Another day.  Checked the weather reports – as we do daily – winds and waves looked reasonable.  Started out OK.  Went about an hour, then had to make a stop for fuel which took us slightly inland.  After fueling, the winds were suddenly much stronger, but reports were still good for the Chesapeake.  We had to be pushed off the fueling dock, but we made it out of the marina and started out again. My how things can change! The wind was still blowing hard, but we thought “this will change when we make the turn out into the Chesapeake. We had several turns to make around some low water areas.  We just kept thinking – this will change.  Sooooo… maybe not.  Waves kicked up to 3+ feet.  We were rocking up and down and occasionally side to side.  We did see some other boats, so we weren’t the only crazies out there, but for sure, it wasn’t fun.  To make matters worse – crab pots! Hard enough to see and evade them when the water is calm;  REALLY hard when the waves are rolling.  There were no places where we could stop for the day – shore was too shallow.  No choice but to continue.  

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When we were finally able to make the turn up the Potomac, the land mass blocked the wave action and the wind.  Ahhhh.  Went to another beautiful anchorage called The Glebe.   Calm and peaceful night after a rather rough day.

Wednesday – a Great Day for a boat ride.  The Potomac was calm – almost glassy sometimes.  Planned a long day of cruising because the weather reports were perfect.  Had a new experience – Got a radio call from a Navy boat to divert our course because the Dahlgren range was HOT today with target practice.  OK – no arguments here.  We diverted as directed.  We were rather disappointed, as we were about to rejoin our intended course, that we hadn’t heard or seen anything.  Sort of an uneventful diversion! Suddenly there was a loud BANG and a big splash of water about 200 yards off to our port side.  Made us feel so much better!!

It WAS a beautiful day until our last hour of travel.  Got cloudy, wind started blowing, water got choppy.  Only had one hour left to our destination.  Why couldn’t it stay nice for ONE MORE hour? Our intended anchorage was just passed Quantico Marine Base.  Finally arrived; charts showed that water levels weren’t deep, but certainly deep enough if we followed the channel to the back part of Mattawoman Creek where we’d have good protection from the winds.  Started back and the water depth kept dropping.  Slowed to a crawl; kept inching forward. Halfway there, the electronic navigation stopped working.  Water kept getting more shallow.  Around a turn to our intended anchorage, we saw a marina, which gave us hope that the water depth would increase.  No luck.  We entered a marked channel for the marina, but still very shallow water. No one answered radio calls to the marina, so we finally just decided to tie up to an end dock and talk to someone in the morning.  

Found the name of the marina which happened to be run by the Maryland State Parks.  Ed made a call and explained our situation. Ranger was kind enough to let us stay for the night.  What will tomorrow bring?