Life at Tilghman Island
Severn Marina
Tilghman is a quiet and pretty fishing village on the tiny Tilghman Island, on the east coast of the enormous Chesapeake Bay. Not a whole lot goes on in Tilghman, it’s the kind of place where a knocked-over mailbox makes front page news. Nevertheless, both the island and the village have an inspiring charm, a place where time stands still and where fishing is still well respected craftsmanship. A man's boat reflects his masculinity, just like the size of his pick-up truck. As you can see, we're blending in just fine!
At the end of Chicken Point Road lies Severn Marina: the place where our adventure begins! For the months September and October 2010 this is going to be our new home. It’s a great place for us to work on our boat, as many knowledgeable boat-owners and marina-employees gladly advise us on the necessary work to make Buena Onda both safe and comfy. We’re working on her 7 days a week, and as it has been getting colder steadily in the last weeks, we can’t wait for the launch date!
At the end of Chicken Point Road lies Severn Marina: the place where our adventure begins! For the months September and October 2010 this is going to be our new home. It’s a great place for us to work on our boat, as many knowledgeable boat-owners and marina-employees gladly advise us on the necessary work to make Buena Onda both safe and comfy. We’re working on her 7 days a week, and as it has been getting colder steadily in the last weeks, we can’t wait for the launch date!
Friends
All kinds of people repair their boats at Severn Marina, from local fishermen to city people that come down for the occasional weekend. Whether they work on their boats themselves or not, everybody is always up for a chat. We've met some incredibly hospitable people this way, who keep on surprising us with their wicked life stories. These encounters have led to great dinners, free laundry service and a lot more insight in the area and its history. Last week we even had our first fish-gutting practise when our neighbour (from the boat nextdoor) gave us 3 huge-assed rockfish he caught early that morning. If it wasn't for the signs of autumn really taking over now, we would have a lot of trouble leaving!
Our first guest
The first of hopefully many visitors to take part in our trip, Maarten's dad Rudi has been an enormous help in working on Buena Onda's seaworthyness. He spent 10 -mostly sunny- days with us in Tilghman and was there for the launch this afternoon. We've made a few amazing trips exploring the rivers and creeks around Tilghman Island together, cruising around in a little motorboat lent to us by local friends.
Tilghman Day
One of the most important days of the year in Tilghman, people have been telling us to be there ever since we arrived. So we went, and we certainly were not disappointed! Tilghman inhabitants competed with each other in skills they have mastered like no other, impressing us and thousands of other visitors. We've never seen so many crabs and oysters, literally hunderds of people banging open crabs with hammers and picking the tender meat out. There were contests in crab picking, boat racing and the extremely spectacular boat-docking contest (bootje inparkeren). All contribitions went to the local fire-brigade, as Tilghman is not covered by a government-run fire-brigade, and all firemen here are volunteers. There was plenty of food, beer and good weather, and even some live music. Finally some action in Tilghman!