Solomons, MD - Calvert Marina

4/21/2017

Before leaving Colonial Beach, we decided to use our bicycles to visit the local grocery store  - Food Lion. Having barely ridden our bikes at all on this voyage, I wondered how my legs would do. Fortunately, the store was only 1.3 miles away according to Google Maps.

As we left the marina, Clark captured a picture of the front of the marina building. If he had waited thirty more seconds, he would have gotten a picture of Bill, the marina owner, waving at us.  Bill saw us and offered us a ride to the store in his truck. He said, “You can cheat and throw your bikes in the back of the truck. Then you only have to ride back.” I declined the invite citing a need for exercise, and we continued on our way.

Main Entrance to The Boathouse Marina

Scene near marina ... photo taken while on bike ride to grocery store

Colonial Beach water tower
touting “State Champions Boy’s Basketball 2009”

Although only a slight incline, the trip to the store seemed to me to be mostly uphill. Even with all the walking I have been doing, my legs protested this new form of exercise. Since all I needed was some milk, I took little time in the store before we headed back to the boat. We completed the mostly downhill return trip quickly and, upon our return, immediately busied ourselves with our departure routines.

Today's trip down the Potomac River to the Solomons in Maryland was mostly views of calm water. However, Clark did manage to capture some pictures of interest along the way.

Point No Point Lighthouse

Point No Point was given its name because it is a piece of land that does not extend out as far as two primary pieces of land on either side of it.

334.200 Government Restricted Area

Some online research on the 334.200 restricted zone revealed perhaps more detail than I wanted to know. It read "... aerial firing range and target areas, ..., Patuxent River ...  Nonexplosive projectiles and bombs will be dropped at frequent intervals in the target areas."

Overhead Jet

Frequently today we heard jets flying over. They were very loud as they roared overhead. Due to the cloud cover, most flew out of sight. Clark finally spotted the one shown above. The video he took of the jet as it passed overhead did not do the noise level justice.

After over six hours of travel, we finally neared our destination in the Solomons, Maryland. Close to our destination I spied an osprey by her nest.

Osprey and Nest on Red #2

We called Calvert Marina on the VHF radio and got our slip assignment. They directed us to tie to a floating dock. Although it was not necessary, I was surprised that no one came out to assist us with our lines since, for once, we arrived before closing time.

Clark chose to stay at a marina tonight due to the threat of thunder storms coming our way later in the evening. We alternated between looking at the sky and looking at our phone app Rainy Days to see if and when the rains might hit.

Storm brewing in the distance ...

Coming our way ...

Tonight's sunset picture!?

We thought the storms might pass us by, but instead, after dinner, we got rain, thunder, and lightning throughout the remainder of the evening.

NOTE: As we approached our destination, we heard the Coast Guard give repeated warnings of a boat floating near our destination in the Patuxent River. Clark learned from the marina that a boat had caught fire and was pulled out of a marina to burn. This link provides a video of the excitement caused by the burning boat that fortunately we missed!