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Delmarvelous (Cont.)

Day 3 >> Chincoteague-Snow Hill, Maryland
Coastal views yield to farm and field as we head north on U.S. 13 into Maryland and then northeast on U.S. 113. We have ample time for our third floating excursion: paddling rented canoes up Maryland's first Wild and Scenic River, the Pocomoke. The contrast with the ocean is impressive; this freshwater swamp is a bonanza of bald cypress and osprey. Turtles dive in formation from the cypress knees—plop, plop—like awkward damsels in an Esther Williams movie.

After two nights of sleeping on the ground, and corresponding doses of ibuprofen, we settle into the comfortable Snow Hill Inn for a trout dinner and real beds.

Day 4 >> Snow Hill-Oxford
We work our way northeast to Salisbury and take U.S. 50 to Oxford on the Chesapeake side, which consumes the morning and takes us through a series of small towns and tomato fields. Today's car-bound games include counting cows for a cash reward, with a bonus Diane offers for each sighting of a peculiar but popular lawn decoration: a plywood cutout of a farm lady bent over and flashing her bloomers.

As we approach the shore, present-day kitsch gives way to old-English dignity. We explore the quaint town of Oxford, tucked up the Tred Avon River, via rented bikes and a trail system that takes us past grand tidewater estates hidden behind stately rows of catalpa trees. Everyone is eager for the next stop: our appointment with a chartered sailboat at the Oxford marina. Having lived aboard a boat for two and a half years, my girls know their bow from their stern, and then some. Our rented Catalina 34 sloop has two cabins and a tidy galley, which we fill with seafood and vegetables from Easton Railway Market in preparation for the morning's departure. After Sawyer and Riley open every locker and port, they climb up onto the boom and declare it a pony. We sleep with the sound of waves lapping against the hull by our heads.

Day 5 and 6 >> Oxford-St. Michaels-Oxford
Sailing to St. Michaels is a four-hour trip that we spread into a day, meandering along the bay shoreline. We sail all the way to the Miles River, where we anchor for the night and are amused by the glowing blue-green water, oddly illuminated by phosphorus. In the morning, we dinghy ashore to climb the stairs of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum lighthouse in St. Michaels. The museum's interactive exhibits include a chiseled reconstruction of a wooden skipjack sailboat straight from Chesapeake oystering tradition. Across the street, bushels of bivalves and crabs arrive at the back door of The Crab Claw Restaurant and emerge from the kitchen, hot and steaming, bound for our dockside lunch table.

In the afternoon, we sail back to the Tred Avon River, which is just short of the marina. It's our last night aboard the boat, shadowed by the trip's end and a light drizzle. In the morning we'll be back in the van, headed 55 miles to the Bay Bridge and Annapolis. But for now, we're still here on a boat, with its cabin-fever-inducing small spaces that are the crucible in which families find fresh lunacy. We rally with an impromptu talent night and charades.

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