This morning was the coldest start we’ve had since our trip began in early September. Temperature was a balmy 51 degrees when we left the dock. We quickly motored out of Back creek, into Patuxent river then the Chesapeake bay.
The trip from the mouth of the Potomac to DC is roughly 90 nautical mile. We usually only travel under 35 NM per day which means it’ll take us 3 days to get there.
Journey by boat anywhere along the Potomac River, you can feel the history pulsing through the flowing water. So much of the American folklore and truth arises from this corridor. Capt. John Smith mapped the river in 1608, and did so with astonishing accuracy. President George Washington was born on it, lived on it and died on it. He also established the new nation’s capital on it, and referred to it as the Nation’s River. John Quincy Adams went skinny-dipping in the Potomac River every day of his presidency, from 1825 to 1829.
Rounding Pt Lookout, we officially entered the Potomac River. Maryland to starboard and Virginia to Port, we quickly sailed north, passing St Mary city, the original capital of Maryland and found our way into a nice and quiet anchorage 10 miles north in Breton bay. We set anchor far enough away from 2 other saboats, one from Texas and the other from Switzerland (boat in photo). Nice to be among other far away travellers.
Tomorrow we sail another 32NM up the river near Quantico, home of the FBI Academy and US Marine Corps base.
