Tom and Sally Curran were our guests for most of the Chesapeke Bay cruising.  They had been at the Hampton Yacht Club several weeks before we arrived and suggested that we rendezvous before heading out.  The yacht club is one of the oldest on the Chesapeke and has a grand tradition of sailboat racing. The day we arrived the fleet was out for the first race in the spring series.
 

With a car available we did some extra provisioning and took a side trip to Jamestown, the site of the first permanent British colony in the new world. (Spanish were first at St. Augustine in 1565. Jamestown was settled in 1607, Plymouth Rock was 1620.)  There is not much left of the original settlement. The foundations of the old buildings are mostly covered over. There is a very active archeological team trying to map out the original fort and settlement. The only remaining above ground structure is the brick bell tower from the church.

Reedville

Reedville is an easy cruise up the bay from Hampton.  It is the home of a large fleet of Menhaden fishing ships. Menhaden area small fish which are processed into a fish oil and a fish meal which is used as a protein booster for animal feed. We went ashore and saw the mansions of the ten or so Menhaden millionaires who founded the town. Several have been recycled into Bed and Breakfast Inns.

We found a quiet cove and anchored for the night. It's a great town for a party. We had dinner and dancing ,and never got off the boat.

Colonial Beach

Colonial Beach is about half way up the Potomac river on the way to Washington DC.  An easy five hour cruise gives enough time to see most of the town in the afternoon. Marion and Sally borrowed the marina's Blue truck and drove to the supermarket.  Tom and I biked all over the town and found Parkers Crab Shore, a local eatery with great crabs.

Colonial Beach is a bedroom community. Lots of workers from the nearby Dhalgren Naval Weapons Lab live there. It's also a summer vacation resort, has off track betting, and is a retirement community.

The starter on the genset started acting up... It went "Wheeeeeeee," instead of going "Grouw Grouw". That means the genset didn't start.  After several tries I gave up and called in a mechanic. While he was on his way, Marion decided to try her hand at starting the genset.  It went "Grouw Grouw...Hummmmm." The genset was running! I appologized to the mechanic when he came. He said "No problem I have another job to do here at the marina."

Washington DC

We arrived late in the afternoon due to the delayed start and a two knot tide against us. We had planned to anchor out but just after setting two anchors the genset stopped due to overheat.  We had not much choice so we went into Gangplank Marina for our three day stay in Washington DC.
 

As usual we did DC by tour to get the lay of the land..  Old Town Trolley Tour $24 per person was a bit expensive compared with  $15 in St Augustine and Key West  and $7 in Georgetown SC. All four were great tours... All were comprable in quality of presentation and duration.  Welcome to the North East.

The next day Marion and I redid the best parts of the tour on our bicycles.  We did the Mall from the Smithsonian to the Washington Monument. Then we circled the White House and treated ourselves to frozen lemonades.  After that we did the major memorials, Lincoln, Viet Nam, and the new Korean War memorial. The day was warm and sunny and there was a crowd of tourists. I captured Marion's reflection in the Viet Nam Memorial wall.

The Korean War memorial has nineteen larger than lifesized statues of soldiers in combat. It's very effective.  It also has a long reflective wall, but instead of names, there are pictures of soldiers etched in the polished black granite. Next we rode across the Memorial Bridge to Arlington Cemetary where we visited the John F Kennedy grave.

It was a long bike ride but we concluded that it is the best way to visit the Capitol sites quickly.
 

Marakesh with Betsy and Joel Williams was a memorable evening.... It's a Morrocan Restaurant that features fancy food you eat with your fingers, and a belly dancer for entertainment.  I had hired Betsy and Joel  when I worked at Mitre in Houston.  It was great getting caught up on all the gossip about old friends and enemies.

Dan is really: THE MARINE FIX IT GUY on the Washington  channel. He was too heavily booked to fix my genset but gave me a list of things to check. In the end  he told me what to do and even checked up on how things turned out. The overheating problem was due to low coolant.

Peir 7 best meal and price we experienced. **** $$$.

Starter problems on the genset got worse. Now only Marion can start the "Beke". I am suspicious that she is saying a prayer to St Delco, patron saint of electrical machinery.  I decided to get it fixed at Solomons Island and called ahead for a mechanic. Meanwhile we let the genset run continuously from Washington DC to Solomons.

Our stay at the St Clements anchorage, half way from DC to Solomons, was delightful.