Seattle – Riveted

Update from Puget Sound

Laura Domela — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 23:48:25 +0000

Since our little snow-filled adventure on Blake Island a week ago, we’ve been busy! We cruised back over to Seattle on Tuesday (with Sam on Safe Harbour) and stayed at Elliott Bay for a few nights. During that time we did some fun city stuff (mainly involving food)…we had dinner at The Ruins one night with some of Sam’s family (The Ruins is a dining club and event space, very cool), another meal at Din Tai Fung with Sam’s mom (lunch this time…more soup dumplings!), and then Sam and Anna and Kevin and I went to Serious Pie for dinner on Friday night (Tom Douglas’ pizza joint…SO GOOD!). We also drove up to Anacortes to take a test ride on a new Nordic Tug 40 equipped with a Seakeeper for roll stabilization. We were out in some pretty rough water in Rosario Strait and this Seakeeper thing is seriously impressive. Sitting still in 4ft beam waves…steady as can be. (Expensive test ride. This just added a bit more $$ to the price of our future new boat.)

On Friday we were scheduled to head over to Poulsbo for the first day of the annual Winter Rendezvous, but the weather was nasty so we opted to stay put until Saturday morning, when it was much calmer.

None of us had ever been to Winter Rendezvous so we really didn’t know what to expect.

We arrived just in time for the “opening ceremonies” in the Sons of Norway Hall, which mainly consisted of host Chip Hanauer dressed as “the Ringleader” (as in “circus”) and others dressed as characters from Star Wars (I forgot to mention the theme was “May the Fourth Be With You” in honor of the fourth year), as well as a plethora of fur- and horn-clad Vikings…the bar was open, the atmosphere was festive, and people seemed pretty happy to be there overall.

We walked around town a bit, stopped at Sluys’ Bakery, and then headed back to Airship for showers and a bit of work (skipping the “Poker Run” and “Scavenger Hunt”.

Arty photo of a little rowboat in the marina:

We thought we might hit the glogg tasting at 1pm, but Kevin and Sam got wrapped up in diagnosing an electrical thing and we ended up hanging on the boats until bonfire time.

The Winter Rendezvous is pretty much just a big party that people happen to boat to. There were no real “boaty” events (other than the arrival to Poulsbo by boat), but people seemed to really be enjoying themselves regardless.

The weather was so nice on Saturday afternoon that we spent some time on the top deck of Airship enjoying the view and the sun:

Just after 7pm we headed up for dinner at the Sons of Norway Hall, which consisted of giant trays of Spanish paella, with a delicious spinach salad.

The food was good and we enjoyed the evening (even though we left not long after the band started). We met some fun folks, the band was good, and man can those Rendezvousers drink!

On Sunday morning we headed over to meet up with some friends at Port Madison (north end of Bainbridge Island). We anchored a little ways from the Seattle Yacht Club outstation and dinghied in to join the group.

Andy and Jill (and Magnus and Porter) from ThreeSheets NW were there, along with some new friends Ryan and Autumn, whom we met at the boat show the week prior. We all gathered on the top deck of Sam’s boat for snacks and beer, and then Autumn got to work painting the new name of Andy & Jill’s dinghy in freehand red. It came out great!

Before, consulting about the look of the lettering:

Ta-Da!!

Hornpipe is apparently a sailor’s dance with several origin stories, if you’re curious about the name.

For dinner, we all migrated to the SYC facility up the hill to cook together and have a fire. Such a fun evening with great folks!

After breakfast this morning, we left Port Madison and headed for the port of Langley on Whidbey Island. Gorgeous weather today!

Since we knew we’d be in Langley tonight, we called yesterday and made a dinner reservation at Prima Bistro. (We’ll celebrate Valentine’s Day a day early…and then maybe again tomorrow, depending on where we are.)

We tied up on the outer dock (haven’t been on the outside before…it’s nice, and with a great view!) and then walked up and around town, enjoying the sunny day.

Spotted this tiger in the brush on our way up the hill. No explanation.

Now we’re back on Airship doing some work and listening to the seagulls chattering outside our open doors and windows. (Yes, it’s February….gotta get it while we can…last week we had 4-6 inches of snow!)

More Seattle Waterfront

Laura Domela — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 16:32:14 +0000

We had a nice afternoon around Bell Harbor yesterday. We grabbed some fish & chips and a beer up at Anthony’s for a late lunch and then did a bunch of work from Airship the rest of the day. The sun popped out beneath the clouds and made for some gorgeous light.

I snapped this quickly from the back of Airship last night. I love how the lights of the city bounce off the low cloud layer.

We’ll head over to the boat show later this morning. Kevin’s “Connected Cruising/WiFi in the Wilderness” seminar is today at 2:15pm…should be a good one!

Good Morning Seattle

Laura Domela — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 15:45:13 +0000

Gorgeous view of downtown Seattle from Airship this morning:

We met some new friends for brunch (delicious eggs benedict with dill hollandaise) at Lola yesterday morning (Hi Elaine and Fred! Thanks again!) and then did some work at the boat before we headed over to the boat show for the afternoon. This is a very small portion of the very large boat show.

The Nordic Tug booth ("booth" seems a funny term for what this is) has a brand new Nordic Tug 34 (beautiful…I want those countertops!) and a 39 that's a couple years old (but looks brand new), and they're playing Kevin's beautiful aerial copter video that he made at Patos Island (two places in the "booth" … check it out if you stop by…or just watch it here).

We roamed around and talked to people we knew and looked at boaty stuff, then returned to Airship so Kevin could finish up an article.

Later on we met up with our friends Sam & Anna and had dinner at a place up on Virginia and 2nd called Shaker & Spear. It was delicious! Kevin and I shared a beets and butter lettuce salad with goat cheese, and octopus with warm cannellini beans, celery, and salsa verde as first courses, and then shared two entrees: seared scallops with sunchoke purée, brussels sprouts, with a caper and blood orange sauce, and albacore with farro risotto, butter poached radishes, with an olive and orange tapenade. Super yum, all of it. Fun day!

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Laura Domela — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:55:19 +0000

Last night we went to The Walrus the the Carpenter over in Ballard for dinner. It was SO good. We started with some oysters (Hama Hama and Blue Pool…both from Hood Canal). Next came a perfectly spaced series of small plates to share: fried Brussells sprouts, beef tartare with egg yolk and rye toast, grilled sardines topped with walnut pesto, octopus ceviche with fennel, red onion, and cilantro, and the most surprising dish of all…a chicken liver mousse with fennel mustard and spiced prunes. This was incredible. I'm not a big liver fan (even the really good pate and stuff is often a bit of a challenge for me) but this dish was amazing. The spice prunes had a sweet sauce that swirled around the fennel mustard and the combination was crazy good. Anyway, yum! (We tried the cocktail called "mustache ride", which was bourbon, cynar, lemon, allspice dram, maple…also very good.)

The sunset was gorgeous again tonight. Here are two shots: (1) from the marina and then (2) from the car (Uber ride) on the way up to Ballard:

Sunny Seattle in February (again)

Laura Domela — Sun, 15 Feb 2015 21:53:02 +0000

It was another beautiful day in Seattle today. Perfectly clear skies and bright sun…warm, even!

We had some more visitors (hi Rebecca and Brian!) mid-day today…we hung out on the boat and visited, grabbed some lunch up at Anthony's, and then hung out on the top deck soaking up the sun and visiting some more. This is Jackson, their son, working on his sketchbook/journal:

Today's entry so far: "We went on a bot with frends" complete with cool drawing of a boat with lots of portholes! So sweet!

I can't get over what a gorgeous day it was/is today! We walked up to the market this afternoon to get some fresh oysters for dinner tonight (a friend from art school who now lives in Seattle is coming over…someone I haven't seen in way too long!) We got six Kumamotos, six Kusshis, and six…oh shoot, I forgot the third kind. Bah. Anyway, tonight we're having oysters, and then Cubano sandwiches (with Kevin's 72-hour pulled pork). Looking forward to another fun evening with good people!

One more shot of the pretty blue sky!

Seattle Valentine

Laura Domela — Sun, 15 Feb 2015 13:53:10 +0000

Great Wheel on the Seattle waterfront, with Valentine's Day themed light show, reflected:

Yesterday our friends (Lisa and George and their girls Maya and Lily) came by to say hi and check out the boat. We grabbed a bite up on shore and then we took 'em for a quick cruise out to Alki Point and back. It was a gorgeous afternoon and a fun little cruise!

The other day when we realized we were going to be in Seattle for Valentine's Day, we decided we felt like going out for dinner rather than cooking. I did a little research on Open Table to see if there were any nearby (decent) restaurants with availability, and found a 5pm slot at Roberto's Venetian Trattoria. The place sounded fun so we went for it.

Roberto's is kind of buried in the layers of the Pike Place Market, but it's a cool spot. Casual but nice, and the food was good! We shared some carpaccio and a caprese salad, two half orders of pasta (spaghetti carbonara and a papardelle with cinghiale). As a main, we split an order of the pesto halibut, and then shared the recommended tiramisu (which was much more like the creamy tiramisu we had in Italy, than the usual cakey versions you find in most U.S. restaurants). All was good and the portions were on the smaller side, so we didn't leave there feeling stuffed. We would definitely go back.

Roberto giving directions in the kitchen (velvet pin-striped jacket, pink/patterned dress shirt, red scarf…perfect):

After dinner we headed down the stairs to the waterfront. We thought we might take a ride on the Great Wheel, but everyone else had that same thouht and the line was huge, so we just walked back toward the marina along the waterfront. (We also learned that this week is Octopus Week at the Seattle Aquarium!!)

Back at Airship. (Awwww, so romantic…red pilot house lights, pink ferris wheel in the background).

Today, more visitors x2! It's a fun and social weekend in Seattle!

Gig Harbor to Bell Harbor

Laura Domela — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 14:32:45 +0000

This morning (after a cute sendoff from these two friendly ducks) we left Arabella's Landing in Gig Harbor. We made another stop at the guest dock of the Tides Tavern and had a "brunch" of fish tacos before heading north to Seattle. A bit of fog coming in:

Heading out of the harbor:

Visibility in Colvos Channel was pretty limited, but it cleared up after not too long. Nice view of Mt. Rainier:

Gorgeous sky behind us:

Just as we were nearing the tip of Vashon Island, I got a text from our friend Sam (he's got a Nordic Tug 37) who saw us on AIS. I had just opened my vessel tracking app and seen him around the west side of Blake Island, and I texted back "We see you too!" and then pretty soon we saw a little boat speeding toward us fast, and guess who it was?? Sam and his girlfriend Anna coming all the way out to say hi. We slowed and chatted for a few minutes and then they took off back to Blake. Fun!

There they go!

That's Blake Island in the background:

On our way into Seattle, right off of Duwamish Head, we saw some pretty dramatic splashing (and RED in the water) ahead of us.

We slowed to see what the commotion was. It was a sea lion eviscerating a large salmon (at least I think that's what it was), so we hung out for a few minutes and watched him fling that thing around SO hard (even though surely it was dead by then):

Yay, nature!

The approach into Seattle from the water always feels dramatic:

We're back at Bell Harbor for a few days with many visits with friends scheduled. Should be a fun weekend. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Route from yesterday:

Seattle to Tacoma in the Fog

Laura Domela — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 22:47:07 +0000

Yesterday morning our friends Kathy and Pete met us at the boat and we cruised over to the town of Winslow on Bainbridge Island for some breakfast. The day was gray and the water was a bit choppy, but we had a totally fun cruise!

We tied up at the City Dock in Winslow and then walked over to Doc's Marina Grill for breakfast. (I'm pretty sure Kevin and I were the only ones not wearing Seahawks jerseys. For real.)

Breakfast was really good (Kevin and I both had the Dungeness Crab Eggs Benedict, and I added spinach and tomato to mine). (There's also a Doc's Marine Grill at the Point Hudson Marina in Port Townsend, but I don't remember the food being as good at that location.)

We got back to Seattle at around 1pm so Kathy and Pete could make it to their friends' Super Bowl party, and Kevin and I walked about a mile up to a hardware store (closing at 3 for The Game) to pick up an 8mm hex wrench so we could install our new anchor (priorities, man).

The anchor swap went smoothly and the Rocna looks great on the bow of Airship (not as great as the super shiny $1800 stainless steel version would look, but apparently stainless is for people who don't anchor, and we plan to anchor…plus, an extra $1500 for stainless steel hardly seems necessary).

We whipped up some Super Bowl snacks (homemade guacamole, tortilla chips, and stuffed bacon-wrapped jalapenos) and watched the game on Airship (in the mostly deserted marina):

There were fireworks from the Space Needle at half time (and again after the game, which seemed weird since the Seahawks lost, but maybe they had leftover fireworks loaded and just needed to shoot 'em off already, loss or no loss).

After the game we had more visitors (Bee and Bob, who live over on Mercer Island…hi guys!) and we grilled up some fresh salmon for some salmon tacos. I made a slaw with cabbage, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro, chili powder, and pomegranate seeds (invented on-the-spot, turned out great!), and some frijoles negros. Fun visit and a nice last night in Seattle.

This morning we headed out at about 10am for a gray, drizzly, foggy cruise south to Tacoma. I piloted the boat while Kevin worked on finishing his article for this week. (That's getting to be a common cruise mode for us…me at the helm, Kevin working on his laptop next to me.)

It was super foggy, and visibility was quite limited much of the time. We have good navigation tools though (radar, GPS, AIS) and it's always good to get more practice using radar!

As we entered the Thea Foss Waterway (the waterway running north-south, immediately east of downtown Tacoma):

We're moored at the Dock Street Marina now (doing laundry!!) directly in front of the Tacoma Glass Museum (Airship's got a new hat!):

We'd planned to hit the glass museum tomorrow, but it turns out they're closed on Tuesdays as well as Mondays, so either we'll go on Wednesday morning before we take off, or we'll skip it this time (since we've been before). We may try to get over to the LeMay Car Museum while we're here though.

View from the boat tonight:

And here's our route from today (30.2 nautical miles):

New Rocna Anchor – It’s a Boy!

Laura Domela — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 21:37:49 +0000

One of the things on our "List of Things We Eventually Want For The Boat" was a new anchor. We really wanted a Rocna. I'll spare you all the details, but people LOVE these anchors and swear they work better than any other. We have nothing against the anchor that came with our boat and it's always worked well for us (we've got a Lewmar claw), but after reading some of the poetry written about the Rocna, well, we longed to feel that kind of love.

A local marine supply company (Fisheries Supply, based on Lake Union) had Rocnas for sale at the boat show for a special "Boat Show Price" which was a bit below the regular price. On Saturday morning (the last day of the boat show) we measured our bracket and windlass (the thing that holds and lowers the anchor from the bow), and took photos that included the tape measure so that we'd have the numbers we needed.

Between our two Saturday seminars (one on Anchoring, and one on Cruising the South Sound, which we're now doing…hi from Tacoma!) we stopped by the booth to figure out if a Rocna 20kg would fit our current bracket setup. It looked like it would, and it also looked like they (1) had one at at show (out in the truck), and (2) did not want to take it back to the shop, so we got an even deeper discount. Score!

The salesman told us that the boat show folks weren't allowing hand trucks on the show floor while the show was open, and that he'd picked up a $20 baby stroller at Fred Meyer so he didn't have to carry anchors out to people's cars. (Smart!) We followed him as he got our anchor from the truck (covered in blue bubble wrap…it's a boy!!) and then as he wheeled it in its little stroller through the gigantic stretch of boat show madness out to the front of the building.

In the elevator next to a stroller with an actual child in it:

He dropped it and us at the curb out front where we waited for our friends Kathy and Pete to pick us up (that worked out well…thanks for the lift!)

We took our new addition back to the boat and then had a quick bite to eat with Kathy and Pete and their son Kyle, and then we took Kathy and Pete for a short cruise out in the Sound.

Seattle loves their Seahawks (when they're winning) and had organized a giant office lights "12" on the side of a building downtown to show support. (For those of you who don't know, football teams have 11 players, and the "12" stands for the "12th man" which is…the fans. The fans are the 12th man. Anyway.)

Nice view from the water:

After our little cruise, we hung out on the boat for a bit, and then met up with two more friends (hi Kara and Dean!) for dinner over at Poppy (which was delicious). We had a great night with tons of laughs, and got back to the boat for another nice view of downtown.

Foggy Morning, Seattle Skyline

Laura Domela — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 16:29:40 +0000

I popped up and took a couple photos this morning as the sun was coming up through the foggy skyline.

Oh, and the sea lion is back. I expected today that he be in a food coma, laying on a rock somewhere pattin' his tummy, but no. He's apparently still hungry.