From Herrington Harbor On Thursday, 8 August we set out from Herrington Harbor North – our home
for the past two months, or so – towards Baltimore And (are you ready for this?) We really got a chance
to use our newest toy -- the brand-spankin’ new AIS system!! There were four major ships at
anchor waiting to get into Baltimore Harbor and probably three or four more
that passed us going into or out of harbor itself. We tracked all of them on our
new AIS system. Knowing where they were, where they were headed and how fast
they were going allowed us to stay out of the main shipping channel and out of
their way. Yes, yes, since it was daylight we could have done the same thing
before we got the AIS – but it is so much cooler now!
Baltimore The trip
from Herrington North to Baltimore isn’t that far. Even at our flash-like speed
of 9 knots (or 10 statute miles an hour) it only took us eight hours. We had
been to Baltimore a couple of times in one of our previous boats and knew where
we were (most of the time) and generally where we were going. When we got to
the harbor we were to head for the huge Dominos Sugar sign and then find the
Legg-Mason Building. Our marina was right in front of that. For us, the
location was perfect. We were half-way between the revitalized Inner Harbor and
Fells Point, a historic and touristy location with what seemed like hundreds of
bars and restaurants. Moreover, we were only about a half-mile from a Whole
Foods supermarket and a CVS pharmacy. And perhaps even more important, only
about 300 yards from a Starbucks!!
Since we were going to be here two full days (as part of
their “pay for two, get three nights special,”) we thought the best use of our
time was to spend one day each at Fells
Point and the Inner Harbor. The first day, after our obligatory stop at
Starbucks, we were off to see Fell’s Point. After we had walked for about an
hour or so, we stopped in a building with a name like “Fells Point Information
Center.” There we found Gloria, a certified guide for the city who was willing
to take us on our own personalized tour for a mere $5. My lovely wife, of
course, agreed, even though my dogs – which you will remember haven’t been used
a lot lately – were already beginning to bark. Nevertheless, it was a very good
tour and we learned, among other things,
Founded by William Fell, who was attracted by its
beautiful, deep water and proximity to agriculture and thick forests, Fell's
Point became a shipbuilding and commercial center. About 1763, William's son
Edward Fell laid out streets and began selling plots for homes. The town grew
quickly, and eventually incorporated with Baltimore Town and Jones Town in 1773
to form a new Town of Baltimore and later in 1797 became the City of Baltimore.
The area grew wealthy on the tobacco, flour, and coffee trades through the 18th
and 19th centuries.
Some of the first vessels commissioned for the US
Navy were built in Fell's Point shipyards, including the USS Constellation in 1797. However, the area
became best known for producing topsail schooners renowned
for their great speed and handling. They were excellent blockade runners,
and were frequently used as armed privateers. During the War of 1812,
Fell's Point built and supported dozens of privateers
who preyed on British shipping vessels. Thus, Baltimore became a principal
target of the British during the war, which eventually led to the bombardment
of Fort
McHenry. (I always wondered why Baltimore was so "strategic" to the British in the War of 1812 and not the Revolution. Now I know.)
By the time the tour was over, however, it
was about time for lunch. We had long ago decided that we would have lunch at a
place called Bertha’s Mussels, whose specialty is … wait for it … mussels!
Bertha’s Mussels is semi-famous for the bumper sticker that is white on green
and says simply “Eat Bertha’s Mussels,” kind of like the sign on the building.
Now, for those of you who don’t know, I can take or leave mussels, which is, in
fact, a great improvement over where I used to be; I used to hate them. But Ann
… well, let’s just say she absolutely loves mussels and would never pass up
Bertha’s mussels.
Anyway, after a “lupper” of beer and mussels, we
headed back to the boat. I think I have explained the “lupper” concept before,
but in case I haven’t, “lupper” is a combination of lunch and supper – kind of
like brunch is for breakfast and lunch. If we have a big lunch we know we
aren’t going to be able to eat supper, so, instead of lunch we have a lupper
and then we have something light for the evening meal.
The next day we went to the Inner Harbor. We had
been there before, but it has become even more touristy! Where there used to be
a bunch of shops, there was now a Ripley’s-Believe-it-or-Not–atorium, or
whatever it’s called. Anyway, we visited some of the few shops that still
exist, bought some fudge and ate lunch at “Bubba Gum’s Shrimp Company” (see
what I mean by touristy?) and headed back to the boat.
Sunday we were ready to leave Baltimore. So, we
shortened the lines, shut off the electric, made fast the water hoses and
cranked the engines. All was good so far. Until we pulled away from the dock.
It was then that the port engine failed. It wouldn’t even crank up again. I knew it was
a fuel issue and was pretty sure it was air in the fuel line, but there wasn’t
anything I could do about it until we re-docked. Now for those of you who don’t
know, a two-engine boat will certainly operate on one engine, but it kind of
throws the steering out of kilter -- like a lot. Anyway, since there was no one out on the
waterway early on Sunday morning, I was able to take a couple of practice runs
at the dock before I went in for real. It was a little tricky, but we managed
to secure the boat to the pier.
I told you that I was pretty sure I know what was
wrong. That would have been helpful had I known what to do about it. I knew I
should bleed the air from the fuel line, but I really didn’t know how to do
that. I had no choice but to call several repairman, but it was Sunday, and as
you might guess none of them were available. So, after we made the calls, left
messages various places and arranged to spend another night at the marina, we
waited. And no one called back. Getting someone on Monday was almost as
difficult. I had learned long ago, however, that it is the squeaky wheel that
gets the grease, so once I found a company that thought they “might” be able to
send a mechanic later in the day, I called them several times to see what time
he would be at the boat. Marine Max was the company and they are interesting
because they have a bunch of different offices up and down the East Coast – and
I had never heard of them. Eventually the mechanic showed up and figured out
immediately what needed to be done. It was, in fact, the fuel line and he
suspected that it happened when they changed the fuel filters. He repaired it
and we were ready to go. Before we left, however, I called the local Marine Max manager
and let him know how cooperative and helpful his employees had been. Finally,
on Tuesday morning we were off to Kent Island, our next stop on our whirlwind
trip of the Bay.
Kent
Island We went to Kent Island for several reasons. First,
by going to Mears Point Marina you get access to some of the best work out
facilities in any marina on the Chesapeake. They have a very good sized workout
room, a great pool for swimming laps and a wonderful biking/running/walking
trail. I wouldn’t be able to use all of them, but I was hoping to use some of
them. Second, the Island has some of the best seafood eating/drinking
establishments on the Chesapeake. And third, our friend, broker and all-around
boat guru Rick Nissen runs his charter boat service out of Kent Island. If went
to the marina there, he could give us a deal on a slip (he had boats on
charter) and work on our boat. In short, we just had to go.
We had intended to go to Kent Island on Sunday.
As you will recall, though, our port engine decided otherwise, so we ended up
arriving at on Tuesday afternoon. When you add that to the fact that I had to
wait for some repairmen in the early mornings and the fact that I am much
lazier than I used to be, I really didn’t get in as much exercise as I had
intended. I did get in some walking on the “Inter-Island Connector” and some
laps at the pool. But more importantly, I got in some good eating!
We went to
the Bridges Restaurant with Rick and his wife, Lynn (they seem to know all the best restaurants). It was a great meal with equally great
company. We will definitely go back again! We also went to the Redeye Dock Bar
which isn’t exactly a restaurant, it is more of a place where … er … where they
serve libations in various alcoholic and non-alcoholic forms. Yes, we indulged
a little bit in the alcoholic form. Finally, we went to the Crab Deck with our good friends Dave and
Joan Wolf and had some good ol’ fashioned Maryland Blue Crabs. MMM mmm good!
There was a time – and it wasn’t that long ago – when you could have crabs
whenever you wanted them. Now, they are so expensive that you almost have to
wait for a special occasion. Our special occasion was that we hadn’t had them
in over a year. In addition to Dave and Joan and Rick and Lynn, Ann’s friend
Allie Young came to visit. Allie was Ann’s boss when we moved to the DC area in
1990 – and the two of them have been friends ever since. Ann and Allie went out for lunch
somewhere I am sure (sigh) I am not sure where -- as I wasn’t invited (deeper more
wistful sign!).
Anyway, in between bouts of eating, we had asked
Rick to do some work on the boat. We asked him to do five things:
·
Fix our generator: We couldn’t make it work from
the helm station and had to get down in the generator room to start the
generator. In fact, Rick had worked on the problem while we were in West Palm
and couldn’t make it work. He not only didn’t charge us for the time he spent
on it, but told us we needed to get a generator specialist. In Kent Island, he got that
specialist, Rudy, who solved the problem.
·
Make it so we can use our holding tank: Yuck. This
turned into the project from hell and I am sure Rick’s son, Tyler, won’t soon
forget us. The notion was simple. There are some “No-Discharge Zones” in the US
where we are not supposed to use our new-fangled, high tech onboard waste
processing gadgets. People would rather us use their decades-old, shore-based processing systems. So, we are supposed to use our holding tanks and pump out our holding tanks into marina pump-out facilities. In addressing the
problem, Tyler discovered that for some time (exact period unknown) one of our toilets
has not been using our new fangled stuff, but has been dumping waste into the
holding tank which, in turn, has been leaking into the bilge and subsequently
into the Bay. To repair it, he had to clean out the bilge and the holding tank.
Yuck! Then he had to put new fittings onto every hose that went into or out of
the holding tank. Double Yuck! He did it, though. And while we may not have the
best system for holding waste in the area, we can use it when we need to and
can comply with the law.
·
Show me how to change impellers: Impellers are devices that suck in
the water used to cool the engines and the generator. They can break. Everybody
on a boat like ours should know how to change impellers. I didn’t. Now that
Tyler has showed me, though, I think I can. (Actually, I am working under the theory
that whatever I can fix will not be required. It is the stuff that I can’t fix
that will happen. Since having a bad impeller can be a VERY bad thing, I wanted
to ensure that it will not happen.)
·
Help with the aft fuel tank: To be honest, I can
never tell if and when there is fuel in the aft tanks. Tyler added a fuel gauge
so we can now use all the fuel we have!
· Replace the sump pump for the mid-ship shower: On a
boat, the water from a shower empties into a sump. A pump in the sump pumps the
water overboard. (Kinda sounds like a Dr. Seuss book, eh?) Our midship sump pump had failed some time ago. We still had
one shower, of course, but anyone on the boat needing a shower had to use ours.
Now, we are back to two showers.
Rick, Rudy (the generator guy) and Tyler completed
all the repairs beautifully. I must admit, though, at one point while we were
at anchor at St. Michael’s (our next stop) the generator wouldn’t start from
the helm. I was a bit upset and sent Rick an e-mail. The next time I tried to
start the generator from the helm, however, it started right up. We tried about
eight times over the next few days, and on about four of them it didn’t start.
What to do, what to do. Well, I figured if it worked some of the time but not
others, it was probably a loose connection. I opened the generator and started
fiddling with the connections where Rudy had been working. While tightening one
connection I accidently moved a little nut that seemed to be loose and, glory
be, the generator started. I tightened the nut and, glory be, the generator
worked again!!! Gosh I am a great repairman!
 |
| I know, I know, it is a beautiful picture. But if flower pix, we would have a billion of them! |
I know, I know, while some of you might be interested in repairs, others are interested in our wanderings. While on Kent Island I discovered an interesting
tidbit of history. In 1631, William Claiborne, a resident of Jamestown,
founded a settlement near the southern end of the Kent Island for the purpose
of trading with Native Americans and took the opportunity to name the island
after his birthplace of Kent, England. By 1632 the settlement included a
gristmill, courthouse, and trading station. 1632 is significant because that is
the year the Crown gave to Cecil Calvert, the 2nd Lord Baltimore, a
charter for Maryland that included Kent Island. Claiborne, however, continued
to recognize the island as part of his home colony of Virginia. In 1635, after
a number of appeals to the Crown, -- that both individuals thought they had won
– a Maryland commissioner named Thomas Cornwallis swept the Chesapeake for
illegal traders and captured one of Claiborne's pinnaces (a type of armed ship).
Claiborne tried to recover it by force, but was defeated. These were the first
naval battles in North American waters and took place on 23 April and 10 May 1635; three
Virginians were killed. So, you can see, the differences between Maryland and
Virginia, whether acted out on the battlefield or on the fields of "friendly"
strife, are not new. There is actually more to the story, but if you want to
know more, you will have to (as my mom always used to tell me) “look it up
yourself!”
St.
Michaels As I said, after leaving Kent Island we made the
five or six hour trip to St. Michaels. One of the reasons we wanted to go to
St. Michaels is that we had not anchored since last May. Since we had a lot of
work done to the boat to make anchoring easier, we wanted to see how well it
was going to work. The generator hiccup we already told you about. That (knock
on wood) is fixed. The one issue that I can’t get a handle on is the inverter.
I think I should be able to get it fully charged in the four hours, but
I don’t seem to be able to. Thanks to my now-properly-installed battery monitor,
I know exactly what is going on. I built several spreadsheets that show how
much time it spends in “Bulk Charge” mode, how much in “Absorption” mode, and
how much in “Float.” I also know that it should be spending more time in Bulk mode
and that no matter what I do I can’t get it to do that. I e-mailed Xantrex and
they suggested a hard re-boot on my inverter. I am going to give it a try and
see what happens. But I am beginning to think that what I really need is one
more battery in the inverter bank. Anyway, just about everything else is
working the way we want it to. We’ll try everything out some more as we head
down the ICW in a month or so.
 |
| Imagine. This is the boat in which John Smith first explored the Chesapeake. |
As far as
St. Michaels is concerned, I wrote about it last year so won’t go
into much detail. Like most Bay towns St. Michaels has based its economy, at
various times, on agriculture, shipbuilding, seafood and tourism. It is now in
the tourism phase. There is an apocryphal story told about St. Michaels. During
the War of 1812, the story goes, the British were on the way to bombard the
town so they could punish it and destroy it for building ships. They also wanted to destroy its
shipbuilding industry. The citizens of St. Michaels knew the attack was coming and turned off all the lights in
the town, and hung lanterns in the hills beyond. The purpose was to deceive the
British as to the town’s actual location, and thereby save the town and its
citizens. They were so successful, the story goes, that the citizens of St. Michaels have
declared it to be "the town that fooled the British." I am not sure
about the history, but it makes for good tourism.
One of the interesting things about St. Michaels is
that it seems to have survived the Great Recession fairly well. Unlike
Solomon’s Island, Cambridge, Oxford, Rock Hall and other Bayside
towns, St. Michaels appears to have thrived. In fact, it
seemed to me that there are more stores and shops there today than there were
five years ago – something that cannot be said for the other small towns on
Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Oh, I almost forgot. They seem to have survived well
except for one thing: they apparently don’t have a downtown Hardware store. (For the significance of that observation, you will have to read Ann's notes below.)
In the next entry, we’ll discuss our trips to
Oxford, Cambridge, St. Mary’s City and our arrival in Deltaville. Meanwhile, here is .... Ann!
 |
| This is the Grill From Hell ... it demanded a small propane bottle -- and we, after a march from hell, delivered it. |
When Michael said that St. Michael has a hardware
store down town he was correct. So……here is the story. Michael cannot Bar-B-Q when we are at a
marina because propane, fire, possible fuel fumes and boats to not make for a
very good combination. However… while we are at anchor (or “on the hook “as
other cruisers call it) Michael likes to cook out on the small grill. That grill
needs small bottles of propane…not usually a problem when there is a hardware
store around. Well after getting direction from a local store owner who said
the hardware store was about a half-mile up the road, we headed in the
direction of said hardware store. The Bataan Death March comes to mind, really
a short walk? It was in the low 90`s with 300% humidity and not a tree to walk
under…Two or three bottles of water each and
several hours later we had those
damn bottles of propane. We ate those
steaks and really did earn that dinner. Geez…if you every see two people
walking along the side of the road when you are in a boating area and you have
a few minutes to spare, stop and ask them if they need a ride…just saying.
I need to wrap this up so Michael can hit the SEND
button…
Not much to report on wild, just the usual Bay
birds and fish…oh…we did see a large black snake when we took a walk thru the
park in St. Michaels
Thanks for reading…
Traveling Soul…OUT
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