Pigs Take Wing: Cauldrons on the Chesapeake

We awoke on day five to a beautiful day with perfect wind to make a long(ish) haul south to Solomons MD. We had been told it was a must-see spot, with a fun bar and delicious seafood. Done and done.

On our way south!

Screwpile lighthouse

On the sail down, there were butterflies EVERYWHERE. They were flying east to west, mostly, and kept floating past the boat. They danced around the rig and generally kept us entertained. I managed to catch one in a photo by randomly aiming at the sky:

Friendly butterfly!

The weather was great all morning and we enjoyed a smooth sail under blue skies.

Happy sailboat (I like to think they were taking a picture of us at the same time!)

The view from the bow

Then the wind decided to drop out for a while.

The wind needed a nap.

No big deal; we were almost to our destination anyway. We turned on the engine and motorsailed the rest of the way. On our way up the Patuxent River into the harbor, we got buzzed by two fighter jets out for a training run. It was freaking amazing. No photos of that, though - we were totally caught by surprise.

After our encounter with the jets, we arrived at Calvert Marina, and found we had an entire pier to ourselves. We tied up and headed for the showers; ahh, running water!

Osprey docked at Calvert Marina in Solomons

After getting cleaned up, we took our dinghy over to the main road in Solomons and found the famed Tiki Bar. I was instructed by a waitress in Eastport that I needed to go there and order an orange crush (which seems to be basically a screwdriver, but with triple sec and fresh squeezed oranges). I obliged.

Orange crush!

We walked down the street to Stoney's on the Pier, and proceeded to gorge ourselves on oysters and crab. Mr. C was flabbergasted by the size of his crab cake sandwich, and proclaimed it more of a softball-sized crab ball. All crab; very little filler. Yum.