San Juan Stopovers

Sucia Marine Park

Sucia is the most popular state marine park in the system. The rangers brag that they sometimes have 700 people visit the island on a weekend in the summer. Crab season this year has been broken up to only 3 months only 4 days a week and only 5 crab a day. We didn't catch any here. Do you think anything could live in this green crud?

Jones Island Marine Park

Lots of deer wandering around Jones. Isn't this fellow a bit weird looking with one antler up and one antler down?

We spent the night on a bouy and learned firsthand how a north gale in the Strait of Georgia will upset this harbor. No wind. Just heavy seas

Reid Harbor - Stuart Island Marine Park

Treasures at Stuart Island

Trekked up to the school house and the Treasure Chest on Stuart Island.

At the Teacherage is the island museum and in the old school house is the library for the school and island.

The Treasure Chest is the reason for the trek up the hill this year. We were lucky to finally meet the owner's of the Treasure Chest.

In order to keep the school running a family has created silk-screened T-shirts. Selling them and using some of the profits for school activities. They have been doing this for 10 years and all of these years they have done this with an honor box asking folks taking T's to send in payment when they get home. This has been very successful and this year in commemoration they are awarding their customers with "gold" coins with the inscription "In Honesty We Trust". Warm fuzzies for our honest boating community

No Crab

Dean, our hunter/gatherer, kind of flunked the course. With 11 sets of two crab pots over the last 5 day sport opening and using all the bait we had, we ended up with only 2 legal crab. The same place last year we bagged 27 crab! Guess we got them all last year. Guess we can feel good that we are helping the little ones grow to bigger. Maybe next season.

Stuart Island wildlife

These boxes atop the piling belong to Purple Martins. The Pacific Northwest Purple Martins nest not in communities or condos like in the eastern US but in rotted pilings or boxes placed over the water. There are only about 300 nesting pairs in the NW but these boxes are quite successful. Found out in our research that Purple Martins are of the swallow family.

One of the most exciting sights this visit was while out dinghying one evening. We saw what looked like the top of a round brown bull kelp moving. That happens in the current sometimes. Then we noticed something red next to it. Closer we came. As the "kelp" moved faster we realized we were looking at a small river otter with a red rock crab in his mouth. He scrambled to the beach and up the bank hurrying away to keep us from taking his find! What a treat to see!

Heading North

Edmonds

We had a great visit with Edmonds friends.

Hiked Edmond's mile-long waterfront path watching boats and divers and construction then strolled up to Edmond's funky downtown. Edmonds is really into summer flowers with sponsorships and competitions. So there are many beautiful streetside plantings and hanging baskets. Brought back to the boat a big bouquet of flowers from their farmer's market

Cornet Bay - Deception Pass State Park

Almost to the San Juan Archipelago. Stop over at another marine park: Cornet Bay. Just inside Deception Pass. Lots of good dinghy-exploring here

Lake Washington Cruising

The Locking Experience

We came into the locks to visit with friends, see the changes in the landscape with all the new homes, and shop at marine chandlaries.

The weather was warm and sunny our whole stay.

Cruising Lake Washington means we have to take a trip through the locks going from salt to fresh water.

Since we do not do this frequently, it is always a challenge to remember the rules.

This time we were lucky and didn't have to tie to the lock wall. Tying to the wall means that a boater has to feed 50' of line up to the lock attendant. Then pulling in the line (when going into the lake) or letting out the line (when heading to sea) being mindful that not only are you keeping your boat against the wall but you also are keeping safe and in line the 3 to 6 vessels tied onto you. If you let loose of the line or can't keep it tight, all the boats tied to you start following the current downstream pulling you with them. We didn't have to worry that this time. We were one of the boats tied on! Hoorah.

One day we hiked along the Burke Gilman recreational trail up a marine store where we picked up some spare parts for the boat. Enjoyed Ivar's fish and chips on the way back.

Another day we took a slow bell cruise in north Lake Washington to admire the fancy waterfront homes (going prices in the $1 million plus). At our moorage in the nice sheltered bay in Bellevue, we watched an osprey fishing and a momma duck with about 10 babies swimming around. Listened to the toads go croak and watched the lake bottom lawn mower cutting up the flora growing just below the surface. We visited some friends in Medina and listened to a chorale group practice in their home while we were enjoying the warmth on the deck.

One more day seeing the sights as we cruised slowly around Mercer Island and ended up in Portage Bay near the University of Washington. We had a great visit and dinner with an adventurous friend who we cruised with for many years.

Exiting Lake Washington requires another trip through the locks.
We used up all the week's worth of good weather in the lake and woke to drizzle as we headed out.
We had a very quick and non-stressful transfer in the locks to Puget Sound, and a smooth cruise north to Edmonds all in the rain!

The head (bathroom) was full of drying raingear. But the weatherman had promised that the sun would come out in the afternoon and that it did.

Fun Name

We got a kick out of the name of this sailboat!

Cruising at last!

How about that!?  We released the lines.  We cruised out of the marina.   Not too far.  Just to Blake Island State Park. 

 

Lucky us.  We got our favorite spot on the dock (outside SE corner).  Protected from swells and out-of-control boats.  We think it is the best place to watch people, deer, and, when the tide is high enough, the Seattle skyline and the Puget Sound shipping channel.

 

Our friends, the Strodes, were here for just a few hours hiking the park.  Jean has just taken over publishing the newsletter for the Houseboat Yacht Club from me.  (I'm certainly thankful for that.)   And she had a copy of the newsletter on hand to give us.  Great job!

 

Watched a happy beach birthday party for about 6 little girls.  Complete with treasure chest, leis, huge beach balls, and squirt guns.  Wonderful warm day for the party and successful planning by the parents.  All looked like they had fun.

 

Bumper crop of swallows this year.  They are flitting through the riggings, along the surface of the water, soaring and swooping.  Good for them.  Get all those bugs!

 

 

Blake Island Marine Park

Our first stop this cruise was to a favorite of ours. And lucky us. We got our favorite spot on the dock. Protected from swells and out-of-control boats.

We think it is the best place to watch people, deer, and, when the tide is high enough, the Seattle skyline and the Puget Sound shipping channel.

Hiking in the sun: Blake Island has lots of trails. One day, we hiked down to the south end for a picnic and then the cross-island trail back.

Saw an eagle swimming! It's quite spectacular to see them do the breast stroke with their big wings. We understand that an eagle must reach a hard surface (shore, in this case) to be able to release whatever he has in his talons. Lots of effort for the small fish he had.

Raccoons: Had a raccoons visit us on the boat at night. We could hear them climbing the ladder to the fly bridge and the tinkling of their toenails across the fiberglass. Could they smell that piece of popcorn left up on the bridge?

One night we stayed up until midnight to see the foray of the raccoons. There were about 6 of them. Down the ramp they steathily crept. They jumped aboard each boat and crawled along the decks. They were understandably leary of boats with dogs. They headed down to the other part of the dock for a long time. The next morning we found out why: all the huckleberries our friends had picked (and left the bowlful on deck) had all been eaten. Lesson learned.

People Watching: It's fun to watch the summer boaters as they come into the marina.... How many have lines ready or fenders in position? How many are ready to jump to shore to tie a line? How many leave the engine in gear after they have been tied down? How many turn off the engine the moment one line is thrown to the dock? Or the fellow that left his home moorage with the gauge on "E" and went around begging for fuel enough to get him to a fuel dock (there are none near)

Salish Sea Summer 2005

We've passed through the Gulf Islands of British Columbia many times.

Usually on our way to more northerly destinations. Stops here have been for customs, provisioning, and fuel. This year we thought we'd like to really explore this area.

So on this trip we learned that this area is so close to the big metropolis' of Vancouver and Victoria that many anchorages and marinas were close to full. In fact, we think that there is more cruising territory in our own Puget Sound.

So now we know. We took this opportunity to explore the little communities and were surprised that, though these islands were very close to the big cities, there was little infrastructure in many cases. No police, groceries, garbage pickup, power, phone. We learned that many artisans and free souls (some we may call bums) live here

There is a change in the works to rename the Gulf Islands the Salish Sea. Early explorers thought the waters now called the Strait of Georgia were a gulf. Not true. So Gulf Islands is a misnomer. The Salish indians are indigineous to this area. We think that this is an appropriate title.

Though the Gulf Islands are not far from Puget Sound, it is important to note that geologically they are much different. Whereas Puget Sound has sand beaches and mudflats, the Gulf Islands are rocky...everywhere...and not necessarily where one would expect. Watch out!

Hurry up and get away before something else breaks!

We were all set to sail away yesterday, when the fridge decided not to run on propane.  Why now?  It worked fine a week ago.  So the big fella read thru some maintenance manuals and we ran a few tests.   He analyzed all that worked and concluded that it might be the burner assembly.  So today he took it apart and found a bunch of soot that may have been the culprit clogging the burner.  He cleaned it out and the fridge now starts right up on gas!  Hoorah!  My hero!

 

We are going to hang in here and give it a good test before heading out.  No real reason to hurry.  Summer hasn't made it to the Pacific NW.  Great November showers today.

Under the Knife

Well, scabby shin made it back down to the boat.  He's ordered to keep his leg up for two days and doesn't have to do gardening or cook for at least six months (at least that's how he heard it). 

 

Skin doctor called this a KA (keratoa canthoma) which has rapid growth and "sometimes" a potential for mischief.  Glad this one is taken care of. 

 

Doctor will let us head out if we 1) keep the bandage sterile and dry, 2) he keeps his leg up to control swelling, 3) we watch for infection, and 4) pull the 12 stitches out in two weeks.  We'll see how he feels in the morning.

Boat people

We've been busy. Got to visit with our sailboater friends (and now RV'ers) Kay and Steve on the 4th. They had spent the winter in Mexico.

Fantastic fireworks that night right from the house. With many folks, especially the folks on the water, competing for the best of the best fireworks. We enjoyed the show!

Tuesday and Wednesday we loaded the boat at high tide (less of a slope to maneuver). Dean says we can stay out until the food is gone. That should be a couple months!

Dean's been completing projects:

Got the sprinkler double check valve installed and the sprinkler system working again.

He got ready to take the outboard down to the boat and found it not "peeing" (which cools the engine). So he got to take that apart and replace the pump. 6 of 6 impellers were gone. No wonder. He even repainted the engine. Looks pretty good.

The truck has been starting OK this week. He did try charging the battery after one of it's fits and then it started. More to think about in the fall.

So we are boat people! All projects done. Tanks filled. Everything (really!) aboard. So let's go....

The skin doctor called today and wants to do further cutting on a spot on Dean's shin. We'll get in tomorrow. He'll have stitches and everything. Better get it addressed now.

But we are enjoying our time on the boat. A change of scenery will be nice. Next week there might be another week of NW summer. We'll see if we can get out there!

Progress toward departure

Not much progress with our show-stoppers. Unfortunately, more keep being added. Today the truck didn't start again. A few calls to knowledgeable folk regarding outboard not peeing water. Sprinkler system double binding bluffer (or some such) not in yet.

Sunny day

Beautiful day.  Had friends, Joanne and Gene, over and had a great visit.  Side trip over to look at Dick & Judy Scott's remodel near Warren Avenue Bridge.

Still here

Still working on getting out of here. Things seem to be breaking faster than Dean can repair them.