Capital Yacht Club, Washington DC, Day 1

Linda's younger sister Sabrina, arrives around 11:00 AM to stay with us for the weekend. I found a parking garage where we could leave her car for the weekend since we can walk to most museums in 20 minutes from the Yacht Club. 

Food trucks for Lunch

We head to the National Portrait Gallery, but stop at a Mexican restaurant for lunch on the way there. On the way back to the boat we stop at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.

National Portrait Gallery courtyard

National Galley of Art Sculpture Garden, these kids have no idea what they are looking at

Capital Yacht Club, Washington DC

One of many Osprey nests

Another sunny and humid day. Very little boat traffic. Lots of wood debris floating on the surface and some just below the surface. We bump a number of things. Also lots of large dead fish floating. We pass Mt. Vernon late morning and plan to stop on our way back down the river after the weekend. 

Washington Monument and Capital Dome from the Potomac

In Washington we stop at the James Creek Marina for fuel and a pump out and then onto the Capital Yacht Club. We drop anchor at 2:30 PM, check in and walk a couple blocks to Safeway. After the being the Bahamas for the winter, we are kind of in awe going to a large supermarket, all the food and the low prices. We try hard to stick to the shopping list and not buy everything that looks good.

Sunset in Washington DC

Mattawoman Creek, Potomac

Long day up the Potomac River. The Potomac is 6-7 miles wide at the mouth and is still about 4-5 miles wide, 40 miles up, so it feels more like being on a bay for the first half of the day. Very calm and sunny most of the day, but we have current against us much of the time. We have a long day and don't reach our anchorage until 6:00 PM on Mattawomen Creek, nearly 70 miles up the river.

Very calm day up the Potomac

Lewisetta, VA, The Glebe, Potomac, Day 1

It did not rain most of the night, but the rain starts back up in the morning and the forecast for the afternoon is more rain. We decide to stay put and get some work done. If we leave very early tomorrow we maybe able to ride the high tide up the Potomac. Linda bakes banana bread and works on bills, I work on the blog and other projects.

Rainy morning at anchor

Lewisetta, VA, The Glebe, Potomac

We leave FBYC around 9:00AM . Before we leave Deltaville we stop by the Deltaville Marina for fuel and a pumpout. As we approach the docks we see “Mar-a-Lago”. 

 

Jane, Linda and Brian

 I knew Brian and Jane were leaving their boat here for the summer and coming back in the Fall for one last trip south. I had thought they would of headed home to Toronto, by now. Getting the boat ready for storage has taken quite a bit of time. They found a climate controlled storage facility and are storing cushions and many other boat items for the summer.

We now have an even later start from Deltaville. It is a very calm, motoring day, but the leading edge of tropical depression Bonnie is slowing coming north and we have rain showers on and off most of the afternoon. 

Rain clouds catching up to us

By mid-afternoon we start heading up the Potomac River and head into the Glebe River in Lewisetta, VA. We are heading for a very protected anchorage through shallow waters littered with crab pots and oyster beds. Twice I have to swerve because I am off course and we are on the verge of hitting the bottom. Once we drop the anchor we have the place all to ourselves.

A local home owner is teaching one of his kids to wake board. At one point he swings by and tells us he will be shooting off a cannon at sunset, not that we will actually see one tonight. Soon after it starts raining. After supper I doze off watching TV on the settee. Suddenly BAM ! The remote control goes flying and I reactively jump up and run to the cockpit to start the engine. But before I get there, I notice Linda is laughing hysterically (at me) and then it dawns on me, oh yeh, cannon, sunset. Well, at least I am wide a wake, now.

Deltaville, Fishing Bay Yacht Club (FBYC)

We leave the dock around 8:15AM. “Carolyn Ann” had just left the dock in front of us, so we have a clear exit and we head out after her. Nice warm sunny Saturday, no wind, lots of weekend boaters out, but almost no commercial traffic. 

 

Fishing Bay Yacht Club

We get into FBYC around 4:15 PM and get a spot on the guest T-Dock. FBYC gives members of other Yacht Clubs a free night as their guest. This is our 4^th time here and this has to be one of the nicest boat clubs on the east coast. We were originally invited by George Burke a former Commodore who we met on our first trip south. At the time he and his wife, Lyons had a Catalina 36. His wife was quite interested in a drawer that I had added to our Catalina 36 in the galley. I had sent the plans I had written for the Catalina 36 Website to his wife. I asked her last fall if George had made the drawer for her. He solved the problem, by selling their Catalina 36 and buying a larger sailboat.

As usual we have a good time meeting and talking with club members.

Portsmouth, VA, Day 1

I spend the morning working on our blog. I have not had time to work on it lately since we have been constantly moving or busy fixing something for the last month.
 

South Basin, Portsmouth, VA

 

Hey Lady ! aren't you already married to a prince ?

We go for a long walk and later in the afternoon stop by the Commodore theater a reserve a table for tonight since a new movie run is starting, “Alice through the Looking Glass”. Hmm, our now favorite table has been reserved. We assume it was by our dock mates since almost everyone in the South Basin is coming tonight. We walk up to the theater with most of the other boat owners in the south Basin. And sure enough, Joe and Kathy, “Carolyn Ann“ scooped us this time for their favorite table.

Commodore Theater, Portsmouth, VA