With Hurricane Isabel fresh in his mind, Captain Butch Sweet knows how bad flooding can get here on Tilghman Island.
"I canceled my parties for this weekend, not knowing what this storm is going to do yet," said Captain Sweet.
Captain Sweet and his Chesapeake Lady II are docked at the Marker 5 restaurant. Because of the storm, Marker 5 will be closed this weekend as well.
Sweet remembers the gunwales on the Chesapeake Lady were about 6 feet above the dock during Isabel.
"I’ve been fishing on Tilghman since I was 11 years old."
That was 33 years ago for CR Wilson. Captain Wilson has canceled his charters on the Cat Lady for this weekend.
"We are going to fish until about lunchtime and then we are going to try and get the boat in and if it looks like the flooding is going to get bad we are going to haul the boat up."
When you work the water here, like a lot of people do, you have a lot more to be concerned about with these storms then just getting your equipment wet.
"Us watermen and all us around here, this is our livelihood," said Captain Wilson.
So, if we loose our boat and our commercial gear, we are out of business.
"It’s just part of the life down here. With the hurricanes your not that high above sea level so, it doesn’t take that much water to flood the island," said Captain Sweet.
As the other Captains come and go on Tilghman Island, they are doing the same thing we are.
"Looks like right now we’re just holding to find out what the storms gonna do."
