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 😀).
