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!!!