Patty Smith | Water Dog Site

Gig Harbor to Point Defiance Public Dock at Ruston

June 15-16th, 2018

Trip Distance 5 nm

Point Defiance is within boundaries of Ruston (a suburb of Tacoma I think)

Twas a short trip from gig harbor to Point Defiance dock. We wanted to get there early to secure space and we did. For vessels over 30 feet 20 dollars per night ($5 for electric but only one pedastel which we did not use). The dock is right next to ferry landing so we had lots of ferry watching. At low tides (since around this date the low tides were super extreme we were on the ground).

The city original downtown had only a couple businesses. They are developing a waterfront up the small man made harbor with lots of condos being built and a soon to be open bicycle bridge that connects it to the park area. I saw the green space on google maps, researched and decided it might be worth a park. I feel it was!

The destination here is wonderful Point Defiance park with old growth forest, hiking paths, a zoo and aquarium, gardens and a 5 mile drive which can be biked. Also since a point in the sound there is a nice beach you can walk too along the water just North of the marina. We walked the beach in the AM with dogs so they got good running and swimming in.

Then in PM we rode the bikes to the small town center and then on the five mile road. This road is closed to 10am on weekdays and til 1pm on weekends for bikers and walkers. We saw some raccoons begging alongside of the road and good views of Colvi channel, and the narrows bridge (original suspension bridge years ago collapsed due to bad engineering and high winds).

The park also has a rose garden, herb garden, rhodendendron garden and off leash dog park.

Also a recreated fort, Fort Nisqually (two building were donated and moved from original site further down the sound). At this Fort they do camps, period events and its also rentable space. Had burgers for dinner.

Point Defiance Park, cool mowing pattern

Seattle To Gig Harbor Anchorage

Had a nice cruise to Gig Harbor from Seattle. Overcast at times but also some sun. We left Bell harbor around 10:30 am which was a little earlier than Alex wanted …..as on the other end of the cruise we hit Gig harbor at LOW tide and it was a minus 3 tide. Chart said depth would be iffy so we turned around to delay a bit. However, I texted Wayne and he said they went through at low tide and had 12 feet. Also talked to another Sailing vessel who went in before us and said it should be 8 feet. We got through no problem and anchored out.

Took dogs in for a walk where you can take left at base of marina and walk down road to small park at Gig Harbor entrance. Also At base of public dock (which was nice but we did not use) was a nice green space Skanse Park..home of Skanse Net house. there are several old net houses along the harbor edge. Many converted to businesses but this one has been restored to the point one can see the stored nets etc. inside where the hosts described the equipment and nets displayed.

That night we had a nice dinner at the Tides Tavern where we tied dinghy at their dock for easy entry/exit.

We had breakfast at Net house 9 on their back deck the following day as well.

The next day was the farmer’s market in the PM. So in the AM we walked the dogs up to the head of the bay and checked out some other net houses, Eddon boat park, Donkey Creek Park (good for ball), the harbor History Museum which had an old fishing boat from the original fishing village (the Shenandoah which was a working purse seiner until maybe the 60s ? then sank and was donated by the owner). The vessel is a permanent exhibit and is being restored and also the guys were working on an Atlas engine Alex was interested in.

Shenandoah Being Rebuilt At Back Of Museum

Shenandoah Three cylinder Engine Being Restored To Non Working Condition

While we visited there were several children experiencing a one room schoolhouse complete with school marms in costume. We walked around the tip of the bay and briefly checked out the Donkey Creek City Park at then Crescent Creek Park.

On the way back we went to the farmer’s market at the marina, got some cherries and had them all eaten by the end of the day!

Eagle Harbor To Bell Harbor @ Seattle

June 11-12th

Trip Length 5 nm

Short 5 mile cruise across the sound to Seattle bell Harbor. Small harbor with TALL barrier walls so did not get much of a view. We got there early due to short cruise.

Space Needle Seattle Cruise In To Bell Harbor

Walked northward along bay through sculpture parks and waterfront parks (Myrtle Edwards and Centennial) with dogs. They got to swim and played ball.

Also went to Pikes place market to check it out. Wanted to try Pike’s Place Chowder but too long of a line. Ended up at Kells Irish Restaurant and Bar: had a Sausage roll and Lamb wrap and I tried the clam chowder and it was AWESOME chowder. It was good food, Alex had a beer.

Richard called us when we arrived as was trying to hook us up with their friends Steve and Maureen (mo). They had been wine tasting but we did finally hook up around 6pm or so. They just stopped by for a few minutes. Only Steve came as Mo was busy but he brought his niece and her husband and two other young man in the family. We chatted a bit and gave tour of the boat.

The following day we took dogs for a walk past aquarium to another waterfront park but it was all cement…. Saw miners landing where the big ferris wheel is… all too busy and city like for us.

Then we had and approximately 9 mile there and back again bike ride to a place on the east side of Lake Union called Fisheries supply.

Gator Bridge (really the Fremont bridge) LOL! had to cross to get to the Fisheries supply

Alex had ordered some line (floating for docking and regular to make lines). It was a nice ride about town, pretty good bike trails. That afternoon Alex napped and I went back to pikes place to explore. Found the fish throwers and gum wall. Almost got a belt but decided not too. Chowder place still long lines so I got some fresh donuts and a soft vege taco. I got my taco from the Mexican grocery on the main drag. A vendor that sold Slex some pepper jelly said to try the place across the street so I thought maybe this was it… However I did not catch the name and I picked the wrong place me thinks Eventually I wandered by it inside a building with multiple shops and dining places and it was called Los Agaves….will try next time for street tacos… they had our fave al pastor.

Sat up top for cocktails the 2^nd evening and it was nice. Got a good view of Mt Rainer

View from flybridge south to Mr Rainier and Farris wheel on Miner’s landing.

View of Olympic Mountains across Puget Sound

Port Ludlow To Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island Public Dock

June 7-10

Trip Distance 29 nm

Bainbridge Island/Eagle Harbor Public Dock is brand new and very nice with all new pilings etc.

Wayne and Linda on Tribute were to meet us there. They were traveling northward from Gig Harbor. They arrived a bit before us and stayed at Queen City Yacht Club outstation.

We got a spot at the public dock but then a big 100 foot boat came and said it was reserved. We said you can ‘t reserve its first come first serve but low and behold there were several cones that said reserved (oops).

Fortunately, right when we were going to move the boat at the other end of the long dock we were on left and the charter tied up there. They were having a party for someone named Brandt that night so later that day partiers arrived and they went out for a cruise. The Bainbridge island public dock is newly renovated, economical and very nice! 50 cents a foot with power. Had 50 amp too. We arrived Thursday and boaters are only supposed to be on the dock 48 hours. The harbormistress who we had communicated with about getting some mail said we could stay Saturday night (night number 3) since weather was not to be that nice ie rain. Ultimately, we stayed Thursday through Monday AM as she permitted us to stay one more night via text.

We had several good walks in Bainbridge island, dog swim in front of yacht club and a bike ride to the Grand Forest park east. On our long walk with dogs we started on waterfront board walk, followed the waterfront trail signs which snaked us through neighborhoods.

We had short detour into the Moritani preserve which was nice green space. Played ball with dogs there. They had some artifacts from previous Japanese owners. Seems Japanees settled on this and Vashon Island to grow strawberries. Some of these poor folks had lands confiscated and were put into internment camps… The waterfront walk also took us to Strawberry Park which is not very developed, a short waterfront picnic tables, and parking.

Nice down town with shops and good high-end grocery called Town and Country market (like a whole foods).

Went out every night with buddies Wayne and Linda. Went to Docs Marina Grill first night; good fish tacos. This restaurant must be a chain as we had eaten at Docs marina grill in Port Hudson. Anyhow we had a 2^nd meal at Docs when we met their friends the Norman and Lisa. I had the Crab Risotto which was awesome.

Had a short walk with Linda on the trails/roads to the right of the marina the next morning on the public paths you seem to stumble upon all over town.

Peace Full Public Path Linda, Patty, Holly

Lisa was a friend of Linda’s from a very young age as they were in boarding school for a year in France. These guys had been on Bainbridge island for nearly 40 years so they know some of the history. Norm had an interesting past. He helped develop the docks in Bainbridge and also Neah bay.

He told a story of a periscope in the bathroom of the Doc Marina Grill building. It was there! Supposedly the wives lived across the bay. The fisherman would come in and off load but then would go to the bar. The periscope was installed so the fisherman could look for and/or at any dinghy’s coming their way which might be a wife looking for the hubby! Nice to meet them.

We also ate one night at Mexican place Isla Bonita across from town and The Country Market food store. Alex had the SEAFOOD MOLCAJETE Mexican Molcajete (Mexican stew) made with shrimp, scallops, and whitefish. It was fantastic…..(From Alex).

Our last night we ate at the Harbour Public House. This is a small but nice pub with good brewery food. Not too loud on a Sunday night.

Port Townsend to Port Ludlow Anchorage

Wednesday June 6-7

Port Townsend To Port Ludlow

Trip Distance 14 nm

Got out of Port Townsend at around 0900 and headed south towards the Port Townsend canal. Along the way we crossed a Navy base at Walan Point with a submarine docked inside. We gave it a good wide distance as a navy boat with sub-machine gun on front tracked us to make sure we did not turn towards sub with nefarious intentions.

The Port Townsend Canal is a short fairly narrow pass which is a short cut heading south towards Seattle from Port Townsend. We passed at slack tide and had not trouble at all with deep water the whole way.

Stopped for one night at Port Ludlow.

This is a one resort town. Nice large inn with maybe/probably good restaurant (well reviewed). Very dog friendly. Many trails in surrounding cookie cutter residential neighborhoods, to a small town center with gas station, grocery, bank, cpa etc… a tiny town in itself. There is a golf course on other side of bay and an RV park which seem to often be near marinas. I found a trail on line to a waterfall. Its small but it was a cool walk, good info on area, lumber industry etc.

Waterfall hike, not a lot of swimming opportunity

On the way back next to the falls we walked through the Port Ludlow RV park which was small but had nice wooded sites.

Newport to Garibaldi (in Tillamook Bay)

Saturday May 26 2018

Trip Distance 61 nm

Left very early in morning, lots of fishing boats going out to dodge but calm seas. Had lovely cruise up the coast with flat water

Patty was disappointed by how much clear cutting is done. No one likely sees it except the few cruising up the coast. Still it was a great cruising day with sun shining, good weather and nice coastline.

Big Product in Oregon is Lumber, Clearcutting is product of that

Entering Garibaldi (harbor is about 2miles inside Tillamook bay we found that since Memorial Day Week the transient dock we planned to stay at was full of small fishing boats. We ended up tying up at the only dock free and once we walked up found out it was the local fish market dock and they were happy to let us stay for $30, good news since we where not sure what we where going to do. Had a short one night stay. We checked out a Myrtlewood factory, walked the dogs, had dinner at the towns top rated cafe (wonderful crab melts) and then early to bed for the early wake up needed for next jump up the coast to Westport (in Gray’s harbor Washington).

Tides are big up here, ie 9 foot in Tillamook. Currents are also big. We arrived at Tillamook at wrong time with outgoing time (can make swells big over the bar and also slow you down). Such a strong tide there were visible rapids.

Rapids! Means shallow water…twas out of channel

Ended up at the fish market dock since transient dock was full of small fishing boats

Transient dock full. We tied up at the fish market Across From Guest Dock In Foreground

Crescent City CA to Bandon OR

Friday May 18 2018

Trip Distance 96 nm

The route we set down is in blue our actual track in fuscia. When we have good weather we will stay more inland to make our route shorter to save time and see the coast which is nice to see the sites as we pass. As you can see we cut inside our route since it was such a nice sea day.

Left for Bandon, OR Friday May 18th. Bandon is a small town just inside the entrance to the Coquille River. The town is so small the coast guard station is seasonal and did not open until after Memorial Day weekend so we were on our own to cross the bar (we do always refer to the most recent Coast Pilot NOAA publication). We did call a sports fisherman in town to ask if there was any special local knowledge we should know. Other than staying south side of entrance he said nothing special.

Stayed at Bandon two nights. The first night we had dinner at Tony’s crab shack. Had dungenous crab which was good but kind of pricey for a tiny crab. The next day we walked to the hardware store for some compression fitting to fix air horn. Then we went to Bandon Beach and Bandon rocks for a fun walk. Face rock sort of looks like a head facing up from the water and there is an legend about a princess that was lured into the ocean by an evil spirit and she disappeared to surface as “face rock”. Great walk on the beach with dogs having fun. Bought some fresh caught Halibut from the fish market and had that for dinner. Plan to head for Florence OR the following day.

Noyo Harbor (Fort Bragg) to Crescent City

We left Noyo Harbor with no problems. Nice clear, sunny, beautiful and calm day. Departed around 2pm with plan to run overnight past Cape Mendocino to get to Crescent City, CA.

Twas a very nice afternoon. Saw a pod of dolphins feeding and some left the feast to ride our wave. With us they tend to ride our side wave from the displacement hull vs the bow wave.

We did the overnight with 3 hour alternating shifts. I did 8-11, Alex 11pm to 2am, then me 2-5 AM. Neither of us got much sleep so we were tired upon arrival. Sunset was around 8:30 pm, nice.

Sunset just south of Cape Mendocino. Calm sea with mild swells. Sunset was around 8:30pm, getting into long days.

Arriving at Crescent City it was overcast but clear. Entered into harbor without any problems, stopped at check in dock and fortunately harbor mistress was there at 7:30 am, our time of arrival. We were assigned a slip with the fishing boats. We took a lovely long beach walk on Crescent City Beach

Crescent City, a working port with lots of fishing boats.

Crescent City beach, at south end we entered the northern end of Redwood National and State park.

We stayed two nights at Crescent City. 2nd day, after a good night sleep, we walked north from Marina to town. Nice waterfront park. Also north coast Marine Mammal Center, a lighthouse and a brewery. Stopped at Seaquake brewery and got a flight of their beers in honor of Albert 🙂 . They make all their own beers at had a wide selection of their IPA’s in our beer flight.

Beer Flight, I tasted the dark and they were good!

Walking Bridge From Marina To Down Town Crescent City

We caught a fleeting glimpse of what looked like a Sasquatch on the hill outside town but by the time we got closer it was gone, photo is with tele-photo lens so we where a ways away when picture taken.

Sasquatch?

Northward in Florida

Left Jenny’s Friday January 19th. Heading to Deland to spend some time with another great friend Danny. Stopped in Orlando and had lunch with nephew James and we had Pho at Pho 88. Twas good. Onward to Deland to see Dan Smith a friend of many many years. Another great campsite in a great friend’s front yard 🙂

We hung out a bit and toured his house, had some cocktails then went to downtown Deland and had a very nice Italian dinner. Danny took us to a local brewery (alas we were the oldest there in this college town) and had a brew.

Saturday we ventured out after a nice home cooked breakfast. Went to check out Blue Springs state park where tons of manatees are but 1/2 hour line of cars to get in so we aborted. We ended up taking hike in Black Bear Wilderness which in part was along St John’s river. 7.7 mile walk. Very nice since it was cool and not buggy. Saw one Alligator, many birds and one Armadillo. We started at like 3:30pm and sunset at 5:30pm so we had to walk fast! It was a very nice walk

After the walk we checked out the near by marina and found a pool bar comedy club: Otter’s on the river which was the Boat Tree Marina (actually we were in Sanford). Then Saturday night cooked Chili and tried cornbread (tried Gary’s method… it tasted ok but not great).

January 21 st: We left Danny’s on the way to meet Mom in Ocala for her eye appointment at the Retina Center. We got up very early and went to Blue Springs State Park to beat the crowd and see Manatees. Mission accomplished it was very cool and 389 counted that morning. Saw a tiny baby and lots of others. One smaller one, likely a youngster was playing in the spring. He’d swim across and get pushed up and then would do it again.

Had a nice couple days with Mom and Calvin in Ocala. Did not do much as Mom was fighting a cold. Said good-bye to Mom and Cal Tuesday and went to Juniper Springs State Park. Spent the night and it was nice.

Big sites, private because not many people there.We got there early afternoon so took a walk on the Florida Trail and a connecting forest road with the dogs. Then went to the spring and had a swim all by our selves.

Walked the nature trail along Juniper Run and then had an easy supper and to bed early. Heading to Gainesville tomorrow.

January 24th and 25th we spent in Gainesville. Got there near noon and met Jane at Blue Highway for lunch. Actually first met at Tioga parking lot and walked the neighborhood with the dogs then had lunch. After lunch she took us on a campus tour: WOW things have changed! We stopped at her hubby’s Todd’s office and lab for a quick visit. She had to go do kid things and we hung out at Forest Park while we waited to meet Bob and Anne for dinner. Anne brought home a lovely Vietnamese dinner for us and we had dinner at the house. Met a friend of Bob’s after dinner as we sat around his pool under very cool heat lamps (it was cold). Camped out in Bob’s yard. Had lunch with Dennis the next day, walked near Hogtown creek (Loblolly trail) and then Dinner with Jane.

So the plan was to head west after this Gainesville visit but Alex found a house in Largo so we headed back down to Largo to look at a house. It filled our ideal requirements: on the water, deep water dock, near dog beach and neighborhood park. The house had good bones but needed lots of work and was way over priced so not the house for us.

However, on the up side, we got to spend more time with Tampa bay area friends. Spent Friday night with Gary and Marcia then Saturday we were planning on going to their Dekle beach house. Saturday we went to visit Jenny for a few hours and took a great hike in Hillsborough River State park with all four dogs (Solstice, Sierra, Terra and Holly) and Dan, Jenny, Leah, Alex and myself. It was nice hike. Sadly said good-bye to bestie Jenny and family for real 4pm ish and drove to Dekle beach house to meet Marcia and Dallas dog.

Continued adventures FL West Coast

Headed back up to friends in Largo and spent a couple more days. Some football for the guys, beach walk for the dogs (it was sunny but very cold and windy). We traveled back to our campsite in Tampa (in front of friends house) and spent a few more days. We went down to the Tampa River walk for a quick stop on the way up from Largo then went back a couple days later. They have done a nice job fixing it up and it was a beautiful day.