We awoke at about 5:00 after a really pleasant night’s sleep. We had set up our little fan to blow into the sleeping cave and it provided a nice breeze to cut through the oppressive heat that we had been experiencing all afternoon and evening, At about 1:30, I got up and turned off the fan in an attempt to save battery life. Since we would probably not be motoring today, I felt that I needed to be conservative.
We tinkered around in the boat; I worked on the blog, and Janine tidied up the boat and read a bit. We headed for the showers at about 8:30 and were pleasantly surprised to find a very nice shower/laundry facility. It felt great getting the perspiration residue off of our bodies. It is one of those treats that you look forward to on a cruise like ours.
We needed to discuss the issue of our electrical hookup with the folks at the Dock Masters Office and it didn’t open until 9:00 so we hung out on the dock until that time. This is a really exclusive dock. It is absolutely in the heart of Baltimore; a spot of real prime real estate. The Dock Master controls a few slips like ours and those of the tour boats while the marina, whose office is next to the Dock Master’s controls a number of exclusive slips. These folks all share the same bath facilities which are controlled with a key card for entry. The dock hand that helped us land yesterday commented that we had picked the right marina to stay with because the other one was really expensive.
When the Dock Master’s Office opened, the young lady although apologetic told us that they did not provide refunds so it was sort of “sorry about your luck.” I asked to speak to her supervisor and she had never heard of the problem that we had and again told me that she could not refund my $16.00. We discussed the fairness of their policy and she finally said that if I could provide a receipt to show that I had paid the $16.00, she would refund it. So I walked the ¼ mile back to the boat, got the receipt, and walked back and received my money.
It was now 9:45 and we had yet to have breakfast. I placed my computer under my arm and went looking for an ATM (our cash is running low), a place to eat breakfast, and a wireless hot spot to communicate with my world of computer friends. We hunted around for a good 45 minutes before we finally found both an ATM and Lenny’s Deli of Harbor Place where we found a busy vocal staff preparing meals for throngs of folks. I ordered pancakes, sausage and home fries and Janine had a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. It was good and nice not to have to prepare that meal on the boat.
The temperature was really beginning to rise and we decided that if we were going to do something outside, it had best be soon. Parked right in front of Lenny’s Deli is the sailing ship the USS Constellation so we decided to take the tour. It was a really great tour that took you all through the boat using a handheld recorder. They even fired a cannon as a demonstration. The staff were all knowledgeable and willing.
From there we headed to a Barnes and Noble for the air conditioning and a place to send out the blog. This B&N is a really neat one built inside of an old municipal power plant. The smoke stacks have been opened up and made part of the stacks for books. They also have, as I guess many of them do, a Starbucks Coffee place and we both experienced our first frappachino; mine was a white chocolate one and Janine’s was a mocha. Boy are they good and refreshing on a sweltering day! We hung around B & N for quite a while I figured out how to use their internet connection and Janine got in some serious reading time in the cool!
Back at the boat in 102 degree heat index, we cooked and finally decided that we had to get back into air conditioning. So back towards B&N when we ran into a tour guide who provided a map of things to do in the Inner Harbor. I noticed a Maritime Museum not far from B&N so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be a retired Coast Guard Ship that was originally built in the middle ’30’s. During WW11, it was transferred to the Navy and sent to Pearl Harbor. It is said to be the last ship to still be floating that survived the December 7th attack. We took the tour and like the Constellation tour, it was well done and most interesting. It even had a few air conditioned compartments. Back outside – Back to Barnes and Noble and another frappachino and reading time. We stayed around in the cool air until about 6:00 and since our meal for the day was at 10:30 we decided to head for the Fells Point area for our evening meal.
We motored about a mile to the public pier, tied up amongst several boats that were already and headed into the raucous crowd that had assembled in front of several of the pubs that had street side tables. We stopped at John Steven LTD restaurant, one that Beth had suggested and had a wonderful meal. Janine had a salmon dinner with twice baked potatoes and I had a wonderful seafood pasta medley. We quenched our thirst with a local beer – something like Resurrection Ale and a Yuengling. The folks at the table next to us struck up a conversation and it came around to a discussion of the free movie to which they were headed that was held every Wednesday night on the pier where we were moored. After dinner we wandered back to the boat and were amazed by the monstrous screen at the end of the pier and the throngs of folks that were gathering for the show. We decided that Ironman II was probably not our sort of movie so we headed out into the dusk for a pleasant ride back to the mooring pier.
Upon tying up, a gentleman in a 39 foot catamaran came over and invited us to come onto his boat for a visit. We did and had a truly wonderful evening. They were from Canada, had sold their home and bought this big beautiful boat and had been living on it for the past two years. Most of that time had been spent in the Bahamas and points south but they had returned to get away from the hurricanes. We spent a good 2 hours talking about sailing and the adventures that we had all had. Finally, at 10:45 we said our goodbyes and headed for bed. It was still really hot and we again rigged up the little fan to make sleeping in the cave bearable.
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