CLOUD NINE: 2008 POTOMAC CRUISE

In May of 2008 we headed south to the Potomac. Our game plan was to launch and visit Washington DC for a few days and then head out the Potomac River in the company of Mike and Lita Wiseman on Hawkeye to St. Mary's for a Rosborough Rendezvous. Here's a story of how the Best Laid Plans can change!

Mike

Mike had invited us to launch on the Occaquan River and dock at his marina for the 1st night. So we headed out bright and early taking on the busy roads leading to DC. We breezed down the highways in our new 2008 Ford 350 diesel truck, thankful that the heavy spring rains in Virginia had come to an end. Made incredible time until we crossed the Potomac into Virginia where traffic brought us to a complete stop and we inched along for the final miles.

Hawkeye

All went well with the launch, however, and when Mike drove down to meet us (1st face to face meeting for us after years of email contact) he said Lita was expecting us for supper at their home. What sweet words after a long drive!

We had a delightful evening together and in the morning we set off for a short cruise up the Potomac, with plans to stay a night or so at Alexandra, VA and then go on to DC.

Alexandria

As we cruised down the Occaquan toward the Potomac we were surprised by the amount of debris in the water. The Potomac had stuff floating in it too and we had to keep an eye out to avoid hitting it. The day was beautiful, however, and we really enjoyed riding up the river and looking out at famous landmarks. We considered stopping to visit Mt. Vernon but instead continued to Alexandria. Beautiful waterfront there! We were placed on a finger dock pretty close to shore and then kicked back, strolling up into town and starting to unwind after our big trip. In the afternoon the weather clouded up and it started to rain so we returned to the boat. At first the rain was sort of pleasant. I settled back onto the sofa to read and Craig started our new Force 10 heater to take the chill off the air. Cozy. Then the rain got serious. From time to time we'd get up and look out the door at the rain driving by on the diagonal. We were at a fixed dock with a little triangle of a side finger. Before long the finger dock disappeared. I looked at where it had been and remarked to Craig, "Where do you suppose it is?" I was hoping we hadn't floated over on top of it! Night came, the winds blew and the rain continued. It was quite a storm, yet it wasn't really scary. Sometime during the night the rain stopped and come morning the water began to recede, leaving amazing piles of debris behind. Our finger dock showed up again, in the right place, with lots of junk on it.


debris washed onshore

our finger dock

Boaters began to arrive to see how their boats had fared the storm and we discovered how lucky we had been. Our position near land had been protected from the stronger winds. Boats further out had cleats ripped off and canvas shredded. Pilings, trees and good sized lumber were floating by in the river. We phoned Mike and asked him to email the Rendezvous Group advising that river conditions might interfere with the St. Mary's plan. Here is his message:

Cloud Nine's new Force 10 cabin heater

Craig & Tammi asked me to send out an alert to anyone who might be planning to attend the Chesapeake Rendezvous on the St Mary's River on May 17-18. They are presently in their boat in Alexandria with no access to a computer. Since we have had very heavy rains for several days in the Washington, DC/Northern VA area, the Potomac River is presently in flood stage and full of debris. At this point we aren't yet certain whether conditions will permit safe travel on the River from this area. We plan to monitor conditions as the weekend nears and determine within the next few days whether to go ahead with the Rendezvous.
Thanks.
Mike Wiseman
Hawkeye

The next day we decided to venture forth and head for Washington DC. Getting through the debris in the Potomac required a lot of attention. Fortunately the day was bright and the water flat. Trees and pilings were pretty easy to spot.

Seeing this area from the water was a treat even with the hazardous waters. For years we had avoided driving to DC because of the traffic. If you come by boat the capital is yours to enjoy. With our destination in sight, we decided to cruise around for awhile before settling in for a few days. We took a right onto the Anacostia River, threading our way through a mustache of floating debris.

Anacostia River crew teams

The water cleared up immediately past the mouth of the river and we were soon joined by a fleet of rowers.

Ballew takes it all in

Then we returned to the Potomac, took a right, headed up-river and paused next to Regan Natl. Airport, right at the end of the runway. We were sort of surprised that none of the various patrol boats that we encountered objected to this, but they didn't so we sat back and watched some planes take off and land (Craig really goes for this sort of thing).

Then we decided to continue on to Georgetown. Everywhere we looked there seem to be a landmark!

Lincoln Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Gorgeous bridges!

Kennedy Center

Statues - and more debris

The current was swift when we rounded the curve in the river to Georgetown and tried to see where we could land. The waterfront area puzzled us because there didn't seem to be any landing place, although our charts indicated that there should be. Plus we had to watch out for current driven debris hurtling toward us. All we could see was sort of a curb along a wide, wood plank plaza. Later on we learned that the 'curb' was all that was visible of the Georgetown landing wall due to the flood conditions. At any rate, it seemed like a good time to turn around and go find dockage in DC.

In planning our trip, we had liked the description of the Gangplank Marina located on the Washington Channel and had made a reservation. When we got there, however, we found that they planned to put us on an exterior stationary dock that was not an easy on/off situation from our cockpit. I voted to move on. Just beyond the Gangplank we came to the Washington Marina. They had recently upgraded their floating docks, were closer to the Mall - the perfect situation for us. We happily moved right in. We could see the Washington Monument from every window on Cloud Nine and were just up the street from the Jefferson Memorial. We felt like we had just scored front row seats at a concert!

The afternoon was so inviting that after we got settled we walked to the Mall and started playing tourist.

Craig's father served in WWII in the Pacific so we were particularly interested in the new WWII Memorial.

From there we wandered over to the Korea Memorial. I really liked that one. The shadowy statues of the men are so haunting.

Korea Memorial

Then we had to head back to the boat because we were expecting company for supper - friends who had moved to VA.
The walk back took us past all sorts of interesting things.


And then along a stretch of the Potomac that reminded us of the mess out there!

Better than any hotel room!

Did some house-keeping to get Cloud Nine ready for company and she looked so good tidied up that I took some photos.

Our friends, the Turners

Had a great time with our friends and after they left we enjoyed a gorgeous evening, in the heart of Washington DC, on our very own boat!

It was too beautiful to even think of turning in for the night.

Union Station lobby

The next day we visited the museums on the Mall and walked miles, discovering that it was really hard to pick up food along the way. The next day our legs informed us that it was time to start investigating public transportation options. We found a subway stop fairly close to the marina that took us to Union Station. Union Station is a major WOW!

We asked around at the train station about city bus options and were told of a special bus called the Circulator that has an easily understood route. We decided to hop on and visit Georgetown. Craig had read that mule-drawn boat rides were available in Georgetown on the old C&O Canal.

We were lucky and got tickets for a cruise leaving in an hour. It was incredible to be gliding silently through the heart of historic Georgetown.

This is the wall that looked like a 'curb' to us 3 days before.

We had a great time. After our canal ride we walked over to the Potomac waterfront and found the wall where we had tried to dock with Cloud Nine. The water had receded but the debris was as thick as ever.

Our plans for the next day were to take the city buses to Capital Hill for a tour. The bus part worked out, but the tours were booked up most of the day, so we settled for visiting the nearby Botanical Gardens. Then we noticed that the weather had cleared up and we decided it was time to get back on Cloud Nine and head back to Mike's on the Occaquan & contemplate whether or not to attempt a cruise out to St. Mary's.

On the way back to the marina we discovered that the city open air fish markets were very close to our boat. I got lunch to go!

We had been on shore just long enough to forget some about the problems we had encountered on the Potomac with debris. We at least expected that most of the stuff would have floated down river. Instead we found conditions worse than ever. We worked our way down the Potomac dodging tree trunks, dock parts and pilings, while ignoring the smaller stuff pelting against the hull. Every once in awhile there would be a stronger thud and we'd wince, hoping no damage had been done. The water stayed pretty flat but when we turned onto the Occaquan the wind started to come up and it got really difficult to spot debris in the ruffled water. It was a tense trip. By the time we reached Mike's marina we were done. We didn't know what we were going to do next but boating another inch on the Potomac was out of the question. Take a look at the junk piled up against the dock at Mike's!

So we spent the night at the dock and then had a great morning talking with Mike and Lita.

Lita and Mike Wiseman

Then we hauled out and hit the road going north..... destination undetermined. This was a new situation for us. All our previous cruise trips were well researched and planned before we left home. We had a whole week of vacation time left so it certainly was too soon to be returning home, but WHERE to go? I started hunting for boat launches north of Washington DC, using Rand McNally road maps. I spotted something way north of Baltimore named Dundee Creek Marina. I dialed them up on the cell phone and spoke with a really helpful fellow who said to come on over. A fishing tournament was in progress but he'd find a place for us and keep an eye on our truck for as long as we'd like to leave it there. So off we went! Bass boats were coming in 3 deep as we backed down the ramp but we just ignored them and launched. We were invited to dock for the night but Craig was in the mood to keep moving so we boated out of the channel, onto the Chesapeake and into perfect late afternoon conditions. Not a twig or leaf to be seen on the water. We opened up our engines and flew! Boy, did that feel good!!! A couple of hours later we were approaching the entrance to Baltimore Harbor and whipping through the pages of our Cruising Guide looking for directions. Our new Garmin chartplotter started showing off all its bells and whistles, naming the marinas as we passed them and keeping us on target for Baltimore Inner Harbor - our new destination.

Fancy concrete docks!

We poked around the harbor trying to decide on a marina. Finally we pulled into one with the fanciest cement floating docks we'd ever seen. Went up to the harbor master's office and discovered that it was locked and closed for the night. Thought about what to do for a minute and then decided to just stay where we were. We didn't really need the bathrooms and couldn't plug in because 50 amp. power was all that was available.The weather was spectacular and we felt pretty chipper about finding such a nice solution to our altered plans. Baltimore Inner Harbor looked like fun.

I decided to cook up a festive spread for supper.

Blue wave is on the Aquarium

Next morning we were up bright and early so decided to boat around the harbor and see the sights close up. At the head of the harbor is a complex of gift shops and snack shops. To the left of that is an impressive looking Science Museum. The right side of the harbor looked to be more linked to downtown and had the Aquarium, Barns & Noble, Hard Rock Cafe and a Whole Foods. We could see that walking from one side of the harbor to the other might do us in, so we decided each day we'd move to a marina close to places we wanted to visit that day. Since it was still May, the marinas all seemed to have plenty of space available.

But 1st we just tooled around on the water and looked at things.

Decided that our 1st foray would be to the Science Museum & a special exhibit titled The Body Works click here to watch a video . It was absolutely fascinating! If you've contemplated knee replacement or something like that, you can see a body with that hardware installed. We had a lot of a-ha moments.

Another day we docked near the Aquarium and spent a morning there.

Aquarium

We live in a lovely, rural state that does not have attractions like these. It is fun to be smack dab in the middle of a large city from time to time and enjoy the different opportunities.

We had stayed at a number of the Inner Harbor Marinas but our last dock was the most memorable. The Living Classrooms Crossroads School had been gifted this marina. From our dock we could see children briskly walking between classes and we were impressed by the look of them. Sometimes we could see them out sailing a double masted schooner.

Living Classrooms marina

Ballew awaits Craig

The boaters at the docks were a far different cut than we had seen other places. Live a-boards, Guys working on their semi-shabby vessels. Interesting characters. We enjoyed our stay there a lot.

Dundee Creek Marina

And then we decided it was time to return to our truck at Dundee Creek and start thinking about the drive back to Vermont. The cruise back to Dundee was beautiful and we tucked into the dock there for an enjoyable night.
After awhile some vans pulled into the parking lot and a host of children piled out and climbed into kayaks.