39:16.94N 76:36.47W

Sunday, Monday & Tuesday – 16^th, 17^th & 18^th September

Did various jobs, and I actually completed our tax return instead of just talking about it - so a very useful day!   Rob spent much of the day doing royal waving to all the boats passing us and the responses were either very enthusiastic with lots of chat, or no acknowledgement at all despite passing within a few feet of us.   In the evening a local resident, Jim came out in his dinghy to offer us access to water on his dock and the use of his car to get to the grocery store or anything else he could help with.   Jim had been sailing and also bought what they call out here, a trawler (what we think of as a rugged motor vessel) out on the NW coast of the USA and told us all about boating round there in hopes of inspiring us to visit - you can imagine Rob's response in the light of his only sailing in T shirt and shorts theory.   Jim is a Harley Davidson dealer and when we left the following morning and could see his various dinghies, yacht and trawler all in matching green canvas, tied to his own dock, we understood that the motorbike market here is very flush!

We motored up to Baltimore the next morning and berthed at the Inner Harbour Marina with the help of a very jolly dockmaster called David.   The marina is right in the middle of the central harbour in Baltimore and was almost completely empty - but had been heaving for the IndyCar Grand Prix through the streets of Baltimore over the Labour Day weekend.   We decided to take a (expensive) berth as a gale was forecast and some reports indicate that although you can anchor in the centre of the harbour, the holding can be poor.   We have also discovered that you then also have to pay upwards from $20 a day just to take your dinghy ashore!

As heavy rain was forecast we set off into town for a wander, having beef burgers at the Hard Rock Cafe (oh we are old, the music levels were conversation killing), then a bit of retail therapy.   Back to the boat to give the decks a wash and to be invited next door to a Canadian boat for drinks.   This boat is travelling in company with another (who we also met) from their yacht club and it is a well-trodden path at this time of year for the so called ‘Snow Birds’ fleeing cold Canadian winters for the pleasures of the Caribbean.   They were great fun and we are sorry not to be seeing more of them.   And then I did a couple of loads of washing in the marina laundry losing my marina pass card in the process.   At first I thought I had washed it, but it transpired the next morning that another chap doing his washing had picked it up mistaking it for his, which was a great relief given the $25 replacement charge.

The promised rain arrived the next morning (along with a huge pile of manure for the park alongside us, and yes we are downwind) so after catching the free ‘Charm City Circulatory Bus’ to a supermarket, we opted to do the trolley bus tour of Baltimore as recommended at the Visitor Centre we had visited yesterday.   Baltimore is quite an extraordinary city for the way in which they are actively encouraging tourism.  From the last quarter of a century when it was a decrepit industrial town and sea port it must have poured money into things, as it now has lots of shiny new tower blocks and some of the industrial buildings have been saved, renovated or rejuvenated into condos or shops and restaurants.   They have built an impressive (albeit with an air of kiss-me-quick) waterside boardwalk and provide free buses on 4 different routes, plus a metro and light-railway system, and water taxis.   And they have any number of museums (many shut on Mondays and Tuesdays unfortunately) including the Tattoo Museum complete with unusual gift shop apparently (since we have our own live example at home, I wasn't tempted) and the Museum of Dentistry where you can view George Washington's false teeth (not wooden) and sing along with vintage toothpaste jingles - we managed to hold ourselves back from that one as well.   The tour was very good, visiting of course, Fort McHenry (1814 battle) and where the huge Stars and Stripes was made, which flew above it and all about how the words of the Star Spangled Banner were put to a British drinking tune to eventually become their national anthem (but not ratified until 1931).   We also got to see a lot of sights and architecture (and Babe Ruth's birthplace) that we certainly were not going to slosh through the rain to.

After this Rob went off to visit the Customs and Border protection, fruitlessly it turned out as they stopped work at 1500, and I did a little bit more shopping and got caught in the most impressive rainstorm I have ever been in, as the wind swept the rain sideways so hard that it was even channelling rain off the windowsills at 90 degrees.   Rob recorded 35 knots on the boat which made the berth charges much more worthwhile especially as we were also on tornado watch again this evening.