Log 156; Day 429; July 24, 2009; Anchorage Marina; Baltimore, MD

For lunch on Thursday we went to Mama's Mexican (in Canton), where we met Sean, who gave us all the local information.

This is the outside of Mama's. The picutre reminds me of a mafia movie, with wise guys standing outside...but really, its just raining.

Right close to our boat there is a system of collecting trash that is quite unique. When it rains, lots of trash flows from the storm sewers to the river. You can see these floats on either side sort of "guide" the trash to a collection spot.

The collection spot is near the river, and all the trash flows to this little house with a conveyor. The conveyor lifts the trash into a sort of a dumpster on the other side.

Then this trash collector comes to the back side of the building and picks up the trash, and hauls it to land. A good system that keeps a lot of trash out of the Inner Harbor area

After lunch on Thursday, I helped Buck move "Darling" back to their slip in Anchorage...which is just across the channel from us.

Log 156
Day 429
Friday, July 24, 2009

6:00 AM EDT
Location: Anchorage Marina, Baltimore, MD
Weather: 71 degrees with light winds...forecast is calling for 83 and mostly sunny

Storms have been rolling through here the last couple of days, and it stormed yesterday evening, and over night. Although, I never heard it, the radar this morning looks like a big storm came through here about midnight. This morning things are calm, and although it very cloudy (almost foggy) the forecast is for it to clear up.

I got the new “house” batteries installed in the boat. On Wednesday morning, I took one of the marina’s carts, and walked a couple blocks to West Marine, and got 2 new group 31, deep cycle, batteries. I installed them, took back the old ones, and I was back on the boat by 11. There is really not much to installing them, except trying to man handle them, because they are fairly heavy. Or...I’m fairly weak? I have been monitoring the volt meter since I put the new batteries in, and things look great. I’ll never know if those batteries would have caused any issues with the battery charger, and that’s ok. I know for sure we are in good shape with our house batteries. One less thing to worry about. Also...on the maintenance side...I have been working, since we were in Fort Lauderdale, on a couple of good sized leaks in our aft bilge. I am happy to say, that the one on the port side is fixed. No leak what so ever. I still have a small leak to fix on the starboard side...but I’m more determined than ever to make that aft bilge completely dry.

Thursday...it was raining off and on all morning long. Deb was trying to go to the store, and also do laundry, but had to keep putting it off. I was getting a little anxious just being on the boat, so we decided to take the umbrellas, and walk into Canton (a small neighborhood a couple of blocks from the boat) and have lunch. When we were there with Darrell and Donna, a couple of weeks ago, I saw a Mexican restaurant that caught my eye, and I wanted to check it out. It turned out to be a great spot for lunch. The place had great atmosphere; a great bartender; and even better food. The owner is a big Elvis fan, so the menu, and all the surroundings, have a touch of Elvis. They also have an Elvis statue that has quite a story behind it. It seems they paint it several times a year...to match any holiday or local event (Christmas; the first day of spring; opening day of baseball season; etc). Occasionally, one of the other local merchants will steal the statue and put it in their window. It also has no arms. One was broken, and someone stole the other one (each year they get a ransom note to get the arm back). Finally, the city council has demanded they move the statue inside, verses sitting out front of the restaurant. The bar tender could not explain why...but Deb and I did sign a petition to “let Elvis leave the building”. You know what...after reading this. I guess you had to be there.

In the afternoon, I helped Buck (on Darling) bring their boat back to the marina, from where they had it, getting the bottom work done. It was not that far, but it was fun helping Buck, and he let me drive his boat most of the way, so I enjoyed that. Deb spent the afternoon doing laundry. We had tuna, and sweet corn, for dinner on the boat. And, our dinner movie was an episode of Leverage.

Today...no great plans yet. We got mail from home yesterday, so that usually means responding to a few things. Also, while Buck and Haldine have their rental car, we want to take advantage of it, and make a run to the liquor store, to replenish our stock before heading to New York. I also continue to work on the charts...taking information from the paper charts, and putting those waypoints in our chart plotter.

Our cruising plans...are still a little sketchy at this point. Based on what I know today, we will leave Baltimore late next week, and head for Cape May, NJ. If we arrive there next Friday, or Saturday, that will give us 7 days to make the run to New York. Which should be plenty of time to find a good weather window.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob