Gangplank Marina, Washington DC

(Friday May 27 - Dist: 68.3 mi; Avg Speed: 16.8 mph; TTT: 4:30 hrs)

The Washington Monument and the Capital Building two of the many icons around Washington DC.  These two are at either end of the Mall which is a great gathering place and the core of many of the other monuments and museums in the area.  Gangplank Marina is within walking distance of all of these points of interest and indeed we are taking advantage of that fact to visit many of these attractions.  I am not sure what I should do with the blog since many of you have probably already seen these attractions many years earlier or can get better descriptions and pictures from the Internet.  I'll see how it plays out as I go along. 

The trip from Colonial Beach to Washington was very pleasant.  The Potomac river was well marked and as we approched the new Woodrow Wilson bridge just before Alexandria, we knew that we were getting close.  The first impression of the marina was less than stellar.  The docks looked old and narrow, the fairways were narrow, the water in the harbor was filthy and there were numerous boats, houseboats and even floating houses that looked dumpy but it was not long before the character of the community came out.  There are 100 live aboards at this marina.  Most work in DC and find this to be convenient and affordable.  They are all very friendly and they have numerous get togethers over and above the almost nightly gathering at the Cantina Marina.  As an example, a couple of hours after we arrived on that Friday night, we wandered over to the packed Cantina and ordered a couple of drinks from about 3 deep from the bar.  The waitress came back with our drinks and said that they were compliments from Alan.  Alan, was are neighbour whom we had only met briefly.  Him and two others from the marina were on the other side of the bar so we joined then for a few more drinks. It was fun getting to know them and find out more above the marina and the area.

Just outside the gate from the marina is the Farmer's Market, a little park which has entertainment on Thursday and Friday evenings.  From Thursday through Sunday there is a vendor there that sells smoked BBQ food and we must say that the ribs were good, very good.  I can see that being one of our regular meals.  Also nearby is the seafood market, a huge collection of vendors who sell fresh and cooked seafood.  For a late lunch on our way back from the Lincoln Memorial we stopped in and bought a couple of pounds of Stone crab claws and a pound of jumbo shrimp.  We took these over to a vendor which steamed them for us.  Eating this feast on the back of our boat was super.  We will also be making this a regular fare for our meals.


All in all we have made friends with a number of locals and now have a another Looper, Lynn and Jack from Felix, here.  This is going to be a good visit.

The Nina and Pinta (replicas of Columbus' ships) were docked in the marina when we arrived.