May 17, 2019
Kind of wordy today but it was a busy day. We are now a solid month into our great loop adventure and
so far it’s been a great time. A few minor missteps here and there but nothing detrimental. Overall, our progress seems on point from a
time and mileage standpoint as we’ve now completed over 600 miles of the
roughly 6000+ total miles.
Solomons gave us an
opportunity to provision at both West Marine for boat supplies as well as a true grocery store. We needed to stock up on real
food as our plan is to anchor out for the next several days at various eastern
shore gunkholes. While in Solomons we
had to get some crabcakes. After sampling
them at most all the local eateries last year the ones at Stoney’s Kingfisher
were our favorite. So off we went during
happy hour for a beer and crabcakes.
They did not disappoint!! True
Maryland style with lump crab meat – big chunks, no filler and just a little
binder to hold it together. Broiled –
not fried. YUMMY!!
After 2 great days in Solomons and
the SIYC we headed back across the bay to the eastern shore and up the Tred
Avon River to the town of Oxford. A
wonderful day to be out on the water with southwesterly breezes at 10 knots or
less generating nice rolling 1 foot following seas. A roughly 38.5 mile trip that took us 4-3/4
hours. Yes, trawler speed is pretty leisurely!!
Calvert Cliffs. Lots of prehistoric fossils in them.
Cove Point lighthouse and LNG storage tanks in background
The MERIDIAN SPIRIT an LNG tanker getting unloaded
Oxford has a well-protected harbor, several nice marinas and
2 anchoring areas. One anchorage with
deeper water and one too shallow for our 5’ draft. We were surprised to see both anchorages empty
except for our looper buddy boat “Cat and Dogs” so we took a prime spot in the
deeper area.
At anchor in Oxford Harbor
Originally, we thought we’d just anchor for the day and then head
for a more secluded creek at night but no one else ever came so we decided this
would work out fine for the night. It
gave us time to do some exploring. We
finally got the dingy back in the water. It had been sitting up on the sundeck
since that really bad crossing from Cape Charles to Crisfield where it broke
free and had to be dragged aboard. Got
the motor on and headed to the town dingy dock. Up to the main street where we found the
town library, museum, art gallery and grocery store. Their entire commercial district is one block
long and just on one side of the street.
"Downtown" Oxford - museum is first building on left
Oxford - Established 1683
We hit the museum first and learned
the city was one of the original English ports dating back to the late 1600’s. It prospered as a trade center until the
American Revolution. Then the British
cut them off and it declined. It then became
another of the oyster towns in the late 1800’s with a rail line taking goods to
Philly and New York. When the oysters
got overharvested it died out again.
Now it’s pretty much a very well healed retirement and boating
destination. Very quant with most homes
maintained or restored. All sorts of
architectural styles. At times it looks
colonial, other times coastal New England and we even came across a Charleston
style with the side entry door and double porches. At the museum we were told we must get ice cream
down by the water at a little shop called the Scotish Highland Creamery. One
block over and 2 blocks down – look for the crowd. All made fresh daily right on site. The coffee expresso ice cream was amazing!
On the way to the ice creamery we passed a boatyard called
Cutts & Case. Big red building
facing the street with a huge front window displaying some old wooden
boats. Outside was a sign “Visitors
Welcome”. We walked down past the
building towards the waterfront and met a worker who told us “it’s not a
museum or anything but if you want to go look at the boats in the shop feel
free to look around.” Then off he went to work on installing a wooden
mast into an older wooden sailboat laying against the bulkhead. There were boats of all types and all sizes
in all stages of refurbishment. It was
eye opening to see the quality of paintwork and varnish work on the finished boats. Also eye opening to see their condition before work starts on them. Keeping any wooden boat is a labor of love
and you can tell these guys put their heart into every project.
As we were coming up the river towards town earlier in the day,
we could see a bunch of remote-controlled sailboats being raced by the shore. Found out at the museum that it was some sort
of world championship meet being held at the local sailing club. We went over and had a look. These guys were serious and the competition
was pretty fierce as they sailed their boats around various buoys defining the
course.
We then walked back to the
harbor and stopped for a beer and another crabcake (decent but not quite as
good as yesterdays) before dingying back to the boat for the night.
Homes along the Tred Avon River wterfront
Robert Morris Inn. Financier of American Revolution and Signer of Declaration of Independence
Pretty view from our waterfront dining table. Sure is a lovely boat!!
Another wonderful sunset on our starboard
side while a full moon rose over the water on the port side. What a great way to finish off a pretty
special day.
Sunset to the west
Moon rising to the east
Journey for May 17
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