Baycation Part 3

We left Herrington Harbour South early Thursday morning. The slips in Ego Alley in Annapolis are first come-first served so you want to time your arrival carefully. There are 20 slips plus the bulkhead available. Of those 20 slips, our boat can fit in only 4 because of her length. We can also fit along the bulkhead if that is open. Check-out is 11am and we planned to arrive between 10:30 and 11 to snag any slips that were opening up.

When we arrived, 3 of the 4 potential slips large enough for us were open. We snagged one and waited on the other 3 boats in our party to arrive. The dockhands were very busy over the next hour as slips filled quickly. Two of the boats in our party arrived within 30 minutes of us and got a slip without issue. The fourth boat was coming from another location and got a late start. By the time they arrived around 1pm, all of the slips available for their size boat were filled. They were lucky, however, because a spot along the bulkhead had opened up.

We found space for all four boats in Ego Alley for the night! Now remember, this is a Thursday that I'm talking about. Not a weekend, when boat traffic is at a premium. This was a weekday when many people have to work. So definitely keep that in mind if you want this view from the bow of your boat:

The great thing about being in Ego Alley is you can walk to all of downtown Annapolis. Shops. Restaurants. Ice cream. There are marinas nearby where you can make a reservation for a slip but there is just something about the "Alley" and the boat and people watching that goes along with it. Plus you can check on your boat while eating lunch at Pussers.

On Friday morning it was time to leave for the last stop on our Baycation -- Dobbins Island in the Magothy River. We had not visited Dobbins Island since Bumper Bash many years ago. It was great to visit when there were only a handful of boats anchored in the area.

We dropped anchor and jumped right in the water. Everyone loved the spot because it's a pretty area and the water is clearer than it is further north in the Bay.

There appears to be a theme to my posts recently: Storms! And our little raft-up of four boats got stuck in one while anchored in the Magothy. The area around Dobbins Island is rather silty. We had two bow anchors out but they broke loose as the winds picked up. I promise you that we do know how to anchor properly. We've had much more luck than not with our anchors holding as they should. The past few weeks have been more trying than most.

We reset anchor before the worst of the storm hit. You know you're in quite a rain storm when the radar looks like this:

Like most storms, after the rain and wind, we had a nice quiet evening and left for home in the morning.

Saturday to Saturday: 1 Baycation, 4 locations, 2 anchorages, 2 marinas, 4 restaurants, 7 boats, and countless Chesapeake Bay memories.