Baltimore City
30 September 2009
Photo of Fort McHenry
That one is for the McHenry's back home.
We're off to Baltimore! We left early in the morning because it is to become much worse by the afternoon. We headed across to the western shores of the Bay. It was to be NW winds today and we hoped to be further protected by the land. The waves and winds were kinder today. It only gusted to 24 knots. We sailed today but tacked back and forth waiting for the NW winds as promised...not! It was mostly W today, but we managed to head down the bay towards Patapsco River, which leads to Baltimore.
I can't believe it... we are right down town Baltimore in a free anchorage... oh yes I can believe it. We are anchored in Baltimore's Inner Harbour, right beside the World Trade Center and the National Aquarium. There's a submarine "Torsk" on one side of us and on the other side we have the "Pride of Baltimore" and the warship "Constellation". It's a beautiful spot to be. Every 5 minutes the submarine shouts through the speakers "Clear the bridge, dive, dive!" Ha!
We plan on staying here until we have West winds and we can have a gentlemen's sail outta here. We need to clean the fridge and provision with fresh seafood, meats, cheese, fruits and veggies.
Oh here we go again; "Surface, surface, surface!"...o-ya. .it's gonna be a long night.
History: The name Baltimore is a anglicized version of "Baile and Ti Mhoir", a Gaelic phrase meaning "town of the Big House" and referring to the seat in County Cork of Lard Baltimore, for whom the city was named in 1729. One of the city's most historic events was not so much the defence of Fort McHenry during the battle of Baltimore in 1814, as the fact that it inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner" here.