September 26, 27 and 28, 2017

Tuesday morning, the 26th, we cruised from Schaeffer’s Marina in the C&D canal into the Chesapeake Bay. We plan to spend about 10 days hopping around this 178 mile long, world-renowned cruising ground. It is an important cruising and shipping area and an important link in the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) between the C&D canal to the north and the bustling naval port of Norfolk to the South. With approximately 11,000 miles of shoreline winding along countless rivers, streams, bays and sounds, the Bay provides an endless variety of lifestyles, cultures and cruising characteristics.

Our first stop was Baltimore Maryland. We spent three great days / nights in the Inner Harbor at Baltimore Marine Center. The city scape is beautiful from the Inner Harbor. The Inner Harbor attracts thousands of mariners each year to its excellent restaurants, convenient marinas and imaginative shoreside attractions, including an outstanding aquarium, a Science Center, historic ship exhibits and Harbour Place, and expansive dining and shopping area.

We dropped the whaler in the water and had a great 2 hour cruise around the harbor and Patapsco River.

continues below pictures

Dinghy in the water…first time since June and she started right up!

Dinghy test run

Dinghy harbor cruise

We found some great restaurants on the waterfront at Inner Harbor and also took the water taxi across to Harbor East and walked to Little Italy for a great lunch, more sightseeing, and then the……

Continues below pictures

Awesome National Aquarium! It includes dolphins, reptiles, an Australian exhibit, a rainforest, sharks, a multiple-story Atlantic coral reef, a living seashore exhibit and tons more. The Aquarium holds more than 2,200,000 gallons of water and has more than 17,000 specimens representing over 750 species. All in amazing exhibits!