Sept. 27 2010 - Search and Rescue Mission

I got called out today with Skagit Bay Search and Rescue to look for a body.  There were two Skagit Bay Search and Rescue boats and the Skagit County Sheriff Boat.  I won't go into any details but it was a very uneventful mission.  We found nothing despite looking for more than 3 hours.  The weather was very warm but it was blowing quite hard when we left La Conner and the three of us on the "Safe Boat" got pretty wet.

One of the Search and Rescue boats.

The Skagit County Sheriff's boat.

Video from the "Safe Boat", the second Search and Rescue boat.

The ride home was much more pleasant that the trip out.  The wind had died down and with the warm air it dried us all out.  I'm happy to help when I can, and someday I'll be on a mission that will make a real difference in somone's life.  In the mean time, it's a great training ground for learning all about boating safety and what can happen if you choose to ignore safe boating practices.

Sept. 26 2010 - Hope and Kiket Islands

It's been a while since we've been out boating as a family and we really miss it.  We would normally leave on Friday afternoon but Kevin is now playing soccer and he has games on Friday nights.  It is really fun to watch him and the other kids playing.  Kevin loves it so far.  He is a very defensive player and seems to want to be the goalie (even though at this age they don't have goalies).

Kevin guarding the goal while Madoc keeps an eye on the ball.

After the game we walk over to the elementary school for an open house to see both Cindy and Kevin's classrooms.  My sister Pat and my mother came to the soccer game and also to the open house.  Pat and my mom get to meet their teachers too.  Afterwards we all went to dinner at our local Mexican restaurant.  Then the four us headed to our boat and a night tied safely to the dock.

Kathy and I wake up just after sunrise and get the boat going while the kids are asleep.  It's a beautiful morning as we leave Shelter Bay at sunrise.


Leaving our marina at sunrise.  What a great way to start the day!

Recently I swapped out the flybridge radar display for a unit that is also a chartplotter.  It connects to the pilothouse radar display which turns that display into a chartplotter.  So now I have 3 chartplotters in the pilothouse.  I also have an old laptop setup as a chartplotter as a backup.  Talk about redundancy in the event of failure.

3 chartplotters:  Raymarine, PC-based, and the iPhone (lower right).

Cindy gets up early and reads a book while in transit.

It's blowing 20+ knots from the south so we are headed to the North side of Hope or Kiket Island to escape the wind.  We decide on Hope Island because it will be more protected from the wind if it shifts to the SE as predicted.  We drop the anchor close to shore at Hope Island and then have breakfast.  After breakfast we hop in the dinghy to go explore Kiket Island.  Although this is close to home and a place we have anchored at many times it has always been "off limits" for exploration because it has been privately owned.  But earlier this year the state of Washington bought the island for $14.3 million and it is now part of the state park system.  There have been no improvements yet and I believe the only access right now is from the water.  Here is the complete Kiket Island story from the Seattle newspaper:

Seattle Times story about Kiket Island

It is a great place and it is so close to home.  It opens up yet another option for hiking and beach combing for us.  We have so many places to go that are literally at our our back door; boating is very good near Shelter Bay.  Kiket is an interesting place to explore with a boathouse, house, swimming pool, tennis court, and many small outbuildings from when it was privately owned.  The house is pretty nice and still has some furniture inside, but is clearly unoccupied.  We picked some apples from a tree out front and then walked around the house.  What a view this place has!  Deception Pass to one side, and a great view south toward Mt. Rainier.  This is the kind of property that dreams are made off; seclusion, incredible views, private beaches, a forest, and surrounded by water on 3 sides.  There is a tiny spit that connects Kiket to shore and the gravel driveway runs across this spit.

View of Deception Pass.  Fresh apples from a tree in the front yard. 

The bay on Kiket with the boathouse.  Nice beach.  Lots of driftwood.

The house (now empty) and large front lawn.

After we hike around Kiket a bit we get back in the dinghy to have lunch on our boat.  The wind has kicked up to at least 25 knots and we are zipping along over the whitecaps in our 12' dinghy.  It is warm and sunny and the kids are giggling with every wave; it was a fun ride back.   Once back to the our boat we make tuna melts in the new propane oven.  The propane oven works much better than the old electric unit it replaced.  The tuna is from my tuna fishing trip a few weeks ago.  Some of the tuna we caught went to a cannery and is now in cans like you would buy from the store, except it is better than any tuna I've had before.

After lunch we head over to Whidbey Island in the dinghy to play in the sand at Ala Spit.  This is a favorite of ours as it is very close to home, it has nice sand, and there is a lot of driftwood to explore.

Kevin jumping off the driftwood into the warm sand.

Cindy's turn!

Making sand castles.  It's windy today.

Doing cartwheels in the sand.

Somersault races in the sand

After several hours of fun in the sand we head back to the boat.  Kathy and the kids play UNO for a while and I work on trying to fix a few window leaks while it is dry outside.



Skip, Skip, Reverse, Draw Four!!!!  Ha Ha, I win.

After dinner the kids watch a few Mario short cartoons on DVD and then off to bed.  It's supposed to rain tonight and all day tomorrow.  That's exactly what happens.  At about 12:30AM it starts to rain, and at times it is POURING.  It was a very wet night and the wind whips and whirls too.  But, it was a good night on the hook and we wake to mist and drizzle, and fog.

Rain and fog.  What a difference a day makes.

It was very nice to get back out on the boat.  The weather Saturday was spectacular.  I fear that Saturday could be the last really nice day of the year.  Let's hope not!!!

Sept. 12, 2010 - Steve tuna fishing (open ocean)

I (Steve) had a last minute opportunity to go tuna fishing on a friend's boat.  I bumped into Steve on Monday and mentioned that I had heard he was heading out to sea to go tuna fishing.  He said that someone cancelled and he had an opening and offered it to me.  I weighed my options, looked at my work load, talked to Kathy about being gone for 4 days and decided the answer was YES!

The Crew:  Jeff D, Mark S, Kevin M, Steve E, Jeff B, Steve S

There were 6 of us on the boat.  Steve S. the boat owner and fishing expert, Mark S. a good friend of mine, Jeff B. a commercial fisherman and pilot, Jeff D. a fishing fanatic and owner of a 62' yacht, Kevin M. a drywaller and avid fisherman, and me who knows nothing about fishing.  I didn't know 3 of the guys on the trip, but that didn't matter, we all hit it off and got along great.  We left the dock at about 6:30AM Thursday, headed out Deception Pass, and then straight toward Victoria, B.C.  I took over the helm almost immediately after passing through Deception Pass.   Around Victoria we spotted around 15-20 killer whales (Orcas) in several different groupings.  At Victoria I made a slight change in our coarse and headed directly toward Neah Bay.  The waters weren't bad with some mild rollers, small wind waves, and not much traffic.  We were cruising at about 24 knots in Steve's 42' Jersey sport-fisher.  We were at the tip of Washington by 11:00 AM (that seemed very quick to me as I am used to travelling at 1/3 this speed).  We stopped to check our fuel level and decided to skip filling the tanks and proceed to the open ocean to go fishing.  This proved to be a poor decision!

Tuna live in warm water, and we were still in cold water.  Steve had printed out thermal satellite images showing the water temps and estimated we would find warm water about 40 miles out.  It was actually about 60 miles out before we found warm water.  Interestingly, the warmer water changes from the greenish color we know in Puget Sound to a light blue color.  The water also seems much more transparent and clear. 

Chart showing our locations.  Fishing was about 65 miles offshore.

Once in the warm and blue water, we stop and get rigged for fishing. With 4 poles in the water it doesn't take long to land the first fish.  Wow, these are big fish at about 25-30 pounds.  It also doesn't take long for some of us to start feeling queezy.  It's pretty rough out there and just standing is difficult at times.  Steve S is driving from the flybridge where the motion is exagerated, and also prone to diesel fumes.  It doesn't take long before I hear the call "Elston, get up here".  I take over the helm so Steve S can deal with his sea-sickness.  He's basically out of commision the rest of the day.  We motor around at about 7 knots for an hour and half landing 8 more tuna and losing 3 others right at the boat.

My first tuna.  This is fun fishing!

We now have a decision to make.  Do we stay out here overnight in these rough conditions, or do we head back to a port?  This is where passing the fuel dock enters the picture.  Since we had to go an additional 20 miles out to find warm water, and it's now an additional 20 miles to back to land, we have burned a lot more fuel than anticipated.  We are also starting to run out of daylight for the trip back to land.  Staying overnight out here doesn't appeal to any of us and we already have a sick captain.  We decide to head to La Push on the Washington coast.  It's about 63 miles away and we are nervous about our fuel situation.  We can deal with losing the daylight, but not with running out of fuel.  So, with me at the helm I plot a course for La Push and head there at a reduced speed in an attempt to maximize our fuel efficiency.  Without fuel flow meters though, nobody knows what the most efficient speed is for this boat; it's just a guess.  The seas are rough, and it appears that we will get there after dark.  After about 2.5 hours of motoring toward land Steve S recovers enough to come up the flybridge and looks at the fuel guage (notoriously innacurate on boats due to the rocking and rolling) and figures we have enough to get us back even if we speed up.  We pick up the pace for the last 45 minutes or so and make it to the narrow and somewhat tricky entrance to La Push with just enough light tol see the entrance channel.  None of us have been here before so we don't know where to go, but we manage to get into the marina and find an empty slip.  It is now completely dark, but we are here.  The fuel gauge is reading empty on both tanks!!!  Phew, that was close.

Scenic La Push on the rugged Washington coast.

We find the fuel dock which is closed for the evening but will be open early tomorrow morning.  We change slips to a guest moorage slip, and then we start cleaning fish for a delicious fresh tuna dinner.

Kevin and Jeff B. clean fish for dinner.

In the morning we get up and move to the fuel dock which is just opening.  The fuel pump isn't working right though and is pumping fuel at about the rate of 1 gallon every two minutes.  We need 400 gallons; this isn't going to work!  After many stops and starts and resetting of the fuel pump it finally starts flowing correctly and we get the boat filled up.  It probably took an extra hour to fill the tanks with all the fuel pump problems.  We still had enough fuel in the tanks for about 2 more hours of run-time before we ran out.  That's cutting it pretty close.  We are headed out by 8:30 but it's a 3-4 hour run to the fishing grounds.  We wanted to be underway two hours ago.

The day is spent fishing in much calmer conditions than yesterday.  We pull in about 15 Tuna, but lose at least 6.  It was a very fun day with everone taking turns pulling in fish.  We have 7 lines in the water; 4 on the outriggers, 2 off the stern, and 1 off the rod holders on the flybridge.  Steve S spends the entire day driving the boat and fishing the rod that is in the flybridge holder.

With much smoother water we decide to stay out here overnight to avoid the 6-8 hours of travel time to get back to shore and then back out to fish.  This will also save a ton of fuel.  At sunset we stop fishing and start getting dinner going.  BBQ steaks tonight.  The sky is clear and the stars are amazing.  Mark comments that he's never seen the sky like this before.  The milky way stretches from horizon to horizon.  We are so far away from city lights that the sky is BLACK.  Mark and I spend some time in the cockpit gazing at the incredible sky above us.  It is a bit strange to me to just shut off the engines and genset, turn on the running and anchor lights and go to sleep drifting around in the ocean.  There is no way to anchor as we are in almost 6000' of water; that's more than a mile deep!

65 miles offshore, sunset, fairly smooth water, and FISHING.

getting ready to net another tuna.

Putting up a fight.

Jeff D. and his big tuna.

Mark sets a pole for some sunset fishing.

It was pretty bouncy overnight and several of us didn't sleep well.  Despite that we are up and fishing just as the sun starts to rise.  This will be a full day of fishing.  We catch another 15 or so tuna.  One fish is huge, around 35 pounds.  If we were in the tuna derby held a few weeks ago, this fish would have taken first place.  We fish until about 2:00PM when things slow down and decide to make a run back to Neah Bay where we will fill up with fuel and spend the night. 

Jeff B. with the largest tuna we caught. Steve has an average one.

Fish On!

Fueling up at rainy Neah Bay.

After dark a fishing boat comes in and takes a slip near us.  He has some really nice underwater LED lights that attract a lot of fish, and our attention.

Cool blue LED underwater lights on a Lindell 36'

Captain Steve at the helm of his boat.



On Sunday we sleep in a bit as everyone was exhausted from fishing for days on a rocking boat.  We pull out of Neah Bay to do a little Salmon and Cod fishing.  It is rainy and cold.  A couple of the fishing experts manage to get several nice cod, but I can't seem to even get a bite.  We pull the rods in at about 2:30 and make the 3.5 hour run back to La Conner.  I drive for about 1/2 of the journey home.  The Jersey 42 is a fun boat to drive; it's like a sportscar.

Fishing for Cod at the very corner of Washington State.

Large rock pillar on the NW tip of WA State.

The lighthouse on rugged Tatoosh Island.

It was a great trip!  We all had a lot of fun and it was certainly a new experience for me.  We ended up with 38 tuna!!!  I don't think any of us have ever been that far offshore before, and really, not many people have.  Of all the boater's I know, only a small handful have ever ventured that far out in a small boat.  I learned a lot about fishing, and I got to spend a lot of time driving and navigating too, which I love to do.

I hope I get the chance to go again next year!




Sept. 6, 2010 - Blind Bay and Griffin Bay

It's the Labor Day 3-day weekend - yippie!  We get out around 3:00PM on Friday and stop at the fuel dock to refill after our 16 day trip that ended a few weeks ago.  It's a nice sunny day, with no wind.  We are headed to Blind Bay on Shaw Island in the San Juan Islands.  We have brought our bikes along so that we can go ashore for some exploration with the kids.  Shaw is one of only four islands in the San Juan's serviced by the WA. State ferry system, but it's the least visited island because it is small and mostly residential.  That means there isn't much traffic on the roads though, which is great for biking with kids.

Goofing around in the salon.  Fun family time on the boat.

Kathy takes a kayak ride Saturday morning to check out the beach access and finds us a nice place to get to a road to start our bike ride.  Amazingly, all 4 bikes fit in the dinghy, along with the 4 of us.

We got it all in one trip to shore.

Not prepared; every tire needed air before we could ride.

Biking beautiful Shaw Island.

We rode to a wonderful sand beach at Indian Cove and had a picnic lunch.  After that we rode to Squah Bay were we found an abandoned sailboat on the beach. 

Our lunch stop.  Warm sand, light winds, perfect!

Here's a fixer upper!  Come and get it.

Our friends the Daltons are headed to Blind Bay this afternoon, and our bike ride is taking a long time;  we hope we get back before they arrive.  We stop at the Shaw Island elementary school to check it out.  It has about 5 classrooms, and is very cute.  On one of the walls we see a great driftwood creation.  I think we might work making one of these with our kids.  The kids spend some time playing on their playground; which was pretty good.  We also stop at the museum and library just across the street.  They were worth stopping for.

Can you figure out what this is?

Shaw Island Elementary School.

The Dalton's arrive shortly after we return to our boat.  They tie along side us and the kids immediately get together to play with each other.  It is very nice to have another family to meet on a regular basis when boating.  Everyone gets along so well too!

Our boats tied together.  Nice weather and great friends.

Mark and Jenn have brought their crab traps and crabbing license.  And, guess what?  They get some nice keepers right away!  Dinner is great; fresh crab, BBQ chicken, salad, local corn on the cob, steamed mussels, and wine.  Yummy!!!

Grace teaches Kevin how to hold a large Dungeness crab.

On Sunday we motor over to Griffin Bay on San Juan Island.  This is a place not many boater's seem to visit. This is the 4th or 5th time we've been here now, and we love it.  The anchor always gets a great hook, and it is protected from most winds. The beach is loaded with driftwood, there are hiking trails galore, and there are even some sand dunes to play on.  It is a place where the kids always find interesting things to do.  The Dalton's arrived before us and dropped the "lunch hook" while they awaited our arrival.  Aidan and Kevin went out rowing while they waited.  It was easier just to tow them back over in the boat than to pull the dinghy back up.

Is hitch hiking even legal anymore?  What a life :-)

After the boats are tied together we head to shore for the short hike to the sand dunes.  OK, they aren't like the sahara, but they are fun nonetheless.  Cindy wants to get burried in the sand so Aidan, Grace and Kevin work hard to make it happen.

These kids are strange......

We spend some time in the dunes and then someone notices a black object about 1/2 mile away in a field.  It wasn't there a little while ago.  We know there are foxes here because we saw them last time we were here.  But this was bigger than a fox.  We all start looking at it.  Even with binoculars we can't figure it out.  Kids are saying it's a bear.  Imaginations are running wild.  What is it?  Then it ducks down and disappears.  YIKES, it's alive!!!!   Now we are on a mission; to find and ientify this creature hiding in the tall grass.  We get shoes on, pack up our stuff, and head in the direction of the mysterious creature.  It pops up again, then disappears.  Oh man, what are we going to find.  The kids are getting VERY excited, and perhaps even nervous.  Then it stands up and starts walking.  It's a man wearing a hoodie.  Must be one of the rangers doing some studies on the wildlife in the area.  We have a good laugh and decide to go to the beach because Grace and Cindy want to swim.  That was funny....

Cindy, Grace, and Kevin play in the water.  52 degree water!!!

Later that night after dinner, we dinghy back to shore for a little beach fire and smores.  We almost went through all of our matches getting the fire started but managed to get it going with 3 matches left.  Phew.  Sitting around the fire toasting marshmallows with our good friends help make boating so memorable.  Good times!!!

The Dalton Gang (Mark, Grace, Jenn, Aidan). 

Beachfire and smores.  Stories from Aidan and Mark.  Griffin Bay.

The rain which has been forecast all weekend finally arrives while we sleep on Sunday night.  It rains pretty hard and there are some strong wind gusts as well.  The morning is spent inside the boats playing games.  Mark went to shore early and hiked for a few hours.  He wants to go back, but the kids aren't really too excited about hiking in the rain. We don't go back to shore.  We offer to take all 4 kids back with us so Mark and Jenn can go for a hike on their own (Mark HAS talked Jenn into hiking).  We leave Griffin Bay around noon in rain and fog.  The kids watch "Kung Fu Panda" and then "Surf's Up" on our TV while we motor back.  What a contrast in the weather from yesterday.

Rain, fog, some wind.  Radar and chartplotter working overtime.

It was another great trip on the boat.  Meeting up with friends makes these outings even more special.  It's a very rewarding lifestyle.....