Month: July 2019

Happy 4th of July (very belatedly)

Posted on by Maggie Selo

We headed to Solomons MD on Wednesday because we had read that they have great fireworks on the 4th. It was very hot and humid and we seriously thought about skipping the fireworks because it was a 15 minute walk to a good viewing area. But we decided since we had made a real effort to get into a marina there, we had to go. And it was worth it! They shot them off continuously for 20 minutes, and many times they shot off a low one followed by one going higher through that one.

I tried to get some shots, but this is the best I could do. This was toward the end and the smoke was getting so thick it started to block out the fireworks!

Friday we headed to Deale MD, where we will be until Wednesday, when we will head to Annapolis.

On the way to Deale we passed the Calvert Cliffs, an almost 30 mile stretch of fossil-laden clay strata that is 10-25 million years old. It reminded us of cliffs we saw when we were on the rivers.
This is an LNG (liquified natural gas) unloading facility, located in the water just off the cliffs.
The marina gave us a goody bag when we checked in, and this was in the bag – we immediately fell in love with this marina!
Sailboats definitely outnumber powerboats here.
Last night it looked like we were going to be hit with a terrible storm, but there was a lot of wind for a few minutes and then the clouds were gone. It was quite impressive looking!
Our entertainment today lasted over 4 1/2 hours as we watched the sailboat on the left try to get off a shoal. Eventually the dinghy and sailboat on the right which had been trying to pull it off gave up. About half an hour later Towboat US showed up and struggled for a very long time before finally getting the boat loose. Our marina gave us specific warnings about the shoal, and it shows up on charts, so we can only make some assumptions about why it went aground.

I didn’t get a photo of it, but there’s a pontoon boat at our marina that serves as a water taxi Friday-Sunday. We took it to a restaurant across the creek from us on Friday and loved the convenience of being picked up at our boat and dropped off at the restaurant dinghy dock.

We’re on a side tie so we are able to get our dinghy in the water easily. Tonight we ordered takeout from that same restaurant, so Rich dinghied over to pick it up. Life on a boat presents all kinds of new adventures! Tomorrow we’ll dinghy up the creek to check out another waterfront restaurant. (We have no oars in our dinghy, so yes we’ll be up the creek without a paddle 😀).

On to Deltaville

Posted on by Maggie Selo

Sunday we headed back to Colonial Williamsburg. We got a slightly earlier start and it was a few degrees cooler than Friday’s visit there, so we spent several hours there.

The front of the Capitol. The first capitol of Virginia was in Williamsburg. We had a very knowledgeable, interesting tour guide and learned so much about how the government ran, how the courts worked, and how many conventions it took (5) for Virginia to join the movement to separate from England. They had trials with juries, but when it was time for the jurors to make a judgement, they were locked in a room and got no food or water until they reached a unanimous decision. I can’t imagine that happening today!
This building was just outside the wall around the Capitol. We decided it was the outhouse, because there were three doors on the other side and three small doors at ground level on this backside. Do you think our theory is correct?
This was the entrance to the gaol (jail). Note the metal staples holding the floor stones together. We saw this on many of the stone floors.
I thought it was interesting that prices for food and drink were set by the government.

We had planned to leave Hampton Monday, but the marine forecast was not good, so we stayed one more day. I did laundry and Rich cleaned the outside of the boat – so exciting!

Today we headed to Deltaville VA, about 50 miles north. Most of the trip was open water on the Chesapeake Bay, so it was a quick trip. We arrived about noon, got the courtesy car about 2, and went to the hardware store to buy a replacement flag pole for the one that came loose and fell into Albemarle Sound, West Marine to buy a grill cover (the old one fell off), and finally to a fantastic seafood market to buy crab cakes for dinner (they were SO delicious), seafood salad for tomorrow’s lunch, and Rivah dip for snacks. The lady at the marina office said we had to buy the dip – she knew what she was talking about. It’s cream cheese mixed with crab, shrimp, lemon juice, and hot pepper spicing – no idea why it’s called Rivah dip, but it is incredibly good.

As we headed out of Hampton we saw this Navy vessel headed north. It turned more easterly as we headed north, so we don’t know where it was headed or what specific kind of ship it is. The flag flying to the left of the ship is on Fort Wool. The original fort was built in 1818 and rebuilt in 1902. It was decommissioned in 1953.
Tonight’s sunset