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Swimming in the Chesapeake?

7K views 31 replies 16 participants last post by  travlin-easy 
#1 ·
I've been sailing and swimming in the Chesapeake for the last three summers, after decades of sailing farther north (the LI Sound, Maine). Today, my wife and I were swimming off a Pearson 303 in Rock Creek when a guy on another sloop warned us against it, saying that someone recently had gotten Hepatitis A from swimming there. He advised us to go take showers immediately. He then recommended that if we want to swim we go over to Bodkin Creek. (Funny, we'd been swimming THERE earlier in the day.)

So, my question to you all is this: Are there places in the Middle Chesapeake (other than Baltimore Harbor) that are truly NOT SAFE for swimming? On a hot day, where would you NOT jump in?
 
#2 ·
Rock Creek is perfectly fine to swim in, particularly around White Rocks Marina. The health Dept checks water quality regularly and can be checked by going to their website. If hepatitis is present in these waters, it would be closed to swimming. I live on Rock Creek and have been following the health of the Bay. I would not swim anywhere after large rainstorms where there are sewage overflows.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#5 ·
Can 3 Polluted Local Creeks Be Saved? - Redorbit

I kept my boat there the last 10 years ( moved it south this year) and it's a great anchorage but I never swam there and was advised not to by member of the Save Rock Creek association who are working to clean up years of neglect. I fully support Karen Canfield and her efforts to clean it up. With the major substrate issues at its headwaters and the proximitity to the Cox water treatment plant you take a risk IMHO
 
#8 ·
I also would not leap to the conclusion that hepatitis was contracted swimming. There have been many cases associated with food.

But yes, the eastern side and farther south feel safer. I've been swimming in Bay for many years, but farther south. In addition to less population, the saltier the water the fewer pathenogens can survive. Really, only vibro.
 
#9 ·
We spend most of our time around OV beach and Willoughby Bay and regularly get bacteria warnings in the summer. Try to avoid the hot spots but my wife doesn't like the kids in the water any time, yet cant keep the crew out of the water when it gets hot and we dive to clean the bottom in the slip so let your conscience be your guide.
 
#10 ·
Why not just find an open sewer and jump in? Not much different than jumping into the Chesapeake's upper reaches. Think not? Well, why do you think all those public beaches were closed so many years ago? The bay sure as hell is not any cleaner today.

Just my opinion from more than 6 decades of being on Chesapeake Bay - but what the Hell do I know?

Gary :cool:
 
#12 ·
Yes, but keep I am being a bit harsh, probably because I watched billions of dollars go down ratholes to do nothing but study the problems, but very little was ever spent on fixing the problems. Also, I'm old enough to clearly recall when I was a 12 year old kid standing in the water at the mouth of the Patapsco River at a public beach and clearly seeing my feet in neck deep water. I can also clearly remember diving for oysters among the old bay bridge pilings during October of 1963 with underwater visibility averaging 20 feet or more. At that time, the bay was considered filthy.

During the mid 1970s I fished fairlee creek for white perch, often catching a dozen fish that I kept for dinner that averaged 10 inches and weighed more than a pound - they were very healthy fish. During the past few years, the perch I caught there were very small and most had sores on their bodies. The upper reaches of Fairlee Creek had blue-green algae warnings a few years ago, an algae that is fatal to animals that inadvertently drink the water. I would never jump into Fairlee Creek, though I see people doing that all the time near the creeks mouth at the beach.

I guess I've lived through the good times and now living in the bad. I wish I had better news, but this is not confined to Chesapeake Bay - it's a nationwide problem.

Good Luck,

Gary
 
#13 ·
Yes, but keep I am being a bit harsh, probably because I watched billions of dollars go down ratholes to do nothing but study the problems, but very little was ever spent on fixing the problems. Also, I'm old enough to clearly recall when I was a 12 year old kid standing in the water at the mouth of the Patapsco River at a public beach and clearly seeing my feet in neck deep water. I can also clearly remember diving for oysters among the old bay bridge pilings during October of 1963 with underwater visibility averaging 20 feet or more. At that time, the bay was considered filthy.

During the mid 1970s I fished fairlee creek for white perch, often catching a dozen fish that I kept for dinner that averaged 10 inches and weighed more than a pound - they were very healthy fish. During the past few years, the perch I caught there were very small and most had sores on their bodies. The upper reaches of Fairlee Creek had blue-green algae warnings a few years ago, an algae that is fatal to animals that inadvertently drink the water. I would never jump into Fairlee Creek, though I see people doing that all the time near the creeks mouth at the beach.

I guess I've lived through the good times and now living in the bad. I wish I had better news, but this is not confined to Chesapeake Bay - it's a nationwide problem.

Good Luck,

Gary
I hope those times will come back. I live in Baltimore now fo more than 20 years and to me it seems pretty stable. Does not seem to get worse so perhaps we are at the low point.

Here's to hope and optimism :2 boat:
 
#14 ·
There were dolphins feeding in the area between the Severn River and the West River for weeks during the early summer and they have returned to the West River a few days ago.
They are healthy and not lost or injured. This is unusual and may be a sign of some improvements. The Chesapeake Bay was ranked a "C" overall, its highest grade in nearly 25 years.

A "C" grade is still poor, but is a significant improvement over past decades. I expect that due to the flooding we experienced earlier this year which resulted in huge sewage discharges in the upper bay, we may see the grade backslide for 2016, I'm not sure. I hope not.

If you look at the attached report, you can see who the troublemakers are.
Chesapeake Bay health improves in 2015 | The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
 
#17 ·
The only place I saw eel grass was in the deeper troughs of the Susquehanna Flats - not the rivers and creeks. And, I saw very little eel grass in the troughs - just small patches, which is better than no grass at all.

The dominant grasses were Eurasian Milfoil and hydrilla, both of which are invasives that were introduced by the aquarium industry. The most promising thing I saw, first hand, was a huge resurgence of freshwater clams on the Susquehanna Flats, which did an incredible job of filtering the water there. The clams ranged from 1 to 3-inches in diameter and a single scoop with a child's beach bucket produced 50 to 75 clams from the muddy, pockmarked bottom. Neat!

As for the water quality of the upper bay, particularly where I see hundreds of boats anchored each weekend all summer long, well, you be the judge. Most of the swimming activity takes place at Fishing Battery Island or the Spoils Island directly west of the Battery. Both islands have wide, expansive beaches, and Battery Island has been designated as a seabird sanctuary, thus prompting FWS to plant specific grasses on the island to attract seabirds. Consequently, thousands of gulls can be see sitting on the shores of the south beach daily and their droppings are more than 2 inches thick after just three years. Additionally, large numbers of cormorants can be found standing on partly submerged logs, rocks, and buoys (everyone knows what cormorants do.). Late afternoons is when a dozen or more American eagles arrive at the island, swooping down on migrating shad and herring, striped bass and sick and dying channel catfish that can be seen struggling on the surface. DNR has never provided me with a good explanation of why the catfish are dying in this are in relatively large numbers. DNR probably doesn't care because they have very little commercial value, and over the decades, DNR has shown that it is more concerned about commercially viable species.

Here's the really sad part. Unknowing boaters and their very young children are swimming in an area that is the confluence of several wastewater treatment plants. Just 4 miles up the bay is the Havre de Grace Basin, where the town discharges it's treated wastewater. Just across the mouth of the Susquehanna is Perryville, and the Perry Point VA Hospital, both of which have their own treatment plants and discharge their treated wastewater into the basin as well. Upriver, just four more miles is Port Deposit, which has it's own wastewater treatment plant, which is discharged directly into the Susquehanna River. A few miles to the east is Charlestown and it's antiquated wastewater treatment plant, which discharges into the middle reaches of the North East River. Across from Charlestown is the town of North East, which discharges it's treated sewage into the North East River's upper reaches. Just a short distance southwest of Battery Island is where Aberdeen Proving Grounds is situated, however, I believe their treated wastewater is discharged into Bush River, which probably would not reach the Battery Island area during an incoming tide. Don't know for sure, though. A small, treatment plant can be found at Swan Harbor, which is situated just northwest of the islands. As you can readily see, those folks, unknowingly, are swimming and bathing at the confluence of 5 sewage treatment plants.

Personally, when I take my children and grandson out on my boat and they want to jump in the water, I make them wait till I get back to the marina where they use the swimming pool. Not much of a chance of them contracting Mycobacterium Marinum in a swimming pool that is well maintained, but the odds have been increasingly greater in Chesapeake Bay over the past three decades, this despite claims the bay is getting cleaner. I, personally, only witnessed a single case of this insidious disease while working in the medical field. It was on the hands of a commercial waterman who scratched his finger on a crab pot while crabbing in the bay's upper reaches. He ended up having his finger amputated after nearly 6 months of intense treatment.

When the kids want to cool down on my boat, I have a solar shower that I suspend from a halyard, which does a great job. The shower is filled with tapwater at the marina before I leave the dock, it holds 5 gallons and does a great job. If it runs out of water, I refill it from my boat's water supply tank.

Now, after reading all this, plus the attached reports from Anne Arrundel County Health Department, if you still think it's safe to jump into the bay's waters, feel free to do so. The decision is totally up to you. Keep in mind, however, that there are people on this site that claim they have been jumping in the bay for decades and never got sick. But, when you do get sick from mycobacterial infections, you really get sick.

Good luck,

Gary :cool:
 
#18 ·
I go swimming in the upper Bay and in fact did so with my Granddaughter this past July...there are however some very valid concerns. There have been two deaths that I am aware of in the upper Bay due to infections from water activities. Not to say it couldn't and doesn't happen from exposure to swimming pools only that everything has its risks. Note that many more folks have drowned in the Bay this summer than from infections.

V/r

Pete






POSTED: JULY 21, 2016
There were few things that Jerome Rodio, a retired Philadelphia police officer, loved more than fishing.
On a dock last week on Chesapeake Bay, Rodio watched as an older man worked to bring up several crab traps. Rodio, 75, offered to help. A trap scratched the inside of Rodio's arm as he lifted it out of the shallow water.
Three days later, Rodio, of Oxford, Chester County, was dead.
"At one point he showed me the scratch and we laughed about it," said son Gene, who accompanied his father on a boat that morning to reel in perch. "It was only two inches, like a nasty cat had taken a swing at him."
The injury wasn't deep. Jerome Rodio washed it out with bay water, which apparently harbored the bacteria that led to his death.
Vibrio vulnificus kills about 20 people in the United States each year. In contrast, one person dies of a shark attack every other year.
The microorganism thrives in warm, salty water, where it is often ingested by oysters and other sea dwellers. When people eat the contaminated seafood, they're sickened with food poisoning within a day.
But the bacteria, which are related to cholera, can also enter the body through open wounds. A V. vulnificus skin infection, though rare, can spread rapidly. The infection attacks the layers of a membrane known as the fascia, which are the connective bands of tissue that surround muscles, nerves and blood vessel, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The toxins released by the bacteria kill the body's soft tissues, resulting in what doctors call necrotizing fasciitis. The infection can cause sepsis, require the amputation of limbs, or cause death.
People with compromised immune systems, liver disease, or who are being treated for cancer are at greatest risk, said Cliff S. Mitchell, a physician and environmental health director of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
"I don't like the term flesh-eating bacteria because it conjures up a lot of unnecessary images," Mitchell said. "In reality, necrotizing fasciitis is a very scary and serious condition by itself. Flesh-eating bacteria can refer to several different infections."
In previous years, the State of Maryland has issued advisories warning of the presence of Vibrio in Chesapeake Bay.
"Should you worry about Vibrio?" said Mitchell. "That's a question I get asked a lot."
The number of people affected each year is very small, he said. To avoid Vibrio food poisoning or a skin infection, Mitchell advises common sense.
"I wouldn't recommend eating oysters from warm waters on a hot summer day," he said. "And if you have an open cut, avoid contact with water where Vibrio could live, especially if you are on immune suppressing drugs."
Jerome Rodio, who was also a Navy veteran, had been treated for cancer but was symptom-free, said his son.
The morning after he was scratched, he felt sick and drove to a Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic. The VA transferred Rodio to Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace, Md. When he didn't respond to treatment, he was taken by helicopter to the University of Maryland Medical Center, where doctors operated to remove the infected tissue.
Rodio, who was expected to become mayor of Oxford next year, never regained consciousness.



EASTON, Md. (AP)- An Eastern Shore fisherman has died from a rare bacterial blood infection caused when an open wound on his body came in contact with contaminated marine life or salt water, health authorities said Wednesday.
Dr. Ann H. Webb, deputy health officer for Talbot County, refused to release details about the death caused by Vibrio vulnificus, saying she wanted to protect the privacy of the patient's family. But Webb said the fisherman was healthy until a skin abrasion became infected while he was fishing in the past month on the Chesapeake Bay.
"It's very rare, and it shouldn't cause any panic," Webb said. "But we'd like to make people aware that when the bay temperature rises, they should not eat raw seafood. And if they go swimming, they should not have any open lesions, and they should rinse themselves off well after they leave the water."
The last confirmed death from Vibrio in Maryland occurred more than a quarter-century ago, health experts said.
A 41-year-old Hampden resident was crabbing on the Eastern Shore when a blue crab pinched his leg. The leg swelled and was amputated during a 12-day battle with the infection at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore
 
#19 ·
^^ Lottsa good stuff. Sad about the crabber.

But consider how often crabbers are in the water, contacting some of the most dangerous stuff (shell fish), and I'm not so bothered. I'm not actually convinced that an infected shellfish cut is related to an unhealthy Bay; barnacles and coral cuts have always been a risk, even in the cleanest places. I think implying the cause is pollution is careless.

As for the cause of pollution, it is all of us, including you and me. We all want houses, so that causes development. We all want food, so there are farms. As though there could be a simple solution....
 
#21 ·
I agree that wetland regulations are good, at least most of them. Some just don't make good sense, though, and you have read through all of them to determine their effectiveness. One that really makes no sense are the regulations to oyster farming permits. I was amazed at the obstacles the state or Maryland places on individuals that wish to create floating oyster farms, which is likely the most innocuous commercial activity in Chesapeake Bay. By and large, it takes more than three years and $25,000 to obtain the state permits.

As for where the pollution comes from, the sources are well known and well documented. As for the infected shellfish causing the death, well, that too is well documented, and while it's not so much the shellfish itself, it's the environment that oyster lives in.

Someone posted the people can be poisoned by coral cuts in clean water. In reality, those toxins are not from the coral itself, but from a dynaflagellate algae that tends to grow primarily on dead coral. Parrotfish consume the dynoflagellate algae and in the process, chunks of coral, which they grind to a fine sand and excrete through their digestive system, extracting the nutrients from the algae. All of that sugar white sand you see down in the Florida Keys is not sand at all - but instead it is the excrements of parrotfish over a period of millions of years. You cannot use it to make glass because it is not silica, which is the sand we have here in the north.

Now, parrotfish are the favored prey of barracuda, which some folks mistakenly believe are perfectly safe to eat if you eat the smaller ones and they were not caught near a coral reef. Well, it's a bit like playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun, but that's for another thread. Studies have clearly shown that barracuda that consume parrotfish have various levels of ciguateria, which can, in some circumstances, be fatal. That algae produces a neurotoxin, which paralyzes the victim.

There is another toxic form of dynoflagellate algae that resides in the lower reaches of Chesapeake Bay, and was found in the Pocomoke River's lower reaches several years ago. Scientists, through extensive studies, determind that it was triggered by huge quantities of chicken manure that had washed from tilled fields and into the river during rainstorms. The same algae was found in the Neuse River in North Carolina, which they determined was created by leachaids from large, and small, commercial hog farms.

Pick your poison ladies and gentlemen!

Gary :cool:
 
#22 ·
Wetlands acts do some whacky things, for instance my Sister had a wetlands "Bank" I think they call it, behind her property 1/4 mile or so away from the James River where someone who wants to use other wetlands can buy into this Bank so the total wetlands on the watershed is unchanged. To my mind they are where then need to be already so maintaining them somewhere else makes no sense at all. I've heard since childhood that oysters could singlehandedly restore the Bay if it was otherwise left alone. Of coures thets not going to happen but I'm all for more Oysters.
 
#23 ·
#24 ·
This topic has been covered to death so many times. I think there are places in the bay that are ok to swim in places they shouldn't personally I believe anything associated with the Patapsco River should be avoided just this evening on the news I heard about millions of gallons of sewage going down the Jones Falls which goes into the Inner Harbor and Rock Creek is the Patapsco. This is likely if I recall the 3rd or 4th time this year with heavy rains sewage plant have overflowed into what eventually is the Chesapeake most of these going into the Patapsco. If you recall the range that cause the devastation in Ellicott City new sewage plant overflowed and dumped millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Patapsco.

I would not swim in Rock Creek I don't let my kids swim in Rock Creek I don't even like them taking sailing lessons in Rock Creek but more important than anything is swimming after heavy rain anywhere in the bay.

I would agree that further north on the Eastern Shore in places such as Worton Creek Fairlee Creek Still Pond sassafras are probably pretty safe if you don't have any open wounds and shower after we swim. I would also agree that swimming South of Annapolis is probably safe for most because of the salinity.
 
#26 ·
Hey Shawn, Giant is selling Chincoteague oysters already - Whoops! September has an R in it, but still too early for me to begin slurpin'. ;) I did purchase some of them last winter and they were very, very tasty, but kinda small. I guess I'm a bit spoiled, mainly because I enjoyed eating oysters from Oyster Virginia's oyster rocks, which were in the back bay - they were huge, some measuring 8 inches end to end and two inches thick. Lord they were so, so salty and fat. If I can get down there and purchase some this winter, I'll let you know and drop some off to you on the way home - you will be impressed.

All the best,

Gary :cool:
 
#27 ·
Crazy winds have abated some. We spent the night in LaTrappe Creek on the Choptank . We are currently sailing back toward the Severn passing Poplar Island. Looks like we will spend our last night of vacation on Clements Creek up the Severn

We have seen so many varied bird species and unspoiled creeks on our trip around the middle and lower Chesapeake. Many nice peaceful scenic anchorages. Really got a chance to experience the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay.

It's funny as I read all the scary health warnings and protestations and dire predictions of the people on here, I am reminded that's its intellectual knowledge derived from reading and Internet knowledge for the most part. I have access to the same and have read it also.

I implore everyone to get out and visit our Chesapeake. First hand knowledge is that the Chesapeake continues do be doing better than years than 15 years ago. There is quite a concerted effort on many to preserve and protect it. We need to continue and increase the efforts, but not lose sight of the apparent gains we are making.

We are truly lucky to live in an area thriving which we can explore with our boats. We must continue to protect that legacy and ecosystem.
 
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#31 ·
One of the principal pollutants of the Chesapeake (besides constant sewage effluent from municipal sewage plants) is the recent discovery/observation of the 'release' of phosphorus compounds from the farmland soils in the drainage area of the Ches. Until recently, these phosphorus compounds were thought to be chemically bonded to the soils; upon recent observations by 'the environmental science folks' this soil-binding is not or 'no longer' the case. The phosphorous compounds are apparently now actively migrating/leaching into the bay.

Another and perhaps more serious problem is the 'stack up' of massive amounts of silt behind the Conowingo Dam near the mouth of the Susquehanna River; the silt has so filled in upstream of the dam that it is projected that no more can be contained; hence an impending disaster waiting to happen. All we'd need is another storm of the magnitude of Hurricane Agnes (1972) and the 'Susquehanna Flats' (~2 ft. depths) could potentially be extended half-way to Annapolis, especially if such a storm 'scoured' out much that backed up silt upstream of the Conowingo dam, .... as a lot of it did in 1972.
 
#32 ·
When I got out of the Navy in 1960, one of the first jobs I got was as a diver, inspecting the inflow pipes for the turbines at Conowingo Dam. It paid very, very well, though it was a very dangerous job. Hey, I was only 21 years old and back then that money went a long way. I was paid $150 an hour for my underwater time.

The underwater visibility of Conowingo Lake back then was about 12 feet on a good day during late fall and early winter. At that time, the water at the face of the dam was about 80 feet deep, and at the mouth of Broad Creek it was about 70 feet deep.

Philadelphia Electric had a contractor that constantly dredged the coal dust deposits from the impoundment, which also helped maintain the depth. The coal dust was sold for fuel after processing. That contract ended just prior to Hurricane Agnes, which filled the lake with sediments from sources throughout the watershed. Shortly after Agnes, I dove at the mouth of Broad Creek and discovered the depth was down to just 30 feet, thus 40 feet of silt had been deposited in the lake from Agnes alone. I talked with a friend that owns a marina on the lower end of the lake and he said that the mouth of Broad Creek is currently about 10 feet deep and gets shallower each year.

Now, the EPA and other federal agencies have made it nearly impossible to dredge the lake again - it is cost prohibitive. Consequently, if that dam ever breaks, a mountain of silt will quickly engulf Port Deposit, Perryville and Havre de Grace, Maryland. As for the flats, they are about the same size and configuration today as I remember them to be 50 years ago - not much has changed there other than some of the islands in the middle of the flats have long since washed away. Some attribute the loss of the islands to the loss of aquatic grasses, which was believed to be brought about in 1965 when the Maryland Department Of Natural Resources set up a test site to test the effectiveness of aquatic herbicides, one of which was 2-4-D. Shortly after those tests were conducted, the entire Susquehanna Flats and North East River were devoid of all aquatic vegetation. Prior to 1965 it was nearly impossible to get a boat through the grasses and into the North East River's marinas.

Gary :cool:
 
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