A Dead Body & a Grand Ole Ship

We woke to a gloomy rainy day. But the strong winds had quit. Walter decided we needed to be at a marina so as not to take any chances on the dinghy not starting... I have a 6a.m. cab to catch to the airport tomorrow and we needed to wash clothes.

We had a quiet morning and when the rain had nearly stopped I rigged the lines for docking. I turned on Walter's nifty anchor wash system and began hauling up the anchor. We had 100 ft of chain down. I watched as the first 20 foot mark came up and then the 40 ft mark and THEN the winch started staining... way too early as the anchor was still 60 ft away from the boat.  Heavy mud was coming up and then.... GOBS of heavy mud entangled in junk began appearing... the hose would not wash it off the chain...so I lowered the chain some and we dragged it a little distance through the water. This really didn't help much so I got the boat hook. Over the headset I told Walter that a lot of weird stuff was coming up and he said, “As long as it isn't a body....” GREAT The power of suggestion!! THEN something that looked exactly like human hair came up! And a rope all tangled around it and the other junk! I told the Captain only removing this by hand was going to work and this was not part of my job description!.. I wasn't touching it! So I took over the helm and he came down to the fore deck. He gave me instructions on which gear to put forward and reverse but I was so concerned about the “body” that instead of putting the boat in neutral I had it in reverse! Praise God for headsets so the first mate could hear the LOUD & Clear message, “THERE IS A BOAT BEHIND US, GET THE BOAT IN FORWARD!!” Whew! Walter quickly got rid of the “body” by hand and returned to the helm.

With the anchor up and stowed we motored over to the marina across from our anchorage and had awesome assistance with the docking. After checking in and getting gate keys we walked to the Water Taxi station closest to the marina. Bought all day tickets which is cheapest way to ride and after two boat rides ended up in downtown at the beautiful Inner Harbor. We found a Spanish restaurant and had a delicious late lunch.

 There is so much to do in this pretty harbor but we elected to spend the rest of the afternoon touring the USS Constellation. It was first launched in 1854. This ship is credited with stopping and capturing many slave ships and setting the slaves free in Liberia to form a colony there. During the late 1800s it was the primary training vessel for the US Naval Academy. During the Civil War the Constellation was station in the Mediterranean where she protected US commerce & chased off confederate raiders.

The USS Constellation

We spent nearly 2 hours exploring 4 large decks that have been restored.  And restoration continues on this beautiful ship.  She became obsolete as an active naval vessel when steam ships started being used.

The Gun Deck with 8 Canons on Each Side

On our walk back to the boat after the water taxi ride we saw what we called a scooper cleaning up the nasty trash that floats everywhere... this was a neat machine and I hope we got a good photo... I think the guy piloting it was tickled to have his picture taken.

Flotsam Collector

Tomorrow I have “shore leave” as I fly to FL to see my eye doctor. I'm not sure I will be posting on the blog. Walter plans to stay on boat and fix things.. he needs to change the wire cable on the winches that haul up the dinghy...something about a "kink" in the cable. We will leave this harbor on Thursday heading toward the C & D canal... the Chesapeake/Delaware Canal. We probably won't make it all the way on Thursday but will be close....it goes from the Bay here to Delaware Bay.