Your hosts, Kelley and Jerry Cox, each hold a 50-ton Captain’s license and have been involved in Chesapeake Bay research for a combined total of 55 years. We started Dockside Express in 1993, as a small water taxi company out of Tilghman Island, Maryland. We offered pizza, ice and newspaper delivery to the boats in nearby anchorage, as well as water taxi transportation to local restaurants and marinas.

The business grew quickly and we were able to add land transportation to our services. In 1997, we purchased a bigger boat and began offering environmental cruises and sunset champagne cruises out of St. Michaels. In 1998, we purchased the hull of a 50-foot boat that Jerry refitted to become the Express Royale. She was christened on June 4, 2000.

Jerry’s roots are from nearby Hooper’s Island, where his great, great grandfather William Hooper was a schooner captain aboard the Florence Lee. Kelley’s ancestors have been in this area since the early 1600’s when Edward Comins and his wife Elizabeth served as indentured servants of William Claiborne on Kent Island. Her Grandfather, Russell Phillips, was one of President Harry Truman’s favorite fishing boat captains during his frequent retreats to the Eastern Shore.