Annapolis, MD to Baltimore, MD

On Tuesday morning, 29 May, we left The Yacht Basin in Annapolis headed to Baltimore. The day was warm and beautiful, but the Chesapeake was a little rough until we turned off to Brewerton Channel toward Inner Harbor East in Baltimore, where we had reservations for the next few nights. Richard and Marcy, friends from Knoxville, joined us this leg of the trip.

Upon arriving at Inner Harbor East, we could readily see that major construction was being done at the marina. New restaurants, condos and apartments with swimming pools, and who knows what else are being built there at the marina. The marina personnel were preparing to move into trailers temporarily that were being set up for them about 100 yards from their office. Fortunately, their move did not occur while we were there, so we had access to their showers and restrooms.

After having lunch on the boat, we took off to see the sights. We walked around the town and scoped out what we thought we might like to see and do over the next couple of days. On Wednesday, Marcy, Richard and Pat went to the Baltimore Aquarium. It took several hours to get through the entire Aquarium, but it was worth it. This is a must see if you are ever in Baltimore. While we were at the Aquarium, Mike enjoyed having time to himself to walk around Baltimore and just relax. We had just visited an Aquarium within the past month, and he wasn’t interested in seeing another today.

On Wednesday, we took the Water Taxi to Fort McHenry for the afternoon. Fort McHenry is where the Battle of Baltimore was fought in 1814. The British Navy attacked the fort on their way to burn Baltimore, as they had just done two weeks prior when they attacked and burned Washington, DC. The American forces at Fort McHenry, as well as the protection force on the ground managed to repel the British Navy and ground troops, thereby saving Baltimore. The British forces then moved on to New Orleans, where they were soundly defeated again by the Americans, and ended the War of 1812. This battle at Fort McHenry was the inspiration for Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner.”

We had dinner at the Rusty Scupper on Wednesday evening, where Marcy and Mike enjoyed seafood, while Richard and Pat enjoyed steak. After dinner, we sat and people watched while having ice cream before heading back to the boat. Yes, this is a tough life.

While walking around the city docks that evening, we saw another “Looper” boat, VAGABOND, tied to the city docks. We stopped and talked to Virgil for a few minutes and discovered that he is doing this trip by himself. He is on a 1972 Grand Banks.

On Friday, 1 June, Richard and Marcy left about 8:00 a.m. headed back to Knoxville. We really enjoyed them spending some time with us on IRISH AYES and hope that they can join us again somewhere along the way. After their departure, we dropped the dock lines and headed to Stoney Creek, about 8 miles east of Baltimore, to dock the boat at a friend’s dock so that Mike and Jim could change out the oil filter system on the boat on Saturday, and complete a few other boat projects.

Mary and Jim, from ALTAIR, were there to help us get tied up to the dock. We met Pat and Chris, the couple who own the dock where we are staying, and later went to a Spaghetti Dinner, where Chris provided the entertainment on an accordion. After dinner, we returned to our boats and played a couple of rounds of Rummikub. As always, Mary won—both games! This girl is good at Rummikub!!

Mike and Jim spent all of Saturday, 2 June, changing the fuel filter system on IRISH AYES. The old system is a Dahl, which Mike has been complaining about since he changed the fuel filters for the first time back in 2000 when we bought the boat. So, at Jim’s urging, Mike ordered the new Racor filter systems for the engines and generator and had them shipped to Chris and Pat’s home. It took them most of Saturday to install the new Racors, but at the end of the day the engines and generator ran well, and there are no leaks, which is the result they were looking for. Mike is now a happy boater again. Thanks Jim !!

Later that evening we had dinner aboard ALTAIR that Mary had prepared, which was delicious. We then moved over to IRISH AYES and watched a couple of episodes of Boston Legal on DVDs, which we all enjoyed very much.

Sunday was rainy and windy, but we were out and about running errands and replenishing our food supply to prepare for our next part of the trip. Mike bought new light fixtures for the galley, and he and Jim installed them after we returned to the boat. We had dinner at Stoney Creek Inn and enjoyed delicious Maryland crab. If you have never eaten Maryland Crab, then you haven’t had REAL crab. It is the best on earth.

We spent Monday and Tuesday running more errands and doing more boat projects, waiting out the weather once again. Tropical Storm “Barry” created heavy winds which resulted in small craft advisories on Monday and Tuesday so we stayed put until the winds and seas calmed down.

We left the dock at Stoney Creek a little before 6:00 a.m. today, Wednesday, 6 June. Jim and Mary were up early to help drop the dock lines and to see us off. We are sad to once again be leaving them and moving on. What great friends!!

Our next destination is Cape May, NJ. Stay tuned.