Sept 1- River Rat, Pam Sinclair, drives to Solomons to spend a week with me poking around Eastern Shore of Maryland. Unloading the stuffed car's contents into the dingy takes several trips down the dock.....I am wondering if I misunderstood and that she will be able to stay for a couple of weeks.....there is barely room for our legs in the dinghy among all the stuff but we manage. But she had brought lots of wine and some great food (salmon fillets, ribeye steaks and Brats) so we will eat and drink well (we're Rats aren't we?).

I had decided that we should go to St. Michaels and then Oxford on Maryland's Eastern Shore since she has not visited either one..and Oxford is still on my "to visit" list. We head out the next day across the Bay, with hopes of sailing but Mother Nature does not cooperate. But at least it is sunny and not too hot. Pam is an excellent sailor and a great friend and I am delighted to have her on board. She will spoil me and especially Abigail who will have someone else to "entertain" her. There are two routes to St. Michaels. We will use the "backdoor" route on San Domingo Creek (off Broad Creek, on Choptank River) ......otherwise we would spend an additional day going farther North to gain the entrance to Eastern Bay and down Miles River to reach harbor at St. Michaels.

After we get underway, I notice that there is a green praying manthis who has come along for a ride......he seems to like to sit on the wheel or in the sheet bag hanging on the lifeline. We assume he will shortly fly away....The water in San Domingo Creek is skinny (reminds me of Celerity's home waters on Jordan Creek).......I circle the small area to be sure there is enough water for Celerity's keel and we anchor... only to discover that it is too shallow (how did I miss that shallow spot?). Up the anchor and move further down the creek...now have about 1 foot under the keel.....guess it's as good as 50 feet if we are not on the bottom!

Sept 3-4 Our stowaway, Mr. Praying Manthis, is still with us, sunning himself on the pushpit......hope he (she?) did not have a family in Solomons! We dinghy up San Domingo creek about ½ mile....the creek is lined with big homes...don't look like weekend cottages! If they are, then the primary residence must be a mansion! Lovely park at creek's end with a few old workboats in slips and couple of small sailboats on moorings. All the boats have seen better days. We tie to a wall alongside the workboats and walk about 2 blocks...and poof....we are in the middle of the main street lined with shops, restaurants many inns and Bed and Breakfast establishments. Some of the latter have lovely front yards, with flowers and wicker rockers set out under trees. Looks very inviting....wonder if they would notice if we strolled through the gate and took a rest stop? We have lunch at an Irish Pub (yummy reuben) and do some shopping..Mandatory ice cream stop.....Cappucino Crunch for me and Salty Caramel for Pam which we relish on our way back to the dinghy.

Next day we visit the Maritime Museum and the old Hooper Strait screwpile lighthouse that used to be on the Eastern Shore, south of St. Michaels. This style of lighthouse had a base that was "screwed" into the bottom of the Bay that supported a framework for the lighthouse building. It was originally constructed in 1879 but was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in the 1960's. To save it, it was dismantled, cut in half crosswise like a biscuit (!) and the 2 halves loaded on barges to be brought to St. Michaels and reassembled. The exhibits in the lighthouse capture what it must have been like to be an attendant. Very well done! There are about 5 small sparsely furnished rooms including tiny bedroom (single bed !!!), living room, kitchen, sort of a study and room for stores. Apparently, none of the lighthouse keepers had wives with them...having your wife at the lighthouse was frowned upon (guess a single bed was all he needed!). There are 3 huge tanks sitting in corners of 3 rooms, probably 10 feet tall and 6-7 feet in diameter that store the fresh water for drinking, bathing, etc. Workmen are renovating an old wooden sailing skipjack...visitors can stand on a platform, above the work area, to see inside the vessel as they replace beams, knees, boards, etc. We learned a lot about the history of boating on the Bay and how it has changed dramatically over the decades. (I wrote more about St. Michaels and the Museum in an earlier blog installment.) Lunch at Big Al's......couple on a Whitby 42 anchored nearby recommended the place for hamburgers and steamed crabs...popular with locals. It was delish!

Sept 5-6 Celerity is moving to Oxford (our stowaway is still onboard)...we up anchor and motor sail couple of hours to Tred Avon River off Choptank. Oxford is on Town Creek and has lots of marinas but we anchor off Hinckley Marina and use their dinghy dock. Walk through part of town...lots of lovely old private homes, many from late 1800's. But not much "town"..no shops, a few restaurants......very different from St. Michaels.

Oxford was established in the mid-1600's and became an international shipping center surrounded by wealthy tobacco planters. In the late 1600's, it was one of two towns selected to be the only port of entry for all of Maryland. Today it has a population of about 700 and is still important in boat building, yachting, and harvesting of oysters, crabs, clams and fish. When we return to Celerity, a Canadian boat, Mahina, has anchored in front of us with Ian and Michelle onboard. Ian dinghies over to borrow my air pump to inflate tubes on their dinghy.....when he returns with my pump, the tubes are still flaccid.....in trying to get his end adapter on my pump, part of the hose took a swan dive overboard...he was so apologetic and so sweet! I felt bad for him. We had already established that both boats were going to Solomons within next couple of days so he promised to get me the needed part by the time we were there...

I am worried about Mr. Praying Manthis.....what can he find to eat on Celerity? When I was a kid, my Dad used to catch one in our backyard and bring it to me. We would put loose it in our big picture window in the kitchen and I would leave bits of hamburger for it.....after a few days it was gone so maybe my Dad turned it loose......So I think we should try to feed Mr. Manthis....He's on Pam's side of the boat so she volunteers....she offers him/her a bit of leftover bratwurst...he is sitting on the coaming...she holds the bit out to him...getting closer and closer to him until it is almost under his "nose".....it happens so fast....he moves like lightening and aggressively grabs the meat and lands on the cockpit seat, nibbling at it. Scared the crap out of both of us....he then drops it after couple of minutes....too spicy?? Too full?? She tries to offer a bit of bread but is unwilling to get too close so she lays it on the seat. I don't blame her.....but he/she does not come get it. He moves to the under-edge of the bimini, hangs upside down, where seems he will spend the night.

The wind that night was dead calm, the water unruffled, giving it a mirror quality. The Schooner restaurant across the way had a deck hanging over the water that was lighted with a string of amber and bluish lights. The lights reflected off the still water in perfectly straight streaks of color, as if an artist had put her finger in a paint can and smeared it across the water. It was beautiful and mesmerizing. I tried to get a picture of it but didn't come out.

Next day, we dinghied down Town Creek into the Tred Avon River and around the point to a ferry terminal where a small ferry, the Oxford-Bellvue ferry crosses the river. The ferry was established in the 1600's and is still privately owned making it the last privately owned ferry in the US. It can carry 9 cars (or 11 mini-Coopers or so the sign reads) and makes the crossing in about 10-15 minutes. Pam and I pay our $5 for a round-trip pedestrian ticket ($4 for a car plus $1 for each passenger one-way). Lovely sunny breezy day....a bicyclist tells us about an art gallery on the Bellvue side, The Gallery by the River.....we check it out. Ceramics, jewelry, tapestries, sculptures all by Swedish artists. Very unexpected for a small town like Bellvue! Lovely unique lovingly hand-made pieces but very expensive.

After our return to Oxford, we strolled down to the Tred Avon Yacht Club which sits on the point and commands a breathtaking view of both Town Creek and the Tred Avon River. The building has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the water with a second story deck off the dining room. We were hoping to use reciprocity to have lunch in their dining room or maybe a drink at the bar but we were too early and did not want to wait for it to open....

We console ourselves with ribeye steaks on the grill! Mr. Manthis is nowhere to be seen...we hope he flew away and found a new family. Guess he didn't like the food on Celerity!

Sept 7-8 Pam needs to leave on the 8th so we up anchor and head back to Solomons. The next day, she helps me pick up a mooring at Zahnisers. Easier access to get her to her car and for me to do laundry! And Mahina is also on a mooring ball. And as promised, Ian dinghies over with the replacement part for my dinghy tube inflator in his hand!

I am sad to see Pam leave.....we have eaten tasty meals, drank fine wine (matched to our entrée, thanks to Pam's expertise), laughed and told stories. And had some great adventures and seen amazing things. It has been a visit filled with great memories!!!!!