Baltimore


Anchored at Baltimore's Inner Harbor
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Motored to Baltimore from Pleasure Cove Marina in Pasadena, Maryland. My favorite dinghy dock by the water taxi next to the submarine had signs all over it, “No dinghies. Dinghies towed away”. What a disappointment!  I tied the dinghy up there for over 20 years every time I visited the Inner Harbor. I rowed back to the boat, and the paddle-boat concession owner zoomed up in his rowboat. "You will have to move out of the paddle-boat area."  I thought the orange buoys were marking the anchorage field. Oh well, moved out about another 50 feet. I called the dock-master on the vhf.  “You can tie up your dinghy anywhere but pier 4.” I thought that wasn't so bad--I could tie up the dinghy at a bulk head, just a bit more of a row.

This weekend was the Grand Prix race. Things were jumpin’! I rowed ashore and scoped out the race course through the city streets. When I got back to my dinghy, there was a form letter telling me the fee for tying up the dinghy was $20 for up to 5 hours.

Paddle boat concession manager pays a visit.
By next morning (early!) the race had started in earnest. Cars were zooming all around the Inner Harbor, the sound echoing off the buildings, like super-loud bees buzzing.

Baltimore wasn't the cruiser-friendly place I remembered from the 1980's! I moved east about a mile to Lighthouse Point and anchored. Baltimore isn't very high up on my list to visit anymore.

Saturday, September 01, 2012
Light rain. Took a sponge bath before sunup, made pancakes for breakfast. Considering rowing ashore in the rain.

Rain let up, rowed ashore, had a breakfast sandwich for lunch at Subway. Used the toilet at Starbucks, but the line for food at Starbucks was out the door. This is an up-and-coming part of town, populated by young professionals. I think most of them were there at Starbucks for coffee!

Sunny, 94 degrees. It’s hot, but a nice breeze through the hatch makes it bearable.

It's 6 pm, and there is a loudly amplified African-American woman singing karaoke off key from Anchorage Marina. I'm looking forward to packing up and heading out from Baltimore.

Sunday, September 02, 2012
Had a nice lunch with Bill and Linda. They were gung-ho about crabbing, so we planned on meeting next week at St. Michaels. We will motor over to the Wye River, catch a few crabs, steam ‘em and motor back to St. Michaels.

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