Delivery Trip

We are underway northbound in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of New Jersey and bound for Manasquan Inlet and our next scheduled stop. We have basically been going non-stop since leaving Norfolk, making lots of miles each day and just stopping for the night. Skippers call this process of just getting the boat from point A to point B without taking in any of the intermediate stops a "delivery trip" (and there are professionals who do this sort of delivery for a living).

Barnegat Lighthouse, aka Old Barney.

When last I posted here a week ago, I was still getting over the flu, and I am happy to report that is behind me, with the exception perhaps of some lingering fatigue. The trip has not been without incident, however, to wit, the starboard stabilizer fin has been malfunctioning, and evidently we picked up a lot of growth in the very warm water in Norfolk that is costing us over a half knot. In hindsight I am sorry I did not call I diver in my final week there, but I was so flat on my back with the flu that I just did not deal with it.

I sorted and stowed the "take-out" supplies from the life raft service. This is an even older water ration, from the last time I did this, which I replaced with the "new" take-outs. These go in our ditch bag.

Thus last Tuesday turned out to be a much longer day than expected, taking us over ten hours to make Solomons. Arriving after 6, the best anchorage was full and we ended up going up the creek to our backup (map). We tendered to the Island Hideaway for dinner, where we asked for seats on the deck but were very shortly scrambling for cover due to a rain shower. We had a short walk after dinner.

Each half-liter pouch (one per person of liferaft capacity) contains ten individual 50ml servings. I tasted these, from 2007, before cutting them all open and dumping them. They were fine.

Wednesday we got an early start for a fair tide, which let us go all the way past Annapolis to the Magothy River, a first for us. We dropped the hook just outside of Deep Creek (map). We tendered up the creek to Donelly's Dockside for dinner. They have a nice courtesy dock and the food was decent.

We passed this interesting mailbox, made from an old scuba cylinder, on our walk around Arnold from Donelly's Dockside.

Thursday we left with the tide. The bay was quite choppy for most of the day, thankfully mostly behind us. We pressed on to the canal and whizzed to Chesapeake City with over a knot behind us. The entrance to the basin has again shoaled in, and we had just 8.3' on a tide of 1.8' as we made our way in. For the very first time ever in our history here, we found the basin completely devoid of anchored boats, and we had our pick of the best spot in the anchorage (map).

Vector all alone in the anchorage basin at Chesapeake City. A first for us.

We splashed the tender right away and headed ashore for dinner at just 4:30 to beat a forecast rain storm. With temperatures pleasant we opted to eat at The Deck at the Chesapeake Inn, at a table well under cover. It did rain while we ate, but it was done by the time we headed home, and we managed to stay dry the whole evening.

Approaching Hope Creek generating station. The steam and the overcast might persuade you this was a cool, crisp day, but it was 94° with 74% relative humidity.

Even on a delivery trip, pushing against the tide in the canal is not something we want to do, and so we had a free morning Friday while we waited on the current to reverse. I took the tender across the canal to Schaeffer's for gas, then landed back in town for a walk. The mercury was already headed into the 90s when I picked up a couple of breakfast sandwiches at Cafe on the Bay to bring home for brunch. I also took the time to finally clear the condensate drain for the pilothouse air conditioners; a quick shot of compressed air did the trick.

I kept getting CPA alarms for this tugboat, so I had to call him. He was driving in circles spreading shells on the bottom. You can see pumps blowing the shells off the barge with water jets.

We weighed anchor at the turn of the tide, which corresponds to near dead low tide. I had sounded the entire entrance in the dinghy when I went for gas, so I knew we could just squeak out along the east bulkhead. As it happens, just as we were weighing anchor a passel of speedboats were making their way into the basin on a poker run. They swung past the docks at the Inn to grab a card and then headed right back out; I could see no end in sight so I made my Sécurité announcement and we used the Law of Gross Tonnage to make our way out. A down-east headed eastbound on the canal did not get the memo and nearly T-boned us before realizing he needed to change course; such an expensive boat not to have a radio.

Not what you ever want to see underway: both fins on the same side of center. Here the port fin is trying to lean us to port while the starboard fin is trying to lean us to starboard.

We had a nice push out of the canal and part of the way down the bay. Normally we would just stop wherever we ran out of tide, but today we had to push on to the Cohansey River, because forecast westerlies overnight would have made the east side of the bay miserable, and we were still trying to put miles under the keel. Somehow in over a dozen years running the bay we have never had to go up this river, but today was the day.

Centering the fins reveals the port returns to center but the starboard is "stuck" in position, trying to lean us to starboard..

When we ran out of tidal push our speed dropped considerably. I attributed some of that to the dirty hull, and some to adverse tide, but there seemed to be more. When I looked at the stabilizers I could see the finicky starboard fin was actually "stuck" in the wrong position, with the computer using the port fin to compensate. The fins fighting each other like this likely cost another half knot or so, but there was little I could do about it out in the bay. We continued to the Cohansey, hoping for a quiet anchorage and maybe dinner ashore at the Bait Box restaurant at a marina a couple of miles upriver of our planned stop.

The difficult to access and even harder to manipulate terminal strip where the potentiometer and valve connect to the cable at the actuator.

The adverse tide in the bay became a fair tide in the river, and we had the hook down at a comfortable spot in a bend (map) by 5:15. Our hopes of dinner ashore were dashed the minute we passed the mouth of the river, when a cloud of biting flies descended on the boat, covering every outdoor surface. It was all Louise could do to be out on deck, covered head to toe in the heat, long enough to set the hook. We had leftovers on board. After dinner I tore into the stabilizer, replacing the positioning potentiometer, a likely culprit, on the starboard fin.

Walking to the grocery store in Atlantic City is a stroll along the Monopoly board. Here I am at Baltic and Pennsylvania, but I also passed Vermont, Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and New York.

Saturday morning we had to push back out of the river but then had a fair tide most of the way down the bay, only having to push at the very end and through the Cape May Canal. The starboard fin behaved itself all day, leading me to believe the pot was the entire problem. We got a good spot in the anchorage (map) across from the Coast Guard station. The forecast said rain at 6, and so we headed ashore well ahead of that for our favorite joint, next to the boat ramp. Alas, it was not to be; the heavens opened just as we approached the dock, and we turned around like wet rats and went home to dry off and cobble something together from the pantry.

 We also landed on Luxury Tax, another space on the board. There it is, just above the total. I think this is 3% on the beer.

Our reservation in Brielle was set for Monday, but we need at least two days of good ocean weather to make it there from Cape May, and by Saturday night it was looking like we would have to hunker down for two full days, possibly right there in Cape May. But Sunday morning things looked barely acceptable to make a run for Atlantic City, and at the turn of the tide we poked our nose out the inlet. It was, indeed, just barely acceptable, and I had to curve around to follow the shoreline rather than the straight-line route that would take us out past the 3nm line.

The Borgate had a very yummy looking bake shop in its food court.

We were both well past done with the sea state by the time we made Absecon Inlet. With a fair tide at both ends and a 7:20 start, we had the hook down early at 2:30 in our usual spot (map) and we each had a well-earned nap. At dinner time, Google told us our preferred eatery, the Back Bay Ale House, was "as busy as it gets," unsurprising on a pleasant weekend. The harbor itself had also been "as busy as it gets" all afternoon. Instead we tendered over to the casino, hoping to eat at The Deck, their waterfront venue. The live music, while good, was way too loud and we ended up inside at Dos Caminos, where the service was glacially slow. Also, the cigarette smoke from the casino does not respect the restaurant boundary.

Mostly alone again, in the Absecon anchorage.

I much prefer to hunker down in Atlantic City than Cape May, but hunker down we did, with one more day to wait to continue our progress north. So Monday was something of a free day. We were out of lunch food, so I started my day with a walk across the Monopoly board to the Save-a-lot grocery store about a mile and a half from the Gardner Basin day dock. This is a terrible store, but the nicer Acme in Brigantine requires a bus ride in both directions. I filled my backpack and then caught a bus back to Gardner's, cutting the time in half since I had a half gallon of milk in my bag.

Still leaves open a lot of sporting possibilities.

After lunch I tendered ashore and walked to the Borgata, something I have meant to do on every visit but somehow never managed. There are zero sidewalks between the two casinos, making for an, uhh, interesting walk. While it is tacky in the way that all casinos are tacky, it is much more upscale than the closer Golden Nugget or even Harrah's, between the two, with much nicer dining options. On some future visit it might be worth taking the Jitney over for dinner. Things were much quieter on a Monday evening and we had no trouble getting in to Back Bay Ale House.

Sign over the bar at Back Bay Ale House. This cracked us up, because seven digits after the decimal point is precision down to less than a hundredth of an inch. And I am pretty sure these coordinates are actually inside the aquarium.

It is nominally a one-day run from Atlantic City to Manasquan Inlet, but in order to be able to dock we need to arrive at slack tide. That timing is much easier when broken into two legs, and so yesterday we set our sights on Barnegat Light. A fair tide at both ends would have had us leave Absecon Inlet at 10, but the forecast said the seas would be building all day and become untenable in the early afternoon, so we instead started to weigh anchor at 7:30. As soon as I turned on the stabilizers, however, the starboard fin was again back to its old tricks, after working OK for two days.

Barnegat Inlet from the top of Old Barney. It's calm; nothing like when we came in.

I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to get the fin to center so I could pin it, feeling our weather window slipping away the whole time. Eventually I had to give up, cutting power to the solenoid and just letting the fin "freewheel" for the day. The port fin worked extra hard all day, but we managed well, right up until we were making our way into Barnegat Inlet. We had nearly three knots against us in the channel, which caused our speed to drop to the point where the fin centered. The boat took some serious rolls in the turbulent inlet before either of us noticed the fins were not working, likely because we expected the lone fin to be less effective to begin with. Things got much better when I over-rode the speed sensor.

Looking back to the anchorage. Vector is just above center frame.

We dropped the hook in a wide spot off channel, just outside a handful of moorings (map). On our last visit I wrote there were so many moorings here that it was nearly impossible to anchor, but this time it was fine. We tendered over to the town boat ramp and walked to Kubel's for dinner, which was quite good. Afterward we took a short stroll. The starboard fin ended its day in a position where I was able to center it manually with my spud wrench and get the pin in for the next leg, and Craig from Stabilized Marine gave me some pointers for further troubleshooting.

The old mechanism, now fixed in place, from the original Fresnel lens. The light still operates, now with a modern rotating beacon.

Today's slack arrival to Manasquan meant leaving Barnegat Light at 11:30, and so I took the morning to take a longer walk and climb to the top of the eponymous lighthouse, affectionately known as "Old Barney." The boat ramp had an attendant during the day, who collects the ramp fee, and he had no issue with me leaving the dinghy there. On my way back to the boat I stopped at the Inlet Deli, clearly the town meeting spot, and picked up a couple of breakfast sandwiches for brunch. We are finally back in the land of decent bagels.

Lightkeeper sculpture, installed in 2019 when the lighthouse turned 160.

Today's conditions have been very benign, which is good considering we are still running on one fin, like Nemo. In a short while we will make the inlet, when I will have to set this aside for photo placement. We expect to be here at least a week and maybe closer to two before we continue north to New York. My next post will be underway on that leg, whenever it is.

Some sort of rescue squad training exercise was going on in the anchorage. I think this is an aircraft life raft and not a maritime one; the put about a dozen rescue workers in yellow helmets in it.

Update: We are docked at Hoffman's Marina in Brielle (map). I was unable to get the photos done before we arrived, and I've been going great guns since the minute we tied up, so I am just now getting back to it on a rainy afternoon. I'm going to just go ahead and post this, and I will pick up from our arrival here in the next post.

Jersey boy.

We are underway southbound on the Delaware Bay, bound for Cape May, New Jersey. We've had a string of excellent travel condition days and have been using them to make tracks, but that will come to an end here and we will likely be pinned down in Cape May for a while as we wait on an outside window to make progress in the Atlantic Ocean.

Vector staring down the Hooper Island Light. "This is a lighthouse, mate. Your call."

When last I posted here, we were docked at the Reedville Market restaurant in Reedville, Virginia. After dinner we had a nice walk to the end of the peninsula and back, and I went as far as the main road north of town. Absolutely everything in Reedville is closed Monday, and I was halfway through my walk when it occurred to me that we could have landed the scooters and ridden someplace else. There are a couple of Mexican joints in Burgess, about a six mile ride.

Our view from the Reedville Market dock.

We had another short walk in the morning, after the rain ended, before shoving off. Before reaching Smith Point, Louise spotted something bobbing in the water, and through our binoculars we could tell it was a deceased dolphin. I radioed the Coast Guard to see if that required a report; it did, and they took all our information. Later the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response unit called me to get more details.

The lone gas station and mini mart in Reedville closed long ago. Not one graffito.

I was on the phone with them just as we were passing "Hannibal Target," where we were strafed by a jet fighter maybe 300' off the deck. This is a US Navy live-fire training target, and we were just outside the no-entry security zone. The phone call kept me from snapping a photo of the jet, but I got some of the USAS American Mariner, the Liberty ship scuttled here as a training target after the USS Hannibal had basically been obliterated by the elements and decades of live fire. We've seen her from a distance many times; this is the first time we've ever passed at just a half mile.

The remains of USAS American Mariner, nearly clove in two.

Going around the target was only a minor deviation from our straight-line course to the Honga River entrance, where we curved around to the east side of Hoopers Island and dropped the hook (map). There is nothing ashore here, so I grilled some chicken on board. This first comfortable anchorage in the river put us just a short ride from Hoopersville, and after dinner we splashed the tender and landed at the boat ramp there just to get a little walk in. We decked the tender as soon as we returned.

Wednesday we had a quiet morning at home. Louise had been in contact with the Hooper Island Light folks and they did not expect to arrive at the lighthouse until noon. With a two-hour cruise to get there, we left close to 11 to make sure they had a good head start and would be settled in by the time we arrived. That proved wise; as we approached the light maybe a half hour out it looked deserted, and we were nearly on top of it when we saw the crew zipping out in their Highfield RIB from the marina at the other end of Hooper Island. They arrived just ahead of us.

The lighthouse guys sent us a few drone shots. Photo: Rich Cucé

We sounded a Captain's Salute on the Kahlenbergs and dropped the hook 200 yards off the light. We tendered over to the base and spent about a half hour chatting with them from the dink. As we expected, insurance limitations precluded an actual visit. Louise has been supporting these guys on Patreon for a while, and it was great to meet Thomas and Rich and catch up a little before moving along. You can find their work on the Hooper Island and Wolf Trap lighthouses over on YouTube, here.

The small basin in Hoopersville hosts a fleet of crab boats, and will host pleasure craft of shallow draft.

After leaving the lighthouse we had a two-hour cruise to Solomons, where we dropped the hook in our preferred spot near the island known as Molly's Leg (map). We tendered over to the Island Hideaway for dinner, even splurging on a decadent dessert. This has become our favorite place on the island, and the food was good as usual. After dinner we strolled the riverfront a bit before heading home.

We left the dinghy in the water overnight, contemplating spending an extra day. A vibration is telling me I need to adjust the engine alignment since doing the transmission work, sooner rather than later, and I thought this would be a good place. But after looking at the weather and the prospects of busy waterways and anchorages for the holiday weekend, we decided to keep moving and do the work in Cape May instead.

A fellow boater at one of the docks sent us some pics. Sunset in Solomons. Photo: Liz Marks

Thus it was that we left first thing Thursday to have some fair tide to Annapolis. I would have skipped Annapolis altogether this time, except for the fact that it was the only reasonable UPS Access Point and that's where I had Spurs ship the line cutter parts. Amazon also insisted I pick a specific UPS store to return the bolts I did not need for the damper plate, and I chose one here.

Our anchorage off Hooper Island. There is nothing on the island to even provide a wind break.

Leaving Solomons we found ourselves in a conga line of northbound boats, including a phalanx of long-range trawlers that included a big Selene, two Nordys, and our friends on Vahevala, a steel hull similar to Vector. We had to alter course a bit to be overtaken by USNS Charlton, whom I had seen on the scope about twenty minutes out. Evidently, many of the conga line were caught unawares and had to scramble out of her way, just as the downbound bulker Macheras was passing. We chuckled when the pilot of the Charlton, making arrangements with Macheras, said "I'm navigating a flotilla here, so you have that to look forward to."

We arrived to Annapolis after 4pm, and opted to drop the hook in the choppy harbor rather than our preferred spot on Weems Creek, on account of the errands. We had the usual hunt through the borrow pits before finding a safe spot (map). As usual, the gaggle of racing sailboats passed us close aboard in the evening on their way back to the barn; right now we have sailboat impact PTSD and Louise watched them carefully from the pilothouse.

USNS Charlton overtaking us. I altered course 20 minutes ahead to be this far out of the way.

To get to the UPS store for my Amazon return we tendered to a new landing for us, at the end of Burnside Street, west of the Spa Creek drawbridge. That made it about a half mile walk to the shopping center, where we had a nice plate of ribs at Adams Taphouse. I was able to walk over to the UPS store before they closed while Louise finished her beer. There are no tourists in this joint.

Vector in Solomons at night. Photo: Liz Marks

On the way back to Vector we detoured down Ego Alley to the town dinghy dock, where I walked the two blocks to the CVS to pick up my Spurs parts. Even after dinner the temperature was in the high 80s, and with all the walking Louise hit her heat limit and waited for me in the air conditioning at Chipotle with a cold drink. We were back at Vector after only a little more than an hour or so ashore, and decked the tender for an early start. We have several friends in Annapolis, but with the late arrival, errands, and early departure we did not reach out to any. It was a pitchy, rolly night in the harbor, and in hindsight we should have gone to Weems and landed the e-bike ashore for the errands, but beach landings are never my first choice for that.

Yesterday morning we got an early start to catch the last of the flood. Before reaching the Bay Bridge we passed a crane moving giant roadway sections between barges. They looked shop-worn, not new, and we wondered if they were wreckage from the Key Bridge. As we passed under the bridge, we were whizzing right along at nearly max flood.

A barge full of old road deck segments, complete with Jersey barriers.

I had figured we'd make it only as far as the Bohemia River, but after passing the Patapsco we realized we'd have fair or slack current all the way to the canal, and we decided to press on to Chesapeake City. We ran out of push just past the canal entrance, and the last hour was a slog against the current, but we had the hook down in the Chesapeake City Anchorage Basin (map) before 3pm. The anchorage was quite full when we arrived, and even more so by nightfall.

An upscale candy store has recently opened in the old bank in Chesapeake City.

Weekend nights are something of a zoo here in the summer. Live music at The Deck at the Chesapeake Inn, Rummur outdoor rum bar at the Inn at the Canal, and Schaeffer's deck across the canal all compete for the ear, and if you stand on the town dock you get an interference pattern. We had a nice dinner on The Deck while it was still the quieter warm-up duo; the six-piece band complete with saxophone was much louder and we enjoyed the music of our era from the comfort of our own boat.

We had a nice walk around town and also offloaded the trash and recycling before returning to Vector and decking the tender, ahead of a forecast thunderstorm. That storm fizzled out just before reaching us, leaving all three music venues unscathed and the myriad open small boats that arrive every weekend evening mostly dry. After the music stopped at 11 we had a quiet and comfortable night, although I noticed a passing RoRo in the canal moved us a good 40' or so across our swing circle as it went by.

This photo does not really convey how crazy it is at the Chesapeake Inn on a warm Friday evening.

We seldom go all the way to Cape May from Chesapeake City. But today we had to make a very early start if we wanted any fair tide at all, and the math, coupled with the scarcity of anchorages, made it work out to do the whole stretch in one day. That means pushing through one entire flood but getting the benefit of most of two ebbs, so it all works out in the end. During the flood the plotter was giving me arrival times of 8pm, but now that we're into the final ebb the time is right around 5:15.

Unless the forecast changes, we'll be pinned down in Cape May for a few days, and I hope to align the engine and get a few other projects that have been backing up knocked out. My next post will be northbound in the Atlantic Ocean, whenever that may be.

Electing to depart

We are downbound on the Potomac River, having dropped lines in Washington, DC this morning at the turn of the tide. While I wrote in the last post that we'd be here perhaps a week or so, in fact today marks one day over two weeks, owing largely to pleasant weather and the arrival of dear friends. Before anyone asks, election day and any potential mayhem that may go along with it was not a factor in our decision to leave today, it's just high time to be moving further south before any truly cold weather sets in. As it happens, today is gorgeous and in the 70s.

This bald eagle was watchful as we passed fairly close aboard. May the republic be as steadfast.

When last I posted, we were upbound for the Alexandria Municipal Marina, where we tied up on a T-head that is pretty much the only spot there where we fit (map). We were all secure by 3:30, which gave us plenty of time in town. I set out on foot to see what had changed since our last visit, wherein we had arrived via the Metro from DC. The most obvious change of note is that the final two blocks of King Street have been cordoned off into a pedestrian mall, expanding the outside dining areas of the dozen or so restaurants there. We assume this to be the permanent result of pandemic-era outside dining expansion.

The easternmost two blocks of King are now a lovely pedestrian space.

It was a gorgeous evening and we ended up at one of those very tables, at Emmy Squared Pizza. They make thick Detroit-style pizza, which was quite good, and we enjoyed the people-watching on the street. We walked around a bit more after dinner. The historic downtown adjacent to the waterfront is arguably a nicer dockside neighborhood than the bustling Wharf development in DC.

Vector docked in Alexandria. National Harbor is to the left, and to the right, behind her, is the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

Monday morning we dropped lines at the last of the flood for the short three mile cruise to the Washington Channel. On our previous visits we've anchored for nearly the entirety of the visit, but this time we decided to indulge in the luxury of a dock at the somewhat reduced weekly rate. This decision proved prescient, as we noted the small anchorage was packed to the gills. On our last visit I wrote there was room for at most four boats, but we counted six. We backed in to our assigned slip (map) and were secured along side right at noon.

Full house in the Washington Channel anchorage.

We found our friends Dori and Bob, along with their dog Cali, aboard their lovely Ocean Alexander Liberdade, already docked at the club one pier over. We made plans to have dinner at the club later in the week; it was a nice evening that ended with some relatively soft live music, They introduced us to Anne and Sam that evening, also docked at the club aboard their North Pacific Samannetics.

Vector from the rooftop bar atop the Canopy by Hilton hotel.

The club is centrally located along The Wharf, a mixed-use development comprising offices, several hotels, residential buildings, a music venue, and lot of bars, restaurants, and clubs, along with a handful of other shops. I described this in great detail the last time around, so suffice it to say the parts that were unfinished then have since been filled in and the whole complex has become a vibrant part of the district. In addition to the yacht club, we also sampled Kirwans (Irish pub), Lucky Buns (burgers), Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen (high end American fare), and Lupo Marino (casual Italian).

A nice duo serenades us at the Capital Yacht Club bar.

In addition to those several sit-down meals, I also picked up take-out at Chopsmiths (salads and sandwiches, including breakfast) and Grazie Grazie (Italian deli sandwiches). That accounted for two dinners on evenings when Louise, who came down with a cold mid-stay, did not feel like leaving the boat, and also bagel sandwiches for breakfast on a couple of days. Like everything at The Wharf, the prices were high even for DC, but the convenience could not be beat. All of our meals at the Wharf were good, if not excellent, and I would not hesitate to return. Lucky Buns has a very limited menu, so you really have to be in that mood.

American Constitution docked at The Wharf. She had passed us at anchor a few days earlier.

One experience we'll definitely skip next time is dining out near the Safeway grocery store, where we walked our second day for a few provisions. We had planned to eat at a Korean joint called Momo, but as soon as we were seated, indoors I might add, Louise was being eaten alive by mosquitoes. So we went instead to Station 4, where the service was terrible, the decor gaudy, the prices sky-high, and the food just average.

This newer catamaran cruise ship took Constitution's place a few days later.

I had a lot of work to do while we were here, including finishing the work on the flybridge ladder as well as replacing the transfer switch that had a bit of a meltdown before we arrived. I tried to work every morning until lunch time, and after lunch I hoofed it around town to visit my favorite museums, monuments, and neighborhoods. In the evenings, we would go out someplace together.

A sure sign we need to move south -- the ice rink has been setup at The Wharf, and one at the Smithsonian as well.

On three of those evenings, we opted to scope out some neighborhoods that might be decent places for an extended stay; while it is not on the horizon, we are starting to think ahead to what comes after the boat, and DC is one of the cities where we can see ourselves settling in for a while. We explored Dupont Circle, where we dined al fresco at Mission, offering Mexican fare. We explored Cleveland Park, which we remembered from a previous visit and where we dined at Thai favorite Siam. And we visited "NoMa," where we had the least expensive meal of our entire visit at Andy's Pizza, but the neighborhood itself did not call us.

I arrived stag ahead of Louise at Dupont Circle after a day of walking and I needed a restroom. This was the answer; it's free, but you need to open it with your cell phone. A bit reminiscent of the J.C. Decaux fixtures in our former home town, San Jose.

We also took one evening out to visit our reciprocal club in town, the very upscale Army-Navy Club. The club was very nice, and the food was excellent, but we wish we had booked the much nicer formal dining room, jacket and tie required, than the causal Eagle Grill, which turned out to be in a windowless basement level. We'll keep that in mind if we return.

Leaving the Army-Navy club. We forgot to take a photo inside.

As the end of our pre-booked first week rolled around, I still had half-finished projects all over the boat, Louise was under the weather, neither of us felt "finished" with DC, and we also learned that good friends Dorsey and Bruce would be headed upriver for a DC stop of their own on their lovely American Tug, Esmeralde. So we extended our stay until "at least Friday," which later became "at least Monday, or maybe Tuesday."

We stopped for a drink one evening in the bar at the Waldorf-Astoria, in the historic Old Post Office. Afternoon Tea was being served behind us, complete with a harpist.

On Wednesday, Esmeralde arrived, steaming up the Washington Channel in regal style. Louise was at the worst of her cold, and just waved from the aft deck while I went to help them tie up. The three of us ended up eating together at Lucky Buns that evening, while Louise, who couldn't taste anything anyway, stayed home and subsisted on gruel.

Esmeralde steaming up the Washington Channel.

I ended up walking all over town with Bruce and Dorsey. It was nice to have the company, and they were appreciative of someone who already mostly knew his way around. My step count went up once they hit town, starting right off with a long walk around the Capitol. By Thursday evening Louise was feeling better, and we all headed over to the Navy Yard neighborhood, another on our short list, and had a nice dinner at Circa. We had booked the classic Old Ebbitt Grill near the White House, but evidently they had a pipe burst and waved us off early in the afternoon.

What a difference a half month makes. One lone boat in the anchorage.

One night Dorsey and Bruce fed us aboard Esmeralde, perhaps the best meal of the trip. We also got to enjoy the company of Maisie and Ollie, who were willing to shower us with affection -- and fur. And we all did finally circle back to Old Ebbitt Grill for our last night in town, where, again, the food and service was excellent.

Enjoying a glass of port aboard Esmeralde after the Old Ebbitt Grill.

On the project front I finished the flybridge ladder project, which involved more sanding and varnishing, caulking all the seams, fitting replacement panels at the hatchway itself, and then replacing all the trim and the retractable hatch screen. The parts for the transfer switch were delivered to me at the club and that came together after many hours; I think I may write that up as a dedicated blog post. (My torque wrench did not survive the process, so I now have something else to fix.) I also repaired our weather station using a hangar queen from eBay.

Ladder complete.

When I wasn't working I made it to the National Air and Space Museum, which is down to less than half its normal size due to renovations, the National Museum of American History, the Spy Museum, the National Archives, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and several of the war memorials. I also rode out to Crystal City for one last look at the "underground" mall connecting all the buildings, which literally closed for good this month. After that bit of nostalgia I walked to Pentagon City, more of a going concern, before riding back to the Wharf. I passed a number of big-box stores, including Costco, on my walk.

Introducing Blair Leslie, archaeologist from Rio de Janeiro. The "cover" I was issued at the Spy Museum. I really wanted to see their whizzy new building, but the whole experience fell short of the $35 admission. 

That maybe sounds like not a lot for a two week visit, and that's probably right for a first visit. But after nearly two full months in DC across two previous visits in Vector, not to mention previous visits in Odyssey and having come here on and off for most of my life, there's not a lot left on the "must see" list, leaving me to casually wander back to my favorites. If you want to read my write-up of more museums and memorials and see more photos around town, feel free to read through these previous posts:

2018 visit, part 1

2018 visit, part 2

2015 visit, part 1

2015 visit, part 2

We returned home one evening to find paramedics on the dock with a gurney and the fireboat two slips down (where Esmeralde eventually docked). Apparently someone on the superyacht at the end of the pier took ill.

I enjoyed meeting blog readers Joel, who keeps his boat at the Yacht Club, and Glenn, who works in DC and was wandering through The Wharf. And yesterday as a last hurrah I walked out to and around the Washington Navy Yard, a walk of perhaps five miles, taking in the goings-on along the Anacostia, including the spiffy new bridge.

The new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge over the Anacostia. The through arches on either side only connect below the road deck.

This morning after taking on water and offloading the trash and recycling, we settled our account at the yacht club and said our good-byes to Dorsey and Bruce, who are staying on another day or two, before dropping our lines. Fittingly, just as we were approaching Mount Vernon, we passed a bald eagle perched regally atop a channel buoy. We've had the river almost entirely to ourselves, and the fall color has been delightful, if a bit distant to capture with a cell phone camera.

George Washington's Mount Vernon, in the autumn color.

Update: We are anchored in the Potomac off Stuart Point, just downriver of Fairview Beach (map). We had a fair current most of the day and pushed just the last hour against the flood. With south winds it is flat calm here, and the peace and quiet is a stark contrast from the hustle and bustle of DC. In the morning we will leave on the ebb and should be close to the mouth of the Potomac when we end our day. By Thursday we will be southbound on the Chesapeake Bay, and I expect we will be in the Hampton Roads area on Friday. That's a busy area and I don't expect I'll get back to the blog until we are in the North River and crossing Albemarle Sound in about a week's time.

We anchored just as the sun went down. I tried to catch the afterglow, with the moon and Venus at upper left.

Now please enjoy these photos that I took around DC; I had 50 photos (out of maybe four times that many in my camera roll) for this post, far too many to put in-line:

The outdoor sculpture garden at the Hirshorn Museum has been removed for a facelift.

The carousel on the mall is also missing on account of renovations.

Speaking of missing, the catenary wires have been gone from this rail spur into the city for years, but the very permanent warning signs remain. Freight and the Virginia Rail Express use this line.

Obligatory shot of the Capitol through the mall. Smithsonian tower at right. The crane is the one working the Hisrshorn sculpture garden; the garden is much lower than that, but the crane needs to be able to swing completely over the Hirshorn Museum.

General William Tecumseh Sherman. One of the few monuments in Presidents Park still accessible to the public. Alexander Hamilton just a few dozen yards away is off limits. 

That's Alex at left, outside the south entrance to the Treasury Building. This is the oldest agency building in the capital; only the White House and the Capitol have been occupied longer. It appears on the $10 bill.

The view down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Willard hotel at left, Old Post Office Tower with the Bells of Congress on right.

The north entrance of the White House partly obscured by the reviewing stand being constructed for the inauguration. That's Old Hickory on the horse.

Casey Jones was one of my childhood heroes. This was his original grave marker, before his story became larger than life and he got a granite monument.

I'd like to think Erin Sills might also be someone's childhood hero. This is the BMW S 1000 RR on which she broke the land speed record. 

The original studio model of the original USS Enterprise.

A collection of studio vehicles from James Bond films. It was a $10 add-on at the Spy museum which took all of ten minutes to see.

This pair of electric GSA fleet vehicles is out from of the Department of Energy building.

Cardinal represent! IYKYK.

This original costume was in an exhibit on entertainment. I hope it stays that way.

Robert Pirsig's actual Honda from Zen and the Art.

A section of the Greensboro lunch counter. I cried.

Inside the cavernous Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. My camera could not get it all.

The rotunda of the National Archives. Those are the actual Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights in the cases. I cried here, too.

Darlington Fountain in Judiciary Square. Those are the DC Courts of Appeals behind her. Behind me is the courthouse where judge Tanya Chutkan is presiding over an historic case.

Walking to NoMa on this raised pedestrian path I encountered my first and only homeless encampment on this visit.

Inside the Queen City sculpture commemorating the 1941 seizure of black-owned lands, across from the Amazon HQ in Arlington. See link for description.

I came across this 9/11 Pentagon attack retrospective in the Pentagon City shopping center.

Another obligatory shot, standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Nicola Tesla is spinning in his grave. Across from Audi Field.

These Limes were fished out of the Anacostia.

I did not recognize it when I saw this at the Navy Yard a few years ago, but now it is unmistakable to me: this Vietnam-era "swift boat" is basically an offshore workboat with armament added.

Actual gas lamps inside Old Ebbitt Grill, even though the current space only dates back to 1983. This was right above my head.