"Ball mur"

Or as some of you may know it, Baltimore..First, we made our way up the Delaware Bay, spending the night beside the ever beautiful nuclear plant.

Then, we entered the Chesapeake!!! I didn't think that it was particularly important to make it back to the Chesapeake, but you know, when we entered it...well, it was sort of like being "home". Anyway, We decided to take a side trip to Baltimore, as neither of us had ever seen it by water. Great decision! Now, Baltimore by water is not exactly the pristine, bucolic Maine coastline...

A real working port, outside of the "inner harbor"

But a very busy sailing/boating harbor once you get inside the inner harbor area.On the way in the channel, we passed under the Francis Scott Key Bridge, with old Fort Carol at the side. Check out http://www.bytenet.net/rmscaronia/Main%20Fort%20Carroll%20Page%20old.htm for more info on the old fort.

Also, we passed Ft Mc Henry http://www.nps.gov/fomc/index.htm This is the "home of the national anthem".

There is a great city municipal dock, cheap (relatively speaking) in the middle of the inner harbor, and all the inner harbor businesses, etc. We took a slip there and spend Thursday exploring. First was the National Aquarium. We saw cayman crocodiles...

and jellies ( I hate jellyfish....)

and these upside down jellies, which we saw PLENTY of in the Bahamas

Next, a dolphin showThese guys are wonderful, but somehow, I feel guilty watching them.... they are SUCH smart mammals... is this what we should be asking of these intellegent beings?

oh, yes, let's not forget the poisonous frogs, barely 1 inch long

After most of the day at the aquarium, we visited two ships. The first was the late WW II submarine, built in 1944, the USS Torsk. It was very cramped. It sank the last 2 Japanese navy ships in WWII. Here's the small control area. But with LOTSA STUFF!!!Then we visited the USS Constellation. It is a square rigged sailing ship build in 1854, last all sail warship build for the US Navy ---anachronism in the rapidly developing age of steam. Congress had authorized budget for building replacements, not for new ships. The Constellation replaced a sailing ship, so she was limited to sail only.

I enjoyed the tour, Luke loved it.

It's really interesting to consider that in only 90 years from the Constellation to the Torsk, naval technology advanced from wooden sailing ships with muzzle loading cannon to welded steel, diesel electric, torpedo equipped submersible boats, capable of depths of 400 ft. Even more interesting to realize that that's essentially the same technology the Germans developed for their U-boats by 1916 (?) in WW I, only 62 years after the Constellation was built.

We also saw, from a distance in the outer harbor, the NS Savannah, the world's first nuclear powered cargo/passenger ship (remember that from the late 50's?). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah She's in Baltimore for removal of the remainder of her radioactive material.

Tomorrow, we set sail for maybe Annapolis. It's good to be back home in the Chesapeake.