July 21, 2008.

Weems Creek was so nice that we decided to spend 2 nights there. That, and the fact that Tropical Storm Cristobal was waltzing up the coast just offshore. Weems offers a lot of protection so we decided to sit for the extra night to allow the tropical storm to get north of us before we headed back out onto the bay. It ended up being the right decision as we were pummeled by a vicious thunderstorm just after dark.

This morning after leaving Weems Creek we had to go down the Severn River to the bay. The river was crowded with navy cadets getting their first taste of sailing at the academy. We had to stop in and get fuel while passing through Annapolis. The fuel wasn’t the issue, it was water we were in need of. So after 30 gallons of fuel and 150 gallons of water we were headed to the Magothy River.

There’s a small island in a cove off the Magothy River that’s been recommended as a nice anchorage. We’re able to motorsail right into the cove and tuck in behind Dobbins Island.

On the weekend this place is a local’s hangout, but since its Tuesday we’re pleased to find only a half dozen boats here. We’ve heard that on the weekend there can be 200+ boats here. It’s a small island with very steep cliffs on 3 sides, on the backside is a crescent shaped area of “beachiness”. We dropped the hook in ten feet of water and after rigging our sunshades we both dropped in for a swim. The water is chocolate brown (gross) and I can’t begin to explain how warm it is. Its way warmer than anywhere we’ve been, even the Bahamas. It’s kinda creepy and there's no jellyfish, that can't be good. I cleaned the boats water line while Christy floated around a bit. The water was so warm that it was not refreshing.

What Dobbins Island does have is flies; thousands of little biting flies. We both had to slather on the bug killer, then I had to spray poison on all the sunshades and we still killed them by the hundreds with the swatter. We skipped going through Georgia and South Carolina primarily because of the flies. These are worse. Down south as soon as the boat stopped, the flies disappeared, here it was the opposite. We’ve got screens and poison everywhere, it’s miserable.

We did have to take the dogs to shore and I was kinda surprised when Christy opted to go with us. I can’t begin to accurately describe the algae/ seaweed that lines the shore of the island. Picture every pinch of hair anyone’s ever cleaned from the shower drain; it’s all been saved and lies here at the waters edge. When we pulled up to shore in the dink we both just looked at it. I found myself longing for the good old days of medical waste washing up on the Jersey Shore. Finally we had to step in and haul the dink up on the shore so the dogs could romp. Mercifully, the dogs were quick about their business and we were back in the dink and swarmed with a cloud of flies. As soon as we got back to the boat Christy got me the can of Yard Guard and I doused the dinghy and killed a hundred flies in an instant. We had been considering a couple of nights here, but now that we’ve been here we figure we could make it to Baltimore by noon tomorrow.