After departing Portsmouth, we continued North to Deltaville which is located near the mouth of the Potomac river. After Deltaville, we made a stop about halfway up the Potomac in Colonial Beach before our final push to D.C. on day 3. The total transit from Portsmouth to D.C. was around 179 nm and we broke it up into a three day journey.
We had a nice transit up the Chesapeake and into the Potomac. The current in the river wasn’t too bad – around 1 kt so we didn’t burn too much extra fuel. We like to cruise at about 10 – 10.5 kts where we burn around 18-20 gallons of diesel fuel per hour. It’s a comfortable pace for us, the boat does well and we can move safely around the boat in most conditions.
The river was easily navigable and well marked. If you think about all of the history of the river and the ships that have transited up and down over the history of our country, it really gives you goosebumps! One of the first “landmarks” that we came across was Marine Corps Base Quantico. Here you would find the helicopters known as “Marine One” that transport the President to & from the White House!
Next up we passed the “Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay” which contains remnants of old, wooden hulls ships from WW I that were left here in “storage” and never left. What’s left of the ships can be seen just above the water line with an entire ecosystem now formed around the remaining hulls that now are mostly covered in water. For more info, check out this link: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-ghost-fleet-of-mallows-bay-nanjemoy-maryland
After Quantico we came upon Mt. Vernon where George Washington called home and is now buried. Back in May 1801, the USS Congress was passing by Mt Vernon and in the first noted tribute to our Former President the following took place: “by order of Captain Sever, the sails were lowered, the colors displayed half-masted, and a mourning salute of thirteen guns was fired as a mark of respect to the memory of Washington, whose life had so recently closed, and whose tomb was in our view.” Today, Navy ships passing Mt. Vernon continue to pay tribute with a “tolling of the bells 8 times, 5 seconds apart”. While we’re not a Navy ship, we continued the tradition and when Steppin’ Out was abeam of Mt. Vernon, we tolled our bell 8 times, 5 seconds apart in tribute to our Nations first president!
For more details on this tradition, click here: https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/customs-and-traditions0/passing-honors–national-anniversaries–and-solemnities/naval-honors-to-george-washington.html
Steppin’ Out tolling the bells as we pass Mt. Vernon!
With our tribute paid to George Washington, we were on our way for the final push into Washington D.C. We have been to D.C. many times in the past but it was only at the airport as we made connections to other destinations. This would be our first trip to our Nations Capital and we were so excited!
After passing under the Woodrow Wilson Memorial bridge, Alexandria appeared on our port side. We continued North towards the Washington channel and off to our starboard side, notice a couple of Patriot missile battery’s! I guess after 9/11 those have become a normal part of life in D.C.!
Once we entered into the Washington channel we were looking directly at an amazing sight just off the bow – THE Washington Monument! We had made it and what an amazing sight it was! Our slip reservation was at the Capitol Yacht Club which happens to be in the newly redeveloped SW D.C. area. We were also located directly across the Potomac from Regan National Airport with all of its plane traffic. The Washington channel where we were located happens to be the main corridor for ALL of the helicopter traffic to travel north and south. Let me tell you, I’ve never seen or heard this much helicopter traffic in my life! Every few minutes there would be another helicopter from the National Park service, Army, Air Force or Marine Corps flying over the top of Steppin’ Out! Fortunately, this was primarily during the day and didn’t happen at night very often.
One of the really interesting parts of where we were docked was that we were able to watch whenever “Marine One” flew in and out of the White House to pick up the President! When Marine One fly’s, it’s alway in a formation with three identical helicopters with only one containing the President as a security measure. Below is a video of two of the Marine helicopters heading back to base after landing at the White House.
Next week we begin exploring our Nations Capitol!
