Escape from the Bog of Eternal Stench

First the good news...

We had a great Memorial Day Weekend. We left Saturday morning to anchor with friends across from Parkside Marina. My regular readers may recall that this is one of our usual haunts (see Kaleigh's Beach and Just Desserts Weekend). It's nice and calm, plus it has a sandy bottom, all of which makes it a perfect place to anchor.

The highlight for many people was our friends' new stand-up paddle board. Considering that storage space on a boat is hard to come by, it's great that this paddle board is inflatable. Almost everyone there took a turn. And, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that the girls were the first ones to paddle all the way to the marina and back. When it wasn't being used for its original purpose, people were using it as a makeshift bar. It's big enough for 6 to 8 people to stand around it and have a place to put their drinks.

It was just Doug and I on our boat Saturday night so we made ourselves a good dinner. We have figured out easy ways to have a full meal while onboard. Doug grilled a pork loin. We also opened a can of baked beans and a can of corn and put them on the grill to heat up. (Note: If you do this, take the wrapper off the can so it doesn't catch fire.) Then, to top it off, Doug put a few sprigs of thyme directly on the grill. New friends from the weekend saw all of this and decided that Doug and I "like to dine." That is completely true, but we really saw this meal as upscale camping food.

Two friends came to join us Sunday morning through Monday. This is why it was important to have the dinghy prepped for the weekend. Our friends drove to Parkside in their car and then we picked them up at the marina in our dinghy. I've also started running so Annie and I went for a 4 mile run when they arrived. Doug was a good sport as he taxied people back and forth to pick up visitors or get bags of ice. We spent years without a dinghy and had to depend on others for help - this is our way of paying back.

Boats came and went throughout the weekend but we had a core group that stayed Saturday-Monday. I believe our largest number in this raftup was 11 boats. All in all, a great weekend of swimming, sunning, and socializing.

Now the bad news...

Baltimore stinks! Literally! Blame the mahogany tide or the sewage spill a few months ago, but it looks and smells disgusting.

This is a slip in our marina. Algae, trash, dead fish, and possibly unmentionables are gathering in empty slips.

I love Baltimore. I love my marina. I have spent many nights sitting on my boat in my slip enjoying a peaceful evening. That would not have been possible this weekend. I've seen fish kills in Baltimore before but this is much worse than previous algae blooms. We were a little worried when we saw dead fish at the cut through to Hart-Miller Island. Luckily, Middle River was spared from this issue and was completely swimmable and pleasant. I really hope the water clears up before the Star-Spangled Sailabration in a few weeks. I wish the Waterfront Partnership lots of luck (and I promise to do my part) in their quest to make the Inner Harbor swimmable and fishable by 2020.