Solomons Island: Cruise, Dine & DiscoverSolomons Island: Cruise, Dine & Discover

Discover the best of Solomons Island, Maryland with a day filled with Chesapeake Bay history, waterfront scenery and local flavor

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Is This Itinerary Right For Your Group?

Ideal Demographic: Senior Travelers, Veterans and Military Groups
Size Bottleneck: Wm. B. Tennison bugeye boat – MAX 40 passengers, but can be split into groups. The Pier Restaurant (Solomons Island, MD) – spaces accommodating up to 80
Mobility: Mixed; some venues have limited accessibility
Peak Window: Summer
Booking Lead Time: 3-6 months in advance

Discover the best of Solomons Island, Maryland with a day filled with Chesapeake Bay history, waterfront scenery and local flavor

Planner's Hotline: Your Local Advocate

Hilary Dailey

Tourism Specialist
Visit Calvert County
(410) 535-4583
info@choosecalvert.com
https://visitcalvert.com/travels

Click Here to Connect with Calvert County

Day 1: Learn about the Chesapeake Bay

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Midday: Arrive in Colonial Williamsburg

Begin your trip with a visit to the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons. Discover the Chesapeake Bay’s unique story through its prehistoric past, natural environments, and maritime heritage.

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Afternoon:

The Wm. B. Tennison bugeye boat cruise offers groups a relaxing, one-hour sightseeing cruise that adds an on-the-water experience to a Calvert Marine Museum visit. Departing directly from the museum, the cruise showcases Solomons Harbor and the Patuxent River, and the vessel accommodates up to 40 passengers, making it especially suited for smaller motorcoach groups or rotating groups paired with a museum tour.

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Evening:

For dinner, visit the Ruddy Duck Brewery & Grill. To guarantee excellence, Ruddy Duck buys the highest quality ingredients and prepares them to bring out the best flavors in every dish. Their chicken wings are cooked fresh daily to ensure their signature taste. Fresh and never frozen jumbo-lump crab, chicken breast, pork, haddock and salmon are delivered daily. Their desserts, pizza dough, and house specialty “Chipas” are made daily from scratch as are all the sauces, dressings and soups.

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Day 1 Alternatives

The Drum Point Lighthouse is on-site at the museum and is open to visitors. The museum is motorcoach-friendly and easy to customize.

Day 2: Pay witness to incredible aircraft

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Morning:

The Patuxent River Naval Air Museum in Lexington Park preserves and interprets the Patuxent River Naval Air Base and the heritage of advancing U.S. Naval aviation. It features substantial indoor exhibits plus more than 25 aircraft on display.

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Afternoon:

Big Kahuna Cruises is a tropical-themed boat cruise and offers a fun, private, and customizable way to experience Solomons Island and the Patuxent River from the water. Private cruises accommodate up to 30 guests and feature comfortable seating, sun and shade, an onboard restroom, beverages for purchase, and a professional captain and crew.

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Evening:

The Pier Restaurant in Solomons Island offers a scenic waterfront dining experience with panoramic Patuxent River views. It also has private event space and seating that can accommodate larger groups.

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Day 2 Alternatives

Another great option is the Cove Point Lighthouse in Calvert County. The lighthouse is a beautifully restored and repurposed active lighthouse and keeper’s home that sits on a seven-acre point of land in one of the narrowest parts of the Chesapeake Bay. The gorgeous keeper’s house can be rented as a vacation home and sleeps up to 16 guests. The grounds are also open to the public during the summer months to enjoy a view of the Calvert Cliffs, explore the base of the lighthouse tower, and learn about the history of the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay.

Day 3: Amazing gardens on display

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Morning

Located in Solomons, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center features 30 acres of wooded walking trails lined with an extensive sculpture collection and two indoor galleries featuring rotating exhibits. The Garden provides a beautiful and serene place to enjoy both nature and art. The sculpture garden features both permanent and loaned outdoor sculpture, with over 25 works on loan from the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. It is open for daily visits, with events throughout the year. The garden is motorcoach-friendly and highly customizable.

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Afternoon:

Pay a visit to the J.C. Lore Oyster House. J.C. Lore gives an authentic, easy-to-access glimpse into Chesapeake Bay working waterfront history inside a restored 1934 seafood packing house and National Historic Landmark. An on-site interpreter and exhibits bring the oyster industry to life.
For lunch, Bugeye Grill is a steak and seafood restaurant in Solomons offering locally grown food and locally brewed beer. Groups can enjoy a waterfront experience, and its in- house event/catering space can accommodate up to 100 guests.
Afterward, visit BRRRR Ice Cream, Shakes & Crepes. BRRRR offers a casual, locally owned sweet-treat experience right in Solomons, with plenty of choices including hand- dipped ice cream, shakes, sundaes, and crepes.

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Day 3 Alternatives

Explore more than 8,000 years of Maryland history at Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum, a 560-acre site along the Patuxent River that contains nearly 70 archaeological sites. Groups can visit the visitor center and exhibit barn, learn about the region’s Native American heritage and explore a re-created Native American village. The park’s scenic grounds also offer walking trails and beautiful waterfront views, making it a nice complement to the museums and boat cruises featured elsewhere in the itinerary.

Planning your next group tour? Get fresh itinerary ideas and destination inspiration in InSite from Leisure Group Travel.

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How far in advance should groups reserve the cruises and other experiences?

With the Wm. B. Tennison, Big Kahuna Cruises and some dining stops having limited capacity, planners will want to know which experiences should be locked in first. Big Kahuna, for example, accommodates up to 30 passengers and offers private charters, while the Tennison has an even larger but still limited capacity.

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How much flexibility is there for groups with different mobility levels?

There is some flexibility for groups with different mobility levels, but planners should identify individual needs before finalizing the itinerary. The Calvert Marine Museum is one of the easier stops to accommodate, with accessible museum buildings, accessible boardwalk areas and a dock that can accommodate manual wheelchairs. The historic Drum Point Lighthouse is the main exception, as reaching the lighthouse requires navigating stairs; visitors who cannot make the climb can view a virtual tour from the base.