Left West Bay Marina under clear sunny skies and light breezes for a trip to get out of town. I'm in the Independence and Kim with the dogs will meet up with me later in the Zipper. I pulled out of the slip at 1747, motored under slow bell to out front of the marina where I pulled in all the fenders and raised the mast. I noticed that I wasn't the only one with the same idea to get out of town as there were several other boats cruising past me. Instead of traveling the route that I normally do, that is following the channel around the Olympia Shoal and I made straight course for Hunter Point after passing the Olympia #5 daymark. The tide was rising high and my course would keep me well east of the Olympia Shoal shallows.
I eased the throttle up to my now comfortable, fuel sipping 1,700 rpm and enjoyed the cruise. Light breezes coming off of the water cooled me off as I sipped a nice cold beer. I commented to myself that it was sure nice to be out on the water and getting out of town. Coming back to work from the recent three week Canada cruise was hard. I felt like the time away just wasn't long enough. So this little respite would help me further adjust to the coming months of cold and wet weather. As I came up on Hunter Point the flood current increased and really moved me along to my anchorage just along the east side of Hope Island. I stayed well away from the nun buoy marking the shoal that extended from Squaxin Island. I motored as if I was going to run into Hope turning to starboard at the southeast corner of the island and then following the east shore of Hope Island. I eased the throttle back to an idle but I was still moving along at over 5 knots because of the current. I turned into the current edged along until I was in about 20' of water and dropped the hook. I quickly took the boat out of gear and let out more rode. As the anchor hit the bottom I let more chain out and the hook snagged the bottom and we came to a sudden stop. I was firmly anchored at 1915. I shut the engine off and sat out on deck enjoying the quiet. The sun had already set behind the island making it nice and cool. I cleaned up the galley and waited with cool drink for the crew to show up.
Kim and the dogs showed up at 2000. The sun was just starting to set and the Squaxin Island shore was ablaze in orange. The dogs quickly jumped aboard and I could tell that they too were happy to get out of town. Kim brought supper from town and we quietly sat enjoying the quiet and cool of Hope Island. After a short beach trip we started to settle down for the night. By 2130 it was dark and we went to bed. We both agreed it was good to get out of town.Saturday, August 19, 2011.
It was a completely quiet night not a sound was heard all night long which developed into a beautiful morning. The sun rose over Squaxin Island to present a completely clear and sunny day. We enjoyed a nice breakfast of Bread Peddler Morning Rolls and coffee, and discussed "where to today?" We decided to go on to Jarrell's Cove. So at 0935 we weighed anchor and moved on north to Jarrell's Cove.
We slowly made our way out into Pickering Passage riding the morning flood. Waters were calm with nary a breath of wind. Only our wake disturbed the waters. Again we cruised at an even slower rpm today only doing about 1,600 rpm which with the current moved us at a comfortable 6 knots. We passed below the Hartstene Island bridge, and by Walkers Landing and into Jarrell's Cove on Hartstene Island. There were a couple of mooring buoys open and we took one that was farthest south into the cove. The small dock was packed, but the large inner cove dock was almost empty. There was an international flair of boats as there were a couple of Canadian boats tied up to buoys too. They were touring Puget Sound since the weather was too cool up north. We chatted briefly and I told them how much I enjoy cruising in Canada. Before it got too hot we took the dogs for a walk through the park and out along the county road that lead into the park. You could tell the day was going to get hot. There were not any breezes it was just still. Later in the afternoon to beat the heat we took a Zipper trip to Fair Harbor. We stopped along the way at the small state park on the tip of Stretch Island to let the dogs play water fetch with a stick. We then enjoyed an ice cream at Fair Harbor and slowly cruised back to Jarrell's Cove via going beneath the bridge to Stretch Island. Mission accomplished everyone was cooled off.
When we returned we spied some friends moored on the dock with their boat. We stopped and chatted before returning to our boat for a light supper of anti-pasti - smoked salmon with cream cheese on crackers, proscuitto and brie on french bread. It was too hot for a cooked supper. We finished off the day with a couple of cool drinks.
Sunday, August 20, 2011.
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| Jarrell's Cove morning |
Stats: 31.1 nm, average speed 5.4 knots, 5:51 hrs. motoring, ending engine hours 6202.5
Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese
- 4 oz. of smoked salmon
- 1 package of cream cheese, softened
- 1 T of minced onion
- 1 t Bick's Red Pepper Relish
- 1/2 t dill weed (or to taste)
- 1 t capers
- pinch freshly grated black pepper
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