Favorite Links


BillPratt.com

Sierra College

Woodland High School

Woodland Chamber Singers




Recommended Books for reading


The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet

Following the Curve of Time (The Legendary M. Wylie Blanchet) by Cathy Converse

Fishing With John by Edith Iglauer

Full Moon Flood Tide (Bill Proctor's Raincoast) by Bill Proctor and Yvonne Maximchuk

Tide Rips & Back Eddies (Bill Proctor's Tales of Blackfish Sound) by Bill Proctor and Yvonne Maximchuk

Services


Larsson Marine

Marine Covers and Enclosures


  - In Canvas

Marinas to stop and visit


Lagoon Cove Marina

Sullivan Bay Marina

Blind Channel Resort

Informational websites


Pat's Boating in Canada

National Data Buoy Center

BC Marine Weather

Rockfish Conservation Areas
U. S. Customs and Border Protection

WiFi on your boat made simple!


  - Land & Sea WiFi

Master Gardener Yolo County

John & Rebecca Pratt's
Summer time begins...



Puget Sound Roundabout

NOTE: click on underlined words to read more...

New Beginnings

Flying north, had an unexpected chance to catch a picture of Shasta Lake in all of its beauty.

The sun gave us a beautiful evening 'goodnight' to enjoy, before our summer departure.


Port of Edmonds

Every year, the Port of Edmonds creates a visual display of horticulture that makes it a pleasure to walk around. The arrangement of colors is also very different, along with the types of flowers planted. It appears, class never ends. This group of students are gathered on the roof of the next dock over from us. Meanwhile, when out for an exploratory beach walk, another mode of transportation for workers on the train track went by unexpectedly!




continued

Low tide reveals multiple egg casings of the local moonsnail. The holes in the clam shells are made by the moonsnail prior to them eating the contents hidden. Plus, barnacles are exposed on a rock at low tide as well. Walking back to the boat, enjoying the view of boats on the dock, an unexpected noise gets our attention! Black hand and arm, reaching up out of the water, startles us until we realize that it is a diver changing the zincs which is what he is reaching up for. Never know what you will see.




Kingfisher






Seattle





Gig Harbor

This sign is on your right, when entering Gig Harbor and identifies via the picture, the origin of the harbor's name. Wherever you go, there is always a new class of welcomers, learning how to create a welcoming chant of hellos! Once they are finished, of course the hungry fellows are off to find their next meal, even before they have finished their welcoming chant.  One track minds!

Once we entered Gig Harbor, we had to take a picture of looking back, to see what the view might be. Pretty pituresque.




Days on the Dock

As you can see, Tides Tavern is a very popular eating location here in Gig Harbor. The building that today houses the Tides Tavern was built by Axel Uddenberg in 1910 and served the area as a general store. Located next to the “Peoples’ Dock,” the town’s only public ferry landing, it was called the West Side Mercantile. From that time until the present it has had a series of owners and has been several businesses. Run down and in a state of disrepair, the building was bought by Peter Stanley in 1973. After an extensive and ambitious rebuilding project, the Tides opened its doors to the public on Saturday, June 2, 1973

There are no marks on the beach, of what used to be sheltered underneath these dilapidated sidings and roof.




Big Boats

The Marauder has it's OWN dock. Noticed names of many of the docks around the harbor end with 'ich' in the their name including the Puratich for the Marauder. This gondola is busy, with us seeing it passing by, regularly throughout the day, every day. Guy is wearing the same shirt EVERY time! This is a 'gig' running around just outside of the entrance to Gig Harbor. Now this is a boat to 'dream' about!




Exploring Gig Harbor from a Kayak point of view.







Chef

Chef John is standing by, watching the time and waiting for the minute to pull the bread pudding out of the over. Suspense is killing him! Will it turn out okay??? No, he is not praying, he is checking everything carefully. And there it be, in all of its glory!!! Looks really good and can't wait to test! Captain Chef John says, 'THIS is really good!'




Gig Harbor in rearview mirror…

View




Poulsbo and Liberty Bay anchorage







Moving on to Manzanita, and then Madison





Herons in Port Madison






Old Fort Townsend

After coming through Ship's Canal, our view included the Paper Mill on the left (white), Port Townsend in the middle, and a Navy ship at a dock off of Indian Island on the right. It is low tide and you can see the Port Townsend Paper Mill in the background, from our mooring buoy.  You can smell it, too. These floats were tied and floating in Glen Cove. With all of the kelp on it, they have definitely been in the water for awhile. Not sure of their purpose, i.e. 'what is on the other end of the line'!!! Navionics shows that this is supposed to be a floating work platform, and as you can see, it is a little bit unfunctional what with not floating correctly!


Inside the center of the hole is the top of the neck of a horse clam. Cockles are easy to find due to laying on, or near, the surface of the sand.




Mystery Bay on Marrowstone Island

When we went to the dinghy dock to tie up, prior to meeting Paul Gahr, we had to shuffle the dinghies and line them up straight out, just to get ours squeezed in.  As you can see, we are 2nd from the left and barely fit in!!! These bags were full of oysters and look like a new 'seeding of oysters' project. They are completely exposed at low tide, but covered up by several feet of water at high tide. Same thing with these bags of what looked like littleneck clams.  Most likely reseeding them, as well.

A pigeon guillemot was paddling around the boat, looking most likely for the little fishies swimming underneath, but still took time to say hello for a picture. The little pigeon guillemot wanted a picture of 'both sides' just to make sure it gave us the best shot possible. This is the sign that says, 'No Anchoring', with the word voluntary.  Never having seen this type of marked buoy before, ever, we had gone ahead and anchored.  Turns out this is a protected area due to being such great anchorage, someone decided there were too many boats dragging their anchors over the bottom and thus damaging the beds of kelp.




Port of Port Townsend

Just found out that the commercial crab season opens tomorrow, the 28th of June and is a 32 hour opening. Directly in front of out bow is where the crabbers will be bringing in the catches for the next day and a half. Nothing like 'ringside' seats!

These restrooms are located on the back side of Sea J's. Saltwater ambience adds to the atmosphere.  However, looking inside, decided they were not healthy for use.

__ A guy on a 45 foot wooden boat, was walking his dog and proceeded to inform us that the eagles have a nest on top of this cell tower.  There has been an eagle perched up there, throughout the day. These little guys definitely look like an eagle's next meal.  They have been paddling all around the harbor and got a picture when they came right up to our boat. __ This boat was parked outside of Sea J's when we walked up for breakfast. Crabbing anyone???




Port Townsend memories...

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Washington Clam information



downtown Port Townsend



Traveling to La Conner

As you can see, you can't see anything at all. The mist of the fog swirls around and can be distracting as well as disorienting for whomever is at the helm. We happened to be close enough to get a picture of the guy (uh, I mean seal) on the buoy, as we slipped by in the fog. On the first afternoon that we were tied up to the dock, we heard fire engines but didn't think too much about them. Then we looked across the channel and where they are going to be having the fireworks fired off on the 4th, somehow a fire started.





4th of July Fireworks in La Conner





Ewing Cove, Sucia Island

On the beach in Ewing Cove where there is a lockbox to drop off the pay for moorage while tied to the state park mooring buoy. It is always interesting trying to find the perfect frame or our boat using the natural rock formations here in Ewing Cove. On the outside of Ewing Cove, eastward, there are several reefs that become exposed at lowtide that the seals climb up on to do their daily sunbathing! This pointy tailed duck was walking around on the kelp bed, trying to get a snooze and staying out of the water at the same time from the incoming tide. Not real sure if 'THAT' look was for me trying to get close enough to get a good picture, or for the lapping waves that it kept retreating from as the water rose. The pigeon guillemot is an interesting bird in both take off, flight, and landing on the water. Always makes one chuckling to see the little webbed feet spread out as they belly flop on the water, or paddling madly during takeoff.

Off kayaking and found this interesting rock lizard made of sandstone and conglomerate.  It is a huge fellow standing over 8 feet tall and more than 10 feet long and looks like its sunning on the beach, even when the sun is long gone.




Rolfe Cove, Matia Island



More pictures of the beauty found on Matia Island



Blakely Island Marina

The opening to the Marina was a lot tinier than we had originally understood from the friendling advice while chatting with other boaters at Matia Island. Watching the depth finder going into the harbor, that's for sure. A panoramic view from harbor entrance on the left to the outside fuel dock on the right, of Blakely Island Marina. Going through Peavine Pass right before hanging a sharp right to cross the current and then enter a small opening, was interesting, to say the least.

View of our boat from above makes it look not too bad, but coming in at lowtide, manuevering was a little tighter than what we had planned. Didn't touch bottom, so guess it's all good! This appears to be a small, manmade marina, with trees all around. Very cozy and protected. At the other end of the marina, there were two very large boathouses (one appears that the boat is over 80 feet) and a very long outside dock to accommodate the private owners. This vase is about 18 inches high and beautiful. It was inside the restaurant/store. Now this, is what can be done with the hundreds of pieces of little driftwood. A really nice work of art and also found inside the restaurant/store.

Leaving Blakely Marina by 8:30 in the morning, we still caught a beautiful sunrise on the water as we headed for Saddlebag island.




On to Saddlebag Island

Anchorage at Saddlebag with a good mud bottom that holds the anchor almost like glue! The view is looking northwest. Went kayaking with a couple of kayaker off the only other boat currently anchored in this location and happened to see a huge kelp crab. This view is eastward, towards mainland, from the boat. Never get tired of the variety of sunsets, found on the water!





Heron commentary



Saddlebag views



One Heron's story of trying to become invisible!







© 2006 John Pratt ©












Rebecca Ann Crew


Gpa & Kenneth

Gpa & Sophia

Capt. & 1st Mate

Gpa & Alice

Gpa & Andrew