Returning Down the Potomac River and Back to the Chesapeake Bay – Great Loop Side Trip

After our abundant 40-night stay in downtown DC, it was time to drop the lines, and start our cruise back down the Potomac River.

As we had saved some other popular stops during our transit up for this return trip, so we were excited to explore some new-to-us areas as we made our way back to the Chesapeake Bay.

This log covers July 29 – August 8.

And as always, there’s a video version to follow along with as well:

Stop 1: Holiday Island Anchorage – Occoquan, MD

First stop? Anchored in Occoquan Bay for two nights off of a little island that is frequently for boat parties and concerts.

All on our own. Seclusion. Rest. Recharge. Back to being on the hook. And.. no museums to explore!

It was sweltering hot, but we managed with running the ACs off solar, battery and generator.

We were there about 48 hours with 24/7 AC, and only needed to run the generator about 18 hours in total to keep the batteries topped up. Our electrical system continues to meet our needs quite well (click for a full tour of our boat’s power system).

And it was so worth it.

Oh.. and Chris was able to replace his broken drone (he got a DJI Mavic Air 3 during Amazon Prime Day – which was one of the only available in the US due to customs blockages).

So, back to drone shots now that we’re out of the DC restricted zone.

Stop 2: Prince Williams Marina – Occoquan, VA

After a bit of a recharge at anchor and a weather system moving in – we decided it was time to move to a dock in Occoquan.

We had skipped stopping in this area on the way up river, so were excited to check out this quaint little historic town.

The difficulty is, the options aren’t necessarily slam dunk easy.

It’s a long multi-mile no-wake slog to the historic town center were there is a town dock available on a first come first serve basis for $35/night (with electric/water).

As it has limited space, there’s a risk you get there and it’s not open. Which means backtracking and hoping one of the commercial marinas has space. (It turns out, it would have been available for us.)

So we decided to call the closest marina – Prince Williams Marina, which typically doesn’t offer transient space. They happened to have a single slip open at a reasonable rate of $90/night – so we snagged it for two nights.

Even being the closest, it’s still a .9 mile walk or bike ride into town. The other marina options are even further away, and difficult to get to town on foot/bike as you have to cross some major intersections. So we were thankful for the option.

We enjoyed exploring the town, enjoyed a couple of meals out (the Thai restaurant was pretty amazing and we found gluten free crepes). We paddleboarded across the river to a park with running trails and a Woman’s Suffrage Memorial. And we biked out to the Prison Workhouse, which is now an artist gallery and brewery.

All and all, a decent stop.

The weather system moved through without much incident – and we’ve been enjoying extremely pleasant mild temperatures since.

Stop 3: Tim 2s Anchorage – Fairview Beach, VA

If your anchorage neighbors are playing loud dance music.. you can either join them, or pout & complain.

We decided to join in the fun!

But first.. let’s back up. As we continued down the Potomac River, we decided to anchor off of Tim’s 2 Restaurant along Fairview Beach. The weather conditions were calm enough for this unprotected area, and there was live music scheduled that evening.

We arrived to a bunch of day boaters anchored, and taxi pontoon boats run by the restaurant shuttling folks ashore. Pretty cool, and what we expected.

We decided to anchor on the perimeter of the chaos and just enjoy the ambience. We didn’t go ashore (menu didn’t have anything of interest to us), but we did soak in the hot tub while listening to the music.

After the official live music shut down around 10:30pm, a large group of rafted up boats turned on their loud sound system and began playing dance music.

These days, we tend towards being early birds – boat life and morning training runs will do that to you.

The music was loud, and reminded us of being at a Burning Man camp. We knew we could be bitter and begrudgingly try to sleep through it.

Or.. we could embrace it and join the party.

So I got out my LED poi to dance on deck.. and Chris launched his new drone to play around with night photography.

Thankfully our neighbors shut the music down at midnight.

All and all.. a fun experience of joining in the weekend boat party atmosphere.

Stop 4: St. Clement’s Island Anchorage – St. Clement’s Island, MD

As we made our way down the Potomac – it felt like a lovely crisp fall day. Except, in early August! What a delight to have to put on a light jacket!

We decided to anchor for lunch off of St. Clement’s Island and go ashore for a quick hike and tour the replica of the Blakistone Lighthouse.

The island was the original site where the Arc and Dove ships from England landed before settling in St. Marys to establish Maryland.

Pretty sure the lighthouse didn’t exist back then …

The island is now a state park, accessible only by boat – and staffed by volunteer docents.

It was great to stretch our legs and enjoy the lovely weather before continuing on for birthday celebrations.

Stop 5: Breton Bay Anchorage – Leonardtown, MD

In our travels, we don’t often know where we’ll be to commemorate special days like birthdays & anniversaries. And it was my birthday coming up.

Without too many options on the Lower Potomac, we decided to return to Leonardtown – which we had visited on the way up.

Remembering the gluten free donuts at Flour, and farm-to-cone ice cream at Salted Scoop – it seemed perfect for the festivities. We also grabbed dinner at Front Porch.

A lovely sunset however capped the day with a nice bottle of wine paired with a gluten free applesauce spice cake I baked onboard.

With the weather still absolutely glorious, we opted to once again anchor out in Breton Bay instead of utilizing the free town docks (with power, water and pump out).

It was a pretty chill birthday – as they usually are while on the move. But when pretty much every day is a new adventure, it’s just the way it should be.

Stop 6: Solomons Island Basin Anchorage – Solomons Island, MD

After Leonardtown, we had intended to make a diversion over to Olverson’s, the MTOA home port – but that would have meant missing a perfect weather window to traverse the mouth of the Potomac.

So, we took it.. and cruised 50 delightful miles taking us back out into the Chesapeake Bay. This time, turning left to continue northward into the upper bay for the remainder of the season.

We passed lighthouses and had to navigate around an active test firing range while an Osprey (the plane kind, not bird) seemed to be practicing dropping some sort of cargo.

We then arrived to the fabled Solomons Island – a favorite stop for those transiting the Bay.

This boating centric town is full of marina space and several scattered anchorages. There’s a free town dinghy dock with pump out and water, fuel options and several restaurants with their own docks to explore

Island Hideway was remarkable, and we also enjoyed an evening at the Tiki Bar.

There’s also a grocery store about 2 miles away, and a maritime museum – because it seems every town along the bay needs one.

This stop proved to be a highly social one for us, with not one but two Great Loop Harbor Host couples who had reached out in advance to meet up. And our boat surveyor and his wife also happened to be cruising through town.

We ended up spending 3 nights anchored off of Molly’s Leg, and then retreated to Mill Creek for an evening after a pump out and refueling.

We can see why this stop is a Looper favorite!

Real Time Update

It’s hard to believe September is already upon us, and we’re now looking towards the end of this cruising season!

We spent a few weeks putzing around the Choptank River, Eastern Bay and Chester River.. and are now back on the western shore in Annapolis. We’ll soon be transiting up to Baltimore for a bit. Future stories to share!

We’re currently contemplating several winter storage options up this way (feel free to add to the list if you have them). We anticipate Y-Not will be winterized somewhere by late October and we’ll be back to RV life until spring time.