Deltaville to Solomon VA

On Wednesday May 21st we are finally back on the water. WOO HOO!!! It was a calm day on the Chesapeake. As we left Deltaville Marina and passed the Red 4 Marker, I took this picture of an Osprey nest with chicks. Yesterday, when we pasted this same nest, the mother Osprey was in the nest. We were very close to R4 Marker and she and I were eyeball to eyeball. I would have loved to have captured that picture.  But, I was too slow with the camera. Some great pictures are lost because many moments are wonderful but fleeting. I can't wait for camera glasses. What joy it will be when a timely blink will trigger the taking of a great photo.

We docked at Calvert Marina in Solomons, VA. A great place to stay ($1.00 per foot per night.) Best bargain yet. Just across the dock from our boat is one of the top ten restaurants we have experienced "The Back Creek Bistro".  Fabulous food and a generous bar tender.

Our hope was to leave Solomon's  today (5-23-14) and travel to Oxford MD and then St. Michaels MD.  Bad weather and marina availability on a holiday weekend keeps us here until Tuesday.

This gives us a day to see more Solomon Island sites. Calvert Marine Museum was a treat. It offered a good history of local boating and had many old wood boats on display.

This is an example of the Native American log canoe that the early settlers saw in use when they came to this new land. Always looking to improve and simplify a good idea, they developed and built their version of the log canoe and called it the Colonial Dugout or "Punt". The punt was lighter, faster and was not nearly as labor intensive as having to scoop out the inside of the log after resting hot coals on the wood that needed to be removed, scooping the charred wood out, then repeating the process.

The Drum Point lighthouse, pictured below, was taken out of the water and moved to the Calvert Museum. 

Drum Point Lighthouse dominates the museum's waterfront.  This screwpile, cottage-type light is only one of three remaining from forty-five that once served the Chesapeake Bay at the beginning of the twentieth century.  Decommissioned in 1962, the lighthouse fell victim to vandals until moved to its present site in 1975.  Beautifully restored, complete with furnishings of the early twentieth century, it has become the waterfront's main attraction and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Tours are guided, and the schedule varies seasonally. "Per Wikipedia"

Since we could not move the boat, we decided the best use of our time was to rent a car to see Oxford MD and St. Michaels MD. We drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Toured Oxford and then took a short ride to St. Michaels on the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry. 

In Oxford we saw a grand collection of old wood boats at Cutts & Case, Inc.

One of the boats sitting in the Cutts & Case yard was the Cape Dory Typhoon sailboat. This was my first and only boat before Ithaka and will always have a fond place in my memory for the eleven years I owned and sailed it on the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River. My first experience on the 19' Cape Dory, which I named "Invictus", was when I purchased it and a friend and I sailed it from a marina north of Baltimore, down the Chesapeake and up the Potomac to Quantico, Va in late November. But that is a story for another time and place.

Oxford MD is a place I could live. A lovely little town with 2 five star restaurants. We had brunch at The Robert Morris Inn. Jack had sausage and eggs. I had...

After brunch, we sat for a while at the Oxford Town Park and watched children play in the water and enjoyed the view of the Chesapeake.

Oxford has a quiet charm, and beautiful architecture that provides a haven like atmosphere.