July 15, 2008.

We’ve finally arrived at Wye Island. It took us a few more days to get out of St. Michaels but that’s okay, it’s a great place to hang out.

This morning I was awakened by the very closely anchored boat, directly behind us, running his generator at 0630. At first, I thought that I must be dreaming because nobody, but nobody could be that inconsiderate. I was wrong. I was laying there trying to decide, should I go topsides and debate the issue with him at the top of my lungs when I realized that I’ve had a few encounters of that type lately. First there was “speedboat guy” towing his kids then there was “tiny little bitch, dog hater guy” and now “crack of dawn generator guy”. Is it me? Am I getting testy, to easily? I’m mellow, I’m quiet, I’m a “half full” kinda guy…. this isn’t me. I decided to relax a bit……..Om, Ommm….and hopefully somebody else would lose their mind so I wouldn’t have too.

Then the screaming started, no not me. Some dipshit power boat guy was yelling for his wife. It was like a 25 foot boat, is there really any reason to yell? Anyway, I got up to ascertain what was going on and I saw him lying on his belly on the swim platform. He was crabbing with a drop line and couldn’t reach his dip net to nab his catch. Who lies on their belly to catch crabs? Especially at 0645? Christ, it must be me; I’ve become an asshole magnet.

So, I’ve had 2 encounters before 0645 and the day has just begun. I was wide awake now, so with morbid curiosity I was waiting to see what the rest of my day would bring.

The trip to Wye Island was less than 5 miles and was a motor trip straight into a very light breeze. Once you head up the Wye River the western end of the island presents itself to you. The island is several miles long and about a mile wide and most of it is a state park encompassing 2550 acres. The water is deep all the way around the island so you can go either left or right when you arrive.

We turned to starboard as the southern shore of the island seemed to present more opportunities for anchoring. It’s a wide meandering river that we were sharing with several small boatloads of crabbers. We discounted one anchorage after another as we moved along. One was too exposed, one was full of crab pots and then we arrived at Dividing Creek. One of the guides we have reported that they’ve seen as many as 99 boats in Dividing Creek on a weekend. As the mouth of the creek came abeam we could see all the way up the fairly straight creek. There was only one cruising boat anchored in the creek, so there was plenty of room for us but we continue on as we were looking for a little more privacy.

After another mile we turned into the total seclusion of Granary Creek. Another of our considerations when choosing our anchorage is whether there is a place to land the dogs ashore. On the western bank there’s a small gravel patch that runs down into the water, and at the top of the riverbank there is a rack full of canoes and this is their launch site. So this must be part of the park system, perfect. We dropped the hook in 8 feet of water and settled in for our 2 day stay. Once we were set we started to examine the shoreline more closely and that’s when we saw it…….

We have friends that were married here on the island back in May. We had been invited but had to decline as there was no way we were going to be able to get this far north by May. We got to see photos of the ceremony which took place in a quaint woodland gazebo. Not 40 yards from our boat is what I’m pretty sure is the same gazebo.

It was their invitation that was the impetus for our trip to Wye River. We didn’t even know the place existed until we got the invitation. Since we weren’t going to be able to attend, we never paid attention to the actual location on the island where the ceremony was to take place and now by dumb luck and guided by the bowelular requirements of the dogs we’re anchored in exactly that spot. Dumb luck or incredible intuitional navigational abilities…..you be the judge. Of course for all we know the island could be sprinkled with dozens of these gazebos. But I’m a “half full” kinda guy so this is definitely the only one.