Yesterday morning (June 8), Katya slept in, so she and I did not leave the boat until noon. We walked over to and around Fell's Point, admiring the brick row houses and the quiet, tree-canopied streets off the main square and the waterfront. Peter met us at 1:30 and we had lunch together at Pitango Bakery, where Peter and I did not fit in with the age demographic, but Katya did.
After lunch, Peter returned to the boat to continue to work on the new autopilot and Katya and I continued our stroll along the waterfront to the Inner Harbor. There, we caught a free Charm City Circulator bus up to the Mount Vernon neighborhood. The rain that was predicted began during our ride, but we made it the two blocks from our stop to the entrance to the Walters Art Museum before it began to pour. Inside, we spent hours re-familiarizing ourselves in ancient Egyptian, Middle Eastern, Greek and Roman art as we studied the many fine artifacts. We also spent time in the collections of art from Asia, Central and South America, and Europe during the Middle Ages, Renaissance, 18th and 19th century. Many of these treasures were acquired by William Walters and later his son Henry, from 1861 through the early 20th century. Between 1905 and 1909, Henry Walters had a palazzo style building designed and built next to his mansion to allow the public to view the family's collection of more than 22,000 works. (Previously, he had allowed the public into his home on a limited basis.) Henry died in 1931; in his will, he bequeathed the entire collection, his mansion and the other buildings housing the art work to the city of Baltimore "for the benefit of the public." The museum opened in 1934 and is still free to all.
By 6:30 p.m., Katya and I could not absorb any more culture. We walked a few blocks around the neighborhood and then waited for the bus for ten minutes. It was a quick ride back to the waterfront. We were walking along Pratt Street near the water to find the bus stop for the Orange line of the Circulator, but one passed us before we got to the boarding place. In the end, we walked the nearly two miles back to Anchorage Marina. It began to sprinkle as we made it to the neighborhood of Canton, east of Fell's Point; we were getting very close to the marina when the light rain became a steady drizzle, so we were wet but not entirely soaked by the time we got back to the boat.
We were planning to go out for drinks and have dinner on the boat, but I was too exhausted to go out. I suggested that Katya and Peter go, but they were disinclined do to the rain. So we stayed in and ate pasta.
Peter had his own adventure while Katya and I were at the museum. The nearby Ace Hardware did not have a soldering thing that he needed, so he decided to go to Home Depot two and a half miles away. He had suggested a couple of times that we rent scooters to get around, but I preferred walking (fearing catastrophe). He seized the opportunity to use one to get to Home Depot. He found that the challenges included potholes and traffic and the inability to using any navigational assistance such as Google Maps on his phone since he had to keep both hands on the handles. Needless to say, he chose to Uber back to the marina, alas, still without the thing he needed.
This morning, we prepared to leave Baltimore. The temperature was pleasant and the sun was shining. Katya and I set to work scrubbing all the running rigging on the boat at deck level. Most of the lines had accumulated pollen which had stubbornly remained attached despite numerous rainstorms, and there were dirty black lines under each one where they lay on the deck. A bit of dishwashing soap, water and stiff brushes worked well on most of them, although our success depended on the type of cordage. Overall, we were quite pleased with the results. Peter tidied up various jobs and filled the water tanks while Katya and I cleaned the deck. After we all had showers, we stopped to pump out the holding tank and then departed.
Unfortunately, the weather was not favorable for sailing down the Patabsco River, around the point and up the Magothy, so we had to motor. Before reaching the mouth of the Magothy, we encountered a thunderstorm. At one point, the electricity in the air played with the instruments, and the wind gauge showed 45 knots of wind when it was only about 12. Luckily, we were not struck by lightning, and the storm had passed by the time we were ready to anchor in Eagle Cove near the mouth of the Magothy at 6 p.m.
It is a lovely, large anchorage, and several other boats are here. I was sticky from the humidity so I welcomed the chance to take out the kayak if for no other reason than it would justify another shower, even though it had been only hours since I had showered at the marina. First, Peter and I paddled over to a large horse farm on the north shore of the cove. Then we explored undeveloped areas on the southern side. Peter spotted a muskrat in the water, clinging to the few inches that remained of a post near shore. We were able to get quite close before it slid off and swam away. We followed it to the reed-lined, mucky beach where it emerged to munch on some vegetation. Later, as we were paddling through water weeds, a large fish jumped right beside us, eliciting a quick squeal from me because it was so totally unexpected.
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| Eagle Cove |
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| Musrat |
Now it's time for bed. We plan to pull up anchor early in the morning and cover many miles tomorrow as we head south for the Great Wicomico. We are expecting favorable winds.
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