Our arrival in Baltimore coincided with Trawlerfest which was taking place across the harbor from us. Always ready to look at boats we hopped a cab with Bru & Sandy and took the ride around the harbor to the show. Of course we found several that we liked. All we have to do now is pick the winning lottery numbers!
Originally we wanted to stay in the Inner Harbor where we stayed last year but there was no room at the Inn which caused us to end up in the Fell's Point area of Baltimore. What a pleasant surprise with it's cobblestone streets, shops and eateries. We enjoyed the area immensely.
One of the unexpected treats of the area was buying pastries from the back door of a commercial bakery. Not open during the day we discovered it walking back to the boats one evening. My choice was the Shneike, a croissant filled with butter, sugar, and mini chocolate chips. Yummm!
9/30/12 Sunday Time to move on. Next stop.....Annapolis. Only one problem. The town is getting ready for back to back boat shows so the place is packed with boats. Oh well. It's still worth a ride through.
We checked out the anchorage in Spa Creek which was so packed with boats that it was hard to turn around. Fortunately Coconuts had a friend with a dock on the South River just a few miles away. Once tied up we ventured into Annapolis to check out the shops and find dinner.
10/1/12 Monday It's October already! Can you believe it? Anyway we're continuing south to Solomons for a couple of nights to sort out a problem that first surfaced in Baltimore. We developed a problem with the salon A/C unit not functioning properly. The control panel was flashing a code that indicated restricted air or water flow. The air filter was clean so on to the sea strainer. Yuck! In all my years of boating I've never had a strainer so clogged complete with barnacles growing inside it. And a smell that made a fish market smell aromatic! I chipped out the barnacles as much as possible in Baltimore as well as cleaned the strainer basket but still no luck. Through a process of elimination I determined the restriction was in the units themselves. A call to the West marine in Solomons confirmed that they had my new best friend in stock.
We got into town and anchored for the night. Tomorrow I'll go to work.
10/2/12 Tuesday A call to the marina confirmed that we could get into our slip early so off we went. Fortunately the marina had loaner bikes so West Marine here I come looking like Elliot in E.T. on my bike with a basket on the front. I got my new friend and headed back before the rain set in. I followed the directions and then the waiting began. Fast forward to Wednesday morning when I turned on the A/C. Like magic it worked like it's supposed to! My new friend is called Barnacle Buster. It's not cheap but certainly worth it.
10/3/12 Wednesday Off again. The bay was a picture of serenity as we traveled to where we turned up the Potomac.
Shortly after we made the turn Coconuts radioed that they had a problem with the electrical system so we decided to head into St. Mary's to overnight and hopefully sort it out. Once again we anchored in front of the college docks which weren't as busy as on our first visit here.
10/4/12 Thursday We awoke to a beautiful morning. Coconuts problem seemed to have disappeared so off we went up the Potomac.
Partway up we were hailed by a Navy Range boat and asked to move out of the channel because they were conducting exercises. They very pleasantly gave us a course to follow to keep us out of the area and still in plenty of water. Not long after we pulled into the Port Tobacco River to anchor for the evening. We later joined Bru & Sandy and took their dinghy into the Port Tobacco Marina for dinner.
LOL! Love the saloon name.
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