Port Townsend – Riveted

Hood Canal to Port Townsend to LaConner

Laura Domela — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 23:07:54 +0000

We had a wonderful weekend exploring Hood Canal with our friend Kathy, and we wrote all about it here on Slowboat.

We left Alderbrook on Monday morning and cruised all the way to Port Townsend (~58nm in about 8 hours). The weather was perfect, so the long cruise was chill and productive. It’s easy to work while we motor along at 7.5 kts in calm water.

Leaving Alderbrook with a view of the Olympics

We arrived in Port Townsend just before 4pm and took a walk into town and back before it got dark.

Point Hudson Marina at Port Townsend

Back on Airship after our walk, we broke out the two dozen Shigoku oysters we’d picked up the day before from Taylor Shellfish Farms in Shelton, did some shucking and then had those for dinner along with a salad and a cup of soup. Delicious!

Beautiful view of the sunset from Airship

We left Port Townsend yesteday morning by about 8:30am and headed for Deception Pass and LaConner. The clouds were rolling in, but it was still calm and beautiful out:

Deception Pass

We knew we’d hit Deception Pass right at max flood, but the current would be going with us and at just about 4kts, so it was really no big deal.

Looking back at the Olympic range.

We arrived in LaConner just after noon and met the folks over at American Tugs to take a look at their new model called the Waypoint 36. We’ll be writing an article or two about this new boat on Slowboat…stay tuned.

LaConner from the Swinomish Channel

Last night we had dinner in town at the tavern (LaConner Pub and Eatery) and tonight (Valentine’s Day) we’re going to have dinner over at Oyster & Thistle (one of our fave restaurants in LaConner). We’re still trying to decide whether to stay in LaConner and walk the 15 minute walk to dinner (potentially in the rain), or continue on in Airship to Anacortes and drive the 20 minutes or so. It seems to have stopped raining for the moment, but you never can be sure around here in the winter! I think we’ll stay put. We’re getting a lot of work done, and we have rain gear if it’s raining later!

Port Townsend to Eagle Harbor

Laura Domela — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 04:27:38 +0000

On Thursday we drove from Portland to Anacortes, and then on Friday morning we cruised from Anacortes to Port Townsend. It was nice chill cruise down Rosario Strait and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend. So calm and boring that I didn’t take one single photo. We arrived in Port Townsend and went for a walk around town for a bit, stopping in the little shop I like called “Getables” and picked up some Eaglemount Rhubarb Cider. We made dinner aboard, then in the morning Kevin attempted to diagnose the float switch/gray water pump/float switch issue we’ve been having (pump runs and pumps out the gray water, but then keeps running after it’s empty so you have to go turn off the breaker to it to get it to stop). We eventually left Point Hudson Marina and stopped briefly at Boat Haven so we could walk up to West Marine and get yet ANOTHER float switch. The brand new one we put in (to solve the same problem) a few months ago appears to have been bad. (Learned after taking apart the cabinetry in the head to remove and then test the gray water pump itself…which was fine).

The marina at Boat Haven has temporary dockage just past the fuel dock, and it’s an easy walk to West Marine — if you ever need to stop in.

We got what we needed and Kevin finished the float switch replacement while we were underway. Gorgeous cruise today…down through the Port Townsend Canal (with about 3 kts of current with us, woohoo) and into the sound. The light was soft and silvery and the water was mostly calm.

Barge loaded with crushed cars looked pretty cool chuggin’ along in the VTS lanes just north of Seattle:

We thought we might go down to Blake Island today, but since we got such a late start from Port Townsend (~11am) we instead opted for Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island. No room in the marinas on a Saturday night, so we tied up for the night on the City Dock and walked down to the Harbour Public House for dinner and a beer. Dinner was just okay. I had fish tacos (pretty good, nothing fancy, fish definitely the highlight) and Kevin got a boar burger. The yam fries with the burger were cold (they brought another order) and the burger was just so-so. We’ve always gotten fish & chips here…maybe that’s the secret!

Tomorrow morning we’ll head across Elliott Bay and into Seattle for some Seattle Boat Show festivities. Should be a fun and busy week!

Deception Pass

Laura Domela — Sun, 14 Feb 2016 23:40:12 +0000

On Thursday we left Port Townsend and headed north toward Deception Pass, where we planned to meet our friends Sam & Anna in Sam's Nordic Tug 37 for the night.

Morning view from Point Hudson Marina at Port Townsend:

The day was pretty gray, but the water was nice and calm. Our ETA at Deception Pass was right near slack tide. (The current that day peaked at about 7kts).

The bridge over the pass:

You can see the water was still pretty swirly about a half an hour after slack (the current was going with us):

Looking back toward the bridge:

We anchored in Cornet Bay and about 30 minutes later Sam and Anna arrived and anchored nearby. We took Sam's dinghy (with the 15HP motor, not our dinghy with the electric Torqueedo) and we beached over on North Beach and then did a little walk … after slamming through the current in Canoe Pass (the narrower pass on the other side of Pass Island in Deception Pass). It was super fun skirting the whirlpools…and don't try this in a Torqueedo!

Walking along North Beach at Deception Pass State Park:

We all had dinner together on Sam's boat and spent the evening just gabbing and gabbing and laughing (and drinking wine). It was a great time.

On Friday morning Sam and Anna came over to Airship and I made breakfast for us all. It poured most of the morning. Fishermen on shore in the rain:

After a late breakfast the clouds went away and blue sky and sun took over and it turned into a gorgeous day. Sam and Anna took off to hang in the islands for another night, and we went back to Cap Sante to pick up our new solar panels and accessories so we could start our installation. (More in a separate post.)

Sam and Anna heading back through Deception Pass:

Thursday's route from Port Townsend to Deception Pass (about 21 nautical miles):

Today we finished up the solar installation, then went for happy hour at Anthony's for a little Valentine's Day celebration, and we're just about to have dinner on Airship (chicken mole, forbidden rice, and caesar salad). We'll head home tomorrow, but be back soon, because we have more upgrades to do!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last Day in Port Townsend

Laura Domela — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 23:41:54 +0000

Here we are all cozy tonight at Point Hudson Marina:

It rained a bit this morning. Today we mostly worked here on Airship, except when it stopped raining we walked into town to get a stubby screwdriver so we could finish the fix of the Wallas diesel heater. We picked up our overnighted glow plugs up at the marina office and once we got back the heater didn't take too long to fix and put back together. Yay heat!

I took some iPhone photos while walking through town today:

And there we are on the far right:

Kevin didn't take any photos with his iPhone because his iPhone is underneath our boat about 20 feet down. Sad face.

On to Port Townsend (and another thing to fix)

Laura Domela — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 22:15:22 +0000

I got up this morning around 7 and turned the generator and the electric heat on and then got back in bed until things warmed up. With the extra Pendleton on the bed we were cozy all night…but it got down to 48 degrees F inside last night without the Wallas heater running as usual.

Bunch of seals coming into foggy Port Gamble Bay:

At 9am Kevin called Scan Marine in Seattle about our Wallas diesel heater. The guys at Scan Marine were SUPER helpful. They described to Kevin over the phone how to pull the bottom of the unit off and remove the glow plug. They said once we did that and verified that was the issue, to call them back and they'd overnight a new glow plug to us. (We ordered two so we'll have a spare.)

Kevin and I worked this one together. The positions one must achieve to work on boats is pretty crazy sometimes! The Wallas is inside this little vent in the wall beside the steps down to the front stateroom. Not a lot of room to maneuver (and with tools!!) in there:

Glow plug removed:

Glow plug. (It's the thing that lights the diesel fuel on fire, by getting red hot, to make the heat):

So once we had that all worked out and got a bunch of other "work" work done, we pulled anchor and headed for Port Townsend.

Exiting the entrance to Hood Canal:

The Olympics above the fog:

We could see more fog up ahead, so we made sure we had our radar going.

And pretty soon, bam!

But boy, when it cleared (mid-Marrowstone Island) it was just stunning.

Mount Baker:

Marrowstone Point:

We got our same slip at Point Hudson Marina that we usually do (Slip No. 2) with a great view of the Olympics to the south and Mount Baker and the cascades to the north. We walked into town to get a few things…the things we got included a bottle of champagne for tonight. Tonight is Night No. 300 aboard Airship since we bought her in September 2014, and we're right back where it all started, looking at those Ranger Tugs here in the marina from our Airstream that day. We plan to order pizza from (yum!) Waterfront Pizza for dinner and have a little pizza and champagne toast to all of the boating fun!

View from the back of Airship, as the sun is setting:

And then OMG this (no filter…this is straight from the camera):

We should get our overnighted parts from Scan Marine in the morning tomorrow, and then we'll decide whether to stay another night in Port Townsend, or head over to Deception Pass State Park a day earlier than we planned.

Here's today's track (about 19 nautical miles):

Port Townsend to Stuart Island

Laura Domela — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 21:25:44 +0000

Yesterday morning we left Port Townsend on the early side (before 9am) and headed north to take advantage of the perfect weather and great conditions for crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

And by perfect weather and great conditions, I mean this:

So, yesterday crossing the strait we saw Minke whales, and then up on the west side of San Juan Island, we saw a whole bunch of Orcas. I posted about all the whales in a separate post because…well…tons of photos!

We were cruising with the current giving us a bit more speed than usual….a pretty strong current:

Cool bird with nice face paint:

Nice rock formation along the tip of Stuart Island:

Lighthouse on Stuart Island:

Here's yesterday's track (55.4 nautical miles over 8 hours, including whale watching):

(You can see where the whales were in both spots…look for the little circle southwest of Minor Island out in the Strait…that's where the Minke whales were, and the Orcas are where the large doubling back happens off of San Juan.)

We grabbed a mooring buoy at Stuart Island State Park in Prevost Harbor and had ourselves a nice deck top happy hour:

Look at our cute little neighbor, named Slo-Poke:

We went to bed early and got up early this morning. If it's early enough when I first wake up, I can usually can tell if the light is worth getting out of bed to go look (and take a quick photo before hopping back into bed) by looking at the edges of the portholes on either side of the stateroom. This morning, it told me I should get up:

Because this:

And then this:

We left Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island after some breakfast and a shower, and decided as we rounded Speiden Island that we'd go back to Anacortes via the back side of San Juan Island again, because maybe more orcas!

Sea lions on the tip of Speiden Island:

The wind was supposed to pick up this afternoon, but we thought we might beat it and have a nice smooth cruise. About half way down San Juan Island (just as we saw three adult orcas trucking north), the waves increased and we were in about 3-6 ft seas. Not super fun, but not scary. We tacked a little to minimize the roll, and decided rather than head around the south end of Lopez Island as was our plan, that we'd go through Cattle Pass (at max ebb). It was actually no big deal, and quite a bit easier than being in the strait.

Entering Cattle Pass, looking back toward the strait:

Cattle Pass, Lopez Island in the background. (See? Not bad.):

I didn't take any photos out in the strait because I was too busy holding on.

Here's today's track from Stuart Island back to Anacortes (48.6 nautical miles, 5 hours 42 minutes):

We're back in Anacortes now, because tomorrow we're having a Racor dual fuel filter installed. Fun stuff!

More Fun in Port Townsend

Laura Domela — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 17:13:32 +0000

We arrived in Port Townsend yesterday afternoon and headed for what's becoming our usual slip at the Point Hudson Marina, then met up with several friends who were camping here for the weekend: Dave and Ann Zimmerman of Advodna (and their two daughters, Wynne-3, and Mae-9 months), and Kathy Harderson, who is here with a group of gals called The Tin Can Gypsies…all with their super cute vintage trailers.

Dave and Ann had us over for an early dinner at their Airstream. We hadn't seen them since last March when we stopped for a visit at their farmlet in Petaluma, CA, and it was really good to catch up! (Plus, they have a new family member since then!) They're on their way to Vancouver Island and then north to Alaska in their Airstream. We'll miss them in Juneau by 10 days or so, dangit!

This is Mae and Dave on the beach before dinner last night. Would you get a load of those dimples!?!?

Anyway, after a delicious dinner, we stopped in at the vintage trailer camp and met up with Kathy's group and ended up walking down to the boat to give a quick tour. (I think we had 13 people on Airship at once!) We had to disturb this cute little guy to get to the boat. Sorry buddy!

Sunset from the dock:

After the tour of Airship, we went up to the Tin Can Gypsy camp and hung out around the Costco campfire for the rest of the night with the vintage trailer gals and another cool couple camped here in an Airstream.

A little later, we noticed a couple of guys walking past and checking out the vintage trailers, so we invited them to join the party. Meet our new friends Dwayne and Octavio from Poulsbo, WA.

I took a few photos, but most of them were blurry, because…dark…campfire…wine….whatever. This is the one that wasn't blurry.

We had a few more random party-joiners as the evening went on…it was a fun night with a lot of great folks! I wish I'd have taken more photos of the trailers, but trust me, they were all fabulous. Here are a few details from the inside of Kathy's little Shasta that I took earlier though:

This is the chandelier inside her bar cabinet:

Photos can't possibly show you how amazing this little trailer is. It's a perfect work of art and we just LOVED it.

At dinner with the Zimmermans earlier, we'd made a plan to take Dave and Wynne for a little cruise this morning, and last night before we left the campfire I told anyone else who wanted to come to show up at 9:30 this morning. This morning, Kevin said "How many people did you invite to come with us last night?" and I said "All of 'em!" :)

Turns out we only had two other takers, Dwayne and Octavio, so it was a beautiful cruise for 6 today!

Wynne, looking for whales:

Our route from this morning:

We saw only one seal, but the weather could not have been better and everyone seemed to really enjoy getting the view of town and the Olympic Mountain backdrop from the water. We may walk into town in a bit, and then meet up with Dave and Ann for dinner again tonight.

Here's yesterday's route from Anacortes to Port Townsend (about 30 nautical miles):

Wandering around Port Townsend

Laura Domela — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 22:48:39 +0000

This morning's sky:

The trail around the point:

That little trail winds around in just in front of a bunch of the waterfront RV spots and campsites (all with spectacular views). We love this location!

Airship from the RV park:

Today was another full work day at the boat. We took a break this afternoon to run some tax stuff up to the post office and grab some lunch (and get a walk in). Luckily the post office is up a ton of stairs and a big hill so we got a little more exercise than just a walk to town and back.

The post office building is very cool (built in 1893). I'm not sure why I didn't snap a shot of the exterior, but here are some details from inside:

We had to sign and mail a tax thing, so we waited in line to buy stamps and borrow a pen. (Note: get a pen for the boat.) Here's a good example of how we amuse ourselves with silly dialogue in public (but this time, we were whispering because this post office felt more like a library):

Me: I'll distract 'em by buying stamps while you borrow a pen to sign that with.
Kevin: I think we can do those two things at the same time.
Me: Yeah but it'll take more time.
Kevin: We'll be fast.
Me: I know we will, but they might not think we'll be fast, borrowing and pen and stuff, arriving with unsigned documents to mail. You know how they can be.
Kevin: Might you be overthinking this?

Then, with the postal clerk:

Me: We'd like to buy a book of stamps.
Her: (Vanna White-ing to the pages of stamps under glass on the counter, indicating I should choose a design.)
Me: How about the hearts? Kev? How about the hearts?
Kevin: The hearts are great honey.
Her (to Kevin): Good answer.

Kevin is signing and sealing the envelope to the IRS.

Kevin: We're going to send a heart stamp to the IRS.
Me: No we're not.
Kevin: The IRS needs love too.
Me: No. The IRS has money. They don't need love.
Postal Clerk: (Also insists we don't send a heart stamp, pulls out a single stamp from her special envelope for us to send to the IRS. The picture on it was a portrait of some stern-looking man in a black suit from history, and she sticks that on the envelope instead) and then says, satisfied, "There!"

We stopped on the way back through town at Waterfront Pizza and shared a caesar salad and some pizza for lunch (it was still FABULOUS pizza…and the salad was killer as well).

I took a few photos of some of the downtown architecture in Port Townsend on the walk back.

This the James House, built in 1889 (up the hill and across the street from the post office:

Francis Wilcox James, a businessman with a vision for Port Townsend, arrived in 1853. He held several jobs before opening his own mercantile business. He reportedly made his fortune during the Civil War by converting gold into unsecured green backs at 35 cents to the dollar. He reinvested those gains in U.S. bonds at a 15 percent discount.

James built this house in 1889. It gave him a clear view of Port Townsend and the shipping in the bay. His wife, Mary, died seven weeks after moving into the house. In 1909, he married his housekeeper. He was 77 and she was 24. The marriage ended in divorce, and James died in 1920.

The house originally cost $10,000 to build. It is a fine example of Queen Ann architecture. The complex roof and chimney forms were considered modern at the time it was built.

This is the Hastings Building, built in 1890 by architect Elmer H. Fisher:

From the Sequim Daily Photo:

Fisher was a Scotsman who designed a number of Port Townsend buildings starting around 1887 and simultaneously opened an office in Seattle, where he designed more than 50 buildings immediately after Seattle’s great fire of 1889.

The Hastings Building, above, was built at a cost of $35,000 to $45,000 and completed in 1890. It has a 38-foot inner courtyard topped with a glass skylight and has housed businesses from dry goods to a reputed bordello. Today the ground floor houses retail businesses and the upper floors are not occupied. Descendents of the original family still own the building and are working on an ambitious restoration of the structure.

Layered signage on the side of this building:

This is the N.D. Hill building, built in 1889:

We're back at the boat working now. The otters just showed up again and rolled around looking cute on the dock again.

We'll probably work a bit into the night and then get an early start across the Strait of Juan de Fuca tomorrow morning. We're planning to spend a few days in the San Juan Islands before we go back to Anacortes for a bit.

Otters in the Office!

Laura Domela — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 14:55:48 +0000

Today's gonna be just a regular work day for us, but it's gorgeous out and we have a killer view, and look!!! Otters to keep us company!!

Port Ludlow to Port Townsend

Laura Domela — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:13:12 +0000

We woke up to some gorgeous light at Port Ludlow this morning.

We headed north toward Port Townsend and decided to stop at Mystery Bay (on Marrowstone Island, just across the way from Port Townsend). Mystery Bay has a state park dock, and guess what they also have? A public beach open for oyster (and clam) harvesting. And hey, it's almost low tide! In we went. Map for reference:

Avoiding the naval ammunitions restricted area:

Docked at Mystery Bay:

Oysters at low tide:

I gathered good-looking oysters and brought them over to Kevin for shucking. The rules are that you have to shuck the oysters on the beach and leave the shells, so we came armed with an oyster knife, a couple of bowls, and a ziplock bag. Kevin found a little "table" spot on the piling under the pier to use for shucking:

After shucking and rinsing and counting and tupperwaring our 36 oysters (18 each), we chatted for a few minutes with a woman digging for clams, and another guy shucking oysters. It's a pretty rich spot for shellfish, open only in the off season (October 1 through April 30) and honestly, there were only four people there on a Sunday low tide.

Moody sky:

Next we headed back out of the channel and over to Port Townsend.

Passing Fort Flagler State Park (I spy an Airstream!) This campground has such a killer view of Mt. Baker:

We stopped at the Boat Haven Marina and moored for 30 minutes or so on the guest dock so we could walk over to Safeway to get more Japanese bread crumbs and a few others things (1/2 mile walk). There's really no grocery store near the Point Hudson Marina (our destination today) so this was a worthwhile stop.

The cruise in front of town from Boat Haven to Point Hudson is beautiful when the weather is this lovely:

Afternoon sail:

We picked a nice slip with a view at Point Hudson for a couple days. Check out our fuzzy slip buddy:

We're having oysters for dinner (again) with a salad. We'll probably be sick of 'em soon and stop all the Talk About Oysters, but it's still pretty fun! The shellfish licenses are combo shellfish/seaweed harvesting licenses, so I think I need to learn about seaweeds! (Kelp pickles, anyone?)

This was our sunset view from the back of Airship tonight: