Category: Slow Boat to Florida (SBFL) Series

Baltimore Inner Harbor—mingle with history, enjoy the spirit of today

Estimated reading time: 15 minutes – SBFL 11* – PLANNED & VISITED – Baltimore is not the Maryland version of Georgetown in Washington, DC, nor of Williamsburg in Virginia, nor did the locals ever want it to be. Because of being a major port on the eastern seaboard, some say Baltimore was a sailor’s town throughout its history, up to the early 20th century—and Baltimore has a very long maritime history. Fells Point, located in a deeper section of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, was one of the earliest settlements, and was where the Clipper Ships were made. There are only a few places in the US that had that distinction. It was a working waterfront, with...

It’s time to head South or is it?

Estimated reading time 15 minutes – SBFL 10* – PLANNED  – “We had been home from northern waters only a few weeks when the first tinges of red and gold along Church Creek told us it was time to head south. As crew, in addition to Mike and Bill Gay, we signed aboard Mrs. Virginia Finnegan, an editorial assistant at the National Geographic Society and my close colleague for 21 years,” wrote Allan C. Fisher, Jr., in his book, America’s Inland Waterway.   So, what’s this quote about? As much as I have felt the same way, that it’s “time to head south” since mid-October, here we are, grounded on land due to the pandemic. We’ve...

Chestertown, a hidden gem on the Chesapeake Bay — 2 reasons to visit this summer

Honestly, there is nothing hidden about historic Chestertown, Maryland. As a matter of fact, it’s been well known from the Colonial Era, down to the 1940s as the home of the baseball superstar, Bill “Swish” Nicholson, and today, as the home port of Sultana and more. It’s only hidden if you are on the Chesapeake Bay headed down to enter the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) in Norfolk, Virginia, — sailing in between Boston and Florida and not slowing down to smell the roses, so to speak.

This Oxford is in the US and here are the top 2 reasons to visit

Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes – *SBFL 9 – PLANNED – I am big on time capsules and time machines. Sometimes, especially during this trying time of the Coronavirus pandemic, I wish there was a type of time machine that I could use to go back in time, but not to live there, like in the Outlander stories in the popular Starz TV channel series. My interest is more in being a visitor of a town for a day or two. Just long enough to take it all in, without tangling up in their lives and their reality. I just want to be a short-term, sight-seeing time traveler. Yeah, I am very happy in 21st-century...