Rumblefish - Our Great Loop Adventure

04/02/2026

Washington DC to Aquia Bay Marina

Chapter One is complete!

We woke up to calm flat waters at our anchorage in DC. Our last night on RumbleFish is in the history books. We made a very late start heading south on the Potomac because our destination, Aquia Bay, is extremely shallow and we needed to time the incoming tide to allow us to safely approach our dock with enough water under the keel. Taking a very leisurely speed of about 5kts, we had a quiet and gentle cruise for about 35 miles. No wind or waves today to push through.

After negotiating the final two shallow miles on Aquia Bay, we tied up to our dock for the next two and a half months. We’re leaving RumbleFish with the marina. They’re going to do some cosmetic work - we’re getting new canvas enclosures on the flybridge, the aft deck, and covers for the salon windows. Our old canvas is loosing stitches, the Eisenglass windows are hazy and faded, and the sunbrella canvas is starting to fray. 🤨 Replacing everything will restore my ability to see out the flybridge windows safely, and enclose the flybridge against bugs which seem to think our bridge is their safe haven.

While RumbleFish is getting a new set of clothes, Kimala and I are taking a planned sabbatical from our Great Loop Adventure. We’re heading home (via United Airlines) to Washington to spend some time with family and friends back home. Then taking a short trip down to the Caribbean to soak up some Caribbean sunshine, before returning to RumbleFish in early June to begin Chapter Two of our Great Loop Adventure.

So with all that being said, this will be the last post for awhile. The adventure (and posts) will resume in about ten weeks in early June.

03/31/2026

Two days in DC

After our first day in DC touring the Air & Space museum and the Bitanucal Gardens, we decided Day Two would be walking through the Arlington Cemetery and some of the many memorials on the Mall. The Metro has been a foot saver here in DC, but we still manage to log a lot of steps!

Arlington Cemetary - of course we attended the obligatory Changing of the Watch at the Tomb of the Unknown. But we also wandered aimlessly for awhile just to see some of the notable people and memorials. There’s a memorial from Canada for those who fought in wars that Canada also fought in. The Space Shuttle Challenger memorial. The USS Thresher (the nuclear sub that sank after a routine overhaul, prompting a maintenance program called SubSafe). The USS Maine. We visited the eternal flame at the JFK site. We saw senators and generals, admirals and captains. And we saw rows and rows of the simple white solemn headstones. Every stone memorializes someone’s loved one. Some were lost in battle. Others fought for our country and lived a long and (hopefully) honorable life.

Back on the Mall, we took in the Vietnam Wall, and the statues of three infantrymen gazing toward the wall as they march through the jungles of Vietnam. We saw the Korean War memorial, and the reflecting wall of warriors looking back out of the stone. Lincoln’s memorial. The Reflecting Pool with the Washington Monument rising anove everything in yhe distance. With over eight miles on the step counter, we limped back to RumbleFish to take a load off!

After a good nights sleep, we headed back to the Mall again gnis morning. Today’s goal was to ride bikes along some trails on the Potomac River. We decided that the water was too rough to take our bikes. We would have to put them into the dinghy, then off the dinghy at the docks, then back onto the dinghy at the end of the day, and finally back onto the boat. The wave action is still just too rough to make those transfers, so we decided to use the Uber/Lyft bikes.

We rode across the Arlington Memorial Bridge and then headed north on the Mt Vernon Trail. A stop at the Teddy Roosevelt Island Park to walk some of the nature trails, and then traded our pedal bikes for some e-scooters. Continuing north, we crossed the Potomac again, this time on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, where we picked up the Capitol Crescent Trail. A stop at the Labyrinth where we contemplated life decisions such as “Why am I voluntarily walking in circles through this Labyrinth “ as we walked in circles to the center of the labyrinth. https://georgetownwaterfrontpark.org/park-features/labyrinth/

We completed the round trip when we dropped the e-scooters off at the entrance to the Metro. Although we rode/scooted a lot of miles, we still managed to log almost five more walking miles!

03/30/2026

Washington DC

What do you do on a beautiful Sunday in Washington DC? Well, I guess you could go to a rally for the people of Iran (who seemed very happy that the Regime has been neutralized), or you could stand in solidarity with the people dressed up with mutilated ge****ls and protest against male circumcision, or sign the petition to insist the Chinese government stop persecuting the Falun Gong.

But we did none of those things. Instead, Kimala and I put on our walking shoes and logged 19,000 steps for about 8 miles. We toured the Botanical Gardens, walked up the steps of the Capitol Building, found a little grotto called the Summerhouse which turned out to be an amazing find. https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-grounds/summerhouse

After eating extremely expensive bland street food, we spent a few hours in the Air&Space museum exploring the history of flight from the Wright Brothers in Kitty Hawk to manned space flight. Although we were both starting to feel the effects of walking too much, I wanted to walk around the exterior of the White House, and get pics of the cherry blossoms. We walked all the way from the Air&Space museum to the White House, only to find a two block perimeter around it. Construction? Maybe. Protesters? Possibly. Frustrating? Absolutely!

So we walked back to the Metro station and navigated the labyrinth of trains to get back to our little slice of heaven on the Potomac. Unfortunately, our slice of heaven (RumbleFish for the gentle reader) is anchored in an area that has a lot of wind and wave exposure. Our afternoon was Rocking and Rolling! As the evening wore on, the wind and waves calmed diwn and we should have a peaceful night on the hook. The anchor is doing its duty, and we were able to enjoy a salmon dinner and some TV time before succumbing to exhaustion.

03/29/2026

03/29/2026

Nothing exciting here- just pushing through the wind and waves.

03/29/2026

03/29/2026

Aquia Bay Marina to Washington Channel, Washington DC

Someone told us yesterday that this spring weather is causing whiplash! Temperatures in the eighties last week, then plunge down in the thirties this week! We woke up to mid-thirties today, with another small craft advisory for wind and waves. So we sat out the morning in our warm cabin and tied up to our dock.

Finally the winds started dying down, forecasts were showing the waves on the Potomac were down to only one foot wave height, so we cast off and made our way up the Potomac to Washington DC. Big bucket list for me, to run our boat right up to DC and enjoy a couple of days here living right downtown on the waterfront.

Along the way, we passed some pretty cool places like Quantico Marine Corp Base, George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, and passed directly under the flight path of DCA airport. Getting into DC, we dropped anchor as close as we could get to The Wharf, the premier marina on the DC waterfront.

Tonight in DC, they’re celebrating the last day of the Cherry Blossom Festival by putting on a fireworks show in the Tidal Pool, right next to our anchorage. Score another cool evening event for the crew of RumbleFish!

We ended the night with another little hiccup with our generator. A coolant temperature switch failed to ground, and rendered the Gennie inop until I was able to isolate it from the circuit. Dinner delayed until after 10pm, but we finally got some pork chops on the table. But it doesn’t matter - we’re in DC!!!

03/29/2026

A quick time-lapse of our arrival in the Washington Channel in Washington DC.

03/28/2026

Prentice Creek anchorage to Lower Machodoc Creek Anchorage

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Lower Machodoc Creek Anchorage to Aquila Bay Marina (Potomac River)

Our third day travelling north on the Chesapeake was like a retelling of Goldilocks and the three bears. On Day One, the seas were Daddy Bear, heaving and breaking with whitecaps and rollers, wind and currents! It was too rough! On Day Two, the seas were like Momma Bear, soft and smooth, not a breeze or ripple to disturb the peaceful serene waters. And on Day Three, it was just right. We had a nice breeze. We had some small wave action. We could hear RumbleFish slicing through the water and enjoy the sights of the Chesapeake shoreline as we cruised northbound.

We crossed into Maryland ✅ and turned NW into the Potomac River, finally stopping after putting almost fifty miles in our wake. We found a cute little inlet surrounded by beautiful waterfront homes. We still had some exposure from the SW wind and wave action, so we got to listen to the sounds of our anchor bridle all night long. The noise doesn’t bother me at all, and Kimala just takes drugs and wears noise cancelling earbuds. 😂

Getting ready to depart our anchorage this morning, our starboard engine electrical gremlin popped up again. We’ve had this gremlin that completely incapacitates our starboard engine - no electricity at the starter to start the engine, and I haven’t been able to find the fault - until this morning! I was chasing this dratted gremlin around the backside of the engine. There’s only a tiny space large enough for a hobbit to crawl into, and I was the hobbit! I finally found the gremlin though! A power cable running from the starter solenoid to the starter motor has a loose connection. A little wiggle got a “good enough” connection to start the engine, after which the cable is not necessary until the next time we need to start the engine. Just a simple fix as soon as I can get a new cable made up.

Heading up the Potomac River is not officially part of The Great Loop. It’s a side journey, and we have two objectives. First objective is to head up to Washington, DC and spend a few days anchored in the shadow of the Washington Monument. We’re going to enjoy the Cherry Blossoms, stroll the grounds of the mall, and take in some of the DC museums and monuments. After we finish our quest into DC, we head back down the Potomac to a place where we will have some cosmetic work done to RumbleFish while Kimala and I head back home to spend some time with family.

So, tonight we relax at a dock in Aquia Bay, and tomorrow we make the last leg into Washington, DC.

See you later!

03/27/2026

Ok, really stretching here! I'm learning how to fly a drone... from the bow of RumbleFish... at anchor... on a windy evening.

03/26/2026

Portsmouth, VA (High Street Landing) to York River Yacht Haven

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York River Yacht Haven to Prentice Creek anchorage

Two days on the Chesapeake!

If there’s one thing I haven’t learned yet, it’s to pay more attention to Gale Warnings. On Monday evening as I was planning our travel route, Kimala informed me that the lower Chesapeake was under a gale warning until early Tuesday morning. Ok, but we won’t get to the lower Chesapeake until late Tuesday morning, so there’s nothing to be concerned about. I also checked my Windy app for winds and wave action. Windy said that Tuesday would be delightful. So…

(Cue the theme song to Gillian’s Island)

We set sail out of Portsmouth, cruising sedately past aircraft carriers and missile frigates at the Norfolk Navy base, past massive cargo carriers and tankers, and out onto the James River. The winds were putting a little chop in the water, but I had studied the weather and I was assured by my weather apps that we would have a pleasant cruise. And as we left the protected waters of the James River, the northerly winds kicked up the waves coming down the massive Chesapeake Bay!

It started small - just small waves about a foot or so in height. We continued on our route. And the waves became two foot rollers. No problem! Rumblefish was pushing through like a duck on a pond. Then the three foot whitecaps began, and we began to get some rock-n-roll action. It was about this point that I recognized that we were the only recreational boat out on the entire Chesapeake! I’ve been on roller coasters that were not as exciting as our day on the Chesapeake.

Just a few miles from our reserved marina in Yorktown, as we were listening to the countertops clearing everything that wasn’t tied down, I got a call letting me know that the marina had some construction beginning and cancelling our reservations! So we’re still doing some funky version of Mambo #5, and I’m frantically calling marinas to find a safe harbor for us. I went through four marinas before finally finding a spot. It was nice to tie up in a safe harbor marina

This morning, we headed back into the Chesapeake, but it was a completely different place. The water was glass smooth. No wind. No waves. Not even a ripple. The bay was so calm that we couldn’t feel any movement of RumbleFish! We had to look at our instruments just to ensure that we were, in fact, underway!

Our track today took us far into the middle of the Chesapeake to avoid the shallows closer to shore. Land was distant. The water was smooth as glass. And we had about forty five miles to travel in this blissfully gentle water. What a difference from yesterday’s wild ride.

We arrived at this evenings anchorage and settled in for a quiet evening on the hook. ⚓️ We’re glad to be away from the industrial waters of Norfolk/Portsmouth, and enjoying the peaceful western shores of the Chesapeake.

Spicy Peruvian Chicken cooked in the kitchen - we gave the bbq the night off. 🐓