In Baltimore

Baltimore is a GREAT cruising destination. You follow the water all the way in to the inner harbor. There you are surrounded by restaurants, the old sailing ship “Constellation” and the USS Torsk a submarine that was in service from the 40’s through the 60’s. We arrived on Monday the 19^th and anchored right next to the sub. At first we were waiting for someone to come and tell us that we couldn’t anchor there but after a few water taxi’s and even the police boat went by and basically ignored us we figured we were ok. The designated anchorage area is pretty small the water is about 20 feet deep with a ‘soupy’ bottom. We were the only boat there upon arrival but to guarantee some afternoon shade and some security we laid a bow and stern anchor so that our stern would face the city. If more boats arrive we wouldn’t have to worry about swinging into them either.

We took the dingy ashore. No need for the motor as shore is about 200 yards away. Just oars. Lots and lots of restaurants including (and I’m not making this up) the “Rusty Scupper”. We had to have a rum and coke in the Rusty Scupper as it was also national “Talk Like a Pirate Day”. Who knew! (Yarrrrrrrrr..)

Back to Enee and a spaghetti dinner and to bed. . . . Holy Crap what’s that noise? At about 10 pm a crew came into the aquarium which is just the other side of the submarine and began to disassemble a metal stairway with JACK HAMMERS! (Look closely at the picture. The infamous stairs are just beyond the sub) It was the loudest racket I’ve ever heard and I played drums in some pretty bad bands. Luckily the workers stopped at 5:00 AM so I could then get my hour and a half of sleep. My body demands to get up at 6:30 no matter what for some reason.

Tuesday we looked at a number of boats. We really like the Endeavor 40 and plan to look some more tomorrow. Sean, our broker from Authentic Yachts, was a great guide and drove us around Baltimore and Annapolis boat yards. He even stopped at the Giant grocery store where we re-provisioned for another couple of weeks. This was also the day to celebrate our 100 days at sea! We had a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Thanks Jason for the gift certificate… it still worked.

Went for a long walk today to the West Marine. Did you know you had to replace the little paper filters in the Racor water separator filter? I didn’t. Finally this filter was so clogged the engine shut itself down. But enough about my mechanical acuity, the walk was through some more interesting Baltimore neighborhoods. There is a neighborhood called Little Italy with many more restaurants and a bars and club area called Fells Point that used to be the old docks. Baltimore is an interesting and fun city and we’re looking forward to seeing more of it in the days that follow while we shop for the next boat.