If you don’t own a boat or don’t know someone who does, Jellyfish Joel’s Tiki Bar is probably one of the best kept secrets on the bay. From the Western side of the bay it’s a lonnng haul by car all the way around the bay to get there. But if you’re traveling by boat it’s just a short trip right across the bay from Essex MD. Jelly Fish Joel’s is situated inside the Mear’s Great Oak Landing Marina complex on a peninsula along Fairlee Creek. During the summer months, it opens at 2pm and it has live music from 4−8pm every Friday for their sunset beach party. On Saturdays and Sundays they open at 11:00 and have live music all afternoon. The Tiki Bar itself serves cold beer, a full bar, and frozen drinks(don’t miss their famous Run Runners, Pain n’de Ass’s and Painkillers), while a separate tent is always there for fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit crushes. They also have a food wagon that serves up a variety of light bar food type snacks & sandwiches. Jellyfish Joel’s is a favorite weekend anchorage on the upper Chesapeake Bay for hundreds of boaters every summer. You can tie-up to one of the marina’s many floating slips if you want all the comforts of home,(power, water, and access to their spacious, immaculately kept, public bathrooms and showers). Or you can anchor right out in the protected Fairlee Creek waterway and use your dinghy or the free water taxi to get over to Jellyfish Joel’s palm tree lined beach. Lest you think Jellyfish Joel’s is just an adults only paradise, they also have a kids area just off the peninsula that has air filled water slides and slip & slides to keep your kids entertained for hours. And of course there’s also the beach and the water for kids and adults alike to enjoy.
