Guest Post: Miss Rivershore One Hour Tour

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Look! It's another guest post! The blogging gods have smiled upon me! Well, in this case, since Sarah is a Pastor's Wife, I guess it's Jesus smiling on me- but I'm good with that :) 
Hooray!! Thanks to Sarah from The Wild Ruby!!

Miss Rivershore One Hour Tour

            This is a one hour boat ride on the Occoquan and Potomac Rivers.  For a decent price ($6 per child from ages 4-12, 0-3 free and $12 per adult -  but they sometimes offer Groupons for 2 adults for $14, so be on the lookout for that) you get a 1 hour tour on a mostly-enclosed large pontoon boat with a bar.  As far as I could tell it's pretty much first come, first served -  no reservations needed.  However, I'd recommend scheduling in advance if you have a group.  There was a family reunion group of about 30 people assembled as we were getting ready to load and thankfully it appeared they had chartered their own boat, otherwise the rest of us would've been out of luck -  or part of their group would've been left waving on shore.

            There are vending machine-style snacks available as well as canned sodas, bottled water, beer and wine for reasonable prices ($1 for a bag of Cheetos, $2 for soda and water,  $5 for a beer and $6 for a plastic cup of wine -  we're almost on the open sea, so safety first!).

            On our tour at 4 p.m. on a Saturday in July the boat was almost at capacity at about 35 guests.  There are cushioned bench seats along both sides and plastic folding tables with plastic folding chairs down the center.  The windows were all open to allow for a bit of a breeze, but I saw a portable AC unit as well as a heater in case of extreme temperatures.  There is a very small space at the front of the boat for people to stand or sit outside.   In the back of the boat was a basic bar with the aforementioned snacks and drinks.  There was also a bathroom on board.

            Boarding took place at the four tall posts on the pier to the right of the boat loading area/kayak input at Occoquan Regional Park (located on Route 123, just over the Occoquan bridge as you're heading into Fairfax County.  If you pass the Workhouse Arts Center, you've gone too far.) .  Our first stop was to the town of Occoquan to drop off a family-  evidently there is a way you can board there as well.  Then we turned back around and took a leisurely cruise past several marinas as the captain told some of the history of the area.  It was fun going under all the bridges for I-95, Route 1 and the railroad track next to Route 1.  We also learned a little about ospreys and saw some baby ospreys in a nest on our journey.  I found it relaxing and my only complaint was that 1 hour was too short.   In a perfect world I'd love to experience this same location for a longer period of time and on a boat with more outdoor options, but for the price and the novelty of the experience, it was worth it.  

            This company does offer a variety of longer tours including a round trip to Tim's Rivershore Restaurant on the weekends, which I'd love to try sometime!  http://www.missrivershorecharters.com/