Cambridge MD

We were greeted at our mooring in Cambridge, Maryland, by a line handler from the marina and also by Eric Sirulnik. We had first been introduced to Eric on the quayside at Bridgetown, Barbados, and had taken him sailing in the rally race after the Transat Classique. Now here he was here with an invitation to his smallholding on the Choptank River. He was apologetic that his own boat wasn’t yet in the water, but we spent a wonderful day and night as his guests. 

Cambridge MD - home of Annie Oakley

Cambridge was the birthplace and final home of Annie Oakley – and Eric continued her tradition with an awesome private arsenal in his "Second Amendment Lounge". The kids rode his 1949 Ford "Red Belly" tractor and explored every nook and cranny of what seemed like a personal maritime museam. Eric knew how to treat cruisers adn gave us free rein of his laundery, showers and TV. Eric’s company was as warm as we remembered and the children even got to watch a Harry Potter movie with surround sound.

E drives a 1949 Ford tractor

At last - a television!

At dawn, the mist was hugging the surface of the Choptank River as the resident ospreys began their day’s fishing and the deer came out to raze the fields. All was still and quiet at the municipal marina on the river front. It still seems odd to see Croix des Gardes moored in a public car park. We were hoping to sail up to Annapolis, but the lack of wind has other ideas.

The lighthouse at Cambridge MD