Flying over Crater Lake the pilot provided an excellent view for everyone to take pictures on a sunny day!

Just being on the boat again, is relaxation in itself. The Port of Edmonds provides excellent service that includes a horticulture display that adds to the overall ambience and views. Plus, a class of seagulls is always parking itself in such a noisy manner that you can't miss their display of aerial excellence.

It is the week of the really low tides, so beach exploration was an important endeavor of the day. There were moon snail casings laying all over the beach. Tried to get some good pictures of the local barnacles, exposed on rocks at the lowtide. Walking back to the boat, there was a wheezing kind of noise and when a black hand reached up out of the water, it caused a bit of a start to our heart. Local diver was busy changing the zincs and zinc plates in preparation for summer travel on one of the boats. Something that we have also had recently done. The zincs help absorb electrons that are formed naturally in the saltwater from electricity on the boats and docks. Also known as sacrificial anodes to help preserve the brass and all other metals used on boats, including ours.

The kingfisher is a very industrious bird.

Traveling south, 8 in the morning, we passed Seattle and could not miss such a golden opportunity of taking some pictures of the view. Space Needle is on the north end of the Seattle skyscrapers. Nice day on the water.

Approaching Gig Harbor at 12:30 pm, the welcome at the entrance reveals the source of the name of the harbor. We got very busy watching the depth finder as we entered, never having been here before in our big boat. It was low tide as well. Once in the harbor, I don't think anywhere is deeper than 50 feet. Could be mistaken, but it ran 22 feet all the way to Jerisich dock. Meanwhile, the welcoming committee of seagulls were very vocifercous in their noisy squawks.

One of the first major places along the shore that we observed, was Tide Tavern. As you can see, a very popular place and quite full with the lunch time crowd. We headed on in, looking for the Jerisich Public Dock and finding that it was very empty. Working on the website on a Saturday morning reveals a lot of people, boats, and all other kinds of travel on the water picks up in speed, quantity and diversity. The Seaside Dock is visible from our windows on the dock and the area around it is unique in that it is quite open; as compared to most of the shoreline being very full with docks, buildings and loads of boats of all sizes. Across the way, next to another dock, is a cover that used to cover something, but what it was we have no clue.

The Marauder is a seiner that gathers herring and looks to be in beautiful shape with a runabout attached on the stern. The other boat is an example of lavishness of money in a boat. Doesn't mean we don't wish we could have one; just an amazing view to catch in Gig Harbor. The middle boat is the only Venetian gondola operation in the Pacific Northwest. The owner's name is John "Cinque" Synco and he had this authentic gondola shipped from Venice, Italy. His mission is to create an inspiring journey where one can leave their stress far, far behind. Looked like it was working on the couple we observed, as it passed by our boat.

Getting out to explore led to a couple of cool little adventures, besides paddling against the wind no matter where you went because it kept changing directions. Slippery fello if we ever did feel one! Anyway, up at the head of the harbor, herons were found in high number. Paddling along helped explain what they were fishing for; looks like shiny perch which were so numerous that they jumped right into the kayak. Picture to prove it! Whew. Another interested item to find were these floating lights in the water. There were electrical cords coming off the dock and straight down which appeared to be the source of electricity. Maybe we will need to take a walk down the road, after dark, to check them out.

Tied up to the dock has given John an opportunity to try and make some bread pudding! After he is all done, the stress has definitely qualified him with some relax time to read!

Our stay in Gig Harbor was enjoyable because we were able to visit with our friends, Mike and Judy, who live on Fox Island. We had a nice Mexican dinner in town with them (located right across the street from the dock we were tied up to) and then they drove us out to their house for cheesecake and some catch-up time. What we didn't care for in Gig Harbor, was the dock that we were moored to, had a constant stream of locals who enjoyed walking the dock nonstop throughout the day while peering into the windows of the boaters. This definitely reminded me of being at the zoo, only the roles were reversed! We did meet some nice lady sailors in an older style sailboat. They said that they had just arrived from Olympia and were on their way to Desolation Sound. They had never been to Princess Louisa Inlet before and were looking forward to their trip. Well, they got John's attention because he admires women skippers who have the tenacity to run their boats into unknown waters, especially through rapids and some challenging weather conditions that included winds. He says reading and learning about Capi (in the book “Curve of Time”) traveling in a 25 foot boat along with her 5 small children, plus Rebecca, really reinforces those feelings. We didn't get a chance to share boat cards with the sail boaters, but John did share an apple fritter with them. He said that it probably disappeared before they cleared the harbor. We pulled out in the morning and headed over to Point Defiance and the Breakwater Marina to get diesel. We used to fish out of this Marina years ago in our 2556. We were surprised to find out that they no longer carried diesel, and haven't for three years now! We decided to call around for fuel, and found that Poulsbo Marina carries fuel which was great, since we were going there anyway to anchor in Liberty Bay. We were told by our friends Ed and Joann that this was a good anchorage and Marina plus a nice short walk into town. We spent most of the day reading. Rebecca decided to go kayaking and explore the bay. We had a very enjoyable day plus, we feasted on T-bone steaks for dinner. The second day was just as relaxing and we also took the inflatable and motored over to the dingy dock to explore downtown Poulsbo. We finished the day with a nice hamburger at the Brass Kraken and then a stroll to the bakery.

We pulled out in the morning and headed over to Point Defiance to get diesel at the Breakwater Marina. We used to fish out of this Marina years ago in our 2556. We were surprised to find out that they no longer carried diesel, and haven't for three years now! We decided to call around for fuel, and found that Poulsbo Marina carries fuel which was great, since we were going there anyway to anchor in Liberty Bay. We were told by our friends Ed and Joann that this was a good anchorage and Marina plus a nice short walk into town. We spent most of the day reading. Rebecca decided to go kayaking and explore the bay. We had a very enjoyable day plus, we feasted on T-bone steaks for dinner. The second day was just as relaxing and we also took the inflatable and motored over to the dingy dock to explore downtown Poulsbo. We finished the day with a nice hamburger at the Brass Kraken and then a stroll to the bakery.

The next morning we were at the fuel dock at 8:00 sharp. We topped off our tanks and said adios to the area. Our plans included traveling to Manzanita Bay to check out the anchorage, which is less than an hour away. We did, but nothing looked good due to no space between all of the private mooring buoys. We then decided to continue on northward, to Port Madison, to give that a look. Turns out that was the right call. The bay is about a mile long and is all private; however, we found a good place to drop the anchor. Our view for the day is right on shore. It is an amazing 'house of ivy'.We were hooked securely on the bottom and the boat all shipshape, when we noticed that we were surrounded by about 50 pirates in their miniature sail boats!. Fortunately, for us, they were about 8 years old and very inexperienced. After a few waves as they were swinging around us, they recognized that we weren’t hostile and continued on with their sailing practice. Word was passed on and as more continued to sail by throughout the day, they just circle once and then continue on their merry way!

Port Madison is a natural place for heron to find a meal most any time. Whether it is low tide and walking along to mud flats, high tide and on the shore, or just hanging around on the docks that are multiple. Some docks even have a horizontal windmill to keep herons, and most likely seagulls, off of the privately owned facilities and some of the boats. Should have taken a picture to show!

While anchored in Port Madison we noticed that our genset wasn’t discharging water at the same rate as it normally does. The next morning we pulled anchor and headed out to deeper water in hopes that the seawater intake would clear itself through natural gravity as the water rushed passed the intake. It took about a mile of running and our normal speed of 8 knots, and then everything seemed fine. We continued on to old Fort Townsend. Old Fort Townsend is outside of Glen Cove which is just south of the Port Townsend Paper Mill. There were three mooring buoys open. We tied up to a mooring buoy which turned out to be a team effort! The current was moving enough that after we got a line through the buoy while standing at the stern, then we ran a second line through and tagged teamed pulling the buoy to the bow of the boat. Whew, bit of a work out but a safe venture when done together. Of course the season for everything (fishing, crabbing) was closed, but Rebecca kayaked the shoreline to explore the sea life. We had a peaceful night because the water was very calm and the next morning Rebecca was again out exploring the tide flats.

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Continuing to explore moorages and anchorages, we left that afternoon for Mystery Bay State Park. After anchoring, we dropped the dinghy to go down to the Norland General Store which was the highlight of our stay. Having anchored at 5:25 pm, we were at the store by 5:50 pm and they closed and locked the door as we left! When we returned to our boat, we decided to get some information at the state park dock. At this point, we were informed by the state park fee collector, that we were anchored in a ‘voluntary no anchor zone’, so at 7 in the evening we moved again and found a Mooring Buoy to tie up to, for the night at the cost of $15. Don’t quite get the ‘voluntary’ part! There were lots of sites for Rebecca to take photos of and John had a book to finish. The next day, Paul Gahr and Barbara drove over to pick us up and we went to lunch together in Port Hadlock at a Mexican restaurant. Great lunch and enjoyed each other’s company.

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The next morning of the 27th, we untied from the buoy (had to pay $15 for a second night) and took off for the Port of Port Townsend where we received our slip assignment, after some confusing directions of going PAST the Coast Guard, and turn right. We are located in the first basin which is BEFORE the Coast Guard. Oh well, two phone calls later and tied up, we promptly went to breakfast at Sea J’s with a flood of memories of having been here many times.

We started to have a flood of memories, back when we first came up into this area in 1987. Before we were married, John use to come up to go fishing with George Coffman, who was also known as the, “Coffman slice”. George believed that a pie only could be sliced up into 4 pieces. George introduced John to the Midchannel Bank salmon fishing and he was hooked. George, and his wife Margaret, lived in Bremerton and we were good friends for a long time. Other friends of ours, in the Sacramento Yacht Club, were responsible for us bringing our 24 foot boat up to Fort Worden so we could launch our boat and then continue on up into the San Juan Islands in order to go crabbing in Friday Harbor. We learned very quickly that we were newbies, but we fell in love with Port Townsend as our primary port of launching our boat, along with fishing and making new friends. Our first summer at Fort Worden we met our dear friends, Paul and Tad Gahr, at the Picnic Basket that was located right across from the boat launch. Paul owned, and ran, the Picnic Basket at the fort where he served burgers and curly fries along with a variety of other fast foods; as well as coffee all day. Paul generously offered the rear of his store to park our boat trailer and truck. Well, that started our friendship that has continued to this day. When we first began coming up for the summer, it was for the great fishing and crabbing. Not long after that we came up every summer to be with our friends. In 1989 we towed our new boat, a 2556 bayliner with a 9 foot 6 inch beam, to Port Townsend and she never returned home. We kept her in a storage building at the fairgrounds during the wintertime. Then when we came up for the summer we simply towed the boat from the fairgrounds to Fort Worden for launching after de-winterizing the motors and cleaning up the winter dew that laid around the interior. This was a boaters’ dream. Things that happened every year helped to mold our lives together on the water. We made so many friends, and had so much fun, that we felt that we were part of the community. Our friends invited us to be part of their family. We learned a tremendous amount about their culture that made us feel very close to them. Bob Donley was a retired gruff logger and knew intriguing fishing stories, and his wife Virginia was a Native American that showed various tricks for shucking and preparing clams and oysters. Bill Brux was Native American who also had fishing lore galore that told great stories, and his wife Kathy was a superb fisherwoman. We could go on and on about stories that we still laugh about today. If the weather was nice Rebecca would put on her skimpy bathing suit and fish and net salmon. She was well known for making “snausages”. After a while friends knew they could come up to our boat and coax her into making them some breakfast. Everyone loved Rebecca. Many of our friends and family would join us for fishing and other activities. Our brother Bill arranged a family reunion at Fort Worden. Everyone came and we had a great time. Paul Gahr loaned us his travel trailer for our Mom to use as her residence. She had a great view of the ocean... all propped up on pillows. Everyone who came to visit had to go and spend some quality time with Mom. We continued with our summer routine for many years until we were bit by the “one-footitis” bug. Our friends Barb and Trav were starting their travels into Canada, and we needed a larger boat to be able to cruise with them. (That seemed like a really good reason, right?!) It was also obvious to us that the great salmon fishing was coming to an end in the Port Townsend area. The Fisheries started to close this area for salmon fishing, and that was a death blow for the local fishermen and businesses. We tried to fish out of Tacoma at Breakwater Marina for several years, but it wasn't quite the same. After a several years we sold our 2556 and started spending our entire summers on a 3218 motor yacht. We bought a slip at Harbour Village Marina on Lake Washington, and we began spending our entire summers cruising with our friends into Canada. The bonds that we made in Port Townsend are still there, but some are in just our memories.

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When we left, at o'dark 30; a nice soupy fog was sitting on the water chuckling away and having a good time at causing confusion. Visibility ranged between 100 and 200 feet which meant when the radar saw something at a quarter of a mile, we were not seeing anything. Couple of times, a nice loud fog horn blared out, and of course we responded with our horn. Lot of hooting and tooting going on and we guess that it is like music to the ears of the fog. Anyway, we started out around Point Wilson, and it was getting bouncier, and bouncier. After a short period of pounding and not seeing where we were going (we were going to head up into the San Juan Islands) we decided to take the nicer route south and down around Whidbey Island. Incoming tide, current going our direction, what more could one ask for. We scurried across the shipping channel and heard boat chatter and fog horns off and on for the next 4 plus hours. Long foggy morning. Heading around the bottom end of Whidbey, the tide was very accommodating, having turned and started to head back out to points unknown. Currents continued to be going our way and ended up after 8 hours on the water with a nice overall high average speed. Wind was coming up so we bypassed Hope Island up by Deception Pass and choose to enter the Swinnomish Channel to tie up at the Public Dock in La Conner. Glad we did for the wind was really blowing our first night on the dock. Docking was a bit of a challenge and what with wind and current it took a second pass to end up securely attached to the dock.

We met a very nice couple in Port Townsend at Sea J’s Café when we went up for their cod. Their names are Chuck and Phyllis and they live in La Conner. We accidently ended up having dinner at the same table as them due to limited tables and a lot of customers, and enjoyed sharing information over our cod and fries. They invited us to give them a call when we arrived in La Conner. After securing the boat in “fun” conditions, to the dock we gave them a buzz. They graciously drove down and picked us up at the dock, taking us out to Shelter Bay where they have a beautiful home. A nice relaxing evening included a very nice visit where we learned quite a bit about Shelter Bay. We have begun looking for other places to live and La Conner seems like one of our logical choices. Of course we had to stop at the Pioneer Market and pick up the necessary staple of potato salad and chicken strips. On our walk to the store, we also stopped at some apartments in downtown La Conner and introduced ourselves to the manager. Her name is Betty and we are looking forward to having dinner with her when we return to La Conner. We were treated to a great firework show on the 4th of July. We had a wonderful view from the dock where we were able to sit on the bridge of our boat. The show must have lasted for 2 hours with extra fireworks going on all around the main feature.

We left the next morning, after fueling up, to head up into the San Juan Islands. We checked out a few anchorages, including Inati Bay on the east side of Lummi Island, which has a gravel bottom, but nothing really looked that great. We tried Inati, but were dragging anchor in less than an hour. We pulled up the hook and decided to head further north to Sucia Island. Looking around for a good anchorage, when we neared Ewing Cove we saw that there was an empty mooring buoy. Many years ago we tied up to a buoy in here with Barb and Trav Wills. This was a very nice location until in the evening the wind came up and the water became very rough with the boat rocking from side to side. It it had been bow to stern, not so bad and sleeping in bow is much easier. We were both awake most of the night.

We have had the opportunity to bounce on the buoys,

Sometimes it becomes way too much and we just say “phooey”,

While exploring different anchorages of varying length of stays,

We look for the perfect place to relax, out of wind, in sun and calm bays!

Although I am getting a little poetic in written verse and time,

There continues to be a roughness in my rhythm and my rhyme!

The next morning everything calmed down so we decided to spend another night. Hmmmm…. wrong move, it was just as bad if not worse that night.

The morning after the 2nd night of rock and roll we were enjoying a good cup of coffee, while continuing to rock from side to side quite vigorously, Rebecca was looking across to Matia Island and spotted an empty mooring buoy in Rolfe Cove. We untied and headed over to Matia Island. We tied up to a mooring buoy after a few attempts of holding the boat in the outgoing current long enough to get a line through the eye of the buoy and spent the night. After two really nice nights on this buoy, the wind changed and a combination of it blowing off Georgia Strait and the strong current through the cove, it became just as bad as being over in Ewing Cove! There’s a dock in Rolfe Cove, Matia Island, and Rebecca kayaked over to find out if anybody was going to be leaving that day. As luck would have it a boat was planning to leave in about an hour. We motored over to the dock and with the help from boaters off the other three boats, we were tied up and introductions made all around. These were very nice people and we enjoyed their company. Rebecca did a lot of kayaking and gathering of stones on the beach. We relaxed for two nights on the dock, then left for Blakely Island.

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While on the dock in Rolfe Cove, we shared information with the other boaters about anchorages, marinas, stores and fuel. We decided on Blakely Island Marina because we could refresh our house batteries, plus pickup a few supplies. It was about a 15 mile run and the water was a little choppy because of tide rips but the nice feature was current was going our direction. We arrived shortly before noon and Rebecca did a great job getting the boat through the narrow, shallow, rocky entrance and Marina. We located our slip and with the help of another boater tied up very secure.
***SIDE NOTE: Something looked very familiar to John about this Marina and we figured it out. It was the airport. Then we remembered that we were here in our 24’ Bayliner, about 30 years ago. Rebecca's hearing aid had quit working and with brother Bill’s help we had another one shipped to Bill. He then took it to Kenmore Air and they delivered it to us on Blakely Island. Bill was always there when we needed him. The marina itself was outstanding. Everything was clean, restaurant served nice meals, and the docks were very clean and in good condition. We had great view of the waters on the outside, which can run very fast with trees surrounding the little marina making it cozy and relaxing. Rebecca had a chance to kayak and explore the shoreline after getting caught up on all of the laundry and vacuuming the boat from stem to stearn. John stayed on board and checked the engines, generator fluid levels and overall maintenance duty that helps keep everything running tiptop. For dinners, we barbequed steak one evening and then had BBQ chicken the next evening. (BBQ sure does come in handy on the boat.)

We planned our departure from this particular Marina so that it was at high tide which was at 8:30 a.m.. Was a bit nerve racking coming in the other day at low tide, with very little swing room to get into the slip.
We were not completely sure where we were going to next, but that's been our norm for this summer. We eventually decided on Saddlebag Island and check out the anchorage. We were here once many years ago in our 2556 with our friends Barb and Trav, along with Carol and Arden. We were a day early for the opening of crabbing in this area but that's another story in itself. Was a lot of fun crabbing, watching the "hundreds" of boats come out, drop their pots before anchoring in their preferred spot, and then everyone playing at… "find my crab pot buoy" while the wind comes up and then goes back down! Going from just two boats anchored (us and one other) to over a hundred big and little ones, was very interesting to say the least.

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