K-dubs and the Po-Po

Laura Domela — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 22:50:14 +0000

This morning when I picked up my iPhone, I saw that I had a text from a friend and concerned blog reader, after yesterday's post. If you aren't caught up, read that post here first, and then come back.

She agreed to let me share our text conversation here, keeping her anonymous…I offered, she didn't ask.

Her: Hey. You could have some company this morning.

Me: What, who? Where are you?

Her: Well….I called the San Juan Sheriff's office and let them know they may want to check out that little hideaway.

Me: I think they already are checking out this little hideaway. That's what I think these guys are doing…monitoring this cove.

Her: So you think they are good guys?

Me: No judgment on good or bad, but I do think they are probably law enforcement, stationed in the lighthouse, watching the cove for suspicious activity.

Her: Well…the sheriff didn't seem to know about it if they are…but they did ask for your blog.

Me: Oh good. Now the sheriff is going to read my post.

Her: He did read the post. While I was on the phone with him.

Me: Awesome. What did he say?

Her: Thanked me for calling…took all my contact info…asked for the name of your boat…and said he would phone it into the marine unit.

Me: Well if this is all legit they're gonna think I'm a total troublemaker.

Her: That's why I gave you the heads up….

Me: Um, thanks?

Her: BTW, I don't think the popo are going to think you're a troublemaker. What if you just broke up an international trafficking ring???

Her: You're going to be a hero…

Me: It certainly makes for a weird state park experience here.

Her: …you'll prob get an award or something…

Her: …get on 60 minutes…

Her: …maybe even meet the President…

Me: You're such a dork.

Me: Remember, the San Juan Sheriff AND the Coast Guard were sitting in boats RIGHT in front of the lighthouse watching us as we arrived. The guys at the lighthouse have to be part of the whole thing. This is a very small island.

We left our mooring ball in Active Cove right in here somewhere, opting not to go hike back out to the lighthouse before leaving. Here are some sleepy sleepy seals on Little Patos as we exited the cove:

Meanwhile, the text conversation continued.

Her: I had my whole team [at work] read about it this morning.

Me: What did they say?

Her: They all think u are wise to get out before gunfire erupts. They can't believe you stayed there overnight.

Me: There was another boat. And it's a state park. (And we were surrounded by law enforcement who watched us come in and didn't tell us to leave or anything. If there was something dangerous going on, you'd think they'd have sent us away.)

As we continued on, we spotted some black dots in the water about a mile away. We got out the binocs and learned it was the group of 10 kayakers we'd seen arrive in Shallow Cove the morning we left. They were headed toward Patos Island.

Me: There are 10 kayaks headed to Patos now from Sucia. Kayak campers.

Her: Or…drug runners disguised as kayak campers.

Me: Right. Or that. At least they know how to dress the part…unlike the lighthouse cops.

As we made our way closer to Orcas Island, I was certain we'd be intercepted, but we weren't. We only saw one other boat and it was a police boat, but they never came toward us. At first I was a little freaked out that the San Juan Sheriff's Department read my post and might be passing it along to other law enforcement agencies, etc., but now I figure if they're trying to discourage illegal activity near the border, then having some blogger with 45,000 followers writing about how the place is teeming with all flavors of law enforcement would be a total bonus for them. (You're welcome, guys!)

p.s. We looked for more orcas today on the cruise. Nothin. Party's over folks.

How to Replace a Mooring Buoy

Laura Domela — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 17:19:36 +0000

This morning as we were working and having coffee, I noticed out the back window what looked like a pretty big boat heading toward the cove. This is a pretty small cove (only two mooring buoys), and this boat seemed, um, large. It showed up on AIS as a vessel called Thunderbird, and it was designated a pleasure craft. I don't think so. Pretty soon the bow of the boat dropped, drawbridge-style, and we could see that it was filled with mooring buoys.

Ah! Time to replace the mooring buoys in Active Cove.

A couple of guys were soon suiting up in what looked like wetsuits and then drysuits (because, you know, it's like 30something degrees out there). They got in the water and went down and hooked the crane line onto the concrete block on the bottom.

Divers in the water:

Succesfully hooked the line, divers back on deck:

Pulling up the old buoy (and a bunch of kelp):

And here's the new (larger) concrete weight heading down to the bottom. They have some other corkscrew anchoring things, but they said they don't work in all this rock out here, so they use big concrete blocks to anchor the buoys:

And there ya go! Shiny new mooring buoy:

It was our turn next, so we moved over to the new buoy for a little bit while we watched them replace ours. Pretty cool to see the whole operation!

Thunderbird (not a pleasure craft, unless you REALLY like replacing mooring buoys):

See ya later guys. Thanks for the morning entertainment:

Active Cove – Riveted

K-dubs and the Po-Po

How to Replace a Mooring Buoy