Friday, June 1, 2007

Dead fish and sea flies: The Chesapeake Bay north of Annapolis and the Delaware Bay

Left Annapolis Sunday morning on a hot, muggy, hazy day. Light winds moved us slowly downwind at 2 knots, a good speed to drag the fishing line with. Alas, as usual, I didn't catch anything and probably a good thing because the rest of the day and following days revealed many dead fish. Not sure why. Maybe it was just the holiday weekend and the throwbacks from everyone out fishing, but it gave me the willies. Nevertheless, happy to be sailing, even slowly.

More of the same on Monday, with the exception of running aground in the Bohemia River. Not hard aground and we were able to mush our way out, only to head back to the mouth of the river to anchor for the night. A definate increase in herons in the north of the Bay.


















Up and at 'em before the crack of dawn on Tuesday brought us through the C & D Canal in good time. Rick had it all studied out to maximize the current and there was even a sailing breeze when High Country nosed into the Delaware Bay. Notable sights along the way were numerous large ships, the Salem nuclear plant, and dead fish floes (this time, the fish were so numerous, they must've been the by-catch of a larger fishing vessel).

Thursday brought us out into the ocean to head north along the Jersey coast from Cape May. It's a mystery to me why, when out at sea, miles from land, the boat is inundated with flies. No matter how fast we kill them, it doesn't seem to decrease their numbers. Between the 2 of us, we probably killed a couple hundred flies, which are then littered all over the deck. Can anyone explain this phenomenon? It doesn't make any sense to have more flies on board when at sea than when in port. I would think it would be a poor strategy for flies to fly out to sea.













2 comments:

Bob and Kitty said...

You guys, we completely understand about the flies. We got absolutely attacked right where you did last summer. I swatted and Bob tried to hang onto the tiller. They are unbelievable. We unfortunately, anchored for the night near where they were and had to close ourselves up tight in the boat lest we get carried away. Even with screens it was SO HOT!

Rod West said...

Nice pictures, but I think your hats are funny.

Day 61 - Magical Mystery Morning

During the week, Scallion, Luka, and I head out for our run at 6am.  Sundays are my day off, but at 5:50am today, they made it very clear th...