St. Michaels

10/15/07

We spent the morning at the Chesapeake Maritime Museum. It’s a great hands on experience for kids. I wished a number of times our grandsons had been here to enjoy it with us. What a rich and varied history the Chesapeake has -- from tobacco plantations, to ship building, to oyster and crab harvesting. The area is also a major flyway for the migration of birds, and hence a duck hunting Mecca.

Hooper Lighthouse has been restored on the Museum grounds. It was a screwed post lighthouse with each post screwed 25 feet into the Chesapeake Bay bottom. The only remaining screw post lighthouse in operation is Thomas Point Lighthouse south of Annapolis. I happened to photograph it as we passed by yesterday.

The village of St. Michael’s is charming. A nearby church bell chimes the hour and half hour from early morning until 9PM. There are many beautifully restored homes from the 1600-1800 hundreds, brick sidewalks, and a main street lined with quaint specialty shops.

Bob spent hours this afternoon on the phone with Furuno and rewiring systems (per their suggestions) to get Nobeltec and Furuno communicating – still no success. He did accomplish one thing; Furuno now recognizes and displays AIS targets.

Tomorrow morning we cast off to cruise the eastern shore – destination to be determined.