Taking advantage of October weather

[Mikemapva]

My wife and I decided to take advantage of the awesome weather and continue our anniversary tradition of spending the night on the boat in Old Town Alexandria, VA on the Potomac River. We left on Friday afternoon and the river was relatively empty, heading up with a little more traffic on the way back. There is a lot of debris and algae on the Potomac right now, and I'm not sure why as we have had no rain.

I'm not sure how to organize the shots so I'll describe them. Sorry about some of the crappy iphone pictures. The wake shot has Fort Washington, MD in the background. One shot is approaching the Woodrow Wilson Bridge with Alexandria behind it. The port side shot is in the slip on Friday evening, and the starboard side shot is in the slip in the morning. The Navy ship is the USS Barry at the Washington Navy Yard on the Anacostia River, and the shot next to it is the Navy Yard itself. The Washington Nationals stadium on the Anacostia is in one of them, and on the way home, the admiral tried to grab a shot of Mount Vernon.

 

[carterchapman]

Great shots - Thanks. What is the bridge clearance on the way to Georgetown?

Cool picture of the USS Barry - Forrest Sherman Class. I did a Midshipman Cruise on her sister ship the USS Blandy DD-943 in the 60's.

 

[Mikemapva]

Carter,

Reading the Barry's history, it looks like she and the Blandy responded together to the Cuban Missile Crisis from Newport. Pretty wild.

Mike

 

[WDCboater]

Nice shots. Hope you had a good time.

 

[mpmiller]

Here are some more Potomac River October shots.



We may never see another October like this. These are taken from Ft. Washington to Pohick Bay and a very patriotic Mt Vernon shot.


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[Gofirstclass]

Great weather and great photos. That's not what I would have pictured (bad pun there, sorry) the Potomac to look like. Thanks for taking me along with you.

 

[2000SEARAY280SS]

Nice shots of the upper river. The river has come a long way since I moved here in 1987. I have been told that those buildings in the pictures of the Navy Yard show where they assembled the 16 inch battleship guns in the 40's.

 

[Mikemapva]

Great shots - Thanks. What is the bridge clearance on the way to Georgetown?

Cool picture of the USS Barry - Forrest Sherman Class. I did a Midshipman Cruise on her sister ship the USS Blandy DD-943 in the 60's.

Carter,

I missed your earlier question on the bridge clearance. The new Wilson Bridge is 70 feet and is also a drawbridge. The 14th, Memorial, and Roosevelt are fixed at a much lower height and sailboats cannot transit. I'll have to pull my chart for the height, but bridge boats are on the wall at Georgetown.

Mike

 

[Mikemapva]

Great weather and great photos. That's not what I would have pictured (bad pun there, sorry) the Potomac to look like. Thanks for taking me along with you.

You're welcome, and it really is pretty nice most of the time.

 

[Mikemapva]

Here are some more Potomac River October shots.

View attachment 32683View attachment 32684View attachment 32685View attachment 32686View attachment 32687View attachment 32688View attachment 32689View attachment 32690

We may never see another October like this. These are taken from Ft. Washington to Pohick Bay and a very patriotic Mt Vernon shot.

Nice pics, i thought I recognized that red marker with Fort Washington in the background. Your Mount Vernon shot puts mine to shame. I think they had the tent up for the wine festival.

Mike

 

[Zorba]

Great shots guys. Looks like a nice place to spend your time boating.

 

[Gofirstclass]

GW and I went out yesterday for a few hours. 68*, no wind, a few light clouds. Darn near perfect. We cruised upriver about 8 miles and docked in Richland in front of Anthony's Sea Food restaurant. We walked up and had a toddy and some oysters and calamari for a snack, then slow cruised back home. I have some pics but the camera is on the boat. I'll post 'em in the next day or two.

Ya gotta love these nice, warm fall days.

 

[Mikemapva]

GW and I went out yesterday for a few hours. 68*, no wind, a few light clouds. Darn near perfect. We cruised upriver about 8 miles and docked in Richland in front of Anthony's Sea Food restaurant. We walked up and had a toddy and some oysters and calamari for a snack, then slow cruised back home. I have some pics but the camera is on the boat. I'll post 'em in the next day or two.

Ya gotta love these nice, warm fall days.

That sounds like a great trip! Can't wait to see the pics.

Mike

 

[carterchapman]

Carter,

I missed your earlier question on the bridge clearance. The new Wilson Bridge is 70 feet and is also a drawbridge. The 14th, Memorial, and Roosevelt are fixed at a much lower height and sailboats cannot transit. I'll have to pull my chart for the height, but bridge boats are on the wall at Georgetown.

Mike

Thanks Mike,

I was wondering about bridge boats - thatnks for the answer. Great pictures.

 

[Mikemapva]

Carter,

I found a little information from a friend that used to run a Bayliner 3988 on the Potomac (and who was also a Towboat US captain). It looks like you have to time your trip in a bridge boat.

"I just left VA, moved my Bayliner 3988 Command Bridge from Woodbridge to Bremerton, WA.... did LOTS of time past the Railroad Bridge (the one with the least clearance) up by the Kennedy Center and Georgetown.... came up pretty much every weekend from Hampton's Landing Marina in Woodbridge - I went to the boat today here in Bremerton, and took my tape measure - you will have to have AT LEAST 17' 1", measured at the highest point of my radar arch (above radar and stern light) to the water.... without saying, you must drop the VHF antenna, too.

A visual for you: When coming up to the RR bridge, look at the fendering on the middle of the two main openings - you will see 4 rows of horizontal 2x12's going around the pier - spaced 3-4 feet apart - if the water level is at or covering the 3rd one down, you will not be able to make it under the bridge without "tink, tink, tinking" your stern light (or whatever you have higher than 17' 1" from the water)..... anything higher will be torn off... also, stay to one side or the other of the green light that hangs down in the middle of the DC side opening."

Mike

 

[blaster]

I met up with some friends.

And I caught a slimey worm infested catfish.

 

[Mikemapva]

Nice, is that Leesylvania in the background of the first pic?

Have you caught any snakeheads? The admiral had Andrew Zimmern's bizarre foods on last night and he did a think on food in DC and he was out on the river catching snakeheads. I was trying to figure out where they were and it looked like Mattawoman.

Mike

 

[blaster]

That first pic is in mattawoman with the state park and marina in the background.

I have caught a couple smaller snakeheads. You need a rag to hold them cause their slimey like catfish. I didn't eat them cause I didn't know the first time and the other one I caught had worms. That's not the norm with them, I just happened to catch a gross one. I've yet to catch a monster one. I think the crossbow guys are taking most of the monster snakeheads.

I caught one on a pop bar and the other on a plastic worm. I have been using a floating soft plastic frog on top of the weeds but haven't caught any on that bait yet. Its supposed to catch the big one though

 

[Mikemapva]

I should have recognized that as Mattawoman.

Once you catch a good one to eat, I think you will like them. I had one last January at a fundraiser to try to get rid of them, and it was very good. They are very bizarre looking though.