Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Star Spangled Baltimore Cruise - June 21-28, 2016

Patapsco River, Stoney Creek,Francis Scott Key Buoy, Inner Harbor, RockCreek, Magothy River, Dividing Creek, Spa Creek

June 21, 2016 - Annapolis, MD  A nice sunset after some ugly weather the past few hours.  We're planning an early start for our cruise in the morning.
Spa Creek sunset
June 22, 2016 - We just saw many fish splashing in the creek, but didn't understand what was happening. Any ideas, you biologists and fisherman out there?
Fish jumping in Spa Creek (Click for video)


June 24, 2016 - We departed Spa Creek Marina at 0832 hours.  Our timing was off as we had to drop anchor for 20 minutes waiting for the 0900 bridge opening.

Kelly IV at the Bay Bridge
A calm day meant we'd be motoring under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Annapolis Bay Bridge

  Kelly IV motorsails under the Annapolis Bay Bridge headed to the Patapsco River for the weekend.  The grey day provided some sunshine but no sunset worth picturing.

June 25, 2016 - Kelly IV  set off for first for the Francis Scott Key Bridge and we circled the special stars and stripes buoy memorializing the exact location where Key was standing aboard the British ship when he wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner".
Francis Scott Key Buoy at 39.224233, -76.5284

Karen steers Kelly IV past the FSKey Buoy
Kelly IV was our platform as we took our own private tour of downtown Baltimore' waterfront.
Chesapeake Lightship, National Aquarium, Inner Harbor

Condos built right over the water


Fort McHenry, Baltimore
Friends recommended Captain James Crabhouse, so that's where we tied up.  Of course, the menu included a dozen steamed crabs!
Karen and Murph at Captain James'
Low and behold, our entertainment for our midday meal was the infamous Baltimore Garbage Scow!  It is a great invention for scooping the floating trash out of the water as it pokes its way into the hidden corners of the harbor collecting masses of plastic, paper, cardboard, foam, film, bottles, and even boards and sticks.  Nothing seems to escape The Scow.
Karen & Kelly
at Captain James'
Baltimore Garbage Scow

Kelly IV, Inner Harbor


A short walking tour seemed a great way to walk off our sizable lunch so we left Kelly IV tied up at the pier and wandered and wondered at downtown Baltimore's sights.  It wasn't long before we hopped aboard, loosed the lines and were cruising back down the Patapsco River.
Motoring beneath the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Baltimore
Our anchorage that evening was in Rock Creek, Pasadena, MD.
Rock Creek sunset

June 26, 2016 - As we departed Rock Creek early this morning we sailed by the White Rocks that guard the mouth of Rock Creek.  As you might guess, we can thank the birds for making the rocks so very white.
White Rocks

It was short motorsail from the Patapsco River into the Magothy River as we sailed the western Chesapeake Bay out of the Patapsco.

Kelly IV provided us with a great anchorage in Mill Creek near Ferry Point Marina where Karen and I enjoyed a nice meal.
Magothy River sunset








Sunrise from our anchorage at the mouth
of Dividing and Mill Creeks
We actually got some sailing in as the breeze was very nice for a close hauled beat across the Bay just north of the Bay Bridge.  That explains why our track takes us almost to Kent Island before we finally tacked to sail under the bridge.  As Murphy's Law would dictate, that was the end of our sailing as we had the breeze on our bow and had to motor back to Annapolis.

June 28, 2016 - This is the first stand up paddle board we've seen with a forward steering station!  :-)
Tonight's rainbow following the brief storm



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