2011-10-20 - in Deltaville, VA

2011-10-19 - to Deltaville, VA

When we woke this morning it was really windy and raining...not what the forecast predicted.  We could not get Internet on Tangier Island at all which was frustrating.   We are using a 'Mifi' from Verizon for the US portion of the trip, but it was not catching a signal.  I had since learned that high speed didn't come to Tangier until spring last year, so catching a connection on the island to do a quick check on weather didn't work either.  As I was walking into town, the weather died down completely and the sky became blue.  It must have been a front passing through.  I hurried back to the boat to find out what Kerry had picked up for weather on the marine radio.   After another check we said good-bye to Milton Parks and his many cats and headed out to Deltaville.   It was only a 4-hour run so it wasn't so bad.  We probably need to stay here tomorrow.  First, laundry is approaching critical levels...and, the weather is not  going to be great.  We'll see tomorrow!

2011-10-18 - to Tangier Island, VA

  

What a day…where to begin.  First, we left Solomons Island at 7am thinking we would be sneaking out of the anchorage before anyone else woke.  As we were pulling anchor we could see a few boats stirring as well.  As we left the channel into the Bay we knew we were not alone.  There was about 20 or so boats all in pursuit of another location.  This is probably the first time that we have been around other boats going south.  I feel that we are now on the right track.  It was a relatively easy day. ..just a few crab pot mine fields to go through, but that was it. Kerry managed that one though, as we had to do a few hours of school work.   Our destination today was Tangier Island, Virginia with a population of less than 1000.  Most of the inhabitants speak a unique English Restoration era dialect of American English.  Each of the original inhabitants' surnames, many of which are still found on the island, originated in the UK.  The main industry is crabbing and tourism and it is evident with the many crab shacks and boats that encircle the island.   We pulled up to Parks Marina and Milton Parks, who is the owner of this marina, helped us tie up. He is a very sweet 80-year old man that has lived on Tangier for all of his life.   He has only 3 slips and we are the only ones here.  We realized that we were the only visitors to this island. 

After we docked we decided to jump onto shore and explore the town.  It is so quaint  and it reminded me a lot of what the towns are like in the Bahamas.  I just love the feel of these little towns.  We walked the small streets, pulling aside only for golf carts and bicycles.  A man stopped for a moment as he noticed we were a cruising family.  He was also a cruiser and came up this way over a year ago.  He ended up staying and now he runs the local history museum.  He offered to open up the museum if we were interested.  We had decided to do that tomorrow if were staying and try to find the beach instead.  He had also mentioned that the beach was one of the best in the Chesapeake.  We would be silly not to try to find out for ourselves.  It was about a mile away but the thought of dipping our feet in the water kept all of us going.

After a few winding roads, a couple of little bridges we made it.  It was beautiful.  By the time we were done both boys were soaked and very happy!  We walked back and found our way to Lorraine’s Restaurant (Milton Parks granddaughter served us).  Connor was intent on trying crabs since he has seen so much of the industry over the last couple of weeks.   He loved it!  Dylan had a Dr. Pepper and most of my fish dinner.  I couldn’t believe how much he ate.  It was so good to see that!  I hope he keeps it up.  As we were sitting having dinner we noticed that in the building across the laneway a small window had opened and a lady (turns out to be Milton Parks niece) was selling something out of it.  Connor jumped out to see what it was all about.  Already a few kids had showed up and gone away with a bag of something.  As it turned out, they were having a special day for raising money for the local school.  And, in conjunction with the selling of treats, they were also having a special Halloween Scare evening on an island only 5 minutes away.  After dinner Connor and I walked down to the dock to catch the boat.  They only took people in groups of 10 to the island.  The students in the school put on the event and did a great job.  The premise of the evening was that there was a disease on Tangier Island that was incurable.  All of the sick people had to be quarantined on this island.  It was pitch black when we got there which added to our anxiety.  There was a building there and as we approached, you could hear screams and banging inside.   There was also a scuffle on the top floor that caused a body to be thrown to the ground.    As we turned the corner, we were suddenly startled again with a group jumping up and throwing more body parts at us.  The tour took us on very dark paths as patients from the island screamed and ran by us.  It was done very well.  Connor was certainly a little unsettled by the event, but he claims to love this sort of thing.  He did want me to sit for a few minutes while he drifted off to sleep.  I didn’t blame him.  I still had the feeling that something was going to jump out at me! 

Another couple of tidbits for this town were that there were quite old grave stones at the front of several houses.  We read that they kept them there so that they could keep them safe from Grave robbers and keep them at higher ground or flooding..  Tangier is very flat and, at high tide, some of the island becomes submerged.   Also, the island is a haven for cats.  Milton Parks had 26 of them alone. 

2011-10-17 - in Solomons Island, MD



Enjoying the 'touch tank' -
turtles, horsehoe crabs, starfish, urchins



Dylan tickles a starfish!

We have heard that Solomons Island was a place to stay so we decided to have a break and enjoy the place for the day instead of moving on.  We mostly spent time at the Calvert Marine Museum.  We are anchored just outside the dinghy dock so it was a very short little skip and we were there.  It was again a great way to spend a Monday - on a field trip.  It was such a great learning museum.  At each station, there was an interpreter that would give an overview and ask any questions.  It was very thorough and Connor asked so many great questions.  It was great.  The main areas were a sting ray tank, fossils, and local ecology.  There was also another fabulous lighthouse.  This area is very rich in fossils and we learned how the Chesapeake was formed over the millions of years and how the sediments were laid down in the cliffs.  One great surprise was when the other boat, Larose des Vents arrived at the museum.  They had also arrived in Solomons yesterday.  They had also met another family from a boat that is participating in the Caribbean 1500.  This is a 10 day (or so, with weather) trip across the Atlantic to the British Virgin Islands.  The best thing is that you travel with several hundred boats all going in the same direction and you have the support of the travellers and organizers.  I met Julie from that boat, and she explained the details.  It sounds very interesting but 10 days at sea....not so sure. :)  

digging for sharks teeth and other fossils in the sand pit!



Connor's getting right into it!



Getting 1:1 instruction on fossil preparation



Whoah!  say no more....





Another great day!!



2011-10-16 - to Solomons Island, MD

 We decided that this morning, we would take another run towards Solomons Island.  We started this trek a few day ago.  Actually, from St. Michaels on the 13th.  We headed out from St. Michaels and, because the wind direction was right on our nose...so were the waves.  We decided to turn into Cambridge.  It was about a 2.5 hour detour to Cambridge, but it was worth it.  Today, however, we decided just to push through and get there.  The Chesapeake Bay is a great spot for many different anchorages, but, they are within 1 to 3 hours off of the main channels..so, you really have to plan it.  The waves were, indeed, against us today.  Water was spraying over the bow most of the trip.  We were all great though.  The boys seemed unaffected by it all.  I was in and out most of the day, but they quite enjoyed and for the most part didn't even notice that water was running over the windows above their head.  We pulled into Solomons Island finally at 5:30pm.  It was a very busy area for boats.  Lot of local marinas and a good representation of cruising boats sat in the anchorages that run all along the creek.  We squeezed ourselves in and turned off the motors.  We finally made it!  Connor decided that he wanted to sleep in the cockpit in his hammock.  We thought it would only be a whim and he would be back in his bed within the hour.  The wind was howling through the canvas, but he  managed to rock himself to sleep and remained there until the morning!  So, we are now quite excited about the progress.  From here it could be only 2 days to Norfolk and then into the intercoastal.  I am really looking forward to easy motoring. 

2011-10-15 - to Oxford, MD

The wind was, again, going to be on our nose.  We decided to make a short run for Oxford - just so that we could have a head start on our trip to Solomons Island.  As we pulled in towards Oxford, we could see the superyacht, "Silver Shalis" in the distance heading also towards Oxford.  This is a 174-foot ship that we saw the other day on our way to St. Michaels.  We believe that it is owned by the developer of the new twin tower site in NYC.  Not sure though...a quick Google search gave us that info.  We pulled into the anchorage outlined in Skipper Bobs.  Unfortunately, the water seemed a little lower than normal and we touched a bit at 2.3 feet.  We only need another half a foot so it wasn't for long.  There was a 52-foot catamaran in the anchorage just ahead of us that was also on the bottom.  We were all floating in no time.  We ended up moving up in the anchorage to avoid the next low water cycle.  The 52-foot catamaran also moved ahead.   Kerry read the description of the town.  It stated that Oxford has not changed since the 1950's and is very 'boring' - and the people like it this way.  This turned Connor right off and he didn't even want to get off to explore the town this time.  Kerry did feel like heading out.  He came back to inform us that the description was, in fact, on the mark.  He didn't find anything too much to do in the town.  He ended up have a great chat with the fellow on the 52-foot catamaran. This Australian couple has been out for 5 years now and have sailed all over the world.  wow! 

2011-10-14 - in Cambridge, MD

 When we woke up we checked the weather and the wind would continue to be in the same direction as the day prior.  We decided to stay where we were and head out the following morning.  I decided to take the boys downtown for a walk while Kerry did some chores around the boat.  We landed on the couple of thrift stores.  Connor had a great time looking for things for his Hallowe’en Costume.   It was a lot of fun.  When we got back Kerry told Connor about the Crab factory next to the water that another boater had gone to to purchase some crabs.  He wanted to go to purchase one for a pet!  We had a walk over to have our first look at the crabs.  Later in the day, we jumped on one of the city buses to Walmart.

2011-10-13 - to Cambridge, MD

We headed out of the harbour of  St. Michaels (at 8:45am) heading towards Solomons Island.  The winds were on our nose (SW) making the waves strong and the boat, unable to sail.  We were taking a lot of waves over the bow and decided about ½ way there to abandon the path and head toward Cambridge.  The good part about that is that the wind would be more favourable for sailing and the waves wouldn’t be streaming over our deck!  The con on that decision was that it was about 2.5 hours in the wrong direction.   Because we would have to double back the following day….this actually adds 5 hours to the trip – in effect, a whole other day.  But, it was a very rocky day and, I think, it was a great decision.  We landed in Cambridge at the town wall at 3:30pm, in front of the county offices.  As we were tying up an elderly lady came up to us and whispered that she wanted to speak to the gentleman.  After a few tries at trying to decipher her whispers, we did determine it was Kerry she wanted to speak to so Kerry went over to her.  She spoke quietly and pointed to some houses behind the town hall.  I figured that she may be warning of the local bordello – no big deal. ;)  When he came back he whispered…’they have just issued a tornado watch’.  She didn’t want the ‘women and children to hear’.  We hadn’t seen this on the forecast so we immediately checked and, sure enough, there was one in effect until 9pm.  But, the interesting thing was that it was mainly on the western shore, where we were headed and only our county on the eastern shore.  I was looking around at all of the other people in town going about their business.  There was a restaurant next to us that was starting to serve up the supper crowd.  A few local children were playing on the dock with their family.  Surely, shouldn’t they be running home and barricading themselves in the basement?  It seemed like an ordinary day.  Perhaps, they get these warning all of the time?  We were just about to unload our bikes and head out for a bike ride when she came with the news…so, we abandoned that idea and began to ensure that we were all tied up according to ‘tornado standards’ and put our loose things away.  After that, we did brave it a bit with a short walk around town.  Cambridge is another lovely old town.  The history seems to be tied in to the underground railroad and the slaves.  We walked towards to point and as we rounded the corner we saw two news vans waiting in the parking lot overlooking the open water – one of the vans was complete with a  transmission tower on it.  I just assumed that they were there to film any wind effects that were soon to be upon us.  I couldn’t resist asking them what they knew and when they thought the tornado would come.  They kind of looked at us blankly and informed us that they didn’t think anything would happen there.  They simply film the news every night from that location.  Relieved, we finished our walk and closed up the boat for the night.  There wasn’t even a howling wind to make us suspicious.  Quite uneventful.

2011-10-12 - in St. Michaels, MD

This morning it is raining and blowing in the anchorage.  We are enjoying the moment where we can just hang out and catch up on school work. Currently, however, we are enjoying a video of the Shards (from a boat called Distant Shores) and getting exciting about the Bahamas portion of the trip.  We just saw an episode outlining Compass Cay where you can swim with the sharks right in the marina.  Connor is so excited about that!  For me, the clear, warm water is what I can't wait for!  After a lively school session, we put the table back down into a 'couch'.  We decided to put it back up a few days ago but we soon realized that the comfy couch configuration is way better for hanging out on.  Especially for Dylan as well.  Without the couch he needs to remain seated, so this is great for him.  As soon as the last cushion went in - the wrestling began!  School was officially over.  The wind and rocking had settled down so we had decided to make a run for shore.  Sure enough, however a big rain cloud moved in as we were getting in the dinghy. Connor and Kerry decided that they would make a run for it.  I didn't feel as adventurous.  I had decided to stay behind with Dylan and play with him for a bit.  Kerry and Connor hit the museum again.  He wanted to see if they had live crabs to look at today.  It turned out they didn't.  We have been trying to catch them today off the back of the boat.  Just to have a look at and put back.  To do this, you take a piece of chicken with bone and tie it to a piece of string and dangle it over the edge of the boat.  When you think you have a crab on it, you slowly lift if up until you have your crab.  We didn't have the right foods to put on but an assure you that banana isn't a crab favourite!

2011-10-11 - to St. Michaels, MD

We left the 'Spoony's' at 10:00am.  It was so nice to see them again but it was time to throw our lines if we ever want to make it to the warmer climate.  We landed in St. Michaels later in the afternoon.  St. Michaels is one of the most popular places on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake.  It was first settled in the 17th century which is evident from all of the older buildings in the town.  We dinghied to shore to enjoy the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  It was a pleasant surprise as there was a lot to see and do there.  The Hooper Strait Lighthouse  is a real Chesapeake Bay lighthouse that we got to climb as well. On our way to shore Connor spotted a jellyfish called a stinging nettle.  He was so thrilled, as he has never seen a wild jellyfish and was so happy to spot it so that we could also see it.   Great Day! 



The teacher has to increase discipline in the boat



Is this fish in season? 

Kerry and Connor try to harvest Oysters off of the dock at the Maritime Museum

Dylan tries his hand at the Oyster harvest!  Looks like we're having spaghetti tonight!!

Dylan has a new friend!

Climbing the old Chesapeake lighthouse.

The Chesapeake lighthouse at the Maritime Museum - Connor had to climb one more time
to the top!

2011-10-10 - in Little Round Bay, MD

2011-10-09 - to Little Round Bay, MD

The lovely view from the dock!

Today, we are leaving Annapolis.  It is a great town...but, there are so many other places to see and do.  We pulled anchor at 9:30am to head up river to visit a lovely family that we met last trip.  They have a wonderful spot on the water that they were gracious enough to allow us to stay on their dock.   It was really great to see them and catch up.  It's been 2 years since we have seen them and we always look forward to reminiscing about life on the water.  They hope that they can do it again and something tells me that they just might.




2011-10-08 - in Annapolis, MD

The anchorage here was so rocky from the passing boats in the outside channel.  We decided to run into town to get a bit of peace.  But first we had to call the "pump-out" boat.  No one really likes a pump out, let alone calling for one over the public radio, but, Annapolis has a pump out boat and when your tanks are full, for $5 they will take care of you.  We got that order of business out of the way and headed into town.  We went to the shore opposite the boat show and tied up at the end of one of the streets.  Every street has a little tie up which is great.  It was just a short walk over the bridge back to downtown.   Connor was obsessed with spending his allowance on an Iron Man figure from a comic store.  With some attempt at coaching him on this purchase (trying to persuade him that he didn't need it) he did it anyway.  We are trying to teach him to save a bit of his money, but it is a new concept and, I am sure with a little bit of time he will hold onto it for longer than a day.  Fingers crossed.  We stayed on shore until the very last minute when we jumped back in the dinghy before sunrise.  The anchorage had settled down.  When we got back to the boat not too many things were out of place from the rocking. 

2011-10-07 - in Annapolis, MD

Connor checks out the stairs leading down to the water
while Kerry finalizes the bill on our new boat !  ;)

Today we did the boat show.  We ended up taking the water taxi into the show today, instead of braving the dingy dock.  Yesterday, it was very busy and today it is the first full day of regular admission...it may be busier.  The water taxi is neat.  You hail them over the radio, describe your boat and location and they come right over.  Quite handy.  We lined up and  got our tickets for the boat show.  It is such a busy place.  The show is all outside and mostly on the docks so you soon get disoriented.  We went to the catamaran section first.  They had, I think, one 'small' catamaran that was 39 feet...but, the rest were in the 40's and 50's.  They are quite large and have way too many features and space that they seem a little overboard (But, for the record, if one showed up at the dock with our name on it....I could get quite used to it! ;)  )  Connor got hooked on a small sailboat demo section that they had set up for kids.  It was the first time he had tried the small boats and now he is hooked.  We definitely will set him up for sailing school for the summer.  The treat today was seeing the large gang from QCYC that take a pilgrimage to the boat show every year.  We ended up meeting up for happy hour and then called it a night when the boat show ended early evening.  It was a long day and the scorching sun all day made crashing into bed early the next item on the days agenda. 

Connor has definitely caught the 'bug'!  This was from the first session.  The last 3 he did solo!