Baltimore

Baltimore, Maryland
N 39 18.907 W 76 37.091

Wow! What a difference from our normal routine. Instead of coves, creeks and bights, we have Skyscrapers, water taxis, and tens of thousands of people walking around. Instead of great blue herons and barn owls we have street jugglers and night life.

We've never been to Baltimore before so we decided to give it a try. We especially wanted to see the world famous aquarium in the inner harbor. We tried to sail here, but once again the wind died on us and we had to motor.

I was a little apprehensive about the approach. There are over 4,000 ships per year that enter Baltimore Harbor. I was afraid of getting run down or getting yelled at. In reality it wasn't bad at all. We saw only two ships and we had no trouble avoiding them.

When we came to the inner harbor we had our choices of places to stay. There it a marina, and there are city docks and there is a big seawall to tie up to, and one can anchor. There are no dinghy landings so if you anchor you have to use the water taxi to get ashore. No matter which choice you make, you have to pay a fee to the harbor master. No big deal. We chose the sea wall, and the fee was $1 per foot -- not bad. The harbormaster came over in a golf cart to collect the money.

It's hard to describe the scene in the harbor here. We're tied up along a big indoor mall called Harbor Place. The water taxis come in at our stern and off our bow is the schooner Pride of Baltimore II. To port we have the USS Constellation -- the last sail warship ever commissioned for the US Navy. Past that is the Baltimore World trade center building. Past that is the Chesapeake Light Ship. Past that is the submarine USS Torsk, and past that is the aquarium. That's an awful lot of stuff concentrated in a very small area.

Even though we didn't arrive here until 16:00, we decided to go to the aquarium this afternoon rather than waiting for tomorrow. (Hint, it was 95 today and the aquarium has air conditioning.) It is an excellent aquarium that lives up to it's reputation. We had several enjoyable hours touring that.

After leaving the museum, Libby spotted a Barnes and Noble bookstore and headed for that. I spotted a Best Buy store and headed for that. I wanted to buy an external USB WiFi adapter so that I would get a stronger signal without having to bring the computer up on deck. I bought a D-Link Rangebooster N USB Adapter, I'm using it right now and it works fine.

On the way back I spotted a Filene's basement store. I need some new underwear so I went in to buy some. Too bad, they had only Calvin Cline and Ralph Lauren brand undershorts. Since I'm just a cruiser rather than a fashion model Wal Mart briefs are good enough for me.

After dinner we walked the waterfront and stopped to watch a steel band. The steel band played great and they inspired the young kids in the audience to come out and dance. They were mostly black young kids, and they tried out their Michael Jackson moves to the steel drum rhythms. It was great fun to watch. It is also a sobering reminder that the under age 7 kids in this city go to bed later than Libby and I usually do.

We'll see how well we manage to sleep tonight. It's already 23:30 and the noise and the music show no signs of letting off yet.