June 13-15, 2017 - Cambridge, Maryland, Bench Creek

We left Tangier Tuesday around 7:00 for one of our longest days on the water - 75 miles.  We docked at a free dock by the county offices in Cambridge around 4:30.  The trip up the Chesapeake was fairly calm and the Choptank River (only those who have read James Michener's "Chesapeake" will recognize that name) was very smooth and pretty.  Wednesday morning we went into the county offices to check on bus schedules to get to WalMart.  After the city manager got through laughing (evidently the bus system isn't too reliable), he found a employee to take us to WalMart.  Once again, the people we have met in these towns have been extremely accommodating.  They just can't do enough for us.  After going to the store, we spent the rest of the day walking around the town looking at the historic buildings.  About 3:30 that afternoon, we discovered that a fuel line was busted to the generator.  Luckily, there was a boat repair yard right across from us, so within 30 minutes, we had called them and moved over to their docks.  Thursday morning, the repairman came, fixed the problem, and after a lot of clean-up, we were on our way.  We found a beautiful anchorage at Bench Creek for the night and enjoyed the afternoon relaxing and looking at the scenery. 

One of the many lighthouses along Chesapeake Bay

Beautiful, smooth Choptank River

This Episcopal Church was built in 1883

(the front, round window is a Tiffany window)

This was completed in 1888 and is said to be one of the

finest Queen Anne style houses in Cambridge

(now it's a funeral parlor)

Earliest surviving office building (a law office) built in 1800

Some of the Victorian homes along the main street

Choptank River lighthouse

Docked outside the county building

Looking across the harbor

Our beautiful anchorage at Bench Creek

Another view

Dinner with a view

June 12, 2017 - Tangier Island, Virginia

We left Crisfield for a two hour trip to Tangier Island, Virginia.  This little island was quite a step back in time.  The streets are very narrow - two golf carts can barely pass each other.  The early descendants of the island were Elizabethan and most people still have a unique accent and vocabulary.  Tangier is one of the last true working waterman communities. The shanties on stilts are peeler sheds where the watermen keep their soft crabs until they molt.  There are several tour boats that come from the east and west delivering tourists to the little island for the day.  The town survives on fishing and tourism.  When we got there at 9:00, there were no people around nor any stores open.  That all changed around 11:00 when the tour boats docked, and the rest of the afternoon the town was pretty busy.  We walked back into town at night (to the ice cream shop, of course) and found it full of all the locals. There are local ladies who give golf cart tours of the town.  The lady who took us around was born and raised there.  The total population is about 450.  There is one school that serves kindergarten through high school.  Later that afternoon two boats came in - Jim and Marla (TBD) and loopers Jim and Linda (Leilani).  We spent some time sitting around the back deck with them.  Mr. Parks, who owns the marina, was quite a character.  He's 86 years old and rides around town on his scooter.

Crab shanties on the way into town

More of the crab shanties - they line the waterway

This must be for the golf carts because we only saw 5 cars

(one for the police and one fire truck)

Some of the houses - they all have fences around them

More houses

Looking down the main street

Not one of our fancier marinas!

One of the crab boats hauling his crab traps back to dry out for the next season

Just a little local color (I'm not sure I would trust him in my garden)

A couple of the tour boats

Mr. Parks and Jim (Leilani)

All in all a good day with a beautiful sunset

June 10-11 - Crisfield, Maryland

We left Calvert's Marina at 8:45 and anchored in Crisfield around 2:45.  We took the dinghy to a dock and started exploring the town.  Crisfield, known as the "Crab Capital of the World," was once a busy seaport.  Now some of those processing plants have been replaced with waterfront condominiums.  There are several tour boats that leave daily for trips to Tangier Island and Smith Island.  Mail to those two islands comes on a boat from Crisfield.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center and talked to a gentleman who we learned was the Mayor of the town, Kim.  After talking to him for a few minutes, he asked if we would like him to give us a tour of Crisfield and the surrounding area Sunday morning.  He picked us up Sunday morning and we had a very interesting and informative two hour tour of Crisfield and the surrounding area (he was born and raised here).  Other than the seafood industry, the other main industries in town are Sherwin Williams and a nice hospital.  On our tour we saw a street that once was filled with beautiful Victorian homes.  Most of the homes still there are well maintained.  However, some had sadly fallen into disrepair.  Kim has worked hard to clean and update the downtown water area.  The streets, sidewalks and pavilion are new and more improvements are to come.  We then drove out to Janes Island State Park which was a beautiful state park on the water front with camping and tent sites.  We really appreciated Kim's time in taking us around his city.  Since this town is known for its crabs, Kim recommended a restaurant that served good soft shell crabs, so we decided to give it a shot.  The restaurant was nice, the food was good, but I'm not sure we are big fans of soft shell crabs!  As we walked around the town Saturday, we thought it was just a sleepy little town.  That all changed Saturday night when one of the tour boats left with a large group for an evening cruise.  They were loud when they left and they were loud when they got back.  Evidently they all hit the bar just across from us when they got back because there was a DJ and a lot of loud music until 2:00 a.m.!

The working waterfront of Crisfield

The waterfront with the condos in the back ground

 

One of the many tour boats (this was the loud one)

 

A view of the downtown from the pavilion

The pavilion overlooking the water

More of the downtown area

Thanks for the tour Kim!

Our lunch stop

Soft shell crab sandwich

June 7-9, 2017 - St. Jerome's Creek, Solomons

We left our anchorage around 8:00 and headed toward the Chesapeake.  The day was cloudy and windy and, once we hit the Chesapeake, the waters got pretty rough.  We think it was the roughest water we had ever been in.  After a while, we decided this wasn't for us and found shelter for the night in St. Jerome's Creek, which was still a little wavy.  We then had to pick up everything that had fallen. We spent the afternoon listening to the Coast Guard searching for an overturned vessel and people in the water.  I think they found most of the people but the helicopter was still flying around Thursday morning looking for the last person and a Coast Guard cutter was still searching for the boat.  Thursday was a better day, so we headed to Calvert Marina in Solomons.  Our first disappointment was that the courtesy car we were expecting to use to run errands had died, so we had to rely on Burt's Taxi.  We ran errands to Walgreens, the grocery store and then spent the rest of the day doing chores around the boat.  Thursday we took a dinghy ride around the area and then went to the Calvert Marine Museum.  The museum had exhibits covering every aspect of marine life.  First up was a tour through the Drum Point Lighthouse which had been relocated to the museum grounds.  It is a cottage style lighthouse which was home to many families over the years.  Next was a trip around Back Creek and Patuxent River aboard the Wm. B. Tennison which was built in 1899 (because we don't ever get to ride around in a boat).  We then wandered through all the exhibits at the museum.  There was a display of old boats dating back to the first canoes that were built from tree trunks. When we returned to the boat, we noticed a looper boat in so we invited them to the boat for a few minutes and we all then went out to dinner.  Don and Helen (Sea Honey) are from Canada and are on the last portion of their loop.  It was a delightful evening with a full moon shining on us on our way back to the boat.

This is what rough waters will do - what a mess

Coast Guard Cutter looking for the overturned boat

Entering Solomons Island

St. Peter's Episcopal Church built in 1889

A large family of ducks swimming around

Solomons is one marina after another

Entrance to the Calvert Marine Museum

The Drum Point Lighthouse

One of the rooms inside the lighthouse

Solomons from our boat tour

One of the many exhibits - a turtle and crab

There were two sea otters

This beautiful cardinal happened to come by while we were walking around

The Wm. B. Tennison - we took a one hour tour around the area

Dinner with Helen and Don

Beautiful full moon for our dinghy ride back to the boat