Fly in the Ointment - Solomons, MD to Reedville, VA

Our cruising guidebook warns of the abundance of flies and no-see-ums in the Chesapeake Bay in autumn. Apparently, they try to take refuge on your warm boat since it's getting colder outside. We finally encountered this phenomenon today.

No more than an hour into our Solomons Island --> Deltaville leg, the cockpit became infested with flies of all kinds: tiny, translucent amber flies that camouflaged themselves on the wooden companionway; thick black flies with oversized, bulbous red eyes that resembled flower pistils; smaller hump-backed cousins--bison of the flies; and long black flies with a white spot near the head and a single thin white stripe on both long twitching antennae.

It got to the point where I would inadvertently smoosh one by sitting in a different position, or putting my water bottle down. Or a larger variety would buzz millimeters from my nose, making me leap up and bump into something. It was completely gross and annoying. I still can't figure out what business these flies have miles away from the shore. Some of the tiny flies looked like they could barely make it from one side of the boat to the other. A few flies died not long after arriving-- too spent, I suppose, to enjoy the free ride. Well, they didn't enjoy it, and neither did I, until their numbers thinned out and we hit some gorgeous water.

Since we were running short on time before nightfall, we decided to stop in Reedville, where the entire town stinks like the fish processing plant upwind. I'm looking forward to the short hop to Deltaville tomorrow.

Solomons Island, MD

We left Annapolis yesterday and unfurled the sails (yay!) down the Chesapeake to Solomon's Island, a small island full of beautiful trees, picnic tables, dogs, touring motorcycles (you know, the ones with radios and cupholders), and, of course, boats. We arrived just before sunset and biked the length of the island, stopping off for some bbq at an outdoor stall blasting Arrested Development Gob's magic theme song (Europe's "The Final Countdown," thanks Shazam) on a radio station called Hair FM. Then we got  some really delicious key lime pie at a far less screechy, laid-back place called Kim's. A pass on a bingo evening, and we tucked in early for a peaceful evening on a mooring, since we'd gotten up at 6:30am and were going to have to again. Not the most exciting day of our trip, but definitely one of the most pleasant so far.