Heading South on the Potomac River

 Sunday October 17Th -The winds had settled enough to travel down the Potomac River. For the past couple of days the winds were gusting WNW over 30 knots. Our destination today was the Tobacco River anchorage which is the half way mark on the Potomac. It's a very picturesque anchorage. The landscape is hilly and filled with tall trees. There are only a few homes lining the rivers shore. No light pollution at night, and on a clear night the stars shine incredibly. The only noise pollution we endured were the calls of the migrating ducks and geese. At times we thought we were in their landing strip because the group would come in low bellowing a huge squawking noise. Thankfully there were no surprises on deck in the morning.



The Dove

  Monday October 18th/19th-  We weighed anchor and headed down the rest of the Potomac. Our stop today was St. Mary's River. It's an anchorage that we have never explored and we heard wonderful things from other cruisers. We arrived just in time before the skies opened with a good rain shower and decided that we'd just stay aboard for the night. After checking NOAA we realized that we were going to be here for an extra night. So we made plans on Tuesday to go to shore. St. Mary's city is one of the first settlements in Maryland and the first Capitol before moving it to Annapolis. There were ongoing architectural digs and they were finding interesting clues as to how the people lived. There were findings from Native Indians and the first Settlers. There is a replica of the Dove sailboat that carried 54 people and came from England. St. Mary's College is also located there, and they are very welcoming to cruisers. They allow cruisers to purchase meals in their cafeteria and we could not believe ,,, it wasn't McDonald's or Burger King type offerings. There was quite the buffet of food, even  a dessert chef that made us wonderful crepes filled with a banana cream a slice of brownie and topped with fresh berry sauce. Scrumptious!!!

St. Mary's College has a sailing club and each night we would watch them taking lessons just before sunset. There was also a scull crew that were going through their paces.

Our Adventure in Washington, DC

Friday October 8th/ 17th - Shortly before noon we tied up at the Gangplank marina. Our plans were to spend a week in Washington, DC, to visit with family and to explore, how wonderful!
We had an amazingly busy week. We spent a few days touring the National Mall. Washington is a wonderful city with many museums, monuments and parks to explore. It's only a mile away from the marina but you could literally walk your feet off with all the options.
 Our first visit was to the American History museum where we saw everything from the History of Lincoln, Transporation, Electricity and of course the 'First Lady's Inauguration dresses where Michelle Obama's dress is now on display. Not to forget the Ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland.

While we were in Washington we also took two tours of the Capitol. Because there is quite an echo throughout the gleaming halls, we wore headsets to hear our tourguide. The guides were very knowledgeable and gave quite a history of the Capitol. We then took a tour of the old Senate Rooms and halls. 

The National museum of the American Indian  was fascinating. We enjoyed lunch at the Mitsitam Native cafe where they served native foods and it was delicious. 

 Our last day in Washington we decided to check out the Library of Congress. Can you imagine millions of books under one roof?  We found Thomas Jefferson's library,, all the books that he read. Information about how the Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independance were written. There was an amazing exhibit on George & Ira Gershwin, and Bob Hope.

During our stay in Washington, we spent some time with the Flynn family. On Sunday we went to the Washington monument to watch Debby finish the 60 mile walk for breast cancer. It's  a 3 day event and we are very proud of her. That evening we enjoyed a wonderful Chinese dinner at their house. On Tuesday we enjoyed watching Meghan's volleyball game where her team won both games, very exciting! We ended up spending a couple of nights at the Flynn's and each night Moira took turns reading to us.

The highlight of our trip was for 'Grampy' to be the mystery reader in Moira's kindergarten class. Moira and her class came in from recess and, there was Grampy sitting in the mystery readers chair! Grampy chose a special book to read 'Make Way for Ducklings'. He had the children's attention, you could tell they were really enjoying the story. Grampy is an excellent story teller. I sat there with pride and as I looked over towards Moira and Debby, both of their faces were beaming with smiles of love and pride. Well done Grampy!
Sadly we had to say good-bye to the Flynn's but we're looking forward to seeing them in a few weeks. Thank you so much!!

San Domingo to the Potomac River

Tuesday October 5th - Honey I'm not enjoying this",,, hmmmmmmmmm never thought I'd hear those words coming from my lips. Let's back up for a moment. Early in the morning, NOAA predicted that the seas would be manageable 1-2 ft, and the winds would be 10 -15kts.It was still cloudy, cold and very damp, and we were antsy to be on our way. The wind had indeed settled and we weighed anchor and headed out towards the Chesapeake. However from our protected anchorage we couldn't see what was awaiting for us on the Chesapeake. The north winds were gusting every now and then and with it came a good 3-4 foot wave that would hit us on the side of the boat. The waves would jolt us sideways... Not a very comfortable ride.... We definitely don't like waves on the beam.Thank goodness the trip on the Chesapeake was short and we were heading into Solomon's around noon.  At the dock Ted greeted us and tied down the Summer Wind. Whew!!! That evening we enjoyed some great pizza at Ted & Nancy's. Thanks guys!!

Calmer Seas

Wednesday October 6th- Early in the morning we untied the lines and headed down the Patuxent River for the Chesapeake. The weather was totally different!! The sun was shining and the seas were literally flat. However mother nature let us know she wasn't quite finished playing, from the boat we could see some rain bands off in the distance. We were a little concerned for when we would reach the mouth of the Potomac but all  our fretting was for naught. It turned out to be very calm seas. In fact the day turned out to be a wonderful day for cruising. Our destination was Olverson's Lodge on the Yeocomico River. We pulled in, and Freddy was there to catch our lines. Tied up and Freddy said we were invited to join them for dinner at 'The Moorings' it was pasta night and they have a fabulous special. Two pasta dinners and a bottle of wine for $25, how can you refuse?? It was a fantastic dinner and we had a wonderful time with Freddy, Cass, Mike and Beverly.



Cass, Freddy, Mike , Beverly


Thursday October 7th-  Shortly before 8am we untied the lines. Mike and Beverly who were tied up next to us, said good-bye and off we went. Our first idea was to drop the hook in Tobacco River, but we had a great push with the tide that it was just too early to stop. So the captain said, let's try Mattawoman anchorage. That would give us a great head start for the next morning. The Potomac is 100 miles long to Washington DC . It winds and slowly narrows as you head further up. It was a beautiful trip up the river, the trees are just beginning to change their colors, in a few weeks it will be a spectacular show. Shortly around 4pm we came to the Mattawoman Creek. It was very tricky getting into the creek because you have to zig zag the hundreds of crab pots. This anchorage is our first exploration and again we used the Skipper Bob book and the Active Captain website to show us where to anchor. However, upon getting nearer to where we were to cross the creek was covered in this massive floating leafy plant. Again the captain made a decision to not anchor in the exact spot and found an area where there were no floating leaves. It was a wise decision. Mattawoman creek is a very picturesque and protected anchorage. When there is a big fishing derby the marina across from the anchorage has huge spot lights. We didn't need to put on our anchor light because we were well lit for the night.

Mount Vernon

Friday October 8th-  5:30 in the morning we were jolted out of bed from the roar of the high powered fishing boats heading out. Oh well, while the captain readied the boat, I put on an extra strong pot of coffee. The early wake up call turned out to be a blessing because when we pulled up the anchor, there was a massive leaf plant attached to the chain. Our hook looked like a beautiful hanging basket that any gardener would be beaming with pride.  It took a boat hook to get the heavy piece off. The trip up the rest of the Potomac was easy, calm and relaxing.There is a vast amount of history that took place on the Potomac. We passed by Mount Vernon , the home of George Washington and we also passed by Fort Washington. 

Fort Washington on the Potomac

Our destination today was the Gangplank Marina  in Washington, DC,where we planned to spend a week. It was going to be a great adventure!