Gig Harbor Scenery

Lots of things to notice on our morning walk.

Turning around in Oro Bay

Europa left the Foss Friday afternoon headed for Gig Harbor. As our favorite free city mooring buoy was taken, we anchored in the harbor and enjoyed margaritas in very decent evening weather.

Saturday morning we headed south through slack tide at the Narrows toward Oro Bay, Anderson Island. As usual, we saw quite a few porpoise in the area just south of the bridges.

The skies got a little darker the further south we got, so after cruising around the bay...irritating a few lounging seals and cormorants for getting too close...we headed north again and back into Gig Harbor...and tied up to our second favorite free city mooring buoy.

As mentioned in previous posts, we really enjoy Oro Bay. However, there really is no where to get off the boat. We think there may be a park, but we can't see a place to access it, and the docks are all private yacht club outposts. So, when the weather isn't great, we find it better to be somewhere we can get off the boat to move around.

Back in GH, a goose swam by, prompting me to text our daughter with our order for Thanksgiving dinner. Her response: "On it!" For those of you who know us, you might also know that our daughter is an exceptionally talented cook. Yum.

Also, for those of you who know me, you might know that I find various arts and crafts theraputic...and fun. Crocheting is something I can easily do on the boat. I found this super easy and practical wine bottle carrier pattern and have been cranking them out. Let me know if you want one. 😊

Yesterday evening the 133 foot Schooner Adventuress entered the harbor.

This morning, after rain overnight, we are enjoying our coffee with some sun breaks.

Unsolicited rafting! A first...

La Conner is a good place for walking, with the park close by and the marina at the other end of town.

We are happy to report that no logs hit the boat! That we know of, anyway. We were hesitant to stay at the public dock again, as the current is swift and there is often debris floating by. Last time, after a small log got stuck under the swimstep, we thought we'd head for a more protected spot at the marina. We decided to chance it and are glad we did...it's fun to be right in town.

So many herons!

We headed to Coupeville. Very nice and quaint, with shops and restaurants in abundance. The dock is small, with very attentive dock hands. We soon noticed there was some rafting going on. Their dock policy is to fit everyone. A fair number of people tend to visit for just a few hours, including the little Ranger 21 that tied up to the boat in front of us for a short time.

So...imagine our surprise when we saw a boat come in and tie up to Europa!  Needless to say, we have very mixed emotions about this practice. The six people aboard were just in town for a meal, were very polite, and handled the whole maneuver well. We were grateful.

We watched a seal swimming around upside down under the pier. (Not sure what happened with that photo...I wasn't purposefully going for any weird effect!)

The wind picked up and yanked us around for a few hours that evening, keeping us up past our bedtime. We may tie too tightly to the dock...have to research the conventional wisdom on that. Next time we visit Coupeville we'll likely anchor.

And then to one of our favorite places to tie to a ball. Eagle Harbor. Unfortunately, we still haven't figured out exactly which balls belong to the City of Bainbridge. After paying for moorage and returning to the boat, the woman who owns the dock by the buoy came out to tell us it belongs to her! She was nice enough to let us stay the night, however. Grateful again.

Beautiful and clear view of Seattle!

Labor Day Weekend 2018

This is the perfect weekend to get further north than we're usually able. Our first stop was in Edmonds, next to the Saratoga, a whale watching/tour boat. It was fun to talk with the crew and watch the captain use the remote control to maneuver her in a small space.

We had a visit from my aunt and uncle, who live nearby. We had a great time catching up and hearing about their adventures with their new travel trailer...51 days up to Alaska and back. They retired last year and say they are busier than ever! (Something to look forward to...)

We were lucky enough to catch up with a small pod of orcas heading north between Whidbey and Camano, just off Langley. We followed along (respectfully!) for over an hour. Every time we thought we were past them, we'd see one right ahead of us again and have to slow down. Of course we could have gone way around and continued on...but it's hard to stop watching whales when they're right in front of you!

Navigating the waters around Hole in the Wall, the southern entrance to the Swinomish Channel, is always fun. It's a shallow and narrow waterway, with wildlife, log booms, and spectacular houses on the cliffs. And of course, the Rainbow Bridge.

We found a great spot at a public dock in La Conner. We packed the Nutri-Bullet to make margaritas and fortunately the inverter handled it very well!

A couple of herons, that are not shy, hung out on the dock. One of them really wanted something in the small boat nearby but got scared off before actually going in the boat.