More fun than the H.O.R.D.E.!

Review: Travel

More fun than the H.O.R.D.E.!

By J. Glenn Eugster

Eastportorican Travel Critic

I was scanning the magazine rack of the Alexandria “News”, as I do most Saturday mornings, moving from current events, through scientific journals and over to the travel section when I spotted the headline.  “Cape Charles: Where it all begins” the cover read, causing me to perk up from my pre-coffee stupor to think, are the Allman Brothers Band playing at the  Cape this year?  My mind wandered with excitement to the HORDE (Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere) concert I attended two years ago in Philadelphia and soon I was thinking of returning to a musical menu of “Blues Travelers”, “Big Head Todd and the Monsters”, and the “Allman Brothers Band”.

I picked up the magazine, the April 1996 edition of “Chesapeake Bay”,  and fumbled through the pages looking for the news on the dynamic musical caravan.  The feature story was appropriately placed in the center fold of the slick and glossy magazine dedicated to people who make too much money and use it to cruise the Chesapeake Bay.   The story line “Gateway of the Chesapeake Bay” confused me, sounding much like a smoke and mirrors slogan cooked up in some inland office of the National Park Service, but the opening photo soothed my eyes and redirected my mind.  Strolling the boardwalk was a attractive blonde, walking away from the camera, toward a Club Med type of environment.  Good grief I thought, has Cape Charles gone in a new direction?  Are they catering to the young, beautiful and decadent?  Where have I been and why didn’t someone tell me of this switch?

After snapping out of my trance I read the article and noticed that it wasn’t about Greg Allman & Company, good looking women at pleasure resorts, but rather about fishing in the Cape Charles area.  The article, of the same name as the Allman Brothers compact disk of two years ago “Where It All Begins”, is by Charlie Petrocci a self described free-lance writer, traveler and angler.  I hadn’t seen any of Charlie’s work since his Third Place finish in the 1994 “National Oyster Cook-Off”.  1994 was reportedly one of the most intense competitions in the history of the world famous St. Mary’s County event and Mr. Petrocci more than held his own.

Charlie Petrocci’s article on Cape Charles, or “The Cape” as insiders refer to it, is wonderful once you get past the reality that he won’t talk about rock and roll horizons or the curve of the blonde on the walk way.  Charlie talks about fishing and the wonderful charms of the Virginia Eastern Shore, including Cape Charles.  His inside perspective on sport fishing and reading the peoples, lands, and waters of the Chesapeake Bay are exciting and inspirational.  If you aren’t a fisherman before you read Mr. Petrocci’s description of his adventures around the Cape, you surely feel like you are missing something special.

Charlie also describes the places which are a part of a fishing trip, or any trip for that matter, to the Virginia Eastern Shore.  He highlights the activities, localities and characters in an easy to use format, that are truly some of the most special qualities of a unique part of the Chesapeake Bay.  About the only information that was missing from Charlie’s hand-picked pointers, is where to have a really good time.

Mr. Petrocci has consistently added mystery to his recipes and writings and this time is no exception.  Although it is hard to be sure if the reference is tounge-in-cheek or not, Mr. Petrocci describes “the mysterious cobia as a cross between a shark and a catfish”.   With a veil of intrigue Charlie describes the “cobia’s” fishing qualities noting that the fish is finicky but cooks well in stews.  One can almost hear Charlie and the Cape-opolitans chuckling as they drink cans of “National Premium” and tell other tourist tales from the local dock. 

Mr. Petrocci’s article has reaffirmed his position as the premier ecotourism expert on the Eastern Shore.  Whether it’s cooking, snapping a photo of beauty, telling tales to tourists, or cooking the famous “Deer Mr. Oyster”, Charlie from Chincoteague, Virginia lives the Bay and enjoys every minute.