Kay has been working on this crossword puzzle for the last week and completed it at our next stop. My contributions are in red.

6/23/05
4:00 PM Thursday
Whitehall Bay
Severn River MD
Lat 38 59.630
Lon 76 25.678

If ever there was an uneventful day this was it, though it could easily have been otherwise. The case of the misplaced red marker was resolved in favor of the red marker. It was where it should be, the electronic chart had the channel in the wrong place. That made leaving Knapp's Narrows part of one of those things that lead to fulfilling the curse "May you live an interesting life." We made it literally by 1 inch. After that we motored for four hours on what amounted to a huge pond. We are now "anchored" in a smaller beautiful pond. I say "anchored" and not anchored because right now half a brick would old us in place.

6/24/05
4:30 PM Friday
Whitehall Bay

I can now say we were and are anchored. Our friend Tom Dove advised us to go into Whitehall Creek because, in his words, "Whitehall Bay can get lumpy." Lumpy indeed! But, as I said, it was a pond and a predicted 5 knots from the (exposed) South would not be bad today. Right, but how about 15 and 20? Ouch!

Why do I trust the NOAA weather forecasts? Got me. At 2:00 today we were told that tomorrow on our trip to Baltimore we would have 5 knots from the West. Great. Two hours later we are told that it will be 5 to 10 from the South. Not bad either. But what will it actually be? I might as well flip a coin.

Last night at 7:30 PM we counted 49 sailboats on the small part of the Severn which we could view from our location. I should say "I counted", since Kay said they were uncountable. Probably right. Oriental NC likes to characterize itself as the "Sailing Capital of the World", "North Carolina", maybe but not the "World" or even the "East Coast".


6/27/05
Inner Harbor Marina
Inner Harbor
Patapsco River
Baltimore MD
Lat 39 16 911
Lon 76 36 591

15-20 years ago we would have enjoyed 15-20 knot winds, but no more. Not to worry, it was 10-15 when we pulled anchor two days ago. This would have made for a nice sail toward the North. By the time we got out of Whitehall Bay and into the main Bay it had dropped to zero.

Coming in the Patapsco

Since we were following the main ship channel to Baltimore we expected to "run into" some big ships. But no, we did not run into any until we started up the Patapsco River. However they were not the real problem. We must have been crazy to head to Baltimore on a Saturday. The river was coated with bevies of huge power boats. Very large wakes were everywhere. Not much fun, but not a threat either. So, all in all, it was a good trip.

Coming into the slip I started to give instructions. The dock master told me that "she is doing great." I became silent and we docked without a bump.

It is a very nice marina, though it is expensive. Thirteen dollars for electricity and cable is by far the most we have seen. The cable does not work, so far it is not clear whose problem it really is. Not that important to us in any case.

Yesterday we took the Water Taxi to Little Italy and later to Fells Point. Kay is limited in how far she can walk, but told me that if "Little Italy" was really Little Italy there would be benches everywhere. There were benches everywhere. It was great. We ate lunch at a restaurant (corner of High Street and Eastern Ave) with a display of desserts that would tempt a diabetic. I had spaghetti with a sauce like nothing I had before. Excellent!

We had never been to Fells Point before. One of my friends from the University told me it was "Really Something." He was right. Walking around I came across a wad of money. We happened to be near Max's which advertises itself as "having the most beer on tap East of the Mississippi." (Actually 130). What to do with the money I found? Let me think. We sat at the bar drinking beer and watching a baseball game. They did not even object to me smoking my pipe. While we were at Fells Point we noticed that there was a lot of "action" at a place called "The Greene Turtle."

Later that night we called our daughter, Dawn, and told her about our day. Hearing that we went to Fells Point she asked if we had been at the Greene Turtle? Turns out she used to go there. We were flabbergasted, having no idea that she had ever been to Fells Point, Baltimore or even Maryland for that matter. We will go back there for lunch today or tomorrow.


6/28/05
10:30 AM
Yesterday I decided I wanted to go to the Aquarium. There are three problems with this plan:
1) There is a long line for the tickets
2) Tickets are expensive
3) When you get your ticket it usually requires you to wait two hours before you can enter.
OK. I get in line in the rain. The guy in front of me turns around and says would you like to buy a ticket. His ticket is $17.00 and all I have is 10s or 20s. I pull out a 20 and say "Do you have three singles?"
He says "No! How about you give me a 10 and I will give you two $1?" I stop and make some mental calculations and "reluctantly" agree.
Net result:
1) I don't stand in line.
2) His ticket was purchased a couple of hours earlier so I get to enter immediately.
3) It cost me $8 and not $17

This coupled with the money I found yesterday leads Kay to think I am on a roll. I guess I need to buy some lottery tickets. Maybe lots of lottery tickets. On the other hand maybe I will find some lottery tickets today.

I realized this morning that I badly miscalculated my morning medicines. I had enough of the evening versions to get us home, but I was almost out of the morning ones.I have no idea how this happened? Just in case I made such an error, prior to leaving, We moved all our prescriptions to Walgreens. After all you can probably find a Walgreens in the Gobi Desert. Located a Walgreens within walking distance of the Inner Harbor. Called them and within 5 minutes the problem was solved. I guess that I would recommend this to any cruiser.

We are waiting for friends from Greenville, Rodney and Mary Schmidt, who are in Baltimore for the Orioles/Yankees series. Sure hope they are Yankee fans, as of late the Baltimore team has not been doing well.

6/29/05
8:30

We spent a great afternoon yesterday with Rodney and Mary. The Greene Turtle turned out to be a disappointment. One poor young woman was bar tender, waitress, and cook. The service was "strained". Most of us chose "Eastern Shore" crab cakes. Regrettably we forgot to ask the Eastern Shore of what ocean, sea or bay? Oh well the company was great. Glad to see in this mornings paper that the Orioles won last night in extra innings. I am sure that greatly pleased our friends.

I did not find any lottery tickets yesterday.
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