Category Archives: Cruising Guide

Information for other cruising boats. Our experiences finding places to anchor, dealing with officials, provisions, etc.

Trader Joe’s in DC; The Original Pancake House and Trawlerfest in Baltimore, MD

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Friday, Sept 26 — When we saw Jeff Merrill, he had invited us to join his panel of cruising experts at the upcoming Trawlerfest in Baltimore. We had already arranged to rent a car at the airport this morning so we could drive to Baltimore. First thing this morning, Eric went to pick it up. He took the free shuttle to the Metro stop, and took the Metro to the airport. Eric was expecting the Metro to be crowded during rush hour on a weekday, but it was pretty quiet. He was a little disconcerted to find that it was quite a long walk from the airport Metro stop to the car rental place.

Our panel wasn’t until 1500, so we took advantage of having a car to do a big grocery store stock up. Eric picked up Christi and Keith from The Wharf and we headed to Trader Joe’s, which was our favorite place to get passage foods. The neighborhood that it was in looked a lot like Baltimore, made up primarily of small, tightly packed row homes. The parking lot was under the building, and we had a hard time finding the entrance. Trader Joe’s customers were required to park in designated spots deep down in the garage. Parking was free for the 1st hour with validation and $11.00 after that, so we were careful to finish our shopping before the fee kicked in. 

Much to our surprise, the store was underground, on the same level as the designated parking spots.

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The Exhibition Hall in the Capitol, Washington DC and More Exploring The Wharf

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continued... In 1964, only 79 years after the Supreme Court overturned the first civil rights bill, Congress finally got around to passing another one. The Civil Rights Act was more expansive than its predecessor, outlawing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

There was a small exhibit on Congress’s investigational powers. They mentioned a few examples: A committee investigating organized crime in interstate commerce convened from 1950 – 1951. It was one of the first televised hearings, so it garnered a lot of attention. The Wherry-Hill Investigations of the 1950s sought to expose gay federal employees. And in 1975, the Church committee investigated “unlawful or improper conduct by intelligence agencies.”

The item on the left was a maquette, or mini-version of a proposed statue, of House Representative Sam Rayburn, who served from 1913 – 1961. The statue was never made. The wooden item to the right of the sculpture was a desk plate belonging to Gerald Ford. Ford was the only president who wasn’t elected as president or VP. When Nixon’s VP, Spiro Agnew, resigned in 1973, Ford ascended from House Minority Leader to VP. When Nixon resigned in 1974, Ford became president. The document above is a copy of H.R. 7152, The Civil Rights Act, which was passed in 1964.
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Welcome to Washington DC (District of Columbia)

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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.

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Passage from Baltimore to Washington DC — Leg 2: Live Fire Exercises, Crab Traps and Toilet Repairs

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Friday, Sep. 19 — We again wanted to get an early start on our passage, so we got up at 0530. Much to our dismay, the mid-stateroom toilet was broken. Unfortunately, there was no time to worry about it this morning. Fortunately, we have two heads (bathrooms), so we were fine. Here was the crescent moon and a nearby planet glowing brightly pre-dawn.

Today the skies were clear, so when we pulled up anchor at 0620, there was enough light to see where we were going. That said, the anchor chain was very muddy, and we did need a flashlight in order to wash the chain. It was a glorious morning, with the sky taking on a rainbow of colors throughout the pre-dawn.

It was also a beautiful sunrise. 

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Passage from Baltimore to Washington DC — Leg 1

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Thursday, September 18, 2025 — Eric has been worried about the transit that we we’re about to make to DC. One of his concerns was speed: we were going to be going upriver against the current. To help maximize speed, he wanted the bottom clean. Even though the bottom hadn’t been too bad the last time it was cleaned in Baltimore, the extreme amount of growth we’d gotten in Little Creek had Eric worried that there may be enough growth to slow Kosmos down.

Eric has been trying to get the diver to come to do another bottom cleaning for over a week now. The diver is very busy in general, and recently had some issues that caused him to be backlogged. The diver promised Eric that he would do the bottom this morning at 0530. Christi was dubious that he’d really show up, but we still got up at 0430 to shower before he arrived (we try not to run water when the divers are working).

We were not surprised when the diver cancelled. But in good news, we were completely ready to go at first light, which was 0620. First light didn’t mean good visibility, though. It was totally overcast, making it a very dark morning. The cloud cover was so thick that we couldn’t see any hint of the sunrise. 

As soon as we’d turned on the radio, we heard regular warnings to be careful near The Francis Scott Key Bridge as they were doing demolition work to the remains in order to clear the way for the construction of the replacement bridge. We were glad to hear they were finally getting started on a new bridge.

Looking back at the Francis Scott Key Bridge remains and Baltimore.

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