Dozens of recreational boats use alternate channel to pass collapsed Key Bridge for first time

“Usually we would have taken four or five easy days,” said Chuck, “but all of a sudden it was, Tuesday you need to be here at 6.”

The Anderikas, who live in Pennsylvania but spend many of their summer weekends boating around Baltimore and the Eastern Shore, made it to the bridge by 1 p.m. on Tuesday, hours before the channel was slated to open to recreational traffic.

They weren’t the only ones to get there early. George Robertson, another Anchorage Marina customer, arrived around 3 p.m. on his Marine Trader trawler, Graceful. Robertson’s boat had been docked at Herrington Harbour in southern Anne Arundel County. He had been planning to bring it back to Baltimore the day of the collapse.

Passing through the channel, so close to the ruins of the bridge, was a surreal experience.

“I followed it everyday online,” Robertson said of the collapse, “but to see it at that point, it was worse than I thought. I can’t believe it came down so easy.”

“It was devastating,” said JoAnn Anderika. The trip to the bridge from Solomons Island was an unnervingly quiet one, absent the ship traffic that would normally be traveling to and from the port.

At the bridge the Anderikas found a busier scene. Boaters lined up their vessels as they waited to enter the channel. Once on the other side, the line became a hodgepodge, with boats racing toward a long-awaited homecoming.

Easton watched for boats he recognized as they passed through. He waved as Robertson’s trawler approached: “Hey George! Welcome home.”

With 547 slips, Anchorage Marina is the largest in the city. Robertson said he knew of four boats returning through the alternate channel Tuesday evening. He planned to meet with the Coast Guard Wednesday to share feedback on the first passage for recreational vessels.

Marinas in Baltimore have banded together to advocate for more frequent openings of the channel. Many boaters store their vehicles on land during the winter, often in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, and bring them back to the harbor in April.

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