From MD to VA

On the water Waterfront--Ridge, MD, to Colonial Beach, VA. , Colonial Beach, VA-above Fairview Beach, VA.

What an awesome first couple of days on the Potomac. I left a bit later than I planned, but that was okay. Had plenty of orange juice, coffee, and an awesome sandwich at Scheibel's and then paddled out. It's so nice to be able to beach the boat on land where it can be stored upside down and out of the water. I'm actually getting some barnacles growing in the drainage holes in the footwells.

As I paddled out of Smith Creek and neared the Potomac, I came across a private campground-Camp Maryland. Needing a potty break I decided I'd pull over and check things out. I met Bill and his wife, who operate a portion of the camp as a "bed and breakfast," only in tents, and got a bit of a tour. What a cool place! It seems a lot of international visitors like to camp here. I met a guy named Michael from Ukraine. We talked about American Culture, the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar," and why I'm paddling to DC. It's always interesting to talk to people about the "message in a bottle" tour. So far I haven't found anyone who doesn't think we need an ocean conservation and protection plan on a national level. The night before I left Ridge, I was talking to a fisherman who told me about how crabbers were losing crabs in their pots. The crabs were suffocating in oxygen depleted waters. Even today, now paddling into a corner of the Potomac, Accokeek Creek, the shallows were choked with algae and dead fish were floating about.

The problems are everywhere. The Potomac, at least the Potomac around Colonial Beach and lower, seems to be a bit healthier than the Chesapeake. I didn't see too much of the brown slimy stuff, but there was an area of lots of little foamy bubbles. They seemed white enough, but when they collected together in a little mass you could see a brownish tint. So who knows. Colonial Beach is a very bikeable town. It's loaded with golf carts. Everyone has them and they zip all over the town in them, making me think of that '60's British show, "The Prisoner." It is a cute town, everyone is extremely friendly, and it was nice to have a day off and hang out with the family and my cousins. We went for a day out at Westmoreland State Park, hunted for fossils, and then headed back to town for a little press gathering that Melissa at NRDC had arranged. There I met Doris Whitfield and Jim Lynch, Sierra Club members as well as Julie Lawson from the DC Chapter of Surfrider Foundation. There were two wonderful reporters there, too. Let's hope this message of ocean conservation reaches the ears of Congressman Wittman and that he's as receptive to this bill as his constituents (at least those I've met) seem to be.

Today's paddle from Colonial Beach to Patricia's Kurpiel's lovely home north of Fairview started off a bit rocky. I hit the water at 6:30am under stormy skies. The wind intensified as I lashed my gear onto my boat. It didn't seem that bad, though. Carl had called to tell me that the winds would be out of the NW at 10-12 miles an hour. That would be wind in my face, but not anything that would be really annoying. That was before I rounded the bend at the tip of Colonial Beach. There it felt more like 15-20, probably closer to 20, with some nice chop. If this was going to be like this for the rest of the day it would be one grueling 30 miles. Then the fog came in. I paddled closer to the land, the wind died down, and it started to pour. I mean really pour. The raindrops hurt. And then it all went away. The sky brightened slightly, I saw tons of ospreys and even a pair of "Baldys." It was amazing. Another site that was amazing, in a sad way, was this one big stretch of park on the VA side. It's a huge park down river of Fariview Beach. It's a restricted area due to the sensitive nature of the wildlife there. So there's this big sign telling you to keep out. And it was surrounded, for miles and miles on either side, by trash. Much of it various types of plastic debris.