Breathing in the delicious air, I was exhilarated by the feeling of speed on the water. We set off up the Patuxent, with practically the entire river to ourselves. The gently pan-fried cake was bursting with sweet lump meat – no pesky additives to interfere with the fresh, succulent crab.Īfter lunch, we headed back to the boat rental office and took out a 19-foot bow rider. It smelled amazing coming out of the kitchen. When our server recited the day’s specials, though, a crab cake sandwich answered our prayers. Only after we were seated did we realize the menu was devoid of crab dishes.
#Hidden islands not on the map full
It was open and full of locals plus, the name was too good to pass up. We finally came to a little retail strip home to the CD Café. Unfortunately, most restaurants were closed. We couldn’t visit Maryland without eating crabs, so we looked for a place serving up genuine Chesapeake crab cakes. We had the owner meet us in a couple hours so we had a bit more time to explore the island.
Since I had never driven a powerboat in my life before, we decided to go for it. The office only had a few powerboats available. Wandering down the riverwalk, we came across a little hut with a sign saying “Solomons Boat Rental.” Upon closer inspection, the shop was closed, but another sign had a number to call if no one was around. In the boatyard, two men were making repairs on an impressive sailboat. We passed through a marina and saw a couple of boats that hailed from the same place we did, D.C. We parked by the boardwalk and walked around, acquainting ourselves with the historic fishing village. There, where the Patuxent River unites with the Chesapeake Bay, lies Solomons Island. We headed east in Roland’s black Volkswagen Jetta, and in two short hours, we made it to the southern tip of the Calvert Peninsula on Maryland’s Western Shore. The next morning greeted us with 78-degree sunshine and clear blue skies. He recalled the area since many years ago, his parents, both biologists, worked on a boat off its coast. We eventually settled on Solomons Island. I dragged around Google Maps, marveling at the tiny specks of land I never knew existed.
“We could pick one of the random islands of the Chesapeake and try to get to it?” I phrased it as a question, not entirely sure the suggestion was worthy of practical consideration. We spent a few minutes weighing the standard options within a 100-mile radius: hike White Oak Canyon/Cedar Run? drive out to Blue Hole for a swim? rent out kayaks on Lake Anna? And then it came to me.
So when Roland called me up one Tuesday night saying he was in town and in need of an adventure, I knew a spur-of-the-moment road trip was in order. We both have the kind of rare jobs that let us set our own hours (I’m a freelance journalist, he runs a tech company), so we share the luxury of being able to travel in the middle of the week while most other grownups are confined to cubicles. My friend Roland and I often lament that we live on opposite coasts.
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