Baltimore Inner Harbor

Sunday July 8, 2012
38 58.537 N
76 29.034 W

We have taken a slip for two nights right in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Its a little bit on the expensive side, but worth it just to be right down town. The area reminds me of Darling Harbor, or maybe how Docklands wants to be after it is more established. Last night (Sunday) we strolled into town for dinner at "Bubba Gumps Shrimp" and enjoyed some serious air-conditioning. It was another hot night. The boat AC could barely cope, but at least we were running in shore power and the Genset could have a rest.

Monday July 9, 2012

The long awaited cool change arrived Sunday night after midnight, so we have woken up to very mellow weather. We spent the early hours of the day sitting on the aft deck enjoying our coffee and taking turns in the shower. Deidre is now getting industrial and has several loads of washing under way. I wanted to spend some time hosing down and cleaning the boat. We also need to do some grocery and boat shopping (12V light bulbs, stainless steel cleaner and etc) and banking.

Bruce and Bob "shopping"

Little Italy Baltimore

We strolled into town at about 10AM. I headed off looking for a bank, the girls wanted to do some shopping, and we all wanted to look around. I must say I am impressed with Baltimore. I had visited the area several times over the last 30 years on steel business, but probably in the industrial areas, and I had a negative expectation.But this visit has changed all that. Downtown is delightful, and as "Melbourne-esque" as I have experienced in the USA. Seems very prosperous, clean, and with some interesting neighborhoods. We wandered into Little Italy and were delighted with what we found. had a great lunch and did some shopping. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the aft deck, enjoying the mild weather and watching boats. 


Late in the afternoon we were invited to visit a neighbor boat "Steadfast" for a glass of wine and tips about NYC. It was a Katy-Krogan "Whaleback" trawler with husband and wife crew. The husband suffers from a crippling and progressive disease that had put him in a wheelchair, but they continued to cruise. Great company, and quite an amazing feat.

Sunset

We returned to Tide Hiker for dinner and desert on the aft deck. It was a beautiful evening and a spectacular sunset. We played cards till midnight.

Tuesday July 10, 2012

Sue and Bruce were picked up by their daughter at about 10AM. Deidre has a several loads of wash to do and I needed to wash down the boat before departing. We have just had a light lunch. We plan to leave by about 1PM and head south back towards Annapolis for our mail!

Having Sue and Bruce on board was great fun. We are sad to see them leave.






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