Oct 26-29:  The Potomac River to Washington DC

     At Point Lookout Marina on Monday morning we borrowed their courtesy car and drove off to the grocery store for some provisioning.  The woman in the office had given simple directions "It's pretty easy to find" she'd said, and indeed, we came up to the little store with no trouble.  However, it was more of a general store that catered to snacks and dollar-priced items, not exactly what we were looking for.  I approached a fellow customer who looked at me strangely when I asked where we might find fresh vegetables and meats.  She thought a moment and then admitted there was nothing like that "around here" and gave us directions for a town about twelve miles away.  Where do the locals shop, we wondered?  Anyway, we found the Food Lion and it had everything we were looking for, and returned to the Marina to prepare for departure.
     Dan disappeared for a few minutes while I stowed food, and returned with my birthday present - a small winch for the mainsail halyard.  Now I can raise the mainsail by myself!

     We set off for a leisurely cruise up to Cobb Island, at the mouth of the Wicimico River, where we spent a quiet night at anchor.

     Tuesday we set off about mid-morning, intent on taking advantage of the tide and the current.  It was a fairly gray day, and sprinkled lightly much of the afternoon, so we piloted from inside the pilothouse, poking our head outdoors only to see if we had company or to take the occasional picture.  We're beyond the tourist season here, so we pretty much had the river to ourselves, although we did see an FBI dive boat as we came past Quantico, and a couple of yachts passed us on their way down the river.  Much of the river's edge mid-Potomac is wilderness, dotted with trees showing their fall colors (muted today because of the overcast skies) and we spied a few species of ducks, loons, terns, and a couple of bald eagles.  We came past Mallows Bay, where the rotting hulks of wooden World War I boats were left to disintegrate.  We made it all the way to Mt. Vernon, where we anchored just outside the channel for the night, just as the rain started to come down more steadily.

Cliffs at Quantico

One of the wrecks in Mallows Bay

Mt. Vernon

      It rained all night and into Wednesday, and we passed on a visit to Mt. Vernon, where George and Martha Washington lived on a large plantation.  Instead we just hauled anchor and headed the final fourteen miles up to Washington DC.  If it was going to rain most of the day, we thought we'd rather be there.  On the way, we passed Fort Washington, built in 1809, the only defensive fort built to protect Washington DC.

Fort Washington

We anchored in the Washington Channel, next to East Potomac Park, just before lunchtime.
     It's amazing to find an anchorage right there practically next to the Mall.  We are in sight of the Washington Monument, and just a short walk away from all the Memorials.  We signed up for dinghy privileges at the Capitol Yacht Club - $16/day gives us access to all the Yacht Club's amenities plus walking distance to everything in DC.
     We met up with longtime friend and former crew member Erica who lives in DC with her husband Lance and their two boys Elias and Simon.  Erica gave us directions to come to her end of town via the Metro (an experience in itself) and we enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked meal with the whole family and friends.
     We'll be in DC for a couple of days.  Today - Thursday - it's sunny and warm and we plan to do lots of walking to see the sites.  Tonight we'll meet up with Dan's high school AFS brother Thomas who is in town from Germany on business.