Dolphins on the Southern Bay

[GeorgeDog]

This is our first trip south on the bay and we're amazed at all the dolphins. It seems every time we turn on the music they start swimming alongside. There are 50 to 100 swimming in the York River right now. Is this normal or are we just living right?

Chris

[chef2sail]

Chris'
Sounds like you are having a great time. We actually saw a pod of about 20 or so dolfins when we roundef 'Cedar Point on the Chester River Saturday on our way to rondevois with4arch in Grey's Inn Creek. Big cabin cruiser scattered them

[sck5]

we saw a whale in the southern bay last Fall. We couldnt believe it at first but it blew and breached so there wasn't any doubt what it was

[Gladrags1]

It's been an amazing trip south to Solomon's so far. We saw 3 dolphins on Sunday off Sharps Island light plus countless rays. The rays seem to be everywhere you look! We are on a cruise with our sailing club down to the Yeocomo River and then back up to the Choptank. The weather has been great so far but light on the wind.

Tod

[PalmettoSailor]

Originally Posted by GeorgeDog

This is our first trip south on the bay and we're amazed at all the dolphins. It seems every time we turn on the music they start swimming alongside. There are 50 to 100 swimming in the York River right now. Is this normal or are we just living right?

Chris

You are living right to see that many.

In our years sailing out of Deltaville I formed a theory that you saw dolphins further up the bay during droughts. When there was less rain and presumeably the salinity was a bit higher it seemed you'd sight a lot more Dolphins. However, I never saw more than say 2 or 3 pods of 5-6 at a time, so to see over 50 at once you must be living right.

My best Dolphin story was when I was grinding as crew once. I was standing over the winch with the rail nearly buried, looking almost straight down into the water, with the rest of the crew already on the rail and the helmsman focused on his task when a full sized adult dolphin popped up and rolled on his side to look me over. It was our first sighting that day, and it happen so fast and unexpectedly, I wondered if it really happened. I looked up to see if anyone else saw it, only to be chastised to get the damn sail in.

Later that day several more showed up and played in our bow wave, but the one that "winked at me" will be a special memory for quite some time.

[GeorgeDog]

The locals say the dolphins have been in the river for several days chasing usually abundant bait fish. Perhaps we'll see them again today.

It's been a great trip. So far we've spent nights in:
1) Rhode River
2) St Leonards Creek
3) Solomons
4) Cod Harbor, Tangier Island
5) Onancock
6) Tangier, Tangier Island
7) Corrotoman River, East Branch
8) Urbanna
9) Carter Creek
10) Cape Charles Town
11) Yorktown

And still a week to go....
Chris

[chef2sail]

Wow Chris thats some trip you will have some good stories I am sure when next we meet.

Dolphin stories--When last in Hawaii we took a snorkeling boat between Maui and Lani and there were over ( no exageration) 100 spinner dolphins performing in front of us most of the way. If you have never seen a spinner dolphin the can jump over 30 feet and up to 12 feet out opf the water doing back flips.....now take that times 20 at a time

[centaursailor]

Sounds like a great cruise, and dolphins as well.
Amazingly Dublin bay, Ireland, now boasts a family of 3 bottle nose dolphins for the first time ever. They have been around since last year and are quite happy putting on a show for commuters on the local coastal train.
Can,t wait to get into the bay for a look.
Safe sailing

[PalmettoSailor]

Originally Posted by GeorgeDog

The locals say the dolphins have been in the river for several days chasing usually abundant bait fish. Perhaps we'll see them again today.

It's been a great trip. So far we've spent nights in:
1) Rhode River
2) St Leonards Creek
3) Solomons
4) Cod Harbor, Tangier Island
5) Onancock
6) Tangier, Tangier Island
7) Corrotoman River, East Branch
8) Urbanna
9) Carter Creek
10) Cape Charles Town
11) Yorktown

And still a week to go....
Chris

We plan to do a week trip south in September ourselves. You've hit some of our favorites and some that we intend to visit this trip. Onancock, Corrotoman (West Branch), Urbanna, and Carter Creek are among the places we visited regularly out of D'ville. Tangier, Cape Charles, and Solomons are among the ones we're looking forward to seeing for the first time. (Well, I've been to Tangier by plane many times and Solomon's by Harley)

[rockDAWG]

I don't want to burst your bubble or rain on your parade. Hahahah.

According Wikileaks, The U.S. Navy and Home Land Security employ mechanical dolphin fleet to monitor the US waterway. Don't be surprise these Dolphins may someday show up in our Hot Tub at our backyard. .

Actually I see more Sting Rays than dolphins in the mid and lower bay.