Location: Roche Harbor, WA
At the end of the last blog, we were leaving Olympia and continuing our exploration of South and Central Puget Sound.
Sunday, April 11, 2021 - Olympia to Longbranch (17 nm, 2.1 hours) It was cold this morning when we got up, 34F/1C, but sunny with light winds. We left the dock in Olympia ~10:15 and arrived at the Longbranch Improvement Club Marina ~12:30. We settled in then went for an afternoon walk along the roads in the community.
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| Seabiscuit at the dock, Longbranch Improvement Club Marina |
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| View of Mount Rainier from the Longbranch Improvement Club Marina |
Monday, April 12, 2021 - Longbranch to Wollochet Bay (13 nm, 1.6 hours) We did boat chores this morning while waiting for slack tide through Pitt Passage between the Key Peninsula and McNeil Island. Our plan was to go to Penrose Point State Park and anchor out for a night, but the anchorage is exposed to the north and there was a small craft advisory in affect with north winds 15 - 25 knots forecast. We changed course after going through Pitt Passage and went to Wollochet Bay where we would be protected from the wind. We were anchored up before 14:00 and we settled in to do some chores and to enjoy the area.
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| Deer on the beach at low tide, Pitt Passage, McNeil Island |
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 - Wollochet Bay to Tacoma, Dock Street Marina (14 nm, 2.2 hours) We spent the morning doing boat chores and waiting for the tide to turn so that we could ride the ebb current out of the Tacoma Narrows. We heaved anchor at 12:30 and went under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge with about 1.5 knots of current pushing us north. We tied up at the guest dock at Dock Street Marina, near downtown Tacoma, mid-afternoon. We were planning to stay for five nights but they had a big group coming in for the weekend, so we decided to stay for two nights, learn our way around and then come back for a week when my mom came to visit at the end of the month.
We spent our time exploring the waterfront, trying out the nearby restaurants and drinking establishments and figuring out the transit system.
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| Seabiscuit at the Dock Street Marina, Tacoma, WA |
Thursday, April 15, 2021 - Dock Street Marina, Tacoma to Foss Seaport, Tacoma We've had some white smoke coming out of our stack when we've fired up the main engine in the morning and also when we have been "blowing tubes" (running at wide open throttle WOT) at the end of the day. We set up an appointment with a diesel mechanic for Friday morning so on Thursday we moved from the Dock Street Marina to the Foss Waterway Seaport dock at the north end of the Thea Foss Waterway. The Seaport Museum was closed, but we had a nice walk along the waterfront and went downtown to a wine bar for supper.
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| Seabiscuit at the Foss Waterway Seaport Dock, Tacoma, WA |
Friday, April 16, 2021 - Tacoma to Blake Island South (20 nm, 2.5 hours) The diesel mechanic came on board Friday morning and did a valve adjustment on the main engine. We went out for a test run and everything seemed ok so we dropped him back at the dock and headed north to Blake Island for the weekend. The weather was forecast to be beautiful, sunny and warm, with highs near 75F/24C. There were a lot of boats anchored and on mooring balls around the island and the Blake Island Marina was full. We decided to anchor up on the south side of Blake Island. After running out 200 feet of chain, we decided we were too close to a cable crossing and started to heave the chain back in so we could move to a different location. With about 50 feet of chain left in the water, the windlass pulled up tight. Our anchor was fouled and we weren't going anywhere.
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| Rough sketch of how to get the anchor loose using the dinghy including tide and current times. |
We studied the tides and currents for the south side of the island. We launched the dinghy ~16:00 and dropped a weighted line down around the anchor shank, then used the dinghy to try to pull it loose. We didn't have any luck and decided to try again the next morning.
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| Sunset at Blake Island |
Dave suited up in his dive gear early Saturday morning and went into the water to try and free the anchor. It was close to high tide and with the hookah compressor on the stern, we didn't have enough hose to get him down to the bottom. We spent the day enjoying the sun and doing outside projects including setting up our new barbecue table. With so many boats in the area, we decided it was too busy with too many boat wakes to make an attempt at freeing the anchor that afternoon.
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| Barbecue table set up on the stern deck |
Sunday was another beautiful, calm, sunny day and we took the dinghy ashore and walked the trail around the island. We stopped for a lunch break on the east side of the island near the marina and campground.
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| B on the Blake Island outer loop trail |
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| The dinghy on the beach on the south side of Blake Island. Seabiscuit is at anchor in the background. |
Sunday afternoon, we moved the hookah compressor to the bow of the boat so that Dave would have enough line to make it to the bottom. After rigging up our lines, agreeing on signals and waiting until low tide and slack water, he went back into the water. Once he got to the bottom, he could see that the anchor flukes were underneath a large concrete slab. I slacked the chain and he was able to free the anchor and lift it up onto the top of the slab. He gave the signal to heave the chain and we were free. We moved the boat east about 400 meters and re-anchored for the night.
Monday, April 19, 2021 - Blake Island South to Port Orchard (10 nm, 1.7 hours) We had our breakfast and coffee, then anchor up at 7:30 to catch slack water going through Rich Passage. It was another bright, calm, sunshiney day. We tied up at the Port Orchard Marina just after 9:00. We did some boat chores then walked across the street to Carter's for lunch.
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| Tulips in bloom on Carter's back patio, Port Orchard, WA |
One of the reasons we came to Port Orchard was to pick up a new LTE router. Our KVH satellite system will be obsolete as of December 31, 2021 and since we are doing mostly coastal cruising, instead of installing a new satellite system, we decided to go with an LTE router instead. We couldn't re-purpose any of the satellite equipment, but we could install the router in the satellite dome to get it up as high as possible on the boat. We purchased the system from Milltech Marine and Doug came down to the boat Monday afternoon to help us hook-up and bench test the system. After discussing many iterations, we decided on the following configuration:
- Up in the satellite dome: Pepwave MAX Transit Category 18 LTE router and an ethernet POE (power over ethernet) splitter.
- In the pilot house: Pepwave AP One Rugged Access Point and a POE inserter
- An ethernet cable from the dome down to the pilot house connects the router with the access point.
You can see the specifications on all of the equipment on the Milltech Marine website in the mobile connectivity section. Here is a link to Doug's blog post about Mobile connectivity while onboard.
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| Setting up the new LTE router equipment. |
We spent Tuesday in Port Orchard dismantling the satellite system. We got a few groceries and rode the foot ferry over to Bremerton for a walk and supper.
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| Dave up on the mast taking down the satellite dome base. |
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| Dave removing the satellite equipment from the dome base so that we could use it for the LTE router. |
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - Port Orchard to Eagle Harbor aka Bainbridge (13 nm, 1.9 hours) We left the dock in Port Orchard at 8:45. The west side of Puget Sound was clear but the east side was covered with fog. As we were cruising past Blakely Rock, we saw the Seattle - Bainbridge ferry appear out of the fog. We tied up at the Waterfront City Dock and got busy with our projects. The weather was nice so we finished mounting the LTE router up in the dome and ran the cable from the dome down the stack, then ran the cable through the pilot house window and hooked up the system to make sure everything worked - it did. We needed to take down the overhead panel in the pilot house to complete the ethernet cable run and the installation but we saved that for another day.
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| The Pepwave MAX Transit and ethernet POE splitter mounted in the base of the satellite dome. |
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| B putting the aft stack cover back on. The ethernet cable from the satellite dome is running down the inside of the funnel, out the bottom of the vent on the starboard side of the stack and in through the window until we take down the pilot house overhead to complete the cable run. |
We spent Thursday doing more disassembly work on the satellite system and a few other chores. Thursday afternoon we took a long walk along the shoreline, bought some groceries and had a nice supper downtown.
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| Tree in bloom Bainbridge Island |
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| Trees in bloom, Bainbridge Island |
Friday, April 23, 2021 - Eagle Harbor to Blake Island North (6 nm, 1.2 hours) We left the dock in Eagle Harbor about 9:30 and cruised back to Blake Island. We enjoyed our time here last weekend and decided to spend some more time hiking the trails on the island. The state park marina was full so we anchored on the north side of the island. We took the dinghy into the harbor and walked the loop trail around the island, then stopped for a beer at the snack bar before going back out to the boat.
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| B enjoying a beer after our hike around Blake Island |
It rained most of the day Saturday and we stayed aboard the boat and did projects and chores. We lounged around Sunday morning. Early Sunday afternoon we moved over to the Blake Island Marina and hiked the cross island trails.
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| Seabiscuit at the Blake Island Marina |
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| View of the Seattle skyline and the entrance channel to Blake Island Marina |
Monday, April 26, 2021 - Blake Island to Dock Street Marina, Tacoma (20 nm, 3.1 hours) We got underway this morning at 8:30 and cruised south to Tacoma. It was an uneventful run and we pulled into the Dock Street Marina at noon and settled in. The Dock Street Marina is on the Thea Foss Waterway and is very convenient to downtown Tacoma, the museums, bars and restaurants and transit.
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| Approaching the 11th Street Bridge over the Thea Foss Waterway |
Tuesday was an exciting day - my mother, Louise, flew up to visit. We hadn't seen her in over a year and it was great to spend some quality time together.
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| B and Louise, Dock Street waterfront, Tacoma, WA |
We started off the day on Wednesday with boat projects including taking down the overhead in the pilot house. We ran the ethernet cable through the cable transit block and into the chart cabinet where the Pepwave Access Point will reside. For our afternoon adventure, we walked across the Chihuly Bridge of Glass to the Washington State History Museum. The featured exhibit was about the history of the railroad and train travel in the western United States. We ate supper at the Fish Peddler restaurant then walked back to the boat for our nightly game of pinocle.
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| The Venetian Wall on the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, Tacoma |
Because of COVID, most of the museums were only open Friday/Saturday/Sunday, so we spent the day Thursday doing really fun chores. We gathered up all of the electronic equipment associated with the satellite system, stuffed it into three large backpacks and rode the bus to an electronics recycling center south of downtown. They accept all kinds of electronics and we were able to drop off our stuff in front of their facility. From there, we rode the bus to the grocery store and filled our backpacks with supplies then rode back to the marina. That was enough excitement for one day. We had supper on board and played our nightly card game.
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| What's a trip to Seabiscuit if you can't do boat chores - Louise defrosting the refrigerator |
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| A small pile of the electronic equipment that we dropped off at the recycle center. |
Friday morning started off with some more boat chores and lunch on board. Early afternoon we went to the Museum of Glass.
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| The Museum of Glass Hot Shop. We watched the Hot Shop team while they created a glass vessel. |
After touring the museum and watching the Hot Shop team in action, we rode the trolley downtown then walked down the hill and stopped at
7 Seas Brewing for an afternoon beer. We had supper on the boat and played our nightly card game.
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| Louise and B drinking a beer at 7 Seas Brewing |
We took down the 2 x 4s holding the pilot house overhead beams in place on Saturday morning and called the LTE router installation project complete. Saturday afternoon we went to the LeMay - America's Car Museum. They have over three hundred cars on display there and we all found one or two that we would be willing to take home.
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| A Saleen convertible Mustang |
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| The Flintstone's Car |
Sunday was another nice, sunny day. As usual we did our morning chores. After lunch we went to the Tacoma Art Museum. From there we walked the Prairie Line Trail, up to the 11th Street Bridge and down to the waterfront. We ordered a pizza for supper and played our nightly card game.
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| A dogwood tree in bloom along the Prairie Line Trail. |
Monday morning was gray and overcast. We did our morning chores then took a walk along the waterfront. It started to rain mid-afternoon and we popped some popcorn and watched the movie Nomadland which we all enjoyed.
Tuesday morning was gray and overcast but the afternoon was sunny. We rode the bus to Point Defiance Park and hiked through the woods.
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| Dave and B studying the map at Point Defiance Park |
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| B and Louise hiking at Point Defiance Park |
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| The end of our hike - waiting for the bus to take us from the park back to the marina |
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 - Dock Street Marina, Tacoma to Edmonds (36 nm, 5.4 hours) Today was travel day. We had our breakfast and coffee then Mom and I caught the bus from the Tacoma Dome transit station to Sea-Tac airport and Dave cruised up to the Port of Edmonds. Louise checked in and cleared security for her flight home, then I caught the train/bus from the airport to Edmonds. I got there in time to have lunch and to read my book while sitting near the waterfront. Dave pulled in about 13:30 and I helped him tie up at the dock. We did some unlaxing then walked into town for supper.
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| Seabiscuit at the Port of Edmonds guest dock |
Thursday, May 6, 2021 - Edmonds to Anacortes (51 nm, 6.5 hours) It was windy and gray this morning when we left the dock. We cruised north up Possession Sound, along the east coast of Whidbey Island, into Skagit Bay, north through the Swinomish Channel into Padilla Bay and west into the Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes.
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| A log boom north of Goat Island at the south end of the Swinomish Channel. |
We spent Thursday afternoon and Friday doing boat chores and provisioning and planning for our journey north.
Saturday, May 8, 2021 - Anacortes to Roche Harbor (27 nm, 3.9 hours) A last minute trip to Safeway this morning for a few more groceries then we were away from the dock at 9:00. The cruise to Roche Harbor was uneventful and we tied up at the dock here about 13:00. We plan to spend today and tomorrow hiking the nearby trails and enjoying the resort area.
Until next time...
