May 23, 2010 - Lopez Island, Guys Trip & Ladies Cruise

This is a unique boating weekend for Kathy and I.  We are going to be on the water, but on different boats, with no kids.  I'm doing my semi-annual "guy's trip" with my friends from my life before moving to La Conner.  Kathy is going on the Swinomish Yacht Club "Ladies Cruise" with about 20 women on 5 boats.  Our kids will be with a babysitter and friends while we are gone.

I'll start with my guys trip since I left first.  On Friday afternoon my friends drove up from the Bothell/Woodinville area and stopped at Costco to get food and drink for the trip.  They arrived in Shelter Bay around 1:00 in the afternoon.  After several dock carts full of sleeping bags, food, beer, etc. we got underway.  The sun is poking out, there isn't much wind, and it's pretty warm.  We enjoy the ride over to Lopez up on the flybridge in the sun.  We are headed for Watmough Bay on Lopez.  It's off the beaten path of most cruising boats, and the lack of popularity proves beneficial as we end up the only boat in the bay.  

After relaxing and making sure the anchor was set, we dinghy to shore to explore.  We hang out on the beach and climb a few of the boulders, and soak up some sun.

Ryan, Steve, Mike, Ted (and Synergy too)

I don't think a couple of the guys were very motivated to go hiking, but we went anyway.  I warned them that first part would be a bit of a scramble up some quite steep sections of trail.  I don't think they expected it to be as steep and challenging as it was though.  It was a good workout, and worth it.

hiking up to the top of Chadwick Hill

There were some VERY steep and difficult section of trail.  Ward almost didn't make on one particularly difficult section.

Hang on Ward, help is on the way....

Not really so dangerous, at least according to Mike

The BIG payoff for all this hard climbing was the rope swing at the top.  We all took a few turns, and it seemed to bring out the child in each of us.

Ryan gets an "underdog" from Mike

Ryan making sure Ted doesn't hog the swing all day

We hike over to one of my favorite spots in the San Juan's.  The view of Watmough Bay from almost 500' up. 

An awesome view

Since the rope swing made us all feel like 13 year olds, we did a typical 13 year old thing; we threw rocks off the cliff trying to hit the water below.  Most of the rocks disappeared from view and never made a sound.  Sometimes it looked like they would hit the boat, but I don't know if any of them even made it to the water.  In a last ditch effort I found a nice throwing rock and really gave it a try.  I launched that rock so hard that my camera flew out of my unzipped jacket pocket and tried to follow the rock I just threw.  I watched my camera bouncing from rock to rock down the cliff.  It was not in a case.  It stopped about 50' below us on a small ledge.  It still looked intact and I wanted it back.  We surveyed the perch and decided it might not be too hard for me to take a little "path" to the left that ended up pretty close to the camera.  I carefully climbed down the "trail" which wasn't too bad.  I got to the camera and picked it up.  No major external damage other than a small nick on the viewing screen, and a missing battery that keeps the date and time set.  Much to my surprise the lens popped out like normal when I pressed the power button!!!!  After accepting the default date and time of Jan 1 2008 at 12:00AM I took this picture of my friends 50' above me:

It takes a licking and keeps on clicking

I hike back up and we all take a look at the "miracle camera" that survived a tumble down a rock cliff and still worked.  We walk back to the swing and then take the easy trail back to the beach.  The scramble would be really diffucult to go down.  Even so, it's a long downhill, and I think we all felt it in our knees by the time we got to the beach.

more to come.....  Stay Tuned.

May 17, 2010 - Search and Rescue "MISSION"

OK, this isn't something we did as a family, or even with our boat, but I am still chuckling about it and had to write something about this.  I'm a member of Skagit Bay Search and Rescue which is a volunteer organization that assists the Coast Guard with missing boats, missing people, boating accidents, and being a safety presence for boating events like kayak races, fishing derby's, boat parades, etc.

Well, tonight I got called out to investigate an overturned boat tied to a piling near a big green navigation buoy just a few miles south of here.  Instead of taking one of the two Search and Rescue boats, we got to go out in the La Conner fire boat.

Getting the La Conner fire boat ready

(Sorry about the picture quality on some of these, they were taken with my iPhone)

There are three of us; the Fire Chief, the head of Search and Rescue, and me (Steve).  This is a really cool boat, it's got a big V8 and a jet drive, so it can go very fast in shallow water (3" draft at 30mph).  It's loud too.  There is a big fire monitor (hose) on the bow, which you can see here doing it's thing:

Fire boat at opening day boat parade

Leaving the marina

We head down the channel at high speed.  I can see people in restaurants stopping mid-bite to watch our bright red fireboat zipping along 100' from their dinner table.  We didn't have the emergency flasher lights on, but people seemed to really notice us anyway.  It was a beautiful evening to be on the water with light winds, some interesting clouds, and no other boat traffic to contend with.

Heading toward the rainbow bridge, quickly  :-)

We head out "hole in the wall" and make the turn towards Whidbey Island.  As we near Goat Island we can see the overturned boat.  It's about a 16' aluminum fishing boat tied to a piling.  There is no motor.  There is a red plastic outboard motor gas can floating in the water tethered to the boat by the fuel line.  There is also a floating crab-pot type float tied to the disabled boat.  No sign of life jackets, or any other equipment though. 

The overturned boat, at the base of the first piling.

We start to scan the beaches and after a minute or two spot two people on shore.  They are just walking around, not seeming too excited about the situation.  We motor over to them.  It was a VERY low tide today and this entire area was dry, but we are now in 6'-8' of water almost all the way to shore.  As we get there we get our first good look at these people that seem to have misjudged the tide.

"Frumpy" woman on cell phone while smoking, on the left

Guy with a beer in his hand & bright green hair, on the right.

So, we get to shore and shut off the engine.  They appear to be in their late 20's or early 30's.  They look a bit confused, unconcerned, and frankly, drunk or wasted.  It's going to be dark in an hour.  We ask if they need a ride and much to our surprise they say "NO -- we are camping here overnight and are fine".  That prompts us to ask if they are equiped to stay overnight and he says "oh yeah, we setup a camp over there somewhere, we've got food, a tent, sleeping bags, some hamburgers, and beer."  By the slurring in his voice and the beer can in his hand I already figured out they had plenty of beer!   They ask what that red thing floating by their boat is, because it's so far away they can't really make it out.  It was their gas can, and the outboard motor must be at the bottom because it wasn't on the transom anymore.  We ask if they have been contacted by the Coast Guard and he replies "no, we've been trying to call her sister but she isn't home."  She holds her phone up for us to see as she simultaneously blows a big cloud of cigarette smoke into the air.  Classy.  The Coast Guard is en-route by now, so we alert them that they don't need to come.  We ask this couple what their plan is for the overturned and sunken boat and they say "we are just going to wait until low tide tomorrow and go out there and see if we can flip it over".  I hope they have oars, because they aren't getting that motor started......  We tripple-check with them to make sure they are fine and do not need assistance.  They say that they came here to spend the night and that is what they are doing, it's just that they "goofed on the tide a bit",   Ahh,  YEAH!!!!!  Just a bit.  Their boat was tied to a post at a negative tide when the base was out of the water (which is now 10' underwater).  That post is now almost 1/2 mile away from dry land.  That's more than a "bit". 

On the ride back to the marina the fire chief quipped "So the 911 caller that reported this said they were by the green bouy?  Or that the guy IS a green bouy."   --  His hair was BRIGHT green.  Personally, I don't think it was natural.

That was definitely an experience, and that couple was an absolute trip.  Talk about bizarre people.  I can't really convey it in words, but they were pretty "trippy".  I don't know, perhaps they escaped from some sort of institution and we really should have captured them.....

May 09, 2010 - Griffin Bay (San Juan Island)

As I've mentioned before, we are starting to try new locations.  We are looking through our guidebooks, some of which are not even for boaters, trying to come up with new places to check out.  This time we've decided to go to American Camp, on San Juan Island.  Back in the late 1850's there was almost a war between Britian and the US which all started when a US farmer shot and killed a British pig on San Juan Island.  It is now known as the "pig war".  The border between the US and Canada through the islands was decided as a result of this joint occupation.

Click here for wikipedia "pig war" info

Anyway, I have asked many boaters I know and I have yet to find anyone that has been here by boat.  Apparently almost a million visitors go to the park by car every year, but very few go by boat.  There are reports in a few of our books of a mooring buoy or two near the park.  We leave Shelter Bay by about 3:30 and Kathy is now starting to run the boat.  She does a fine job of backing the boat out of its slip and navigating our way out the marina, down the channel, and through deception pass.  It is time to make this a truly equal effort.  We both need to be able to handle all aspects of the boat, since we are planning to spend a year living on board this boat down in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico in 2-3 years.  Kathy needs to be fully competent at running the boat should I become injured or sick and she needs to take control.

Kathy enjoying the view of San Juan Island

The weather couldn't be better; clear skies, no wind, warm air, and almost no boats.  We enter Griffin Bay and find no boats anywhere.  The bay is about 3 miles long and we cruise the entire length and never spot the alleged mooring buoys.  So, we drop the hook up at the north end of the bay in about 20' of water.  The anchor again takes a quick and firm set.  This anchor is much more reassuring than our old one.  We are very close to Friday Harbor, which is just over the hill from us.  It would probably be an easy walk into town from here if we needed supplies, which we don't.

We have read that there are sand dunes at English Camp, about 3 miles south of us at the other end of the bay.  We all go to bed early and then get up early.  We are finished with breakfast by about 8:00AM so I get the dinghy down, Kathy packs a lunch for us, and we all head down the bay toward the park in the dinghy.  We find the trailhead at the beach and land the dinghy there.  It's about a 1.5 mile walk to the sand dunes.  It's an almost perfect day with no clouds.  We find the dunes, which are slowly being taken over by vegetation.  There is still a lot of nice sand to play in and the kids have a blast.  We are here for hours!

  

Kevin catches some air.

Cindy's turn - with style!!!

What a setting - the Olympic mountains in the background.

On our way back we see two foxes running on the road towards us.  They are very tame and come up pretty close.  This is a little freaky because we aren't sure what their intent is; they are wild animals after all.

This fox is maybe 20' from us!

Here's his buddy.

We walk back toward the boat, but take a different route along a nice trail through the woods.  It's a popular trail that leads down to the beach, quite a ways from where we left the dinghy.  The kids are having fun running down the trail and chasing each other.

Kevin on the move.

We walk the beach and slowly work our way back to the dinghy.  We decide that we could probably anchor down here very close to the park, and we might move down here this afternoon, or Sunday morning.  When we get back to the boat the kids want to go swimming.  Yikes!  The water is only 49 degrees.  They do it anyway!!!!!  They are braver than us adults.

Getting out of the COLD water

Cindy swimming - she doesn't even look cold.

Steve and Cindy out playing in the dinghy after dinner.

Sunday we get up and move the boat down close to American camp.  We drop the anchor a few hundred yards off shore and get another good bite from our new anchor.  VERY nice!  This would be a great spot to spend a weekend and it would be well protect from West, South, and East winds.  We dinghy over to shore and and hike back to the sand dunes for some more fun in the sun. The kids love this place.  There are lots of hiking trails that we didn't have time to explore.   We never made it to the old site of "American Camp" or even down to the south beach.

We will be back here again for sure!

May 2, 2010 - Opening Day Boat Parade (La Conner)

We finally joined the Swinomish Yacht club a few weeks ago.  It's a really fun bunch of people, with quite a few families and children for our kids to play with.

The VERY fun Swinomish Yacht Club

The club puts on the annual opening day boat parade every year in the Swinomish Channel.  This years theme was "get your flamingo on".  Wow, that's a challenge to decorate.  Kathy tried to get pink flamingos and found that most stores were already sold out - hmmmm, I wonder why?  Kathy had the kids (our two children, as well as the Southard children Braden, Will, and Emily) paint some bed sheets with flamingos and palm trees.  I converted our big umbrella from the Christmas boat parade into a huge palm tree.  It all came together pretty well, but we didn't take the prize for best decorated boat like we did in the Christmas parade.  The Southards came along for the parade and some of the kids were dressed up as flamingos, and some held green umbrellas to look like palm trees.

Synergy decorated for the parade.

Flamingo posters painted by the kids.

Flamingos and palm trees.

Little Emily with her new pals.

The weather turned out great for the parade.  Some wind, but the sun came out, which was great.  The next day was rainy and dreary, but parade day was great.  There were about 30 boats in the parade, all sporting pink, and lots of it.  We got fuel today at the fuel dock and Phil (works at the dock) said someone was fueling up while the parade was going on and asked if it was a "gay parade".   Ha ha ha.

lots of pink out there!

Some friends of ours from Shelter Bay (where we live) were invited over to represent the Shelter Bay Yact Club.  They came over in their Ranger 20' sailboat and Greg even wore pink and pranced around like a Flamingo.  Greg is pretty brave!  When I was in high school a friends parents owned a Ranger 20 sailboat and we spent a lot of time on Lake Washington learning to sail on a boat just like this one.  It was a LOT of fun.

Ranger 20' with Greg dressed as a Flamingo

Not to be outdone, some other friends of ours went all out on thier boat.  Ellie made Flamingo costumes for her husband Gary and his brother.  They were amazing, and funny.  Of course, with an effort like this, you would expect them to win the prize for the best (and most entertaining) boat.  And, they did win it!

Home made flamingo costumes.  AWESOME!

The winning boat - good job Gary and Ellie

The La Conner fireboat was there, and we saw them spray water a few times.  The Skagit County Sheriff boat was there.  Also there was Skagit Bay Search and Rescue, which I (Steve) am an active member of. 

La Conner fireboat

Skagit County Sheriff boat

Skagit Bay Search and Rescue

Skagit Bay Search and Rescue - a great organization

After the parade there was a lot of celebrating to commemorate the beginning of boating season.  Follow by a great dinner and party.  Gary (the flamingo, and owner of the winning boat) is the guitarist and singer for the yacht club band.  They put on a great show after dinner.  At the parade awards ceremony, Kathy, the kids, and I were brought on stage to we could be welcomed into the yacht club.  We already know a lot of people in the club, plus we made many new friends at the party.  It is going to be a really fun group of people to boat with.   

After the party we went back to the boat to spend the night at the dock.  It was quite windy overnight, and we were happy that we were securely tied to a dock.  In the morning, after breakfast, we motored over to the fuel dock to refuel and then headed back home.  It started to sprinkle a bit on the way home.  By afternoon it had turned into steady rain.  We spent a few hours on the boat in our slip because the kids just didn't want to leave the boat. 

Quite a few of the parade boats at the turn around point.

That was probably the shortest overnight boat trip we've ever taken.  It was a blast!