on to Tilghman Island

We were docked at the Tilghman Island Inn by 2 pm. That wasn't exactly where I had been planning to tie up, somehow confusing the Tilghman Island Inn with the Inn at Knapp Narrows. But it looked like a nice place with a great restaurant so we decided to stay there.

After we got our gear off the boat and sorted out we walked a few blocks to Harrison's Chesapeake House, a legendary inn, restaurant and sportfishing center on the south side of Dogwood Harbor. It was quiet when we stopped in for a beer, but I could tell that during summer weekends it is a hopping place.

(We had to walk a mile or so (at least it seemed to me) to get to Harrisons, long blocks by my thinking. This was the second area we had walked around in and it was quite different from Ewell. Steve pointed out that from now on we would be in areas where people could drive to. This would mean more potential for tourists and people owning vacation homes in the area. And as I would discover as we cruised on, many of these areas have some pretty spectacular homes. This area was a mix of types, some looking really great and some in need of some loving care. Again a mix of watermen vs tourist-secondhomers. Still it was a great place to walk around in and see how life plays out on the eastern shore.)


Their menu listed "baby cakes", five small crab cakes made, according to both the menu and our waitress, exactly like Harrison's famous crab cakes. That's too bad. From my notes.....

Initial reaction - deep fried. First bite - backfin crabmeat (the small bits of meat, as opposed to the large chunks of "lump" crabmeat) - gooey texture. Pickle (????) Heavy on the mayo to hold it together. Not impressed.

I would rate those crab cakes as "tourist" crab cakes. But the beer was cold and the view was very nice so we had a nice time.

(Well we did have a nice time, no doubt. We also had some fried broccoli which wasn't too bad either. In my view the mini crab cakes could have had almost any meat in them and would have tasted the same. Too bad I had already tasted Ruke's crabcakes. Now the mini cakes weren't bad tasting as fried appetizer things go, and they went well with the beer for sure, but at this point it was Ruke's, then Harrisons a distant number 2. I was looking forward to more competition.)

Dogwood Harbor is the home of the working Skipjack fleet, old Chesapeake Bay boats that dredged for oyster under sail. We watched the Rebecca T. Ruark come in to the harbor with some sightseers on board. I got the feeling that the Skipjacks spend a couple of months oystering but really survive by taking passengers out on daysails. If so that is fine. Whatever it takes to keep those classic old boats sailing is fine with me. It must be a thrill to sail on one, I know I enjoyed just watching one from a distance.

We got back to the Tilghman Island Inn just before a thunderstorm hit. Afterward there was a nice rainbow behind Spartina.

We did have an excellent dinner that night at the inn. One of the partners is also the executive chef and the food was fantastic. I don't recall what Bruce had for dinner, but I had a bouillabaisse with mussels, scallops and shrimp.

(I had excellent medallions of pork tenderloin with a great reduction sauce made with figs. The meal was excellent and they even had Guinness on tap, my favorite beer. Everything was prepared perfectly. A really nice dining experience.)

After dinner we were sitting in the lounge watching football and having a beer when a man walked in and asked the inn's owner "Who has that little sailboat out there?" The owner motioned towards us and the man came over and said "That is a beautiful little sailboat. I don't know how far out I would take her, but she is very nice."

When I told him we had sailed in from Crisfield by way of Smith Island and Punch Island Creek he said "Really?", shook his head and walked away.

Distance - 19.8 nm

Max Speed - 6.1 knots

Ave Speed - 3.7 knots

Moving time - 5 hours 22 minutes

steve