Memorial Day Redneck Casual Cruise

What a wonderful weekend! The EYC cruise for Memorial Day was over to Port Orchard which made for a nice 3-1/2 hour cruise to get there. Unfortunately, we were moored in POYC members' slips so while it was very generous of them to provide the space, we were spread throughout the marina making it difficult to connect with other members. We did, however, have full access to the POYC clubhouse so it gave us a great location for meals and for visiting with other members. This first picture shows the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and some of the mothballed aircraft carriers. Bremerton is directly across the bay from Port Orchard so it was a nice view of the carriers. The second picture shows the view we had from our moorage space. Not as nice as some had but one advantage was that we were protected from the wind and some rough water that others had to deal with.

The theme for the weekend was "redneck" so one of the fun things they did was cook a pig on a spit. The club had never done one before but Ralph Olsen did some internet research, got the supplies, and then proceeded to cook us a fantastic dinner of pulled pork. They did a great job, learned some things to do different the next time, and already have plans to build our own spit to make this an annual affair.

During the day we walked around the street fair in Port Orchard and then took the foot ferry over to Bremerton for their Kitsap Harbor Days. There were lots of craft and food booths as well as a fun car show covering 3 blocks of downtown. I have always liked old cars from the fifties but was never sure which one was my favorite.  I found it! I loved the 1957 Belairs and there were several beautiful ones. My favorite was this turquoise one and have now added it to my "bucket list".  Maybe someday... 

Barkley made lots of friends and enjoyed the attention from this little girl on the ferry. The second picture is of our friends from Bob's model boat club who are the ones that encouraged us to join the Edmonds Yacht Club. They are, from left, Leif & Audree Bentzen and Barbara & Ron Brey. Leif is the one we took with us when we were looking to buy Stargazer and he did the survey on it.  He is an excellent mechanic and we continue to use his expertise. We recently bought some hours of service from him at the annual auction since there are always things that needs to be done on a boat.

On Sunday we took it very easy and just relaxed on the boat with our books. The evening was "redneck" night that included a wonderful steak dinner, costumes and music. The highlight for the weekend was when we commemorated Memorial Day by sharing memories of loved ones who had served in the military.  There were some amazing stories from World War I, the Korean War and Viet Nam. Bob shared Mark's experience of picking up a VIP in Afghanistan who turned out to be a very young female soldier who had just learned her husband had been killed in Iraq. Following the sharing time, the committee provided a bouquet of flowers for those who wanted to remember a veteran who had passed away. I dropped a flower in the Sound in remembrance of my dad who served in the Coast Guard and passed away last year. It was a very moving ceremony for all who were there.

I had to include the following picture of this cute espresso stand across the street from the clubhouse. There's just something about tugboats!

Whales Again?

Today we invited Al and Sharon to go out with us to look for whales before the grays move on from Puget Sound. Last year when we took them out we had the best whale show imaginable. We felt we had spoiled them last year but thought that if we were lucky, we might see one or two. We aren't sure if it is Sharon's "lucky" shirt (she happened to wear the same one as last year) or the fact that Al was in the navy but we saw the best whale show since last time they went with us! We idled for 2 hours and watched three grays swim all around us. They were fairly close and we could hear them as they blew spouts and repeatedly surfaced enough that we could see them quite well. It was so much fun!

No Agenda

We had no real agenda for the evening's cruise other than to spend time with Alley, Mihai and Rylie. We cruised up toward Hat Island and then down toward Mukilteo. We didn't see any whales but enjoyed some time together. Now that Rylie can walk, she had the most fun playing in the salon with the pillows and trying to figure out why the floor kept moving! When we returned to Everett, we had a nice steak dinner topped off with Girl Scout cookies. It doesn't get much better than that!

Evening Getaway

Today was a beautiful day but there was too much to do to even think about going out on the boat. We did decide it was a good day to take some steaks down to the marina and relax for the evening. Bob did the grilling while I fixed a few things to go with it. Barkley really enjoyed being included this time! After dinner, we just relaxed, watched the sun begin to set and did some reading. It was a lovely evening and it was so nice to be able to just get away for a couple of hours.

Let's Go Boating!

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The best kind of day is the one that is unplanned, spontaneous, and special because it is with friends. Today was a wonderfully sunny day so we invited Jeff and Liisa Wright to join Holly, Jerry and us and go cruising for a few hours.

We cruised to Hat Island and then south to Mukilteo and saw this shipwreck. The boat is on private property that is now home to the remains of 27 boats. Apparently, the owner's grandfather would salvage the metal and anything else he could and the hull would stay on the beach. The one hull that is still somewhat intact was called the Pacific Queen and was brought there in 1929.
 

We were on the water about three hours but didn't see any whales or other marine life. Bob did say he saw one seal but it was gone before he could point it out to any of us. Still, it was a very relaxing and enjoyable day. Holly, Liisa and I found our places on the upper deck with our lawn chairs and had a great visit. The guys hung out in the pilot house eating cookies and talking "guy stuff". It is so good to be back on the water again!

All About Shrimping

Today was our initiation to what shrimping is all about. Shrimp season is only open two (or sometimes three) days per year and then only for about seven hours each day. Tom called and invited us to go out with him on our boat to learn how to catch shrimp. We eagerly agreed and took along Tom's brother, Bill, and Gavin.

We went out to the south end of Hat Island where we idled while Tom explained the ins and outs of dropping our shrimp pots.

 We dropped four pots and then waited about an hour before pulling them up. The limit is 80 per license and since we had four licenses I had high expectations of bringing home enough for several meals for each of us and maybe even some extra to share.  Our grand total was 20! But, oh, did we have fun!

Unfortunately, our pots were on a slope and were drifting and one of them must have gone completely under because we were never able to find it again. We tried going north to Tulare Beach near Tom and Deb's cabin is but when we dropped the three pots there, we came up with nothing. We returned to the Everett Marina where the entire day's catch was sent home with Gavin. Robyn said later that they had a wonderful meal of grilled cajun shrimp. Maybe next time we will have better luck. We do know, now, what we need to do and are ready to venture out on our own. I think bringing Tom along again would be a really good idea, though!