"Go Fast, Zig and Zag and They Probably Won't Hit You."
- Chuck Hewett
- 5 hours ago
- 7 min read
Vice Admiral Joe Dyer Advising How to Navigate the Potomac's Middle Danger Ground with Dahlgren's Naval Service Warfare Live Fire Exercises Going On.
He was kidding, of course. For several days on our VHF Radio, regular US Coast Guard announcements warned of naval live fire exercises on April 27, 28, and 29, the last of which was the day we planned to travel from Joe and Susan Dyer's home on Breton Bay 95 miles up the Potomac River to the Capital Yacht Club in the Wharf District of Washington, D.C.. On the morning of the 29th, I called the Naval Service Warfare Division and a very chipper young duty officer cheerfully told me that the time we expected to arrive at the lower end of the Danger Area was just when they planned to begin firing. But, not to worry, I should contact a Range Patrol Boat and they would advise me how to avoid being treated like a maritime drug smuggler. And, if I couldn't find one, "Don't worry, they'll find you."
We arrived at the danger zone--no one in sight or able to be raised on the VHF radio. We looked at the chart and decided to cross the down river end of the Danger Area and make our way up the west side where there seemed to be more room outside the zone. Bad mistake. A modest way up the west side, we did find a range patrol boat. The very helpful crew directed us to set a course due east and recross the Danger Area to the east (north?) side where another boat would surely find us. The other boat saw us long before we could see them and, in fact, did direct us to zig and zag up that side of the river leaving this buoy to starboard, the next two to port, etc., and finally splitting two navigation markers before "making full way" directly to the middle of the Harry W. Nice Bridge. From there, we would be free and clear to continue on our way. The. whole exercise probably took an hour or more and as we neared the upper end of the Danger Area, the Admiral opined that she would kind of like to see something go off. My response, ok but please dear God not too close. The Admiral would be disappointed about her wish and I breathed quite a sigh of relief as we crossed under the aforementioned bridge.
The rest of our trip that overcast, rainy and chilly day was much less eventful. We did cross under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and soon after sighted first the Washington Monument and then the US Capitol Building---all fun icons of America's capital city despite the dreary weather.
We're now docked at the Capital Yacht Club in the Wharf District--a very upscale area of hotels, restaurants, bars, office buildings, shops and condos sandwiched between Maine and M Street and a channel of the Potomac. Over our bow, we have a partial view of the Jefferson Memorial and over the cockpit a pretty view of the marinas lining the wharf downstream.
Yesterday (Thursday), we trundled over to Georgetown where we both had our hair done, took a long walk, and had a wonderful mid-day dinner at Filomena Ristorante, obviously an Italian restaurant the Admiral found. We followed that with a visit to American University where the Admiral spent her freshman year. Then, after resting on the boat, we took a long evening walk down the wharf and onto the Anacostia River Trail. It turns out to be the season for eighth grade trips to Washington and we passed at least a half dozen large school groups waiting to board various tour boats for evening cruises. Would to have that energy!
Now would be a great time to pour another cup of coffee, fix your afternoon tea, or, if you drink alone, prepare a cocktail because I have a lot more to share!
Since my last blog, we've traveled up the Bay to Annapolis, back down to Solomons Island, further down the Bay and then up the Potomac to our good friends, Joe and Susan Dyer's on Breton Bay, and, of course, most recently to Washington.
After dodging tugs and barges, anchored freighters and a large car carrier, we arrived in Annapolis on a clear day that would soon turn to gray and rain. We took a late afternoon walk as the storm clouds gathered and found ourselves ducking into Preserve on Main Street in an attempt to stay dry as the heavens began to open. What a fortuitous choice! We thought that we'd only have a drink in return for the roof over our head but our waiter talked us into ordering the Crispy Kale Appetizer--a truly amazing treat. Lightly battered, flash fried, and mixed with pepper jelly and cumin yogurt, that was one of our taste treats of our decade. And, on top of that, we watched a good foot of water raging down Annapolis' Main Street. We were glad to be inside.
We ended up extending our two night stay in Annapolis to three to avoid some unpleasant wind and waves on the Chesapeake. That gave us the time to walk about the city, explore the state capital, and even enjoy the play, Poor Clare, at the Colonial Players' Theater in the Round--a production that I enjoyed more than the Admiral did.
The Capitol is, of course, exceedingly historic. The oldest State House in the nation, it served as the Capitol of the United States in 1783 and 84 and Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris there thus ending the Revolutionary War. We also enjoyed remembering Thurgood Marshall and walking through the very well kept grounds.
The weather having settled down, we left Annapolis on Monday to go down the Bay to the Solomons Island Yacht Club where we had been the week before. On our way down, we dodged a large asphalt barge and encountered several early bird loopers headed up the Bay against us. We overtook a large car carrier just about the time he opened his throttles to head to open water. For the last hour or so, we kept pace with each other until we turned up the Patuxent River.
As we neared the yacht club, we slowed down, donned life jackets, and prepared to rig the fenders and fender boards. As I turned around to go out into the cockpit, I found myself facing a US Coast Guard small boarding vessel's flashing blue lights and siren. Now, we run a tight ship, do our very best to obey all laws, and have absolutely nothing to be concerned about; but, those lights still raise your heart rate a beat or two. Damn. Before you knew it, we had two spry Coasties on board, one asking questions and inspecting and the other doing the paperwork. It became clear to them very quickly that, if not in 100% compliance, we would be darned close and the stop turned into an exchange of stories followed by good wishes and farewells. Turns out we were their first inspection of the year. Why did they select us? We were the only boat they'd seen that morning. The good news is that we now have paperwork showing that we were boarded and inspected which will hopefully give us a year or two's pass on future random stops.
At Solomons, we treated Joe and Susan Dyer (our Key West next door neighbors) to dinner at CD Cafe. It would be 56 miles by water for us to get to their Breton Bay home the next day but was only a 10 mile drive for them. The other notable visitor we had was an early morning Osprey who landed about 10 feet from Katahdin. He (she?) stayed a
while giving me the opportunity to snap a few pictures. Speaking of Osprey, its been fun to watch them as we've traveled north. We've gone from Osprey rearing young, to Osprey sitting on eggs, to Osprey on the Chesapeake very much still building nests. And, especially here, we have seen hundreds. Food must be very abundant as territories seem to be much smaller than those we see in Maine.
On Tuesday, we traveled to Joe and Susan's home where they treated us like royalty. After tying us up, Joe served us Oysters Rockefeller and Champagne. Before you knew it, dinner at Sweet Bay, a restaurant Susan founded, beckoned, and they served us a fantastic dinner. The next morning, Joe served up a scrumptious breakfast and then sent us off to zig and zag avoiding Naval fire.
For several months now, we have followed spring north. For those of us who live in Maine where spring is a two week season in late May, week after week of spring time weather seems like a miracle. We have so enjoyed it even as temperatures have ranged from morning lows in the 40s to daytime highs in the 80s. Many of our days have been much more temperate than those ranges would suggest. Nonetheless, the Admiral, as planned, is now jumping ship and heading back to her horses, her gardens, and her obligations to the Phillips Lake Association. She has completed 2720 miles since we boarded in January. Katahdin and I will now head north with friend Tim Glidden to NYC and then with buddy Joe Dyer from NYC to Maine. It will be great to have some boy time but I will dearly miss my esteemed Admiral and First Mate.
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