Photo of the Week #50 – The BIG Boat at the City Dock, Annapolis, MD April 2008

Yep! This is a really BIG boat. I’ve seen bigger. I saw one at Montauk Point, Long Island back in the early 80’s that had both a helicopter and a car on board with its own crane to move the car to and from the dock. But, this still is a very big boat.

I lived in the Annapolis area from 1974 to 1984 and during that period I saw some fantastic boats. During those years they had an annual powerboat show (known as the “stinkpotters”) on one weekend and the following or preceding weekend they had a sailboat show (known as the “rag haulers”). My wife and I usually went to both shows every year. We, of course, never expected to be able to afford any of these luxurious “baby” ships, even if we were inclined toward boating. But, it was always fun and interesting to tour these vessels that, at the time, cost between several hundred thousand dollars and the low millions. It was equally interesting to people watch and listen in on some of the conversations.

Well, that was a long time ago – pretty much a lifetime ago. My wife and I left Annapolis in 1984 and eventually we left one another, two sad past events. But, the memories are still there and I'm thankful my former wife and I are still friends. I don’t know if they still have the annual boat shows. I only get to Annapolis very infrequently. But, my former wife and I were right about one thing . . . we were never able to afford one of these BIG boats.