July 27, 2008.

We’ve been here in Baltimore for the better part of a week now. The city has really gained a couple of new fans in us. The waterfront promenade makes getting around very easy. On sections of the walkway where there’s too much foot traffic, bicycles are banned, but a 10 foot wide bike lane is provided nearby.

The downtown area of Baltimore was at one time a major seaport. There were rows of huge wharfs jutting out into the harbor. Most of these piers have been rehabilitated and add a great dimension to the harbor front. Some of the piers are completely covered with condo units while others are home for water front attractions.

We went and checked out the Baltimore Science Center. The big draw for us was the Body World traveling exhibit which happened to be in town. The Body World exhibit is in one word, bizarre. The exhibit is comprised of dead bodies and body parts that have been through a plasticizing process. The display bodies are stripped of skin but because the body’s fluids have been replaced by some type of plastic the bodies are rigid and can be posed.

The specimens are posed in various stances. For example there’s a baseball player caught in his batting follow through. The muscles on one side of his torso are frozen in their maximum contraction while the muscles on the other side are at full stretch. It was a pretty big shock to see just how thin and fragile human muscles look.

Since there’s no skin or hairstyles to give you a clue, the easiest way to tell male from female was by genitalia. This brought about a pretty funny exchange between a dad and his young son. The kid said “That ones a boy”. The people around lightly snicker. Dad asked “how can you tell?” The kid replied “he’s got a big thingy”. The people close by bust out laughing and dad said to the kid “we’ll talk later”.

The displays also included diseased and healthy internal organs. There were exposed veins and arteries and even the central nervous system. The best part is because its all 3D you can walk around the displays and see the body from every angle. Some have different layers peeled back as if they were a blooming flower. There was one body that they call the Exploded Man. Every muscle group and internal organ hung from strings from a large grid in the ceiling. The thing looked like a giant wind chime. The exhibit is laid out in such a way that you can’t help but come out having a much more realistic view of what’s going on inside you. Touring this exhibit should be required for anyone taking any type of anatomy courses. When we got done it was time for lunch………

There’s an area called Fells Point that is really a good place to hang out, eat and drink. There’s a central brick paved square bordered
by dozens of small shops and pubs. There’s something for every appetite from ice cream to Indian food, we haven’t encountered any place like this area in our travels up until now.

Another venue on our “must see” list was the Baltimore Aquarium. The building is beautiful, with you entering at the bottom of a 5 story cascading rain forest waterfall.

In the aquarium there are a couple of special things not to be missed. The first was a twenty minute film about the earth and seas. The film was okay but the theater itself was outstanding. They call it a 4D experience. The seats are all wired for special effects. When a fish would splash there would be a spritz of water right in your face. As the film wound through the artic the room was filled with snowflakes and you don’t want to know what happened when a cave full of sleeping bats was roused. The theater made the movie.

After that there was a dolphin show in the large performance tank. Most of the performers were born and raised right here in the facility. It was a good show and the dolphins really did look eager to show off their skills. One of my favorite parts was when one of the dolphins swam along the edge of the tank splashing the audience.


As everyone here on earth knows, the first 4 rows are ALWAYS the splash zone. It’s the same at every dolphin show, it’s not a surprise and as usual they announced that fact a few times as the audience filed in. “If you don’t want to get wet, maybe even drenched, don’t sit in the first 4 rows”. The obvious clue would be the standing puddles of water from the previous show and the signs. So Flipper came along and absolutely drenched these 3 women in the front row and they were outraged. They jumped up, tried to run, but it was too late. They looked like they fell off a boat. They were pissed, it was great, just another reason to enjoy Baltimore.

The displays were the same as found in most major aquariums but held some really nice specimens. While touring the “Atlantic Reef” section we encountered several of the fish we had as part of our diet while in the Bahamas.
Once again we left an exhibit hungry……..

On Pier 6 there’s a shaded amphitheater for concerts. Last night the show was a reggae review including Ziggy Marley. Tickets were $30 to $50 a piece so we figured we could take the dinghy right down between the piers and see the show for free.



So, accompanied by the Makeitsos, we took our dinghies for the 10 minute ride to the downtown waterfront. We scooted right up the fairway between the piers and tied off to a piling in the center of the waterway right up next to the stage. We brought cocktails and reclining seating and laid back in the dinks to enjoy the show. The waterfront behind us was shoulder to shoulder with people watching the show across the fairway. They were doing the same thing we were, we just had better seats. After Ziggy Marley did his first set the flaw in our plan became obvious, no bathrooms, nada, crap, no not actually. So in a break between sets we dropped our mooring and zipped home.

It was a really good way to see the show. There’s a fairly busy schedule of concerts there so if you’re in town I highly recommend it. In a couple of days there’s some big fancy orchestra performing Led Zeppelin hits. I’d like to see it but weather permitting we should be gone south by then.

Speaking of weather. This afternoon we were watching threatening thunderheads come through when we were hit by a fairly vicious micro burst.

The breeze went from 10 knots to over 35 in a heartbeat. The wind was accompanied by a torrential downpour. Visibility was literally zero. Both of us were craning to see Dragging Guy from the other night. Before the storm hit he was 300 feet ahead of us and we were expecting him to be here any second. Mercifully, the ferocious winds only lasted for a minute or two and dropped to a more manageable 15 to 20 knots. Visibility also returned to reveal that the dragger had a repeat performance and was now in the process of slowly dragging past us. He must be using a bent paperclip for an anchor.

The same as the other night, he was totally unaware. I tried the VHF radio and Christy got out the air horn, again. Hooooonnnkk, oh look, he decided to come topsides. By then the wind had died back to 10 knots and he’d stopped moving. So after a quick look around he went back below deck. I almost shit myself.

Then we happened to look behind us and the small sailboat that had come in today and anchored behind us was up against the dock. The 2 guys onboard were trying to get themselves back off the wall to reanchor. It really was a vicious little storm.

We were surrounded by thunderheads, but in a lull. Dragging Guys anchor was just sitting on the bottom, when the wind starts to blow again he’s going to be on the move again. It was the perfect opportunity for him to reanchor but he was down below.

The storm had interrupted me in the middle of a project so I was back on deck trying to finish up before round two commenced. I looked over and there was Dragging Guy in dry clothes, wearing his backpack, getting into his dinghy to leave his boat and go ashore. His boat was 40 feet from the unoccupied boat next to us and sitting too close to us as well, with an unset hook. For the life of me I don’t understand why he wanted me to choke him.

I stopped what I was doing and stood and stared at him. When he pulled away in the dinghy I called him over and asked him why he wasn’t resetting while he had the opportunity. He looked at me, then at the surrounding boats and said “do you think I moved?” I almost fell off the boat. “Are you kidding me? dragged? you moved at least 100 yards. You were in front of the guy in front of me, I don’t even know how you slipped past him” He looked around again and said “Ya know, I think you’re right” Ya think?

He lamented the fact that he was having such a hard time getting his boat to stay put. I asked if he had a second hook he could put down. He said “yeah, but every time I do that, they get all tangled”. I said “well maybe you should reconsider it; you’ve already hit the dock once and almost took out all 3 of us just now”

He headed back to his boat, pulled the anchor and moved off to try again. We watched in astonishment as he dropped his hook then immediately dropped the second one right next to it. Seriously, one off the port bow and then the other one immediately off the starboard side not 5 feet apart. Geez, I wonder how they get tangled? Where’s my rum?

Boat Name of the Day. Sometimes large powerboats are referred to as "Clorox bottles" because of the resemblance. Big, white, pointy at one end, look like plastic, that sort of thing. Today we saw a power boater with a different point of view and a sense of humor. His boat was named the "Big White Blob"