Tangier Island

    The long anticipated trip to the Canadian Maritimes begins!  Stuart gave me a pretty Canadian Maritimes picture book 20 years ago, signed,"Are you ready to go?"  Finally.  We visited Stuart's brother and family in VA for a few days, then headed north.  Getting around the DC area congestion is easy:  go up the Eastern Shore.  The rain began before we pulled out of Newsoms, and stayed with us all day.  I took this pic during a break in the rain.  The Bridge Tunnel was built in the 1960's with no tax money.  Imagine that happening today.  Such an engineering feat, eclipsed only by the funding miracle.  I love to travel across this bay, on this bridge.

We spent the night in a private cg in Pocomoke, MD.  The ferry to Tangier Island is not far from here, in Crisfield.  The next day, with the bikes in the back of the truck, we drove to Crisfield.  We had a little time to kill, so we pedaled around the small fishing village, which was built on oyster shells.  We met a crabber, waiting to offload his boat, who told us that the population of Tangier Island is 470, during crabbing season.  His accent was lovely!  Much
like the people from Harkers Island, NC.  The ferry ride was about an hour.  As we pulled into the harbor at Tangier, I snapped these photos of the crab houses, accessible only by boat.  It's a little early in the season, so most of the crab pots are still on the piers.

We had a nice lunch of (what else?) crab soup and a crab cake, then set off on our bikes to explore the island before the ferry returned.  There are tiny roads, some asphalted, just wide enough for a truck.  The rescue and fire truck are both regular size, and they couldn't get down some of the lanes. We saw almost no other trucks on the island.  It was a beautiful day for exploring.

We walked out on West Beach, 1.5 miles of beautiful white sand. Not the ocean, we had to remind ourselves, but the Chesapeake Bay.  Back on the road, we passed tiny houses, all fenced from the street.  We dodged locals in golf carts and on bikes, and children playing.  You can't go far:  the island is 2.5 miles long, most of which is marsh.







This is one of the oldest houses on the island, now one of two B&B's.  I think being here after the ferry goes back at 4pm would be the nicest time.  There are about 4 restaurants, one of which stays open year round.










The local museum (which we didn't go into) had the best chairs on the front porch.  Crabs!!

On the drive back to Pocomoke, we stopped at a fish market to buy soft shell crabs for dinner.  The best I've ever eaten!  Tomorrow, on to New Holland, PA, to visit friends.