We Have No Reason To Hurry!

August 24, 2020. We took our time leaving Port Townsend. There was no wind in the morning anyway. What did we have to be in a rush about? NOTHING! Ahhhh, it feels so good. So, when we were ready, we pulled up the anchor and went into Boat Haven Marina to pump out our holding tank. This is not my favorite chore but I do love having a flushable toilet on the boat! We continued our journey south into more and more populated areas, unlike the San Juan Islands where much of the land is public park land. The weather was warm and sunny with some breeze on and off so we sailed and motored our way along in no hurry, just enjoying. We decided we would anchor in Manzanita Bay for the night. It is a long narrow bay on the northwest side of Bainbridge Island. To get there we went through Agate Passage, under a bridge. We checked and checked the charts. We cross referenced guide books. They all agreed that we would make it through the pass (it was deep enough and wide enough) and under the bridge (it was tall enough). Current can run up to 6 knots here where the channel gets down to 200 yards across so we timed our passage for close to slack tide. The bridge height is 76 feet. Our mast height is 63 feet. As we approached, the bridge definitely looked too low. We checked the charts again, still says 76 feet. We were really close now and it still looks too short. “Bill! What do we do if we hit the bridge?” “We won’t” came the response. I wasn’t so sure. Just as we began to squeeze under Bill said, “This looks lower than 76 feet” Wow! We made it! We both celebrated with a “Woohoo!” It really did look too short.

Manzanita Bay was beautiful! We really felt like we were camping in an empty lot in an upscale suburban neighborhood. Very peaceful!

August 25 we motored up Liberty Bay to Poulsbo. I am sure if it was not COVID this little harbor would be full of summer time happenings. We found a city park with trails. The park had special painted stones for kids to find along the trail. Like a treasure hunt. What a great idea! We noticed a big green motor trawler we had seen in previous anchorages. Jade was her name, small cruising world…

August 26 we sailed down Port Orchard Channel for about 3 hours. What a great sail! We could see Seattle in the distance. The anchoring at Blake Island was tricky. The bottom was steep, rocky, and deep. We anchored in 60 feet of water and for the first time used all of our chain and got out to our rope anchor rode. We have 200 feet of chain and 150 feet of rope attached to our 85 pound Mantus anchor. It worked and we were good for the night! Blake Island is a state park so, of course, we went for a jog. Along the trail we saw a mink! I tried to get a picture but it just looks like a little black smudge. In non-COVID times there is a Native American show and dinner that happens. We took the trails to the theater and checked it out anyway. There was a great view of Mount Rainier!

August 27 we are officially going south of Seattle for the first time to Quartermaster Harbor on Vashon Island. There is a county park to check out there. The parks all have maps painted onto wooden signs and color coded. Pretty cool! We saw these motor trawlers rafted up together and the name of the middle one tickled us.

August 28, our friend Sandora told us we MUST go to Gig Harbor. That was the next stop and she was so right! We had a wonderful time. As we came around the point into the harbor, we saw people kayaking, crazy kids swimming (brrrrrr!), restaurants were open with outdoor seating, people were socializing from their dinghies. Everyone we saw was being careful with distancing and masks but still able to have a little normalcy. I am sure the scene is much busier in non-COVID times. I was tired of eating groceries so we planned to get appetizers and a beer at the dock restaurant. The restaurant had a smoked salmon and asiago French fries appetizer and the waitress brought the food right to our kayak at the dock! We paddled home and set up the hammock on the foredeck. An outdoor jazz concert started on a floating dock right near us! Dinghies and boats began to raft up next to us to listen, and after each song all of the boats honked in appreciation. It was a great way to get live music because nobody could actually go to the public pavilion due to COVID precautions. Fun! We stayed another day. Tomorrow we are crossing under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge is 180 feet high, so no worries about getting under that. The current can get up to 5 knots and apparently can be one direction on one side and the other direction on the other side. Also the winds can really funnel through the narrows suddenly. We set out from Gig Harbor and almost immediately saw the bridge. It was really big! There was no current and very little wind. Once we crossed under the bridge a light breeze of about 6 knots came up so we pulled out the sails and enjoyed the sound of the water. We anchored in another beautiful suburban bay, Filucy Bay. Once again we noticed the now-familiar green motor yacht drop anchor in the other end of the bay. Next stop, Olympia!

August 31 on the way to Olympia, our southernmost stop. We pulled up the anchor and headed out. There was nice wind so out came the sails! We had a beautiful easy downwind sail for about two-and-a-half hours and then the wind stopped. We went to start the motor and it made a terrible sound like when you accidentally turn the key in a car that is already started. Of course this happened as the current pushed us slowly toward a rocky point. Bill went down below and found that the bolts on the starter were loose. He held it up in place while I started the engine. I guess that fix won’t wait until later!

Olympia is the capitol of Washington and it is situated at the far end of a long narrow bay called Budd Inlet. As we approached Olympia we could see the dome of the capitol building come into view. It seems to be sitting on a throne watching over the inlet. The capitol dome was the fourth tallest masonry dome in the world when it was built in 1922. We went all the way to downtown Olympia to Percival’s Landing and tied up at the city dock just in front of that big green motor yacht we had been seeing along our way! It was my first parallel parking job and Bill helped me look like a pro! The owner of that green 65 foot Selene, “Jade”, is Joel Marc, a Frenchman who sailed from New Caledonia. He has been around the world 5 times on three sailboats he has owned, and has been as far south as Antarctica! His favorite cruising grounds is Alaska but it is closed due to COVID this year so he decided to explore south for a change. He recently switched from a sailboat to the motor trawler. I am sure he is famous, we just don’t know it! We made arrangements to meet for a drink after dinner. Bill and I jogged up the hill to the capitol to explore. Later we met Joel and made a new friend!