Polar Plunge 2009 will be held this Saturday at Tim’s Rivershore along the Potomac River. For the 16th year, this charity event will benefit Special Olympics Virginia. This is a crazy event where teams of people pay $100 to dive into an icy river and wade about 25′ towards a floating dock. There is a raucous party afterwards, of course.

In February, the Potomac is usually about 38 degrees fahrenheit. Ouch! Check out this flyer for more information about the plunge and how you can become freezin’ for a reason.

Quick public safety announcement: boating licenses are here. In 2007, the Virginia General Assembly enacted a law to establish a boating safety education compliance requirement. If you’re under 20 years old, you need a PWC license this summer. If you’re under 35, you’ll need a PWC license next summer. You can find the complete rules and phase-in schedule here.

No worries though, getting your license is pretty easy. You just need to buy a DVD from the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries. The DVD is only 60 minutes long, broken out into 10 minute chapters. It looked like the video was filmed by BoatU.S. in 1987. Then you have to take a 50 question multiple choice test (open book) and mail your scantron back with $5.

It took about 2 weeks for us to get our licenses in the mail. We sent a copy to our insurance company and chopped 10% off our boat insurance.

You should join the new Facebook group that we just set up! The mission of the Potomac River Party Boaters Association is to promote the tradition and sport of partying on your boat on the Potomac River every summer.

If you already have a Facebook account, join this group to identify and connect with some fun local boaters that you may or may not already know. We’ll be setting up meetups and uploading fun pictures and videos throughout the summer.

To kick things off, there will be a spring dust-off celebration during the afternoon of Saturday, April 25th (weather dependent). The plan is to start off at Tim’s Rivershore and then cruise over to Mattawoman creek for the evening or until Sunday. All are welcome.

In May of 2008 the Occoquan Town Council approved a franchise agreement with Verizon to bring FiOS digital television, internet, and telephone service to Occoquan. The initial prediction was that FiOS television service would be available as early as late summer or early fall of 2008.

If you’re like me and sick of paying Comcast over $200/month but do it anyway because there isn’t any other option, good news is on the way. Verizon releases information about FiOS construction on a bi-monthly basis and Occoquan has finally made the list! You can view which streets in Occoquan are going to be wired here: FiOS construction locations [PDF]

I haven’t seen very much activity around town yet so I’m guessing that most of the construction will take place during March. If you encounter a fiber construction issue, call the Verizon Virginia Construction Help Desk at 1-888-250-9710 to work it out. If you are already up and running on FiOS, leave a comment and let us know what you think!

There’s no boat show in DC this year but the local marine industry is still doing its best to drum up some new business. Prince William Marina is hosting a mini boat show this weekend along the Occoquan waterfront. The show will be running all weekend long, from Friday at noon until Sunday at 6:00.

There is an impressive list of 50 vendors that will be in attendance. Prince William Marina is a Sea Ray dealership and I’m sure they will have many new & used boats on display. The flyer indicates that there will also be some Triumph and Scout boats on display as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if Coleman Power Sports hauls over a few PWCs.

If you’re thinking about buying a boat or just counting down the days until springtime, you should plan on stopping by.

Local produce is on the way! A joint effort between the town and the Occoquan Merchant’s Association, the market is tentatively scheduled to run from April through October. The weekly farmer’s market will be held on Saturday mrnings from 8:00am until noon on the Mill Street lot across from the Route 123 bridge.

If you are interested in volunteering email Mayor Porta.

The Occoquan River contains many aids to navigation, commonly known as buoys or channel markers, which are designed, built and maintained by the United States Coast Guard. While some Aids to Navigation are buoys, many others are day markers. The general purpose is to provide the boating public with a “sense of direction” while on the water.

Generally speaking, green markers are kept to the RIGHT when leaving a harbor and red markers are kept to the RIGHT when returning to harbor, thus coining the phrase, “Red, Right, Returning”.

Are you familiar with all of the buoys & markers on the Occoquan and Potomac rivers?  Take a look at the map after the jump!