August 2024 - Side trip up the Potomac

Friday August 16th

Grainger comes through! Package with the RonVik 3/4" 48 mesh strainer arrived yesterday as promised. Picked it up when the office opened.

We set to work replacing the AC sea strainer/ water filter. We had to lift and reposition the floor, after removing the wine rack, and wine rack door, in order to get better access. Laz could get one side of the new strainer screwed in, but the other was a challenge because there was no room to turn it, or use a wrench to help turn it. We cut the hose, thinking we could get the barb with the threads off, put that piece on the new strainer and then reconnect. The hose proved difficult to cut as there was a metal wire running through it. Wire snips helped. Laz had to cut the hose to get the barb out, and then we could proceed. Once connected, we put the wine rack back together, including the door.

Ta-da! All back together. Test of the system shows that it works. A successful project finished.

Paris Athena, a beautiful Vagabond 47, is owned by Paris, the dock master and her guy. They sailed it from Chicago down the Mississippi, around Key West then up to Point Lookout. They are hauling her out to do some work on her. We headed to the fuel dock and put in 15.4 gallons, having used roughly 0.64 gallons per hour. We were off the fuel dock by 1130. Of course just as we were underway, I got a message from Amazon that our other sea strainer arrived. We will have to come back this way in any case.

It's game day, and the Man U burgee is flying! A win over Fulham 1-0. We motored a few hours then had great wind from S SE 7-13kts with occasionally more.

The Blackstone Lighthouse, which is in St. Clement’s Island State Park.

We made our way behind Cobb Island. The channel is narrow and well marked, but there are many crab pots. We anchored South of the marina at 1710. Took Boji to get provisions, went under the bridge but there was no dinghy dock. There wasn't one at the sad marina on our side of the bridge either. We found an empty slip and confirmed with some young adults on a motorboat that we could tie up for a short time at that slip.

We hoofed up the short hill and across the street to the Cobb Island Market for OJ, eggs, chive cream cheese. It's a nice market with a good quality selection of things.

We also found paczkis! I thought it was pronounced paxy but turns out it is poonch key. And here I thought we could have Paxy breakfast!

Dinner of leftovers, the brisket, caramelized onions and cheese sandwich and the pulled pork quesadilla with fries.

Seems there is always a heron fishing. Such beautiful birds with such an odd ugly call.

Beautiful sunset and moonrise.

A Nightingale Key Lime ice cream sandwich for dessert! Tomorrow we will head for Mattawoman Creek. Dahlgren should be quiet for the weekend.

Saturday August 17th

Up anchor and away by 0800. Not much wind behind Cobb , so Laz raised the anchor and started motoring while I made coffee and brought up a paczki and yogurt for breakfast.

The day started off chilly, with light rain, so I grabbed my foul weather pants and my waterproof Exeter coat, which kept me warm and dry. We could see the rain over Colonial Beach and all around us. Cushions stowed below when it hit us. Rained on and off, but not much wind.

Arsenal Wolves at 1000, Arsenal won 2-0. Flew that burgee!

There were dredgers under the 301 bridge. It was fun to watch them working. Got under the bridge without issue, there is plenty of room at any tide for us.

Tried sailing on and off after we got under the bridge with varying success. The wind was from S oscillating to SE and from 4-11 kts. I'm sure the river banks have something to do with the changing strength and direction. There were no planes at the Amazon warehouse aka MCAS Quantico. A mix of motoring and sailing, jib in, jib out.

Mallows Bay Park on starboard with the power lines ahead.

We were looking to get settled in Mattawoman Creek ahead of the incoming storm. It came from the West pulling wind into it, so we had great sailing the last 5-6 miles. We could see the big black clouds bubbling up so we furled the jib, dropped the main and headed to safety. We hailed a guy fishing in his kayak, as his back was turned to the weather, just to let him know. Pulled into Mattawoman Creek at 1700. Alert of severe thunderstorm with winds up to 34 mph and possible waterspout warnings! Thought Boji might be safer on the bow, and brought her up on the spinnaker halyard before we realized we could not easily access the anchor with her there. Brought her back, putting her marble chips back on and tied her directly behind our stern with her bow on port and stern tied to baji-naji's starboard. Turned on the generator to run the AC and cool down the cabin, which was 87°. Sat to watch the storm and for any waterspouts. Had life vests handy, just in case. Beautiful fast storm clouds that passed just to the South of us. We got a little rain but not much. Whew!

The blue dot was where we were in Mattawoman Creek when we saw the storm approach.

At the end of it all, there was a rainbow.

Dinner was Rana prosciutto and cheese tortellini with roasted zucchini and garlic bread. We had the chocolate cake I never ate from Salt Kitchen for dessert.

The blue dot is us and we just dodged a big storm. While it was clearing out I talked to Karen about David who is back in ICU.

The anchorage cleared out with the storm and we were one of two boats left. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and evening. Fell asleep at 2130, early for me, but I was tired. Another early morning tomorrow when we head back to Washington DC.

Sunday August 18th

Up anchor and away at 0745 to beat the incoming thunderstorms. Minimal wind in our cove up Mattawoman Creek. I made fried eggs with cheese on Bay's English muffins. Heated the muffins in the oven and melted the cheese after I turned the oven off. Yummy! Hot coffee, the Cumbres del Poas mixed with Mayan decaf. So happy to have my manual coffee bean grinder. I've finally figured out the best way to grind is to hold it in both hands. It doesn't do as well on the countertop. It wasn't raining, it was so misty that there were droplets of water in the air.

Is that an island or a tree that fell over? Not sure.

Everybody just hanging out.

Horseflies are big, in case anyone wondered.

Fort Washington is pretty cool looking.

Approaching the I95 bridge. National Harbor to starboard. There is plenty of clearance for us.

Always fun to see us go under. Gotta have faith!

Potomac water taxi Potomac Taxi IV

Ronald Reagan Airport or National, as our local friends Jim and Cate prefer to call it. It's a lot of fun to watch the planes take off and land. This being DC there are choppers flying overhead often.

It's so cool to see the Capitol building and the Washington Monument as you sail up. We got docked at the Capitol Yacht Club at 1300, back in A31 facing the public pier. Laz says “you know the Arsenal Ladies are playing the Washington Spirit at 2pm at Audi Stadium which is about a mile away”

So I went on Ticketmaster, got 2 seats, put on sneakers and a clean top and we hoofed it to the stadium.

It's a beautiful stadium and we had excellent seats in section 109 just above a cameraman. We were shaded the entire time, which was lovely on a hot summer day. Alessia Russo scored a brace with the final score 2-0. Gunnersaurus even came towards our sideline. There were other Arsenal Philly folks there for a special meet and greet but this was so spontaneous for us we didn't have the fancy access. Missed out on meeting Ted Lasso aka Jason Sudeikis. Ah well, as long as there is a Season 4…

On the way back we caught part of an outdoor concert by an R&B group with excellent voices. The Wharf is a nifty place to be.

Had a lovely dinner with Debbie and Todd McKellar of Soul Mates, and their dog Bailey at Mi Vida.

Debbie and I both had an excellent lobster dish, Langosta al pastor, with grilled pineapple and great spices.

Dan had a delicious pasta dish with shrimp and chorizo

Dessert was churros with dipping sauces, dulce de leche, chocolate and raspberry and Laz had a tres leches cake. We had a lovely time talking, eating and walking the Wharf.

No sunset pictures but I did capture the almost full moon from our dock. When the day was done we realized that it never rained!

Monday August 19th

Slept in til 0930 a nice luxury.

Manger le petite dejeuner at Bistro du Jour, ouefs au plat which was two eggs over medium, on sourdough toast with lots of mushrooms and Mornay sauce. A delicious cappuccino (Lacazza espresso) followed by a decaf espresso completed my feast. Laz had Belgian waffle and bacon. Walking after breakfast we found Bella Moda salon and spa, supposed to be closed on Mondays, but open for a couple of clients. Lily was able to take me for a pedicure at 11:45am. Yay!

Nothing like a little pampering.

Obsessed with the Taylor Swift window decals at the Diament store, so popped in to get a few items for Jacqui. Very nice and chatty store manager named Chelsea.Laz did some computer work while I was out.

Headed over to the International Spy Museum in the afternoon where you created a code name and identity and went on a mission through many exhibits. Bonus was the Bond in Motion exhibit, with vehicles, submarine and the ski machine used in the movies. I had a chance to be a Bond girl (or villain).

Walking back to Capitol Yacht Club there were ominous skies, but we did not get wet.

We went to dinner with the McKellers again, this time to The Grill, recommended by my nail tech Lily.

The three cheese crab fondue, recommended by Lily was excellent, especially when our server brought more bread.

I had the restaurant week menu of Caesar salad with anchovies, petite filet over cheesy polenta, and a petite flourless chocolate cake. They initially brought one with a wine sauce and they remade it without. Laz had sirloin steak and pineapple upside down cake. Todd had ribs, Debbie had 1/2 chicken. All meals excellent with plenty leftover for home and future lunches.

Todd's cheesecake was beautifully presented, and apparently tasty as well. Good thing Bailey wanted a bit of a walk after dinner. Tomorrow we are doing more touristy things.

Tuesday August 20th

Up at 0830 for tourist day! Walked to Bistro du Jour for croissants and coffee and then onward.

Saw this cool installation on the north end of the Wharf which showed flood levels in different years including 100 and 500 year levels.

Along the way you can see the construction that is happening along the tidal basin and the Jefferson Memorial. Our stops in the 8 mile tour were: first to the Jefferson Memorial, along the Basin to FDR, MLK and then Lincoln. Back to Washington Monument, then along the gardens to the signers of the Declaration of Independence. There are a lot of upgrades planned in the park and the Memorial buildings to be completed prior to 2026, the nation’s 250 years anniversary.

The Jefferson Memorial is very tall. Or I am very short, or both.

Love that FDR is shown with his dog. And of course I had to get a photo of Eleanor.

The MLK memorial is impressive and majestic. So glad we walked that way.

I am from the Land of Lincoln, so the long walk to see Abe is a must. Reading the Gettysburg address and the inscriptions and quotes on all of the memorials is truly awe inspiring. It reinforces the importance of fighting for democracy for all.

The classically beautiful view of the Washington Monument and the Capitol from the Reflecting Pool. We walked back to Washington Monument then along the gardens to the Memorial of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. They were grouped by state and had all the signatures etches in gold. My phone aka camera was fritzy so the pictures of this weren't saved. We had some time before our times tickets for the Air and Space Museum so we walked to the Museum of Natural History. There was a great new (to us) Oceans exhibit. Walked over to the Air and Space for lunch. Disappointed that only 1/2 of it was open. I remember that museum feeling very expansive previously and it is quite crowded now. There was some overlap with the Virginia Air and Space Museum as well.

Walked back to *baji-naji* to put our tired feet up before going out to dinner with Cate and Jim. I picked up a coconut bubble tea with chia at E-Tea on the way back. Forgot to ask for it without tea, but it was still good.

Took a Lyft to Georgetown for dinner at 1789. The brownstones are charming, reminiscent of Charleston, SC.

Here we are all dressed up for a nice dinner.

I wanted the Rockfish Basquaise, but unfortunately the preparation had alcohol. They were able to prepare it a la Halibut style, with crispy potato crust atop. Delicious!

We shared a citrus Pavlova for dessert, shown here with the beautiful flowers on the table. It was an excellent meal with excellent company. Jim and Cate gave us a ride back to the wharf.

When we got back, we saw Greenlights, a Leopard cat, at the end of our dock on the T. We had helped them with lines at Point Lookout when they arrived there. We exchanged boat cards and wished them a good time in DC.

Wednesday, August 21st

Up at 0830. Laundry morning! Did 3 loads which went into 2 dryer loads. Unfortunately one of the washers never got the soap into the linens/towels so had to find a different washer and wash again. I ran to Safeway, about 0.5 miles away, for some fresh fruit and veggies. While I took care of those chores, Laz scrubbed baji-naji below the waterline as best as he could with the brush, and then brought Boji on the dock to scrub the bottom.

I brought the key cards back to Debbie, the general manager, as well as the guide book and map, and paid by check to avoid the 4% surcharge for a credit card payment. We were off the docks just after 1300. The wind was from the NW, behind us. As soon as there was a little space after leaving the Washington channel, we turned towards National airport and put up the mainsail. We had good wind 10-15kts and sailed with just the main under the I 95 bridge. Current was with us, up to 1 kt. Except for one short bit where the wind was from the due W, we were able to sail all the way to and into Mattawoman Creek. We turned up and dropped the mainsail and put down the anchor into our favorite anchorage spot, around Cornwallis neck, tucked in between the two green day marks. We made good time with the favorable current and excellent wind, arriving about 1730. The windlass control at the bow was not working, so had to drop the anchor from the cockpit. We reset to farther outside the channel as the first spot seemed too far into the channel. Had to reset twice as the first time did not hook. Settled by 1800.

Mt. Vernon as seen from the water, on our way down the Potomac.

Exploring up Mattawoman Creek where it is too shallow for baji-naji.

An osprey saying hello from their nest near the state park/boat ramp. You can see the thick mat of sea grass behind it.

Tried to go into the Sweden Point Marina, but Boji's engine was fouled by seaweed. Weird little marina, all the boats in one side were surrounded by the seaweed or algae. Went up a little further in Mattawoman Creek then turned around. It was nice to see a few motorboats out on this beautiful day.

Panera Mexican corn chowder for dinner, with added spinach and stir fry chicken breast seasoned with oregano. Finished the carrot cake from YROC for dessert. Still tasty. Cut my bangs as they were sticking into my eyes with a hat on.

Another beautiful sunset. Tomorrow we will see how far down the Potomac we can get after the 301 bridge. Dahlgren will be live.

Thursday August 22nd

Up anchor and away by 0800. Lots of seagrass on the anchor line and chain. Served breakfast in the cockpit, heated up a morning bun from Mason St. bakery and the Wildgrain English muffin. Motored until near Maryland Point, then put up the sails. We had the tide with us up to 2 kts. Great wind from 5 to 13kts, at one point we were a sustained 7+ kts over water with 8+ over land. A lot of wheee! Wind was behind us and down to 3 kts as we rounded Mathias Point Neck so we furled the jib and put the motor on.

The green, or is this supposed to be a light house? at Mathias Point Neck.

Windy was shifty and starting to drop as we were coming around Mathias Point. We heard Tow Boat US hailing the passing motorboats as they sped by.

We did not get a hail from them but we did see up to 4 lined up out there. The wind was behind us, and down to 3 kts after we rounded Mathias Point Neck so we furled the jib and put the motor on. There was a lot of interesting activity under the bridge. We couldn't figure out what the barges were doing. The crane was dropping a cylindrical weight in the water then hauling it back up again. An odd dredging. After we got under the bridge, we had a nice exchange with Range Control 2 from Dahlgren. He told us to keep close to 30 and 32, which we were happy to do. He hailed again to clarify that the rest of the river was ours, which was sweet. The wind picked up and we put up the code zero and had a lovely sail down the Potomac. Did a little gybe tacking and sailed all the way into Canoe Neck Creek off St. Clements Bay.

A view of the Blackistone Lighthouse, on St. Clements Island

Beautiful view from where we dropped the hook.

I roasted broccoli with garlic, olive oil and fresh lemon juice to go with the Nomadic steak and gruyere pot pie for dinner.

You can't tell that it is only 2-3 feet of water a fair ways out from that island.

A lovely sunset and view of the neighborhood. Glad we've found this spot to anchor in. Some other time we may go up Breton Bay to Leonardtown.

The stars were brilliant. Not too much light pollution.

Moon and reflection was quite beautiful.

Moonlight and stars, I never get tired of looking at it. Heading to Point Lookout tomorrow.

Friday August 23rd

A beautiful morning in a beautiful spot. Anchor up and started to motor out first thing.

Served breakfast while we were underway. English muffins with triple berry jam and hardboiled eggs with smoked sea salt and pepper to dip.

Not much wind to start, but once it built to a steady 5+kts, we were able to put sails out with code-0 and sail down the Potomac. The current was with us, which was nice.

Relatively steady wind which made for peaceful sailing. Sailed into Smith and Jutland Creeks, dousing our sails in Jutland. Saw Somewhere South, a 48' Bali miss a turn to the green. It and a motorboat nearly went aground. Later we found out that Somewhere South was following the motor boat thinking they had local knowledge. We docked behind them and Alchemy, a 47' custom made sloop. Unfortunately the dock hand, an older gentleman, was not effective in his dock hand skills. We then helped Alchemy move into a slip.

There were some cool needlefish swimming in one of the empty slips. The light was just right to capture them. Laz went off in search of a soldering iron to try to fix the bow windlass control. I put the main away by myself, on tippy toes, and put the bimini in full coverage position due to the sun. Put on the AC and it started beautifully without a hiccup. Unfortunately the soldering iron was not what Laz needed, so the bow control for the windlass remains unfixed. Soul Mates pulled into Jutland and anchored between the marinas. They dinghied over and came to say hi. I showed them around the marina and we agreed to have dinner together at Salt Kitchen at 1830. Laz washed the anchor, with my help to raise it. Refilled the aft water tank and switched tanks to use.

August 2024 - Side trip up the Potomac

August 2024 journey back north part 2

August 2024 - Journey back North