It rained last night around 10:00 pretty hard for awhile and then tapered off to a drizzle. Not sure if it rained much overnight. It was not raining this morning when we went out for Candy’s walk at 6:20.
We checked the radar this morning because they were calling for thundershowers most of the day. The various weather services could not agree on when was the most likely time. The radar indicated that while there were a few showers in the area we had a decent window to move North to the top of the Chesapeake Bay. The wind today was out of the south at 10 to 20 mph but tomorrow and Friday it will be from the Northwest 15 to 35 mph with Saturday not much better.
The ride was decent for the first part and then after a course change we were pretty much with the wind and the ride was not bad. As we got closer to Havre de Grace the water settled down as there was more land protection. When we leave Havre De Grace we will be going with the Northwest winds to the Elk River to get to the C & D (Chesapeake & Delaware) Canal.
Other than a few ferries and tour boats moving in the Baltimore Inner Harbor area all we saw today were 3 sailboats headed south on the water. A little wind and gray skies kept everyone else at home. It is kind of interesting that they use range lights for a lot of the channels in the northern Chesapeake. Pretty powerful lights that you can pick up easily from at least 5 miles and are focused well and disappear as soon as you leave the channel they support. The front and back light blink at different rates and it is really easy to see these.
Overall our impression of Baltimore is very positive. I like the marina right down in the Inner Harbor and its amenities were very good. The vibrant waterfront area was a big plus with lots of runners even at 6:20 in the morning. The city appears very clean and safe and a lot of the things they do are part of their clean/green initiative which they started long before it was nationally fashionable. They did this as part of cleanup the Chesapeake effort.
We have included pictures of a condo development right on the waterfront right behind our marina. We understand that Tom Clancy, the author, has a unit in the development. Actually he bought 4 units and made them into one. The guy we were talking to said it is worth approximately $16 million. Writing has been good to him.