that. Tom worked for them a number of years making fudge and caramel apples. Klaus was celebrating the closing of his business on Second Street. “It’s time to pursue travel and grandchildren,” he said. He added that Agave, the Mexican restaurant next to the candy store, will be expanding into the space he and Roberta are leaving behind. “They’re going to add 20 more tables and set up a retail space as well where they can sell margarita glasses and other items.”
More on public transportation
Stephanie Maull called this week, encouraging us to write more about public transportation. A recent column, detailing the experience of getting stuck in Rehoboth Beach because there is no weekend service, struck a nerve with her. “I ran into a woman last summer who was at the park and ride in Rehoboth. She was trying to get back to Philly. I told her she wasn’t going to get back using the Delaware system. Instead, Itold her her best bet was to take a bus back to Lewes and catch the ferry to Cape May and then get on the Jersey bus system to get to Philly. We should be able to do better than that. I also think we’re undermining our local economy by not having weekend bus service. That’s often when people have time to get out and do their errands. There’s a need for that weekend service.”
Maull said some people relate public buses to a socioeconomic situation – as if they’re just for people who can’t afford to drive or who don’t have their driver’s licenses. “There are a lot of highly educated people who have moved here from elsewhere and who want to make an environmental statement by riding the buses and leaving their cars at home. Buses are nothing to be ashamed of. And the state could save money by using more of the smaller, paratransit-style buses.”
With gas prices leaping their way toward $4 per gallon, a lot more people may be thinking about the buses as summer approaches.
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Dennis Forney has been a journalist on the Delmarva Peninsula since 1972 and has been writing his Barefootin’ column for The Whale and then the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years. He blogs at www.capegazette.com/blogs/dennisforney. Contact Dennis at dennisforney@capegazette.com.
