Finally about 2 pm we spotted land! Tangier Island is very low and is losing it's land to the Bay at an alarming rate of speed. We had the wind at our backs – which helps our speed but makes for a long day of constantly fighting to keep the boat on course as the waves push are moving faster than we are and tend to push us to one side or the other. Flies are also a problem when traveling with the wind. Solution? Hanging bags of water with a penny (or nickel) in it! Don't laugh – it works!!! When we arrived, 80 year old Milton Parks (owner of the marina) gave us a tour around the island in his golf cart. What a throw back this place is and what a trip he is! Says he's been married 59 years to the wrong woman :-)
As is usual anymore, a nice sunset. I loved the speed limit sign below – and checked by radar to boot! There are very few cars on this island (2 ½ miles by 1 ½ miles) as most residents use golf carts, bikes or minibikes to get around so I think the sign is just funny :-) The third pic is of a sign which gives a bit of history of the island. Mail and supplies arrive twice a day by boat as well as two passenger ferries (one from the west side of the bay and the other from the east side of the bay) each day.
We rode our bikes to the beach at the south end of the island. The sand was very soft and it was a lovely beach. Steve, of course, walked all the way to the end. I enjoyed my snooze waiting for him!
We saw a small Fozzi dog at the beach – really cute – about ¼ the size of the real Fozzi though. Very soft and fuzzy. He came over and tried to pee on the bush I was leaning on! I didn't like him so much then :-) There are many cemeteries on the island – some of which are clearly family plots and are in the front or side yard of the homes. The surnames are few in number as it seems you are born here and stay or leave forever. Crockett, Parks, and Dise were some of the ones we saw had many graves. It's still quite warm. Steve found a battery powered fan with a spritzer bottle in one of the souvenir stores – it works great! Good idea, Wendy :-)
The crab boats are plentiful of course as that is the mainstay of the way of life here. Even that is at jeopardy with the ill health (but improving) of the Chesapeake. Everything is about crabs (soft shelled) as is evidenced by the chairs at the museum in town. The bench to my left is the ONLY place in town that had any kind of an internet signal and we have had no phone signal for 3 days. Talk about being cut off!! Good thing about the crabs though: crab cake sandwiches are plentiful and good. We ate lunch both days at the dock (where ferries arrive) and loved it.
A dinghy ride was in order to check out the rest of the area. Not much around so it was not a very long ride. Lots of crab shacks (where the 'watermen' have the crabs and watch them to collect the crab just after it sheds it's shell) around the harbor. It's a fun area – you can see the church and water towers from everywhere. Back to the dock where Yesterday's Dream is sitting at the Parks Marina.
Tomorrow early (6 am) we are off as the weather seems to be stable enough again to travel. Destination will be the Solomon's (on the west side of the Bay). Since I can't post this blog tonight, the info will be a day late but here it is anyway! :-)
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