An Easter Island-style head greets patrons

as they arrive, see more photos below

— The Bay Net photos by Sean Rice

Today marks the day that has become a homecoming of sorts for Solomon’s Island.

When the Tiki Bar opens it hatches for the season, thousands will flock to the island to celebrate the unofficial first day of summer, and the start of a long nightlife season for Southern Maryland.

Friday will be the 26th opening day for the Tiki Bar, and event that draws upwards of 10,000 people. But this year the motto is be prepared.

The bar is prepared for the crowd, and visitors should be prepared for a tropical shock. Tiki has undergone an extreme makeover , and the rear area that once was a hotel (and may someday be again) has been converted into a tropical paradise, with tons of sand, island artwork, a gift shop, cigar shop and lots of room to roam.

“In an effort to try and keep it safer, we opened up the back courtyard,” Bar Manager Joe Kurley told The Bay Net during a sneak peak Wednesday.

There will be a number of firsts at Tiki opening this year.

While the Grill Sergeant was a hit during last year’s season, he wasn’t around for opening day. On Friday, he will be, along with three other food vendors: Roban Foods, Good Times Catering and Lenny’s Restaurant.

One can munch a crab cake, wash it down with a cheeseburger and a pit beef BBQ sandwich, and top it off with an exclusive cigar and an ice cold beer– will all toes in the sand.

Tiki has new signs, a redone bar, new lighting, new florescent paint that glows at night, a second driveway an expanded women’s room, and not to mention and entire new set of restrooms in the courtyard.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Kurley.

To help keep the customers happy, there will be three bars on the property and rolling beer cart.

The new cigar shop is top shelf, though customers not looking to empty their wallets can get a fine cigar and a reasonable price. For the aficionados out there, you can find cigars on site that you would have to drive two hours to find.

The walk in humidor is perfectly maintained and all cigars and sent in by FedEx, so individual orders can be taken and personal lockers within the humidor are available for rent.

Patrons and relax in the cigar lounge on the leather couches and watch  a flat-screen TV, or browse the gold-plated cutters and personal humidors for sale.

Some of the cigars available include: Davidoff, Arturo Fuente, Gurkha, Padron Serie 1926 and the CAO group of award winning flavored cigars.

So come early and stay late, but be safe and arrange a designated driver – the police have their own annual custom of setting up a sobriety checkpoint on the St. Mary’s side of the bridge and the U.S. Coast Guard may be checking for inebriated boaters.