Solomons Island to Deltaville to Hampton

 

We decided to spend a second day, Sunday, relaxing in Solomons Island at beautifully landscaped Spring Cove Marina with a bike ride and a visit to West Marine to get a smaller halyard as the clutch’s teeth may have worn enough or the line has swelled so that getting the main down is virtually impossible without great effort. We visited the Calvert Maritime Museum which is for a small town absolutely wonderful to see the quality of the exhibits. They have reclaimed the Drum Island light

which is one of four remaining screwpile designs anywhere so that it is on display, plus a paleontological display of fossils from the nearby cliffs,

a bugeye fishing vessel, several aquarium specimens including a river otter; and most amazing a skeleton of a megaladon (an extinct 60 ft, 60 ton shark).
Closest restaurant Anglers provided a bit of an undesirably bright atmosphere with noisy bar, but a pretty good hamburger and some unusual and creative spiral curly fries.

Taken from the Wiens Lord Nelson "Fair Wind"

  Monday with an absolutely terrific weather forecast, after waiting for early morning fog to clear,
we travelled the 60 miles to Deltaville , past the mighty entrance to the Potomac River, and hands down one of the best marinas anywhere, Dozier’s. We lounged on the porch of the marina in wood rockers for an hour enjoying one of the most beautiful sunsets ever,

and then ate on board with most of the restaurants closed, but reconnected with Mike and Linda Wiens and dog Riley.
For one of the first times the weather was warm enough during our trip to sit on the forward deck out in the 65 degree sunshine. Upon arrival we could tell that we had crossed the line to Virginia and a more southern location as accents changed as well as the manners, more pelican sightings, and the beautiful marshlands of tidal waters with southern pines scenting the air.

 Tuesday regretfully needing to make some additional mileage south we departed in calm seas amidst an absolute crowded bay of fishing boats, traveling the whole distance under motor with building seas, patchy fog and drizzle, increasing winds to Hampton Roads. The river is the sight of the historic Merrimac/Monitor Civil War battle and numerous museums. We plan to stay two nights to prepare our plan for the next week on the ICW starting just across from us on the James River in Norfolk. Great pizza dinner tonight at Venture restaurant with a wonderfully balanced appetizer of just spicy enough meatballs with a sweet sour thai sauce, basil and fried onions on top.

 In addition to the above mentioned fishing frenzy of boat dropping chum and circling to net their catch, we have witnessed caravans of large fishing vessels traveling everywhere along the Chesapeake and more crabpots than we could ever count showing up in the most unusual and unexpected location; so a sharp watch has constantly been at the helm. The cats are still mostly enjoying their days on the boat, and as we are the time spent with them