Tangier Island, VA, Solomons Island and St. Michaels, MD. Sept 6-12

We are taking a few hours this Sunday afternoon to document some of our travels again....
We forgot to document our visit to Tangier Island by ferry from Crisfield in the last post.  It was a short trip as the ferry left Crisfield at 12:30 and arrived at 1:45, only to leave again at 4PM.  But that was long enough to take a golf cart tour of the island and have a late lunch.  Not much out there and a struggling waterman community with all the regulation imposed on crabbing, clamming, fishing and oystering. 

They do have an interesting little museum. 

The island is disappearing quickly with the rising water levels.  It's highest point is something like 4 feet above sea level.  A dry island and a couple churches serve the 570 residents.  And it gets cold and iced in during the winter.  We are glad we went by ferry, not much to do on your own boat there!  Quaint and interesting.
Out trip from Crisfield to Solomons was another nice crossing with maybe one foot waves.  As we rounded Cedar Point we were contacted by the Navy.  They indicated the area was about to be used for maneuvers and to stay a mile off shore.  Not long after there were a lot of planes taking off and it was noisy for sure!
As mentioned earlier, we used our reciprocity from the Royal March Harbour Yacht Club to slip at the Solomons Island Yacht Club.  What a welcoming community of boaters there! 
Entering the harbor.  Again, note the calm water.

 

Al was there to catch our lines on the way in, gave us an overview of the area and invited us to the clubhouse for their Wednesday night dinner. Oh, and don't forget your stay includes two free drinks he said.  Nice docks, restrooms, free laundry, reasonable price...what was not to like!  We took a long dinghy ride up Mill Creek to check out the area...very nice. 

We took a nice long walk and toured the area.  Lots of biological research labs here.

We toured the Calvert Maritime Marine Museum.  This included a tour of the Drum Point Lighthouse, built in 1883.  It was relocated to the museum in the 1970's.  Here we are arriving by dinghy to visit the museum.  Given the 105 degree heat index, it was the way to get there versus walking.  We are looking forward to some cooler temperatures!

Lighthouse keepers quarters.



 

The museum was really well done and worth a visit if you are ever in the area. A great stop in Solomons!

Many ask about how we discover what to do.  We buy a Waterway Guide for each region we visit.  We find them very helpful and well worth the $35-40 each.

On 9-9 we left for St Michaels.  Expensive but ever so cute.

They have a higher slip rate on Friday and Saturdays and we could see why.  It is so popular on the weekend and on Sunday night we were one of maybe 8-10 boats left. 

And here is the view from the Crab Claw restaurant looking over at our marina.  Yes our boat is there, just behind the larger ones....

And on Sunday night after everyone left!! Our boat is now visible....

 





A view from our boat.

And a view of the packed marina from the dinghy.

Had a nice meal Friday night at Foxy's...actually the rum drinks were much better than the bar food dinner....and they reminded us of the family trip to the BVI's Jost Van Dyke a couple years ago!

But what a great little town.  OLD homes dating back to the 1700's.



The Wickersham,  circa 1750

A couple dinners at the Crab Claw.   Very good food here!

We took a tour of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  Here it is on the right as we enter the harbor.



Here we are ready to go oystering...

 

On the oyster boat display

Met a gentleman in the boat next to us on Saturday morning who asked us if we were going to Shaw Bay to attend the free concert dinghy raft off featuring the Eastport Oyster Boys.  It was about 6 miles away and we decided to launch the dinghy and go there.  The wind was on our stern as we proceeded to the bay and it was a pretty good ride....although we knew the return trip would be a little rough if the wind did not subside some. Here is his boat Ta Ta as we are entering Shaw bay.

And here we are entering the bay on our dinghy:

Free will donations were used to support a local pump out boat doing its part to "save the bay".  The donation boat with the net to collect...the kids are looking to see how much they have collected....cute!



 

 Here is the flotilla moving closer to the band.

We met a bunch of friendly folks from a sailing club.  Appetizers were shared from dinghy to dinghy!

 

 

We answered a lot of questions about our "Michigan" dinghy...Looper, live aboard and other miscellaneous questions. 
And look at what we found in a Maryland grocery store...note they are from West Olive Michigan...can't beat Michigan blueberries (unless maybe wild Canadian ones)

We enjoyed the music for 90 minutes or so before we decided the wind was not letting up and we should get moving.  And it was rough on the way back...went about 12MPH with us both sitting in the back of the dinghy to keep the bow high on the waves.  It was a lot rougher than the video really shows....

We got to within about a mile of the marina and the engine decided to stall.  It restarted a few times and would run slow or full throttle but not much in between.  Eventually it would not restart so we flagged down a couple fisherman.  As they approached it restarted and we limped home.  I added carburetor cleaner and went out for a ride on Sunday. Got it to run a little better so filled it up with fresh gas and carburetor cleaner and ran it some more.  Called the service folks on Monday and they confirmed this particular engine has "touchy" carburetors which we already had rebuilt in summer of 2014.  He said given that, just keep using the cleaner and run it and it may clear itself up, so that is the plan.

On one of our walks we spotted a Maryland crab in a small tidal pool.  And yes they are delicious!

We are having such a great time exploring we are a bit behind on our postings....so more later....