Landlubbing Weekend

Since we've been out the past few weekends, and we're departing on Friday for an 11 day trip, we decided to stick around home this weekend. Sometimes it's fun just to hang out at our slip, cleaning, provisioning, fixing...whatever needs to be done.

And sometimes, the boat is a great place for a meeting!

Our next trip includes the Ranger Tugs/Cutwater Boats Rendezvous in Roche Harbor. We did this trip last year when we'd had the Pelican just 8 days! This year we're taking some extra time and visiting other locales, including Victoria. We'll meet up with some Ranger friends in the San Juan Islands, head to Canada, and then return to Roche for the Rendezvous. So far, 170 boats are registered. That's a lot of Kool-aid drinkers!

Liberty Bay

Motored to Poulsbo on Saturday morning and spent the night at the marina. While it is nice to have easy access to a town with things to do, staying at a busy dock is not my favorite thing during the busy summer boating season. The new boat certainly affords us more privacy however, and we can get by pretty well without "canvassing up."

Have I mentioned how awesome the shower is?!

Captain Nick enjoys a fresh breeze through Colvos Passage...

Illahee State Park

We stopped at Illahee Marine Park for an overnight on our way to Poulsbo. The photo shows a very calm morning today...not so last night.

We had a pleasant evening after a short but steep walk through old growth forest. Grilled steak and watched ferries go by...

The wind kicked in around bedtime, just enough to keep us rocking and batter the hull with small choppy waves. The motion usually doesn't bother us but the noise of water slapping the hull and occasional bumping into the buoy made us break out the ear plugs.

We thought the area looked a bit exposed...and now we know.  The park itself doesn't have a lot to offer, so we may not return. Unless we do...part of the fun!

Eagle Harbor

We returned to the City of Bainbridge Island, for an overnight in Eagle Harbor. It's becoming one of our favorite places for repeat visits. We hooked up to one of the city park's 4 mooring buoys. These seem to be readily available even when the Harbor Marina is full.

The view of Seattle was spectacular since most of the smoke had cleared out. It was nice to see blue sky again...and to have a bit cooler weather!

Back to Blake

We first visited Blake Island State Park last October, off season. We arrived yesterday  (Friday) at about 1pm to find the very last spot at a dock. (Plenty of buoys available.)

Tillicum Village is open now, which means an Argosy boat comes in and out a few times, but still a really nice place to visit. Quite a few people arrive by smaller boat and then camp on the island. We did the several-mile hike around the perimeter and once we got away from the main area, we didn't see another person the entire way.

We put the stadium seats on the roof to enjoy the view...and wine. Actually quite comfortable and not that difficult to climb up and down.

I took the photo of the swallows this morning (Saturday), hanging out on the boat next to us. This is a really common occurance, we've found. Something about those shiny rails?

Olympia

This is the furthest south we've been, and indeed as far south as a boat can go in the Salish Sea. Literally. We are at the southern most dock in Puget Sound, Percival Landing in Budd Inlet.

We came for the farmer's market but missed it just by a few minutes. (Closes at 3pm.) Had a nice pint at the Oly Taproom. We walked around town for a few minutes  (very hot) and then headed back to the boat.

Captain Nick has not had very good things to say about downtown Olympia over the years...and I tend to agree with him. The Capitol is cool, there are a few good restaurants and taprooms, a great farmers market, and some nice water front park areas. The downtown area, however...meh. When boating the south sound in the future we will most likely stick to areas outside of Olympia...unless we need something at the market...like Boston Harbor, Jarrell Cove, and Hope Island. We'll definately go back to Oro Bay.

South Sound Revisited

Yesterday (Friday) was our second day of orientation/training on the Europa with Ranger Tugs. Thanks, Kenny, for your continued expertise and support.

We left the Foss at around noon...a beautiful hot August day, unfortunately also quite smoky.

We headed for Oro Bay, Anderson Island.

We were surprised to see the grounded old ferry Ocean City! The bay is super quiet with a lot of wildlife including seals, ospreys, and eagles. We woke to swallows swooping, chattering, and landing on the boat. Not sure what attracted them but it was a nice alarm clock.

Last night was my first aboard Europa and  it was pretty comfortable. So nice to have the extra space inside and out!