- 旅行を表示する
- 死ぬまでにやっておきたいことリストに追加死ぬまでにやっておきたいことリストから削除
- 共有
- 日26–27
- 2025/05/09
- ☀️ 14 °C
- 海抜: 202 m
アメリカAvon41°27’6” N 82°2’7” W
Day 26: Washington DC to Colonial Beach

Graeme is on the lines, and we're off the slip at 0800 as planned, and--in light rain--we 'slip' off down the Washington Channel and out into the Potomac. Farewell DC. You gave us great temperatures and fair weather for our visit.
Today we retrace our route to Colonial Beach as the cloud ceiling rises, but not far. It's cooler today; a portent of New York, perhaps. With the tide and river current favouring us, we slide downriver, sheltering in the wheelhouse from the fresh breeze, and arrive back at the same berth at the Boathouse Marina we left 4 days ago. In the process, we again pass Fort Washington, originally built to protect Washington DC from the Brits and later from the Confederacy. The surrounding vegetation makes it all but impossible to photograph from the river.
Approaching the 'bridge-with-the-very-long-name' (but also, happily, known as the Route 301 Potomac River Bridge) we round the bend where a shoal is guarded by the Mathias Point light. Talk about shags on a rock! How about 100 shags on 100 rocks?
Originally a ‘light station’, Mathias Point was placed at the edge of a shoal jutting out from this major bend in the Potomac River; the point considered as one of the most dangerous locations to navigation on the river. In 1873, the United States naval steamer Frolic went ashore, remained grounded for over two weeks, and cost $6,000 to refloat. Congress eventually appropriated funding, and plans were drawn up for a Light Station; the three-level design resembling a wedding cake. Commissioned in December 1876, the light station exhibited a fifth-order Fresnel lens (Wikipedia can explain this).
The light was automated in 1951 and decommissioned in 1961, and dismantled in 1963. The current light is a steel tower on the original screwpile supports and displays a 44-foot high, 6-second flashing green light. Surrounding riprap dumped during the 1800s to protect the structure from ice floes provides a safe and convenient roost for seabirds.
We tie up at 1500 with the help of a couple of locals who see us coming. The local brewery beckons, but I decide to exercise some restraint. Lorraine goes for a walk and finds some new reading material in a streetside Lilliput Library.
We eat a fullsome meal aboard, and Preston goes to town to satisfy a temporary yen for Mexican cuisine.もっと詳しく
look out New York [Terry]