Saturday, Sept 20 — We didn’t have to do as many miles today as we did the previous two days, but still wanted to leave early since the current would worsen as the day progressed. It was an overcast morning and a cloud mostly blocked the sunrise, so we waited to leave until 0650 so that there was enough light to see those very small crab traps. The sun did peek out briefly before being swallowed up by the clouds again.

Like yesterday, the anchor chain was very muddy and needed copious amounts of washing. The little tributary that we were in had a lot of crab traps around. We had to do a lot of swerving to avoid crab traps until we got back to the main channel of the Potomac, which was clear of traps.

All in all the trip was fine. There was 15-knots of wind, so it was ever so slightly bumpy from wind chop, but not bad. The wind was cool, and with the temperatures in the low 70s, it was a little chilly outside in the wind. We had 1.5 knots of current against us, so we were only doing about 5.5 – 6 knots at 1750 RPM.  The scenery along the shore was mostly trees. Traffic was light until we got to the suburbs of DC. Then there was a a lot of boat traffic and the ride became more uncomfortable from all the wakes. But not bad, just not exactly good.

Here were some photos as we neared DC. The first one (we believe) was Mount Vernon, which was George Washington’s home and where he was buried. Mount Vernon had its own dock. We could have anchored nearby and taken the dinghy over there, but we decided it was too much of a hassle to do today. If we really wanted to go, we could take the ferry (pictured below) from DC, take a tour bus, or stop by with Kosmos on our way back south.

The Potomac separated Virginia and Maryland. Goose Creek was on the Maryland side, Mount Vernon was on the Virginia side. The area near Mount Vernon had fancy homes on large lots.

There was a line where the landscape changed dramatically from large homes on large lots to densely packed urban.

Fortunately, we fit under this drawbridge. We’re told that tall sailboats sometimes have to wait hours for the bridge to go up.

The Ronald Reagan airport. Planes took off/landed every 2-minutes.

As we approached the heart of DC, we began to see neo-classical style structures. It was kind of weird to see these classical buildings and monuments dotted in and amongst the modern buildings.

This was where the Anacostia River flowed into the Potomac. We stayed in the Potomac.

Our destination, The Wharf, was now in sight!

The strip of land in the middle of the Potomac (on the left side of the photo below) was a park that we later found out was relatively recently created.

Some historic looking buildings and the anchorage just south of The Wharf.

The Wharf

Yay! We made it!

We were assigned an end tie. View of The Wharf from our slip.

When we plugged in, the electricity breaker kept tripping on their side. The marina gave us an isolation transformer to plug into the pedestal. That seemed to do the trick. Once we got the electricity working, we rinsed down the boat and scoped out the yacht club. Capitol Yacht Club was one of the few yacht clubs that allowed non-members to visit — normally, you have to be member of one yacht club to stay at another yacht club. Being welcomed by a yacht club was a first for us! (well, actually a second since in Niue we utilized moorings owned by the Niue Yacht Club). It had a nice kitchen/lounge area.

We went to a highly rated Mexican restaurant called Bartaco for dinner, which was a little bit south down the wharf. Here were some photos from the walk. Exterior of the yacht club.

We were concerned about the police being there, wondering if there was an incident taking place. But all looked totally calm and none of the pedestrians took any notice to the police car. Over the next few days, we realized there was frequently a police car in that spot. And the car usually had lights flashing, which felt like they were advertising their presence.

The national guard was still casually strolling around, and now they were armed.

We would not call Bartaco “Mexican food.” We’d call it gourmet Mexican-inspired fusion cuisine. And while the food wasn’t what we were expecting, it was amazingly good. The tacos were tiny, ranging in price from $2.95 – $4.75. Christi ate 5, Eric ate 7 and Keith ate 10, along with a side of street-corn. Since we weren’t ordering the most expensive tacos, it really wasn’t any different price-wise than most moderately priced sit-down restaurants.

For dessert, we went to a kiosk that we’d passed called Lumiers. 

Instead of waffle cones, they had chimney cake cones, which were like really thin cinnamon rolls that were stretched out and then wound around ice cream. They tasted great, but were kind of challenging and messy to eat.

The sunset was blocked by low atmospheric clouds.