In which we visit the Calvert Marine Museum

It's a second layover ("lay") day in Solomon's Island. The forecast was for wind and rain and sadly they were correct, so we won't leave till tomorrow morning, when the front has passed and the wind turns from the south to the west...and the rain stops!

After a breakfast of eggs - sunny side up with cheese (still with the Atkins diet) I decide to visit the famous (at least to local residents) Calvert Marine Museum, a short 1 mile walk from the marina. Its actually a very nice place. I was greeted warmly with suggestions of what I might see and was signed up for a guided tour of the lighthouse which sits out back. 
The museum takes advantage of its location, close by the Calvert Cliffs, a limestone facade which "dominate the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay for roughly 24 miles in Calvert County and were formed over 10 to 20 million years ago when all of Southern Maryland was covered by a warm, shallow sea. When the sea receded the cliffs were exposed and began eroding. Today these cliffs reveal the remains of prehistoric species Including sharks, whales, rays, and seabirds that were the size of small airplanes."
The museum proudly displays many fossils as well as  reconstructions of prehistoric animals, including this shark, which was reconstructed  with dimensions and shape completely estimated from a single tooth found in the cliff.

This is the view from the front of that shark..its about 37 feet long

This is the workshop where several experts are uncovering other fossil remains

There are also several very nice aquarium exhibits and exhibits of the watermen who fished the waters and the blacksmiths and carpenters who made their boats.

The lighthouse - the Drum Point Light - was built in 1888 and was in service till 1963. It was moved to the museum in 1975. It is of the "Screw Piling" design where the seven legs it sits on were screwed into the bed of the Bay.

The light itself was on the top level (a simple kerosene lamp behind some really big Fresnel lens' which could be seen for 11 miles. The kerosene lamp was later replaced with a 100 watt bult, with the same visibility. 

The second from the top floor housed a clockwork contraption that would ring a 1400 lb bell every 15 seconds when it was foggy. The clockwork had to be rewound every two hours, day and night, which was a little hard on the lightkeeper.

The lightkeeper and his family lived on the round floor third from the top, which was 50 feet above the water, and about 120 yards out from shore..the only access was by boat. Several of the families had as many as 5 children who were brought up, married and had children of their own over a course of up to 27 years. They were either home schooled or taken to school by boat/dinghy. 

All in all I had an enjoyable tour, as you can tell.

I had lunch around the corner at the Anglers cafe (grilled tuna on caesers salad) and outside my window I had a view of Hayden and Raydeen's boat, Island Spirit

which is lying at anchor. They are part of (the leaders actually) our southward bound flotilla. 

I walked back to my marina, and I thought I'd include a few pictures to give you a feel of where I am

The office

Bathroom and showers and washing machines on the first floor, restaurant on the second floor

Priority, pinned to the dock by the wind from the south.

As soon as I got back it started to rain and probably won't stop till later tonight...then...hopefully clearing!

One more thing about the tracking. It turns out that by default Spotwalla only shows the last 24 hours of points, and since I haven't moved since monday evening, it only shows me at the dock. On the left panel however are options to display as much history as you'd like, with as many dots as you'd like

I"m hoping to add more tracks tomorrow...the goal is Deltaville, 56 miles to the south, on the Rappahannock river, where we may anchor in Jackson Creek.