Tangiers Island to Solomons Island, Aug 4 to 7th 2012

We have been without internet for the 3 days we were on Tangiers Island. It was like taking a step back into time.

Tangiers harvest 75% of the worlds crabs. If you have ever eaten a crab cake it is most likely that the crab came from Tangiers Island. A very small island that is continually shrinking. It shrinks by 9 acres a year. And the people speak an old Elizabethan dialect. The main street runs the length of the island, with houses and businesses on each side of an 8 foot wide roadway. The mode of transportation for residents is either a golf cart or bicycles. Everyone is very friendly and says hi as they pass by.

Main mode of transportation, golf cart. On a road that is only about 8' wide.

This is too funny.

Crab shanty's along the channel. 

The channel into the only marina is lined with small white buildings where they bring their crabs in, separate them, and hold them till they shed their shell. After molting the shell, they are called a "soft crab" and are very delectable.  A lot of the crab are blue crab and they truly are a very distinctive blue to their shell.

A meal for 4 people at Hilda's.

Typical crab fishing boat

The first day we went to the renowned Hilda's Chesapeake House for a late lunch. It is an all you can eat, family style restaurant, and you eat whatever they have prepared for the day. The dishes just keep on coming. Pickled beats, coleslaw, potato salad, ham, crab cakes, oyster fritter cakes, corn pudding, green beans, and lemon pound cake for dessert. You have to arrive early as it closes by 5:00 pm. Most everything closes by 5, with the exception of the 2 ice cream shops.

We ended up staying for 3 days, as the winds and waves were stronger and higher than would be comfortable to make our trip  to the Solomons Islands. By Tuesday the winds were going down to 5 to 10, with a 1 foot wave, and the winds from the north/northwest. Perfect for the 40 mile jaunt.

The longer we stayed on Tangiers, the longer you wanted to stay. The watermen get up about 4:30 to go out with their crab boats, and they return by about 3 pm. The women tend to run the local businesses, ie restaurants, gift shops, museum, etc. The entire population of the island is under 800, with only 29 young families on the island. The majority of the people on the island are either, Parks, Pruitts, and Crockett's.

Apparently, Tangiers Island is where the War of 1812 started. The island is also renowned for "Tangiers Disease". A very rare disease, with only about 8 to 15 known cases in the world. They have hardly any good cholesterol. The tonsils are orange in color, as they are filled with bad cholesterol.

 The last night we were there, we saw a medical evacuation. Someone was sick and they needed to be taken off the island by helicopter. If the helicopter comes from Salzburg Maryland, no charge, if it comes from Virginia, then it costs about $2,000. to $2,500.

We were up early this morning to make our journey to Solomon's Island, and are staying at Calvert's Marina. $1./foot. with hydro. The marina across from us charges $2.50/foot. Just as we finished fueling the boat, around 1:00pm, the dark cloud overhead decided to let go. It only lasted a short time, but managed to drop about 1/2 inch of rain. By the time we proceeded around to our dock it was a light drizzle. We passed another Gulfstar on the way in, and Peter went back to look at it. 53'.  They seem to be everywhere down in this area. We keep bumping into them.

We had an uneventful crossing of Chesapeake Bay. The sky was overcast, with a number of storm clouds around us. It seemed that the course we were travelling was skirting a lot of the dark clouds. Part way across we ran into some drizzle. Just enough to close the front and side windows for about half an hour, and then it cleared.

We made a run to the grocery store, did some laundry, and then had dinner with Bob and Linda aboard their boat, "Waypoint". A great way to end the day.

Graveyard next to the church. Graves are very close together, and encased in concrete to prevent the  remains from floating away in the floods and hurricanes. You often will see graves in the front yards of homes. 

There were a lot of cats on the island, even in the window box of this house. I only counted 5 dogs total on the island.

Tomorrow, will be a long day, about 58 miles, so we hope to get underway about 6:00 am. Weatherman is calling for rain, and tstorms in the afternoon. We hope to be docked before that happens.