Mike and Beth's Adventures

  October has always been a month ripe for adventure.  In years past, it’s been a time to hike, surrounded by glorious fall colors, or bike the cool, crisp days of the Sierra Nevada.  This year we are embarking on a different kind of adventure. Excitedly, we are starting a trip which will take a full year and involve a car trip across the country and then a 6000-mile exploration of the eastern portion of north America by boat.  Upon completion, we will have inscribed a big loop bounded by the Gulf Coast to the south, the Atlantic Coast to the east and up the Hudson River and Erie Canal, to the Great Lakes thru the Canadian canals into Georgian Bay and a return to the Great Lakes in the north, Chicago, and then the inland river system to return south to our starting point. Our journey started quietly on a calm clear day.   We said our goodbyes to friends and neighbors, the boat, trailer, and truck were ready and loaded.   We were eager to begin, w ith our ...

Our visit to the Pacific Northwest is drawing to a close.  We did our final cruises on Labor Day weekend.  We hosted Beth's brother and his wife for a day cruise up the east side of Camano Island.  The day was calm but completely devoid of any marine mammals.  We were hoping to encounter some whales or porpoises.  They all stayed at home.  Still it was fun to cruise the verdant and log filled shore line.  We saw some good beaches where it would be fun to anchor offshore and dinghy into the beach for a picnic or a visit.  Due to pandemic quarantining, we had not seen each other face to face for many months, so it was wonderful to have this time to re-connect and catch up. The following day we took the grandkids and their parents out salmon fishing and crabbing.  We set out on this expedition late morning on a strong ebb tide.  As soon as we exited the marina, the combination of the downstream current in the Snohomish River and the ebbing ...

        I admit, I have a serious case of Port Ludlow house envy.  This guy's boat house is bigger than his house!  What wonderful toys are arrayed inside?  Wouldn't you love to know?  But if I actually lived here I would spend all my time taking care of the house, boat house, boats and other toys.  No doubt leaving little time for play.  So maybe it is best that I don't somehow end up in possession of this scrumptious place.  I like my vagabond existence.  It is so nice to move the boat to a new location when it is time to have new experiences.  The joy of discovery is the gift that keeps on giving.  You never know what is just around the next headland or around the bend in the river. So what did we do in Port Ludlow?  We hiked.  There are 32 miles of trails near the marina.  It was great to get out and stretch our legs.  The area had been logged, so it was all second growth forests.  Yo...

In 1792, George Vancouver, British Royal Navy,  ventured into Hood Canal in longboats. He left his ships, the  Discovery  and  Chatham , in nearby Port Townsend. Vancouver and his crew journeyed as far as the mouth of the Skokomish River, near the present day town of Union, where Menzies, his botanist, was amazed by the rich vegetation as well as the natural beauty of the area. He wrote in his journal, “here the arm was hemmed in by lofty Mountains on one side and low flat country of considerable extent on the other.” We also have been captivated by the beauty of Hood Canal.  There are no large towns, so it looks much the same today as it did when initially explored.  Its beauty continues to be defined by the clear blue skies, blue water and lush green forests descending all the way to the water.  The Fjord, which is often more than 500 feet deep, separates the Kitsap Peninsula from the Olympic  Peninsula.  The towering mountains of the Olymp...

This week we are starting an exploration of the Hood Canal area of the Puget Sound.  We departed Everett Marina Monday morning Previously we had torn down the carburetor, on the outboard for our dinghy, for a good cleaning.  We were looking forward to trying it on this trip, to insure it was working as expected. Weather was good as we left Everett and got better as we entered the Hood Canal.  Beth shared that it reminded her of the fjords we saw in Norway.  Once we rounded Foulweather Bluff, the water was glass smooth thanks to the protection of the tree covered hills on both sides.  The water depths were consistently 300 feet or deeper.   This probably explains why the US Navy has a major submarine base located here.  We here not able to get close, but through binoculars could see both missile boats and attack subs at the docks.   Pleasant Harbor is located in a quiet cove about 23 nautical miles south from the entrance to Hood Canal....

  “Defiance departing slip 22 alpha”, “Sojourner on channel 78 alpha requesting a slip for 2 nights”, The VHF radio traffic as we approached Roche Harbor was non-stop.    The harbormaster on the VHF radio was talking continuously, managing the extremely high volume of traffic leaving the harbor, moving into a slip, in a holding pattern waiting for a slip or in the final bucket of “you are way down the list, what is your phone number, we’ll call if something opens up. I really felt as if I had flown into a ma jor international airport with the radio traffic occurring with multiple accents and the staccato instruction of the harbormaster being continuously fired back.   As we moved through the marina toward the fuel dock, we had to stop and hold short of an intersecting fairway to allow a yacht the size of a frigate to depart.   Looking around us we could see that every available spot was filled, sometimes with 4 boats jammed into a space meant for 2.   We lo...