Baltimore
Home Up Jax to Virginia Va to St Michaels Baltimore Annapolis to Ft Myers

 

Aug 1-31 If St Michaels is the jewel of the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore is a hidden gem. Deep down, we are city folks who like a vibrant city with lots to offer. We tied up at Anchorage Marina which is within walking distance to the Inner Harbor, and the enclaves of Fells Point and Canton, great neighborhoods to bike around. Our only complaint is that the Patapsco River which runs all the way into Baltimore fills the city with tons of garbage. It is unsightly to say the least, but amazingly, the water is actually pretty clean. The bottom is another story. 

Feeding the swans in St Michaels Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Md The Thai gang cooling off at Anchorage Marina pool
Lydia and Sharon(Eileen's sister and neice) visiting from Calgary, Canada Eileen's sister visiting from Philly The Wong family visiting from Philadelphia
While we were in Baltimore, we had several sets of relatives come visit. Eileen and her family even had an impromptu reunion in Philadelphia, and now almost everybody in the family has seen the boat. And boy, did we socialize! Chandelle was dockside at nearby Stoney Creek. We hung out with them and their friends Mike and Karen of Mi-T-Mo (an ex-army transport boat that is so unique it never fails to attract attention) at the Inner Harbor and Fells Point. The liveaboards at Anchorage marina had gatherings almost every day of the week . Monday night was boaters night at Coburns in Canton, where they served up excellent crabcakes and crab dip, among other yummy entrees. Other nights were game nights or concert night at nearby Patterson Park. One night at the park, the mayor of Baltimore played in his band - The OMalleys. What great Irish music! We had a ball.
Mike, Karen, Joy and Bill - Happy hour at Phillips The mayor of Baltimore and his band (O'Malleys March) Eileen Quinn serenading the crowd at the Southbound Cruiser's Reunion

Sep 7 -9 The Southbound Cruisers' Reunion, a three days free event featuring seminars on insurance, diesel maintenance, weather, etc, brought us back to Anchorage Marina. We had volunteered to help out with videotaping and whatever. Now, we were anchored in front of the marina, just like a dozen other boats. With plenty of room in the anchorage, a Tayana 47' sailboat had to put herself  snugly behind us (herd mentality, we called it). A little too close for comfort, but being non-confrontational, we  said nothing. We figured sailboaters know what they were doing. So the party and seminars went on merrily at the marina. On the third day of the event, the wind picked up as well as changed direction. Now, we were in front of the aforementioned sailboat, and it looked like we had dragged anchor because we were sitting almost on top of her anchor chain. Her captain did nothing. We pondered the situation for a while and decided we would re-anchor. Did we mention how dirty the bottom of the Baltimore harbor is? Ay yay yay. Sophal was so steamed he went over to ask the captain what kind of scope (how much chain) he let out. In 15 feet of water, we had 100 feet of chain out using a scope of 5 while he let out only 60! This in 25 knots wind. No wonder we were sitting on top of his chain when our boats turned around! 

With the party over, we pulled in to the marina for a pump-out the next day. When we were ready to leave, the starboard engine quit. We almost had to scrap our crab dinner plans with Chandelle and Mi-T-Mo. Again. Luckily, Sophal was able to get it going after mucking around with the fuel filters. We got to Mi-T-Mo's dock in time for our crab feast and corn on the cob. Yum!

We'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line - Eileen or Sophal
Last updated: 04/12/2007 		Check out our pictures here