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Photo: Jody Argo ShroathYes, Washington D.C. may not be the first destination that comes to mind when you’re dreaming up your next cruise, but it should be. A trip by boat to the traffic-challenged national capital, in fact, has so much going for it that it’s hard to know where to begin.
“Hey, wait,” you say, “you mean I can get there by sailboat?”
Sure you can, Magellan. D.C. is tucked neatly between the Potomac River and its Anacostia River tributary. The Potomac, in turn, is connected to the Chesapeake Bay, which is connected to the entire rest of the world. Not only is D.C. connected to the world, but the 80-mile trip up the Potomac to get there is so interesting that, to me, it doesn’t matter whether you ever actually arrive. (You will…it’s an easy trip.)
Although you’ll catch your first glimpse of the Washington Monument miles before you get there, you won’t officially reach the nation’s capital until the Potomac is joined by the Anacostia River. Here, the main stem skirts the city, passing the Lincoln Memorial, the Watergate steps, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and so forth until it concludes its navigational life with a flurry of small-boat activity just beyond Georgetown. After this, the river meets its fall line with a long, shallow stairway of rocks, some pleasant little waterfalls (counterintuitively called Great Falls) and the remnants of the C&O Canal. Its junction with the Anacostia River marks the effective end for cruising-sized sailboats, due to a gauntlet of low bridges with a controlling height of 15 feet that funnel traffic in and out of the city from suburban Virginia.
So, here we’ll turn up the Anacostia and then a quarter mile later turn left into the Washington Channel, the city’s only working waterfront. Past Fort McNair and the Coast Guard station, and we arrive at The Wharf, a brand-new, multi-use, multi-story complex with zippy architecture, plenty of glass, and two marinas where you can stay in the heart of the city. For a mile it unrolls along the east side of the Washington Channel with restaurants, shops, entertainment venues, apartments, hotels, and piers, concluding at the Municipal Fish Market, which first opened for business in 1805. All of this is the latest remake of the historic southwest D.C. waterfront, and it is a sight to behold.
Photo: Jody Argo ShroathThe Docking Options
Happily, The Wharf includes plenty of new docks—long, wide, concrete, and floating—with enough room and depth to handle even a very big, very wide catamaran. As you approach, the rows of docks seem to come in a single heap. In fact, there is an unofficial set of four.
The first set replaces the old Gangplank Marina and is given over to slipholders and a few transients. That is followed by smaller a set of transient docks with a long T-head and a lot of alongside slips. The third set of docks belongs to Capital Yacht Club, which has occupied its prominent position on Washington Channel for more than a century. Capital, for as long as any of us can remember, has welcomed all sailors, whether they are yacht club members or not. Transients have all the privileges of membership during their stay, including entrée to the club restaurant, which overlooks the docks, and all the other amenities of its new clubhouse.
The fourth set of slips, Market Docks, is located off the Fish Market. Finally, on the opposite side of the channel, you’ll find a small mooring field, which is also part of The Wharf. All of The Wharf docking facilities are under the management of Oasis Marinas. You can reserve a slip online with Snag-a-Slip. For information about dockage, call 202-595-5165. Reservations for Capital Yacht Club can be made online at capitalyachtclub.com or by calling 202-488-8110.
If you’d like to simply drop anchor, you will need to do it near the aforementioned Coast Guard station. Anchoring any closer is no longer permitted. Nevertheless, it’s easy to get ashore from there, and you’ll still be close to everything.
Stuff to Do
The Wharf has enough restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues to keep you busy for days. Here you’ll find everything from the famous bookstore Politics & Prose to specialty dining from famous chefs such as Gordon Ramsey (Fish & Chips and Hell’s Kitchen) and alliterative eateries such as Fat Fish and District Donut. Rappahannock Oyster is a local favorite.
Need fresh vegetables or a roll of paper towels? Stroll a couple of blocks east on Maine Avenue, past Arena Stage (another good place to go), and head up Sixth Street, where you’ll find a full-sized Safeway supermarket. In front of the Safeway, you’ll also find a Washington Metro station. Presto! Now you have access to the whole city, from the Smithsonian Institution to Dupont Circle and the National Zoo.
Speaking of strolling, the neighborhoods here are quiet, friendly, and shaded by sycamores, oaks, and maples. Or stretch your legs along the Anacostia Trail, which hugs the Channel as far as south as the Titanic Memorial (yes, really) and as far north as the Tidal Basin. From the Tidal Basin, you can take a leisurely stroll on the trail to the Jefferson Memorial or strike out in the opposite direction for the Washington Monument. From there, the whole of the National Mall opens before you.
Photo: Jody Argo ShroathWhile You’re in the Neighborhood
As lovely as all that is, I can’t let you go without mentioning a few other nearby destinations you may well want to explore.
The Yards Marina, located a mile up the Anacostia River from The Wharf, is near National Stadium, which makes for a great place to catch a baseball game. It is also located within The Yards, an area that has repurposed a part of the old Navy Yard into apartments, restaurants, shops, parks, and architecture. The fly in the ointment for sailboats is the Frederick Douglass Bridge, which has a vertical clearance of only 42 feet. Otherwise, depth and beam are not an issue. The Yards Marina is managed by Oasis, too. Reservations can be made with Snag-a-Slip. For information, call 202-484-0309.
You can’t miss seeing City of Alexandria Marina as you come and go from D.C. It’s just inside the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (85 feet), which carries the D.C. beltway across the river. The Alexandria Marina is in the center of Old Town Alexandria. The walking is good, restaurants are plentiful, and the ambiance delightful. Space, however, is not easy to come by, especially for big-beamed vessels. There are a few spaces along the bulkhead (shallow) and at the T-head (deeper), so it’s definitely worth a try. The website is alexandriava.gov and the phone number is 703-746-5487.
Finally, we come to National Harbor, located just south of the Wilson Bridge, with no limitations on clearance, length, beam, or imagination. National Harbor is a little like the set of a Wes Andersen movie: cool, stylish, but somehow not quite real. Here you’ll find nice, wide floating docks, fuel, one-of-a-kind shops, and more famous people’s restaurants—like the Voltaggio Brother’s Steak House—but also sculptures like The Awakening, a giant emerging from the sand along a small purpose-built beach, Abraham Lincoln, Rosie the Riveter, Louis Armstrong playing trumpet for Marilyn Monroe, as well as other unlikely sights like a bison made from bits and pieces. Here too you’ll find scene stealers such as the very large and colorful National Wheel, which rotates slowly at the end of the pier, the extremely large glass atrium of the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center, and, finally, the completely over-the-top MGM National Harbor Casino and Hotel. Like The Wharf and The Yards, National Harbor’s marina is managed by Oasis Marinas. Here again, you can reserve a slip through Snag-a-Slip. For information, call 877-628-5427.
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MHP&S Summer 2024
