The Washington Post - 30.08.2019

THE WASHINGTON POST

.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019

EZ

8

On the Town

BY ANGELA HAUPT

If your personal yacht has yet

to come in, don’t fret — you can

still leave dry land. There’s no

shortage of interesting ways to

travel the local waterways, and all

promise sweeping views and a

river breeze. Pillage down the

Potomac in a pirate ship, for

example, or pedal across the river

in a workout-on-water. Whatever

floats your boat, as they say.

Here are four options to con-

sider when you’re ready to set sail.

If you’re looking for a kid-

friendly adventure, say aye to

the Boomerang Pirate Ship.

First things first: a vocabulary

lesson. There’s no “hello” i n these

parts, young passengers are told

upon boarding — “ahoy matey” is

preferred. And it’s of the utmost

importance to be well-versed in

bad words such as “scurvy dog,”

“old salt” and “scalawag.”

The Boomerang Pirate Ship is

fire-engine red and black,

adorned with Jolly Roger flags.

After picking up landlubbers at

the Georgetown Waterfront, it

heads down the Potomac, with

views of the Washington Monu-

ment, Lincoln and Jefferson me-

morials, Pentagon and Hains

Point. The ship is two levels, and

there’s an observation deck and

full bar (most drinks are $4 to $8).

During the hour-long kid-cen-

tric treasure hunt cruise, the story

is that Evil Edgar, a scurvy dog if

there ever was one, stole the keys

to the treasure chest and fled. As

the “Jaws” theme blares, Edgar

appears in a speedboat, clutching

a sword and waving a set of old

brass keys. The only solution is to

use the ship’s 12 water cannons to

blast him — and you can trust that

he’ll end up soaked.

There’s also a two-hour adults-

only voyage: The pirate actors are

replaced by a DJ and second

bartender. “It’s like a party cruise

that happens to take place on a

pirate ship,” says Nikki DuBois,

Boomerang’s president and

founder. Dressing up is encour-

aged, and while eye patches and

bandannas are the obvious

choice, passengers have come as

parrots, mermaids and octopus-

es.

Through late October. 3100 K

St. NW. Family treasure hunt

cruises $20; adult cruises

$20­$30. boomerangpirate­

ship.com.

If you want to impress a date,

have dinner on the Odyssey DC.

The Odyssey DC is long, wide

and low, like a white stretch limo

that’s come to pick you up for

prom. Inside, the windows and

ceilings are glass, and there’s a

celebratory, special-occasion feel.

The dinner cruise aboard the

recently renovated vessel starts at

7 p.m., but early arrivers are

served their first course of the

sit-down meal soon after board-

ing opens at 6 at the Wharf. There

are a few options for each course:

On a recent Thursday evening

cruise, the maple- and mustard-

glazed chicken breast and salmon

filet both impressed. But the real

star was the warm butter cake

topped with vanilla ice cream, the

kind of dessert you’d chase down

on land or sea. Though dinner is

included in the base price, alcohol

is extra ($17 for a margarita, for

instance), and there are plenty of

upgrades, from menu items to a

guaranteed window table (a wor-

thy splurge).

Wear your finest — the dress

code is “elegant or dressy-casual

attire” — and your dancing shoes.

During the early part of the eve-

ning, a few couples twirled across

the dance floor as a husky-voiced

vocalist performed old favorites.

After dark, when a DJ started

cranking party tunes, the dancers

let loose: At one point, 20 revelers

and a few staff participated in a

spontaneous electric slide.

The meal stretched throughout

the three-hour outing, but pas-

sengers were free to roam the

ship. (If you happened to be out-

side when your entree was ready,

one of the notably friendly servers

would retrieve you.) At sunset,

the panoramic view — Reagan

National Airport on the left,

Washington National Cathedral

in the distance, monuments on

the right — felt unrivaled, best

observed from a quiet bench on

the deck.

Year­round. 580 Water St. SW.

Weekend brunch cruises from

$77.90; lunch from $64.90; din­

ner from $114.90. odysseycruis­

es.com.

If you want a leisurely drift

down the river, charter the Float

Boat 3 60.

After dark at the Wharf, what

appears to be a disco spaceship is

gliding down the Washington

Channel — an orb that flashes

red, green and purple as it does

360-degree rotations. The curi-

ous vessel is the Float Boat 360,

available for charter since 2018.

Gressy Cuadra, director of opera-

tions, says she fields numerous

calls from Wharf visitors who

want to know what, exactly, the

boat is, and how and when they

can ride. “Have you ever seen a

round boat before?” she asks,

clearly rhetorically.

The Float Boat can accommo-

date nine passengers, plus a cap-

tain who guides the two-hour

journey through the channel.

There’s a plastic table and built-in

cooler in the center of the disc-

like boat; the voyage is BYOB and

BYO-snacks. Anyone on board

can connect to the Bluetooth-en-

abled speakers, and passengers

are known to stand up and

groove. There’s a lways at l east one

who yells, “Do a doughnut!” — but

such tricks are spread out so as

not to cause dizziness. Expect to

travel at a leisurely pace, Cuadra

says: “You’re literally floating on

the Washington Channel, in a

really unique and fun boat.”

Through late October. 709

Wharf St. SW. Charters starting

at $300. floatboat360.com.

If you want to earn your

drinks, power the Potomac Pad-

dle Pub.

A few minutes after departing

from the Georgetown Waterfront,

Captain Mike C lark cut the motor

on the District-themed pontoon

boat. “It’s all you now,” he called.

Spin class meets booze cruise

on the Potomac Paddle Pub, a

2018 addition to the local water-

ways. The boat’s six-foot paddle

wheel is powered by passengers

pedaling at 1 0 cycle stations

(which face a mahogany bar), plus

a motor that the captain turns on

and off by request.

During the 90-minute BYOB

cruise, the Paddle Pub travels

from Georgetown to Columbia

Island Marina, where passengers

can deboard for a bathroom

break (or purchase a shot at Is-

land Time Bar and Grill).

Most give pedaling a brief go,

and then relocate to the soft-

cushioned lounge at the front.

After 10 minutes of rigorous ped-

aling, you feel it, particularly in

your quads. And elsewhere, too:

“These are the most comfortable

bike seats you can find, but

they’re still bike seats,” Luke Mc-

Cartin, the company’s general

manager, said on a recent Mon-

day evening while taking a break

from his station. Still, there’s usu-

ally at l east one overachiever who

goes all out to prove his or her

pedaling prowess, and some cap-

tains download apps that show

the boat’s human-powered speed

— bragging rights for the ped-

allers, to be sure. Many return to

their bike seats after “a drunken

burst of energy,” McCartin says.

Though it’s b illed as a pub, kids

and families are welcome, and

McCartin reports that all kinds of

groups have come out: SoulCycle

instructors who could lead the

boat across the river several times

over; bachelorette parties made

up of women in heels; and those

suburban moms who used the

Bluetooth speakers to blare “Bad

Boys” during a routine Coast

Guard stop.

Through late October. $45 for

adults, $25 for kids or $500 for the

whole boat on weekdays; $625 for

the whole boat on weekends (no

individual tickets are sold on

weekends). potomacpaddle­

pub.com.

[email protected]

Sightseeing tours that are sure to float your boat

ENTERTAINMENT CRUISES

The glass windows and ceiling on the Odyssey DC give the dinner cruise a celebratory, special-occasion

feel. Splurge with an upgrade to a window table on the three-hour cruise to see the sunset view of D.C.

SARAH L. VOISIN/THE WASHINGTON POST

Ahoy matey: Climb aboard the Boomerang Pirate Ship for an hour-

long, kid-centric treasure hunt cruise down the Potomac.