[4arch]

Despite having a lot of shoreside diversions and almost certainly the best concentration of excellent dining options within a quarter mile of the water anywhere on the Chesapeake, Baltimore’s harbor seems to consistently punch below its weight as a cruising destination.

For people who bypass Baltimore, I’m curious what keeps you away and would appreciate if you could respond to the poll with the reason that best aligns with your own feelings. While I don’t have anything personally to gain by seeing Baltimore become more “yachtie,” IMHO there’s no inherent reason why it couldn’t or shouldn’t be on par with Annapolis as a sailing town.

 

[aa3jy]

We where at the Anchorage Marina for a season..parking, security issues, traffic both on street and water keeps us away...

 

[PalmettoSailor]

I think part of Baltimore's problem is location. A good percentage of the boats within range for a weekend visit are further south and would have to pass Annapolis to get to the Patapsco and then Baltimore is a long way up.

Each potential visitor will weigh that along with whichever of the options of your poll that apply for them.

Personally, the attractions for me outweigh the rather unattractive waterfront and concerns about crime. Its been a few years since I visited but thought the slip rates were fairly reasonable compared to Rock Hall or St Michaels for example. However, the marina also was a bit rough in terms of amenities.

Anytime someone asks about cruising north I suggest they consider Baltimore as a port of call.

 

[Donna_F]

We sail over from Rock Hall at least once a season for a weekend visit. Baltimore has a lot to offer beyond the Inner Harbor block. Great restaurants and bars. We've considered taking a slip for a month during baseball season.

 

[Pendragon35]

We own a slip at Anchorage Marina and love it there. Quiet, secure, endless restaurants and places to see within walking distance if we want to stay on land and use the boat as a base.

 

[willyd]

The Tic Toc club is closed.

 

[Ajax_MD]

For a long time, I never gave Baltimore a thought as a destination.
Busy, loud, dirty and expensive.
As a Navy reservist, I drilled at Ft. McHenry for years, so I figured I'd seen enough of Baltimore.

Then, I helped someone deliver a boat to Henderson's Wharf. The water side of Baltimore is fascinating and a lot of fun. There's great food and entertainments, all walking distance from the marinas. I find that the city noise doesn't quite make it down to the marinas, so I still get a good night's sleep. It's true that there isn't a lot of free anchorage, and the commercial traffic can be intimidating at times, but it's a total change of scene from the bay's typical, tranquil gunkholes.

I rate Baltimore as a destination that merits a visit once or twice per season to change pace from the uninhabited creeks along the bay.

All that being said, I would like to see the city/county/state work at cleaning up Baltimore harbor, offering more services to boating visitors, and being more friendly in general.

 

[chuck5499]

We sailed in a number of years ago and anchored near the submarine. Then launched the dink and found we needed a costly permit to tie up anywhere and i mean anywhere. So we got one for 24 hours and the next day we still had a few hours left and went is before we were going to leave and when we got back to the dink we had a ticket in the dink even through we had time left. We said heck with it, left and will never go back.

We have been to hundreds of ports and never that happen. In fact we can only think of few places where we had to pay to tie up a dink and most offered us free water and showers ect. Not Baltimore.

Not a place to visit.

 

[T37Chef]

Actually the harbor is looking better than ever, minus the occasional floating body...they have employed a new trash picker upper and as mention, Fells Point and Canton are great destinations for food, better than anywhere else on the MD bay. Going up by boat to see a football or baseball game is pretty awesome.

I would rate high on the list, we go up at least 2-3 times a year but we are o
are just off the Patapsco on Rock Creek.

 

[Donna_F]

...they have employed a new trash picker upper ...

I saw a guy go through several times during the day when we were at BMC. Seemed like a Sisyphean effort, but at least they tried.

 

[Don L]

Then launched the dink and found we needed a costly permit to tie up anywhere and i mean anywhere. .

And how much was that?

 

[T37Chef]

I saw a guy go through several times during the day when we were at BMC. Seemed like a Sisyphean effort, but at least they tried.

I was referring to this thingy

Healthy Harbor :: Water Wheel

 

[Donna_F]

I was referring to this thingy

Healthy Harbor :: Water Wheel

Yeah, the guy I saw was on an earlier version: RIB through the water with a garbage can and a scoop. I'm happy that they're using better technology now.

 

[chuck5499]

And how much was that?

I do not remember as it has been a while but it was based on length of the dink. The only other time I can remember paying for a dink was in Treasure Cay in the Bahamas but they gave us free water, access to the swimming pool, showers and bar. That was all for $5 USD.

There are some many places to tie up in Baltimore but when we were there there was a guy walking around checking to see if you had a tag that you paid and the date and if not you got a ticket.

Not visitor friendly.

 

[T37Chef]

$2 per foot if I recall, correctly to tie up at the Baltimore City docks or bulkheads for the night, plus $5 for 30 amp electric. Only the pier has electric. Sounds like you should have done that instead of anchoring and dingy ashore. Baltimore has not set up a good system for people to use their tender, there are not many places to anchor your boat anyway, best to take a slip at the Baltimore city docks or one of the many marinas in the area.

 

[Don L]

I do not remember as it has been a while but it was based on length of the dink. The only other time I can remember paying for a dink was in Treasure Cay in the Bahamas but they gave us free water, access to the swimming pool, showers and bar. That was all for $5 USD.

There are some many places to tie up in Baltimore but when we were there there was a guy walking around checking to see if you had a tag that you paid and the date and if not you got a ticket.

Not visitor friendly.

Sounds cheap in the big picture. When you drive into a city you pay to park, why wouldn't you expect to pay to park your dinghy? Someone built and maintains the docks.

 

[travlin-easy]

As I sit here in the warmth of Key Colony Beach - Marathon, Florida, and look into the relatively clear water of the canal at the myriad of underwater life, I realize why I love it so much here. It's not just the warmer climate during winter, it's the beauty of the underwater world, a world that you can actually see by merely standing upon the dock and looking at the bottom 9 feet below the surface and watching the creatures beneath the turquoise colored water's surface.

Back in the 1960s, when I first got out of the US Navy, I was a commercial diver and dove a lot for oysters on Maryland's eastern shore near Chesapeake Bay Bridge (there was only one then). The underwater visibility back then during the cooler months was 20 feet, sometimes more. Today, that same locations enjoys an underwater visibility of just 2 inches during the same cooler months. The saddest part of all is the foolish people that sincerely believe that Chesapeake Bay is being cleaned up with the Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Program. Those same individuals have never seen the bay when it was clean. Therefore, they sincerely believe if they continue to fund this failed program, the bay will eventually become pristine. It will never happen - NEVER!

Sorry to rain on your parade, but that's the way things are,

All the best,

Gary

 

[chuck5499]

Sounds cheap in the big picture. When you drive into a city you pay to park, why wouldn't you expect to pay to park your dinghy? Someone built and maintains the docks.

We don't have a car. We have a sailboat and i 8 years visited several hundred ports and anchor off and dink in and almost never pay to tie up the dink. Most people look at cruisers as someone coming ashore to spend money and try to find ways to make it easy. Not Baltimore. If you want to visit our town you have to pay and truthfully it is not worth it.

 

[travlin-easy]

Those docks in the inner harbor are pretty much maintenance free, mainly because they're primarily concrete bulkheads that were put in place eons ago for cargo vessels. The city prettied them up with paving bricks and Belgium blocks salvaged from old city streets. Those walkways were put in place for the touristas visiting the National Aquarium, Science Center and other touristy hotspots in the Inner Harbor. The city of Baltimore could care less about cruisers and visiting boaters. The Charm City mentality has and always will be, How much money can we extort from the populace and get away with it?

Gary

 

[T37Chef]

And why do you live in MD still? LOL