August 12 thru August 26

Our last week on the Potomac River was spent at the very friendly Corinthian Yacht Club.  The club, founded in 1903, was originally located at D.C.’s Roosevelt Island where its first members would tie up for shad bakes.  Various other D.C. locations served as the club’s home until 1962 when it merged with the Columbia Yacht Club which had purchased the 21-acre Bean Fishing Center on Smith Creek in Ridge, MD.  In 1971 the club permanently located here bringing with it the flagpole as a memento of its earlier days.

 

Each morning at precisely 8:00 we would hear the Star Spangled Banner proudly emanating from the speakers at the nearby Coast Guard Station at St. Inigoes Creek.

 

Blue crabs were abundant along Smith Creek.  Tethered to the dock pilings were crab pots and each morning CYC members would raise them to find about a dozen hapless crabs trapped in each pot.  Some were tossed back for another day; others went home for someone’s tasty dinner.  Each afternoon an elderly couple in a skiff came by to net the crabs clinging to the pilings.

 

                     

We hopped on our bikes and rode down straight, wide-shouldered country roads through soybean and corn fields to Ridge Market for our daily Washington Post and to Trossbachs Farm Stand for fresh tomatoes, squash, peaches and cantaloupe.  Heavenly!  We even managed to tend to some boat chores but, alas, the faulty Vacuflush aft head is on the fritz and in need of some replacement parts.  This is definitely a job for the captain, NOT THE ADMIRAL, and I am sure he is thrilled at the prospect of getting down and dirty at a future stop.

 

“Call Enterprise.  We’ll pick you up.”  And we did and they did.  On Friday, August 16^th, we rented a car from the Lexington Park Enterprise so we could drive on Saturday to Ellicott City for Beth Chou’s baby shower.  Beth is the daughter of Rich and Therese Wills, dear friends from our college days.  We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone especially since the grandparents-to-be are unable to attend the SUNY Maritime College 40^th reunion in September.

  

Beth and the Grandparents-to-be

 

 

     Beth and the Great-Grandparents-to-be

 

Sunday morning was a rainy one but we had a car so we drove a few miles to Point Lookout State Park on the north shore of the Potomac River where it meets the Chesapeake Bay.  In 1830 a lighthouse was constructed here and it still stands though it is no longer active.  During the Civil War the federal government erected Hammond Hospital at the tip of the point to treat wounded and sick soldiers.  After the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate prisoners were incarcerated in a wooden-walled pen on the bay shore with only tents for shelter; between 1863 and 1865 nearly 50,000 men were held here.  Today the point serves as a thousand-acre park.  There were few visitors on this wet day.

 

Lexington Park is a short 15-mile ride from the Corinthian Yacht Club but the young Enterprise driver who took us back after we returned the car  knew a shortcut.  Well, 90 minutes after leaving Lexington Park he got us back to CYC.  He took us on a long scenic drive to what he thought was our marina before embarrassingly admitting his mistake!  We were in no hurry and got to see lots of countryside we otherwise would have missed!

 

On August 19^th, five hours after leaving Corinthian Yacht Club, we dropped anchor in Solomons Mill Creek.

 

Approaching Solomons

 

Tugs for LNG terminal at Cove Point docked in Mill Creek

 

It was a dreary, rainy day but the water on the bay was as smooth as glass.  Around dusk, we thought we heard the pitter patter of rain drops but further investigation showed that what we heard was the sound of hundreds of small fish breaking the surface of the water amid the sea nettles.  We never saw the bigger fish that must have been causing all this ruckus.

 

We always learn something new at the Calvert Marine Museum, home of the river otters Bubbles and Squeak.  For instance, we now know that a dinghy can also be known as a jolly boat.

 

The 1883 screwpile light, Drum Point Lighthouse,

was moved to the museum grounds in 1975.

 

 

 

Frank meditating in the lighthouse privy

Why do I travel with this man?

 

 

 

Wm. B. Tennison, an 1899 bugeye converted to an oyster buy boat

now used for passenger cruise tours of the Solomons waterfront

 

In 1941 the federal government purchased 6,400 acres of farmland at Cedar Point along the Patuxent River for aviation and armament testing, formally commissioning the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in 1943.  In 1942, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Amphibious Training Base opened on Solomons to train tens of thousands of troops before their deployment overseas.  Shortly afterwards, the Naval Mine Warfare Test Station whose mission was to research and develop underwater weapons opened.  By 1945 the Navy was making 600 torpedo shots – some live, some not – a month into the Patuxent River.  Fishermen beware!
 

Today the Patuxent Naval Air Station conducts test flights to evaluate the flying quality and performance of military aircraft including the V-22 Osprey.  This tilt-rotor aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing capability has the functionality of a helicopter with the speed and range of a turbo prop.  We were lucky enough to catch sight of one overhead as we cruised the river near the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge.

Some of the fiercest fighting of the War of 1812 took place where St. Leonard Creek meets the Patuxent River.  The First and Second Battles of St. Leonard Creek were fought in the summer of 1814 when the British navy skirmished with the flotilla of Commodore Joshua Barney.  The sunken remains of some of these ships were uncovered by archaeologists in the 1990’s and artifacts are housed in the Jefferson Patterson Park Museum.  We dinghied over to the Morgan State University Estuarine Research dock and walked the grounds of the park on Petersons Point.

 

As we were weighing anchor to return to Mill Creek, Casual Class arrived on the scene.  Stu and Diana left Ocean Marine Yacht Center on Saturday, just four days ago.  We are getting nowhere fast!

The fuel dock at Calvert Marina advertised diesel fuel for $3.62 a gallon, the most reasonable price we had seen in a long time.  We thought we had snagged a real bargain until Frank, the boat statistician, burst our bubble.  In his Sea Venture log book he had recorded buying fuel in July 2001 at the same marina for $1.10 a gallon.  KA-CHING!  OUCH!

 

A raging thunderstorm overnight gave way to a beautiful sunny morning for our bay crossing to Cambridge and the Hyatt River Marsh Marina.  However, we got off to a worrisome start as an issue with the starboard engine forced us to drop the hook minutes after bringing her up!  The captain/chief engineer remedied the problem and we were on our way shortly after 10AM.

 

Hyatt River Marsh Marina and Resort from our anchorage in the Choptank River

Our toilet repair parts were waiting for us as we checked in with the dock master and Frank prepared for a fun afternoon in the head.  The repairs went remarkably well (easy for me to say) until that evening when a new problem arose – the pump would not stop running. :(  By Sunday afternoon the problem was solved and we were flushing with ease. :)

 

Seaplane landing in the Choptank River right where we had anchored the previous night!!

We were glad we were now docked in the marina.

 

Along the docks at River Marsh Marina we met another Ocean Alexander, Knot for Sail, and the captains enjoyed swapping information about their respective vessels.  While Ocean Alexanders are common on the West Coast, there are few in this area.

Our friends Stu and Carol Wikander were able to get away from their boatyard in Allen, MD to join us for dinner on Lazy W.

We picked an inopportune time to leave River Marsh Marina.  A group of four boats led by The Wine Maker docked before noon on August 26^th; the crews were soon out and about on the dock sipping wine from blue solo cups.  We told ourselves that the homemade wine probably was not up to our high standards anyway.  We moved on to La Trappe Creek and uncorked a bottle of Oak Leaf Sauvignon Blanc from Walmart...

August 1 thru August 11

On July 31 we arrived at Windmill Point Marina and Resort under sunny skies and a light breeze – the inlet was narrow and shallow so we really appreciated those weather conditions.  The facilities here are wonderful – 96 slips, wide fairways, a pool, Tiki Bar, luxurious Captain’s Lounge, and the laundry room – George lent us a golf cart and the keys to one of the townhouses on site so we could do our laundry while relaxing on a comfy sofa and watching television.  Ahhh, simple pleasures!  That evening we wandered over to the Tiki Bar where we met Ron, the morning deejay from 104.9 WIGO Country. 

And then the heavy rain came!  And the relentless wind!  And the small craft advisories!  We stayed put another day.

Tiki Bar and Clubhouse at Windmill Point Marina on a beautiful sunny day!

 

We were ready to cast off, leave the Rappahannock River behind and make our way to the Potomac River.  Our plans called for a leisurely 100-mile cruise up river to Washington, DC with our first stop at Kinsale, 43 miles from Windmill Point.  Once in Kinsale, we were determined to enjoy a meal at Good Eats Café.  7:30AM on August 2^nd - time to get underway.

 A beautiful sunny day!  Our noses alerted us to our proximity to the town of Reedville, menhaden capital of America!  Even though we passed no closer than five miles from shore, the ‘aroma’ from the menhaden processing plant was quite strong.  We caught sight of a spotter plane used to locate schools of the oily, inedible fish and a small fleet of boats at the ready to net their catch.  The menhaden, rich in omega-3, are processed into fish oil, and fish meal, a valuable ingredient in poultry and livestock feed.

 

The Lighthouse at Smith Point

 We enjoyed calm cruising all along the Chesapeake Bay and passed Smith Point without any problems.  BY 1:30 we had dropped anchor in the Yeocomico River across from Port Kinsale Marina.  Shortly after dropping the hook Frank dinghied to shore and picked up our good friends from Richmond, John and Patty Wolak. 

Kinsale, settled by Irish immigrants in the 1700’s and named Ceann saile (head of salt water) is a small town on the Yeocomico River.  It holds fond memories for us since this is where we embarked aboard our 37-foot Mainship, Sea Venture, for the start of our Great Loop adventure on May 24^th, 2002. (There are many days aboard our current slow boat when I miss her planing hull and speed!!!)  Eleven months later we would finish the cruise and make Portsmouth our home port. 

Sea Venture cruising somewhere along the Great Loop in 2002

After cocktails aboard Lazy W the four of us were able to feast at Good Eats Café, a favorite eatery of ours from back in our days spent at Port Kinsale Marina, preparing Sea Venture for cruising.   At that time we had a car and getting to this out-of-the-way restaurant was not a problem – now with no car at our disposal and not knowing that our friends with a car would be joining us, we had a problem. From previous cruising experiences, we knew that there are plenty of restaurants that will actually send a staff member out to a marina to pick up diners.  So I initiated an email conversation with the owner of Good Eats Café that went like this:

On July 25, 2013 we wrote:

Years ago we kept our boat at Kinsale and since we had a car we would frequent your restaurant.  Now we are on a different boat with plans to stop in Kinsale.  Alas, we have no car.  But we still have a meal at Good Eats on our to-do list.  Do you pick up from the marina?  Please, say yes.

 

On July 26, 2013 Steve of Good Eats Café wrote:  

Hi, sorry but we do not have enough staff to allow us to pick up from a marina. But if you stay at White Point Marina they make a car available to their boaters. And we'd love to serve you another Good Eats meal.

 

On August 3, 2013 we wrote:

We made it to Good Eats on Friday evening.  Had a great meal – the Scallops Sublime lived up to their name!  Keep up the good work!

On August 4, 2013 Good Eats Café wrote:

Hey that's great, glad you were able to make it in and really glad you had a great meal. For me to file away for future boaters, how did you work it out that you could get from boat to Good Eats and back again?

On August 4, 2013 we wrote:

Not sure this will help but here’s how we got to Good Eats.

         1. Have a long term relationship with a couple in Richmond (40+ years).

      2. Call them and rave about Good Eats!

      3. Invite them to visit you while anchored on the Yeocomico River.

      4. Dinghy in to their car!

 Oh yeah, White Point Marina had a courtesy car we could have used, as you suggested.  We may need to stop again on our way south.

On August 5, 2013 Good Eats Café wrote:

Ha, very ingenious, still chuckling. 

On August 6, 2013, Patty (our friend in Richmond) wrote:

Very amusing exchange --- for a minute though, I thought you might give Steve our phone number for people to call us and come get them!!! 

 

THANKS FOR THE RIDE, JOHN AND PATTY!!!

 Just up river from where we anchored is an active grain wharf.  Sometime after 10PM a barge left the wharf heading to the Potomac.  The tug’s bright spotlight flooded our boat and jolted Lazy W’s captain to attention.  He was very thankful that Lazy W was tucked behind Cedar Point and out of the path of that barge...

What a great anchorage for spending two nights! 

Rainbow over Potomac River as seen from anchorage on Yeocomico River

 

Sunset over the Yeocomico River with the grain silo barely visible in the distance

 

On Friday and Saturday, August 2^nd and 3^rd, 150 sailboats participated in the 40^th annual Governor’s Cup Yacht Race from Annapolis, the current capital of Maryland, to St. Mary’s City, the first capital.   The post-race festivities took place at St. Mary’s College on the St. Mary’s River.  When we arrived at Horseshoe Bend just off the college boat docks on Sunday afternoon, there was not a sailboat to be seen!?!  Maybe the thousands of jellyfish lurking in the water inspired them all to make an early departure for their home ports!

Jellyfish invasion in Horseshoe Bend

On March 25, 1634 a group of 150 settlers arrived at St. Clements Island after leaving England in November 1633 aboard the Ark and the Dove.  Once there they chose to move to a more advantageous location on the St. Mary’s River and established their first settlement and new capital of the fledgling colony of Maryland.  St. Mary’s City would be known as the birthplace of religious freedom in America.  When the seat of government was moved to Annapolis in 1695, the town was virtually abandoned.  For hundreds of years the town lay concealed and preserved beneath fields of tobacco, corn and wheat.  Archaeological excavations have uncovered many clues as to what the settlement once looked like.  We were able to walk through the expansive site even though it was technically closed for the day.  A replica of the Dove is docked along the riverfront.

 

The reconstructed 1676 statehouse at Historic St. Mary’s City

The Admiral does the cleanup after weighing anchor

in Horseshoe Bend

 

Next stop – Colonial Beach where we docked not far from Miss Ann, a beautiful 120-foot fantail yacht built in 1926 listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Her historic past includes a stint as the Aquamarine assigned to the Naval Research Lab in DC during World War II and as a tender to several Presidential yachts.  For 52 years she served guests at The Tides Inn in Irvington before being sold in 2008 to the Schroff brothers of Colonial Beach.  They put her into service for chartered Potomac River cruises from the Gangplank Marina in DC.  Miss Ann returned to Colonial Beach in April of this year.  While her long white hull looks to be in need of a paint job, her ample woodwork is in great shape.

 

Frank admiring Miss Ann

Miss Ann at dock in Colonial Beach

 

Forty miles (or 6 hours on a slow boat) north of Colonial Beach is Mattawoman Creek, our next chosen anchorage on the trek to Washington.  Along the way there is an interesting piece of history hidden in the water of Mallows Bay that the charts only hint at with the notation ‘burnt hulks.’  Here lies “The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay” – a vast ship graveyard containing more than 200 burnt hulks. 

 During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson contracted for 731 wooden steamships to carry men and supplies through the submarine-infested Atlantic Ocean to maintain the war effort in Europe, launching the greatest shipbuilding project in history.  Germany surrendered before any of the first 134 poorly-constructed EFC vessels ever started across the ocean and yet the shipbuilding continued.  There was little market for these steamships that were made obsolete by the introduction of the diesel engine.  The government mothballed a fleet of 285 in the James River. By 1929 Western Marine and Salvage Company purchased most of the vessels from the government with the intention of towing them to their operation along Mallows Bay where machinery would be removed for scrap before burning and sinking the hulls in the bay.  WM&SC declared bankruptcy before the sunken hulls were disposed of and they continued to lie in the river undisturbed.  It has been determined that any efforts to remove them would unleash too many pollutants and, ironically, they now provide a habitat for a wide range of life forms. According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, in 1995 the inventory of ships sunken in Mallows Bay included “a total of 88 wooden Emergency Fleet Corporation ships, numerous other wrecks...including a great seagoing car ferry named Accomac, 12 barges, a possible Revolutionary War longboat, several 19^th-century log canoes and schooners, a North Carolina menhaden boat, and miscellaneous workboats.”  Several hulls with trees sprouting from their decks are still visible above the water line.

 Some of the visible hulls in The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay

 

Sunset at Mattawoman Creek

 

After a two-week long respite from the heat and humidity that plagued the start of our trip, the humidity was up again as we neared Washington.  There was very little boat traffic on the Potomac and the radio was uncharacteristically devoid of boat chatter.

 

The Spirit of Mount Vernon

 

George Washington’s place at Mount Vernon

 

 

The Torpedo Factory on Alexandria’s waterfront

The graceful curves of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge

 

Approaching Washington Channel where

our destination, The Capital Yacht Club, is located

 

The Capital Yacht Club was not our first choice marina for our Washington visit but when the Gangplank Marina had no available slips for us they recommended the yacht club.  Some of the friendliest marina staff and residents were found here.  And the location was ideal – the Maine Avenue Fish Market was right outside the marina, the Safeway Supermarket with BOGO for 10¢ wine deals was a short walk away, the Nationals Ball Park and the National Mall were within biking distance, and the planes taking off/landing at Reagan National Airport along with the helicopters buzzing overhead were reminiscent of our slip at Ocean Marine Yacht Center in Portsmouth!

 

Our son Brian met us after work at CYC and we had dinner at Station 4

 

The Titanic Memorial in Washington Channel Park

“To the brave men who perished in the wreck

of the Titanic April 15, 1912

They gave their lives that women and children

might be saved”

  

An assortment of ‘vessels’ at dock in the Gangplank Marina

Really?  You had no room for Lazy W???

 

 

The Washington Monument is encased in a curtain-like scrim

as repairs continue in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake

 

 

The Capitol Building as seen from the National Mall

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial along the Tidal Basin

Scaffolding wrapped in white material covered both sides of the Martin Luther King sculpture while workers rushed to refinish the Stone of Hope where a controversial paraphrase of King’s “Drum Major” quote has been removed.  The goal is to have the work completed for the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington on August 28^th.

 

The very different architecture

 

of the National Museum of Native Americans

stands out from all the other museums on the National Mall

 

“Graft” by sculptor Roxy Paine in

National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

 

“House” by Roy Lichtenstein at National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

 

The Capital Yacht Club is just a few blocks away from Arena Stage where “One Night with Janis Joplin” was playing.  On Friday we planned on getting cheap seats to see the performance before it goes to Broadway but it was sold out!!  So we had to settle for an authentic rendition of “Me and Bobby McGee” performed by Vexine, a band from Richmond playing outdoors on The Wharf across Maine Avenue from Arena Stage.

 

Brian brought Cameron down for the Saturday breakfast hosted by the CYC on Saturday morning.  While in Portsmouth Cameron worked hard to catch one crab from the dock at OMYC so after breakfast we walked through the Maine Avenue Fish Market to see hundreds of live crabs for sale.  He was grossed out by the ‘smelly fish.’

 

American Airlines jet ready for takeoff from Reagan National Airport

 

August 10^th was our departure date from Washington.  We traveled back to Mattawoman Creek where the bass fishing boats and water skiers were having a blast!  The Perseid meteor shower was to be at peak viewing tonight but unfortunately the cloud cover was too thick to see much of anything in the night sky.  We did see dozens of osprey, several bald eagles roosting in the dead tree limbs and even some wild turkeys scuffling in the tall grass.
 

Three-and-a-half hours after our departure from Mattawoman Creek we passed Captain Billy’s Crab House near the 301 Bridge.  We chuckled as we remembered running down there for lunch in our first Sea Ray – we could make it in just over an hour from our dock on the Virginia side of the Potomac not far from Mattawoman Creek!

 

There was a lot of small boat traffic on the Potomac since it was Sunday.  We did  pass this commercial traffic, the Amy Moran and barge in tow, near Kettle Bottom Shoals.

 

As we made our way to an anchorage in Breton Bay we passed St. Clement’s Island.  Here on March 25, 1634 the English settlers arrived on the Ark and the Dove.  A 40-foot tall stone memorial cross dedicated to their memory is clearly visible at the 40-acre state park.

St. Clement’s Island

Our anchorage in Breton Bay was peaceful and bucolic.  The only sound was the mooing of cows in the distance.  Once again we hoped for clear night skies for viewing the Perseid meteor shower but once again the clouds moved in. :(