Lewes is the quiet little town at Cape Henlopen and full of history.  Lewes proudly calls themselves “The First Town in the First State” being settled in 1631 by the Dutch.  Situated at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, Lewes was a whaling town and trading post in the beginning, then a target in the war of 1812 as well as the site for a fort in WWII to protect the Delaware bay, Philadelphia, and the oil refineries in the bay.

As we turned the corner around Cape Henlopen, a very warm breeze greeted us.  For the day and a half we we spent in the area we wore bathing suits and happily waded along the shoreline.

We took Topaz ashore for some exercise.

Everyone enjoyed low tide.  The critters trapped in the tide pools provided hours of entertainment.  It’s a good thing we went to the visitor center at Assateague and museum in Ocean City to learn about the Whelks and Horseshoe crabs.

An interesting fact about the whelks is that they drill a little hole in bivalve clams and then eat them.  We’ve seen many of these clam shells with a little hole in them and just thought it a convenient shell for stringing but never knew where the hole came from.

The beach is also littered with horseshoe crabs.  The Delaware Bay is an important breeding ground for these crabs  they lay their eggs in the wet sand at low tide where the sun can warm them.

 

We also found huge clams.

More and More horseshoe crabs everywhere.

Crabs, they were sure yummy in Ocean City.

 

The most fun was the Atlantic Jackknife clam or Razor clam. They are buried in the sand vertically.  When it senses someone, slurp, it quickly sucks under the sand.  Roy was pretty quick with a strong grip and could pull it out.  Many more live buried under the sand and have a little hole they spit water out of.  We were squirted here and there as we walked along the beach.

It’s easy to tell the difference between the horseshoe crab genders.  The Female is much larger and the males have boxing glove shaped claws in the front to hold onto the female with.
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We anchored just to the west of the Seaside Nature Center, which we didn’t get to tour.

The dinghy ride was almost two miles to the Roosevelt Inlet and up the canal to town.

Along the way we had a peek at the Kalmar Nyckel, a Tall ship built in Wilmington, DE in 1997 to commemorate the  ship Dutch settlers crossed the Atlantic in 1638.

There were many marinas and docks along the canal.  One thing that caught our eye is these little dock side houses.  Each one a unique design, some look like a plain cottage, others with a fancy design, furniture and flowers.

At first we thought they were a weekend cottage to go with the boat out front, but then we noticed the big yard behind it was actually the front yard of a huge house in the back ground.

Next to the town dock where we tied the dinghy up is the Overfalls Lightship.  The docent onboard waved us in for a tour.  We learned that lightships we named after their duty station.  If the ship moved to another station, it would be renamed. Lightships were stationed to mark hazards and also the entrance for the safe entrance to a channel.

 

The volunteers did a great job restoring this ship.  There were photos here and there showing the restoration project.

 

The next stop is the Cannon Ball house.  Amy said she’s a decedent of the McCracken family who lived here when it was the Delaware Bay Pilot house.  Pilots were necessary for ships transiting the Delaware bay to Philadelphia and Baltimore.

During the War of 1812 it acquired a cannon ball adding to it’s charm and saving it’s life making the house a historical landmark to be restored and preserved.

We really enjoyed our time here and could have spent a few more days but wanted to get into the protection of Cape May’s harbor before the approaching storm hits.