Activities

The sleepy village of Whitehaven, best seen by bike (Justin Steele) [enlarge photo] WHAT TO DO WHEN... • Your Rental Car Gets Flooded

• Old Wye Mill14296 Old Wye Mills Rd., 410/827-3850, $2
• Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art 909 S. Schumaker Dr., Salisbury, 410/742-4988, wardmuseum.org, $7
• Salisbury Zoo 755 S. Park Dr., 410/548-3188, salisburyzoo.org, free

DAY 2
A steady drizzle greets us in the morning. As we cross the Wicomico on the Whitehaven Car Ferry, the chatty ferryman points out an osprey nest on the riverbank.

We drive straight to Crisfield, at Maryland's southern tip, for the pedestrian ferry to Smith Island. After buying Smith Island Cruises tickets at the office inside the Paddlewheel Motel, we board the Twister, a high-speed boat manned by Captain Alan Tyler. He looks like a Love Boat extra: deep tan, spotless white shirt, short shorts, and Top-Siders. (We learn later that the locals take a cheaper postal ferry from the municipal dock; $20 round-trip tickets are sold on the boat.)

A thunderstorm creates havoc during the 45-minute ride. After landing, we rush into the closest building, the Bayside Inn Restaurant, which is owned by the same Tyler family that produced the boat captain. Watching the downpour from the screened porch, we eat Captain Tyler crab cake sandwiches. I can't resist the Smith Island cake, made of 10 or so thin layers of plain yellow cake with icing sandwiched between them. I pick coconut; Kathie goes for chocolate. A woman nearby with her own slice reads my mind and says, "Just heavenly."

Made up of several clustered isles and named for colonial landowner Henry Smith, the island is four-and-a-half square miles total. It's the bay's only populated island (other than those accessible by bridge); at last count, the census was 364. Most locals get around the island by bike or golf cart, though there are a few cars--several of which don't bother with license plates.

A break in the rain leaves us about an hour to explore the main town, Ewell. We hoof it along the narrow gravel roads, through swarms of nipping flies and past a few dilapidated homes. A family of ducks wades in a small rainwater pond in someone's front yard. In the Smith Island Center, we watch a 20-minute video outlining island history. After hearing that the area's distinctive accent, an Elizabethan-tinged twang, is the result of its isolation, I realize that back on the ferry, when Captain Tyler was telling us to look off the boat's "sad," he was really saying "side."

Returning to the mainland, we reach the town of Princess Anne just before dinner. The Eastern Shore is dotted with quaint B&Bs, but none match The Alexander House Booklovers' Bed & Breakfast for originality. Elizabeth Alexander, a former journalist and teacher, chose the works and time periods of Jane Austen, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Langston Hughes, respectively, as the decorating theme for three bedrooms. Our room, the Hughes, is done with deco-style furniture, a tan-and-black color scheme, and Harlem Renaissance photos. The Hughes poem in an old typewriter is a nice touch. The Mark Twain Reading Room hosts a library with cushy seats. Elizabeth serves a homemade breakfast, as well as afternoon tea, in the cheery Caf? Colette.

Transportation