6/18/25 Oxford to Solomon

Renee awoke to Erik down in the floor/bilge under the bow investigating why the front bilge pump kept kicking on periodically.  He discovered one of the through-hull shut off valves was leaking.  He tried to slow/stop the leak but no luck.  It appears to be likely from corroded threads where the ball valve connects to a fitting that then connects to the Purisan toilet discharge hose (which we aren’t utilizing anyhow since we use a dry flush toilet).   It was not leaking bad enough to be imminent concern so we decided to go ahead and head to Solomons Island today and deal with this issue later; will need to be fairly soon though.   We took a dinghy ride and walk to the park then shoved off shortly after at about 8am, hoping to beat the heat although it was already 76 degrees.  It was a very smooth cruising day across to the western shore of the Chesapeake making for a relaxing ride.  The cruise was uneventful but we did see many manta rays; you could see them showing their fins and flipping around at the top of the water.  The landscape and shoreline changed significantly as we drew closer to Solomons.  What was previously sandy and marshy low rising shores on the east side of the bay now became the tall ‘Calvert Cliffs’.  

Sites from the bay
Cove Point Lighthouse
One of many sail boats
Ospreys on channel marker
Large natural gas tanker ship

Some of the Calvert Cliffs from a couple mile off shore in the bay
At the marine museum later in the day we learned that these cliffs have some of the largest diversity of fossils of sea and land animals in the world dating back some 20 million years! 
Wow….almost as old as our parents 😝 

Our 38 mile track today across to the west side of the bay and slightly up the Patuxent River and in to ‘Back Creek’

We arrived in Solomons right about 11am.  After a short walk to checkout the marina and get checked in we unloaded the bikes to check out town.   As hot as it was we decided to leave Riva back at the nicely air conditioned boat where she would be comfortable.  The marina we chose, Calvert Marina, was on the east side of a bay/creek just off of the Patuxent River and the main town of Solomons is on the opposite (west) side of the bay.  The side that we are on was the US militaries first Naval amphibious warfare training base during WWII.  It was utilized to train over 67,000 troops between 1942 and 1945.  It was a 1.5 mile ride around the bay off of the river to the main town area.   The first stop was at the Calvert Marine Museum which was another nicely done attraction different than the other maritime museums we had visited thus far in that it had less focus on the maritime history and boating and more of a focus on the marine life.   It had multiple aquariums and animal exhibits including a pool where you could pet the rays and skates.   We learned that rays have long, whip-like tails with a venomous spine, while skates have shorter, thicker tails with thorny projections but no stinger.  Further investigation (gotta love the internet) tells us that what we were seeing many of on our trip across the bay were likely cownose rays.   We also got a tour as part of the museum admission to the Drum Point Lighthouse that was a historic one in the area that got saved and moved to the museum site.  

Fun afternoon at the marine museum
Renee and Erik had their FIRST EVER discounted, senior admission….yep, we’re officially old as we both turned 55 this past March/April respectively

Stock internet pic of a cownose ray

Our much less exciting but legit pic of one of the many rays we encountered 

You have to believe seahorses are masters of relaxation and meditation

Wonder what we can learn from them?

We moved on from the museum peddling down the shoreline to a couple of shops and stopping in for an ice cream cone (hey….it was REALLY hot, quit being so judgy judgy!).   On our way back toward the boat we stopped into West Marine to pick up a bar of marine grade wet weld to be able to attempt to seal our leaky seacock.   By the time we rode back to the marina it was after 4pm and the sun was blistering hot so we changed into our suits and headed over to the very nice pool for a cool dip.   The pool had just been opened last week and the water was crisp and incredibly refreshing…..ahhhhh.   With now lowered body temperatures we enjoyed taco salads for dinner aboard.   Erik made an attempt to seal the leaking valve that was not successful.  Any pressure or movement to the leaky fitting seemed to make it worse so he left a message at the adjacent boatyard which was now closed for the evening to hopefully make arrangements to have the boat pulled for the repair.   Erik considered attending the maneuver with the boat in the water but after more consideration (and Renee’s reasonableness) decided against that tomfoolery.  

As the beauty of the sunset cast a glow upon us