The Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay was formed over 11000 years ago. Native American tribes centered their world around Chesepoic - the country of the great rivers. The Boardwalk existed as early as 1930 which was just two blocks long in those days. It was rebuilt many times after being destroyed by hurricanes. The present one is about half a mile long and is a meeting place for the local residents. I found the best time to click pictures was during sunrise.

People having their morning walk, some jog while others take their dogs for a morning walk.

Fishing enthusiasts would turn up early in the hope of making a catch.

There was a band (The Winstons) playing in the evening and I captured a part of their performance.

The young (and the young at heart) were shaking a leg to the wonderful music.

I found the energy level of the performers quite high as can be seen in the video. Found a peculiar type of tree opposite the boardwalk. Was it a creeper or was it some sort of parasite on the tree?

Earlier we had dinner at the Vaughan Cheese, run by Megan and Tyler. It was an experience in itself especially regarding the different forms of cheese.

Found a few birds along the bay like the Royal tern.

Trying to identify this bird

There were man made platforms specially erected for the Ospreys for their nesting season.

More on the Ospreys and its nesting habits in the next blog.

Earlier we had been to Annapolis and spent half a day there. The memorial that I saw at the city dock is the only memorial in the United States that commemorates the actual name and place of an enslaved African, Kunta Kinte. It reminded me of all that I read (about four decades ago) in the book "Roots" by Alex Haley.

Did some window shopping there.

Here were some recycled articles made from old cans in Madagascar, Africa, for sale.

Now to work on the Osprey video.

Bare feet

Last evening I had the opportunity to spend some time watching Hawaiin dance by The Barefeet Hawaiian Inc. Time well spent I must say. Steve did a good job of anchoring the show using the right words at the right time.

It was fun to watch the swaying movements of the participating dancers with their smiling faces.

Among the Hula Dance implements they used, I liked the Puili for the rhythmic sound it made in sync with the beat of the song.

Other implements used were Uli uli, Poi Balls, and ii

The addition of Elvis Presley's song was a good touch as Elvis had a good connection with Hawaii including his movie Blue Hawaii. Some young girls came forward when Steve mentioned learning the basic steps.

The men were equally eager and some stepped forward (barefeet of course) to try out the steps.

I was a bit worried that some kid would spin the Poi Ball in the wrong direction and injure someone but care was taken and no one was injured.

I captured what I could (from where I was seated) and put it together to form a short video. The first two minutes of the video is Kaluva Pepe, the song featuring Hula from Hawaii, Otea from Tahiti, Haka from New Zealand and Sasa from Samoan.

As Steve mentioned, he was giving us a taste of Polynesian dance and music. Polynesian means many islands. I just looked it up on the internet and learned that the largest country in Polynesia is New Zealand. Here is a picture from Wikipedia.

As mentioned earlier, it was time well spent. I am sure all those who were present there, went home with positive vibes.