Magothy River, Dobbins Island

Thursday July 5, 2012
39 04.883 N
76 27.722 W

We were up at a reasonable hour and took the dinghy into town to get to the bank and do some last minute shopping. Sue and Bruce had walked into town and met us at the dinghy dock. It was another super hot day with temps near 100 and high humidity.

Then back to the marina and under way by 11AM. For reasons I do not understand I had some difficulty getting away cleanly. There was a bit of a breeze pushing me onto the dock that I needed to push into, but my approach was just not working, and the boat ended up hitting the end of the dock as we slid past. There was a fender right there, and it took the impact, with no damage done, but I was quite frustrated. I need to know what works and what does not, and feel a bit nervous about next time.

We headed generally north in Eastern Bay, planning to transfer into the Chester River through the Kent Narrows. Sue and Bruce had boated in this area in earlier days and had all sorts of war stories about the bridge, currents and the narrow winding channels. We got through OK, but it was quite "interesting" - quite narrow channels, some tight turns, a tight bridge, lots of boats and an amazingly uncooperative bridge tender.

Then we cruised west across the Chesapeake to the Magothy River. Sue and Bruce were taking us to a favorite anchorage from "the old days". When we got there the anchorage was quite crowded but we squeaked in OK, under the glare of lots of eyes.  It was a great spot. We were between two islands, one with an impressive house - with its own lighthouse!

The water was a little murky, but clear of "nettles" (jellyfish) and a perfect temperature, so we all went for a swim. About 8PM a thunder storm rolled in and blew the boat around for 30 minutes or so. We were only in about 10' of water and had 150' of chain out with the snubber, so I felt secure, more concerned about the boats around us.

It was still very hot so we fired up a generator and the AC. I hate the noise, but the end result is appreciated.