Days 54-56 - Fun with other Loopers

Current Position: 38° 19' 52" N 76° 27' 32" W

Day of quick decisions.  After being without internet for two days, the first thing I checked when we found a cell tower was weather.  We do learn our lessons – even if it’s the hard way.  We had planned on visiting Tangier Island, St. Mary’s City, and then Solomons Island, but after seeing the weather forecast for the next 5 days we sadly gave up the longed for trip to Tangier and St. Mary’s City and headed directly to Solomons Island.  Several other Loopers were also headed there so we made a party of it and had docktails again when we were all docked or anchored.  It was a LOOONG day on the water – 58 miles – across the mouth of the Potomac River.  This stretch can be really dicey in the wrong weather conditions but our crossing couldn’t have been smoother!  We saw lots of different ships and boats.  Even in good weather it’s hard to take pictures when the boat is moving around but I think I got some good ones. 

Not sure what this one is

A Ro-Ro (roll-on/roll-off) ship:

A different type of Ro-Ro ship:

 Such a LOOOONNNNNGGGG barge passing a not so long sailboat.

This dry bulk cargo ship was a long way away but I managed to stay steady enough to zoom in.

And lots of pleasure boats as well...

Sail...

"Go fast"...

And cruisers (like us). This is our friends' boat, "Let's Go"

We also passed some wildlife.

Haven't seen pelican's for awhile.  I love the reflection of this guy's beak.

I think this is my best picture yet of Ospreys.

What kind of bird is this?

And we passed another lighthouse.

We pulled into the harbor at Solomons Island at nearly 4:00.  Haven’t seen so many boats in one place since we bought The Good Life.  The harbor here is popular because of the depth and protection from the weather.  5:30 seems like a popular time for the fisherman to leave and they don’t seem to be able to read “no wake”.  Needless to say, “sleeping in” doesn’t happen here!  One of the Looper boats went on to Annapolis Thursday morning.  The rest of us hunkered down in our boats to stay dry and warm.  It rained all day with a high of 55!  We turned on our generator to warm us up and do a load of laundry.  We turned it on again later in the afternoon just to warm up a bit!  Friday was a bit dryer at the start of the day so we jumped ship (in the dinghy) and did the tourist thing with our friends on Let’s Go.  

Lots of shopping at trendy stores, lunch at the Tiki Bar and then a visit to the local maritime museum with a wonderful restored lighthouse on the property.

It's called a screwpile cottage lighthouse and literally screwed into the ground. It is one of 3 left of the original 45 in the Chesapeake Bay.

It is restored in the early 1900's style.  The fog "horn" was a bell was struck with a sledge hammer that was controlled by counterweights and it struck the bell every 15 seconds during a foggy night.  Try sleeping with THAT going off!

You can just see the bell outside the window.  The sliding panel allowed the hammer to strike the bell.

Inside the museum is aquatic life in the area including rays and skates.  The two types are both related to sharks in that they have cartilage instead of bones.  Rays have poisonous whip like tails and are born live.  Skates have non-poisonous thicker tails and are hatched from eggs called a mermaid's purse. 

 They are so cute after they hatch.

We also learned that Drum Point (where the lighthouse was) was the first Amphibious training center in the US during WWII. The depth of the water (the deepest in the Chesapeake I think) made it a good location.  

That night we had a wonderful invitation from the Harbor Host here (volunteers who help Loopers with mail, information, transportation, etc.) to join he and his wife at their yacht club.  Pouring down rain but we dinghyed over and had a marvelous visit.

Anchored 3 nights outside Calvert Marina, Solomons Island.