Bay Lights, Crossing the Potomac, Flies and Solomons Island, Merryland

Bavarian Cream in Deltaville

We had only planned on spending 3 days in Deltaville then moving on to the Solomons, MD. However, the morning of the fourth day it rained and was overcast, so we opted for another day in port. Most of the fellow boaters and loopers we had encountered over the weekend had moved on, and we pretty much had the marina to ourselves. We rode our bikes into town, because Jane wanted to get some more strawberries at a produce stand we had seen. The stand was out of strawberries, but we did get some really nice melons, tomatoes, and peaches. We rode our bikes to West Marine to pick up a new American flag as ours had started to tear apart. After stopping at a delicatessen for lunch, and the post office, we headed back to the boat and read our books, had dinner, and watched another of Todd's movies.

Smith Point Light

Point Lookout Light

The next day we left the marina early, because we had to cover around 65 miles to make it to the Solomons. Along the way we encountered some abandoned lighthouses that are now automated. These lights all had a great history in their heyday and they are still really cool to see. Sometimes in the distance they look like large ships on the water and it isn't until you get closer to them that you realize they are not moving, nor are they ships. Around noon two things occurred. One we started to cross the Potomac River, and two, we somehow attracted a large population of biting flies. The mouth of the Potomac is around 10 miles wide from Smith Point, VA to Point Lookout, MD. The weather was sunny and hot with calm winds, and in the heat of the day it seemed that we would never reach the other side. Compounding this situation, we had hordes of large, biting flies that could draw blood in just a few seconds.

Point No Point Light

Jane was wildly thrashing everything with a flyswatter, but it seemed like they had called in reinforcements. We had fly carcasses and blood splatters all over the boat, but finally had to cover ourselves with towels and perform a perpetual shaking motion to get any relief. We got to the Solomons and into our boat slip just as the skies were beginning to darken and signal some afternoon rains. We decided to stay here a week, because our next stop, Annapolis, is all booked up because of the naval academy graduation over the Memorial Day weekend. Besides, just staying put and chilling out is part of the plan!

At the Chesapeake "Bugeye" monument

Historical marker

On the boardwalk

The next day we got our bikes down and rode the length of the island to scout it out. We saw some historical markers and rode on the boardwalk, stopping at a seafood shop where we thought we would buy some fresh seafood for supper. No way, Jose! The prices they were asking were outrageous at $18 for a pound of 16-20 shrimp, and $44 for a dozen blue crabs (which we assume were boiled or steamed with that wimpy Old Bay seasoning). While not Jane's favorite, we decided to go back and cook up the rest of our sea scallops we had purchased in North Carolina. We passed the University of Maryland coastal and estuary studies facility which Capt. Larry knew all about from articles he had read when he was getting his oceanography degree. The Patuxent River, which Solomon's Island borders, is the most studied river in the world with regard to impacts from land use and watershed and drainage basin changes. It was cool to see these facilities firsthand after having read so much about them. We returned to the boat and Capt. Larry made a scallop fettuccine using a prepared alfredo sauce, butter, onions, celery, bell pepper, diced tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and grated cheddar cheese which Jane thought was really great (he's learned that she will eat anything with enough cheese, butter, or bacon!).

The next morning we went to the Calvert Marine Museum on the recommendation of some fellow loopers. We were not disappointed. This is really a great museum and is very well done.

Drum Point light replica

Jane & "Megatooth," a giant Minocene shark

Active museum paleontology lab

They have a replica of the decommissioned Drum Point Lighthouse which warned of shoals at the mouth of the Patuxent River. This was the first "screwpile" lighthouse that we have encountered, and is a construction method is used when soft, muddy bottoms are encountered. The pilings were hand-screwed into the bottom and the lighthouse then constructed on the pilings. Capt. Larry went up into all three levels of the replica. We then toured the museum's exhibits which covered early fossil finds in the area, current Chesapeake Bay wildlife, a really cool display about invasive species, area seafood packing operations and boat building, to modern day military operations at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. There was something for everyone. Capt. Larry returned to the boat to clean the raw water strainers, while Jane took off to get a pedicure.

Jane's feet soaking it up

From the looks of it, Jane got the better deal! Later that afternoon Rick & Betsy Johnson of Rick and Roll berthed next to us and the four of us joined another looper couple from Sweet Grass for docktails in the picnic area then off to a seafood restaurant for dinner.

The TV lounge with a TV!

Jim Nabors doing his thing!

Capt. Larry's pick wins!

One of the things we were looking forward to for Memorial Day weekend was watching the Indianapolis 500 race on TV. We had given our tickets to Milana & Tracy who were in Indianapolis thoroughly enjoying themselves. Our problem, however, was we didn't have any TV reception on the boat, the marina didn't have cable at the docks, and the "TV lounge" that they advertised didn't have a TV. We befriended one of the dockmasters who told us that we could watch the race with him on satellite TV in the marina office. The marina has great facilities and offers "on demand" shuttle service to anywhere on the island, a pool, and no less than 13 restroom and shower facilities. However, we thought it was odd that they couldn't provide a TV or computer terminal for general use like most of the marinas we have visited. They have some really strong points and some major weak points. Anyway, we arrived at the marina office on race day with food. Buckets of fried chicken, coleslaw, biscuits, and potato chips. It wasn't gourmet fare, but when you are limited as to where you can shop, you do the best you can. We started watching the race preliminaries when the marina staff announced that they had put a TV in the TV lounge especially for us and that we would be much more comfortable there. We arrived with our goodies and took over the lounge much to the chagrin of some readers and young kids who had no interest in open-wheel racing. We shared our food with the marina staff and found the race to be one of the best we have ever watched. Capt. Larry officially picked Dan Wheldon to win and that prognostication turned out to be true. Winning the race on the last lap is always a climactic ending. We returned to the boat and took naps then had dinner and went to bed.

A Deltaville sunset