Tuesday, August 19 – There was a hurricane coming. We’d expected the weather to be hot and humid, but it wasn’t; the temperatures outside were idyllic. The hurricane was causing giant waves at the beaches. Baltimore was a good hour drive from the beach, so Kosmos was totally safe. Eric wanted to drive out to the shore to see the waves, but we were told that was a bad idea as the beach areas were prone to flooding. So instead, we took advantage of the coolness to get some chores done.  

Eric and Keith cleaned waterline with a brush, cleaned rust stains off the hull/decks, took off secondary alternator belt in anticipation of replacing it, and changed one of the vent-loop filters. Eric went out to get our empty propane tank filled and then to an auto parts store to pick up the replacement belt. They didn’t have the one he wanted int stock, and he wound up it ordering online. While Eric was out, Keith worked on tightening the screws on deck. Christi cooked, cleaned, and did laundry.

Today is a good day to talk about life in the marina (literally, not figuratively). The thing that we will probably remember most vividly about Baltimore is the bubbly water.

We know it looks like rain, but it wasn’t. According to our neighbor, the various industries in Baltimore dumped hydrocarbons in the bay for hundreds of years. The hydrocarbons now come back up as oily bubbles. While the bubbles never really go away, there are significantly more at low tide. Our neighbor explained that the lower the tide, the more pressure on the ground, and thus the more bubbles that come up. The bubbles are stinky, too. At low tide, it smells bad and there is an oily sheen over the water. At high tide, it smells fine and the sheen vanishes (for the most part).

We would have thought the oily water and noxious air would have killed off all the creatures, but life seems to be thriving around the marina. We’ve seen lots and lots of crabs swimming in the marina and have seen some fish jumping out of the water now and again.

There were lots and lots of ducks, geese and other birds around.