We woke up early in anticipation of getting out of town to do some traveling before the heat of the day caught up with us – but still had a leisurely start, brewing a pot of tea and a pot of coffee for Ray and Mary. We noted the direction of the current to plan how to adjust our lines for departure. In La Conner, on t
he Swinomish Channel, the current flows fairly strongly in either direction, depending on the tide. It was still flowing in our favor, but wouldn’t be for long. We shoved off a few minutes before 7 o’clock in the morning. I angled the stern out away from the dock and let the current catch it and push us away before heading out of town and under the Rainbow Bridge.
South of La Conner, after passing Shelter Bay, is Hole In The Wall, the narrow opening created years ago by the Corps of Engineers when they converted what was Swinomish Slough into a navigable channel. From there we make a sharp turn to starboard, line up with the range markers and follow the dredged channel past the mud flats on either side that are being exposed by the falling tide. We are “behind” Whidbey Island and the tidal flow ebbs around either end of the island – to the south around Possession Point, and to the north through Deception Pass. We were just a few miles from Deception Pass where we made the turn to the south, so the ebb current opposed us, reducing our headway speed.
But, it was a beautiful morning with glass smooth water and scenery
everywhere, including Mount Baker coming into view as we passed by the Skagit Bay shallows. We had an almost chilly breeze at the time, and I said out loud that we would be wishing for this breeze in a few hours, as the forecast was for temperatures into the 90’s.
Once we had cleared the shallow channel and viewed the close-up scenery, Erin went below to stir up some breakfast, and soon reappeared with some egg and sausage sandwiches, perfect hand food for eating on the run. We were soon at Strawberry Point, where we angled towards the western shore of Camano Island to follow it south through Saratoga Passage. Along the way we were removing the windows on the bridge until we had just the canvas top, which we left up for shade from the ever warming sun. I had the throttles at 1400 rpm, which was about 8.5 knots through the water, although our boat speed was usually a little less due to the ebbing current. As we got further south the ebb actually helped us for a short time before the tide turned.
We passed both the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry and Edmonds/Kingston ferry routes as we continued south towards Shilshole and the Ballard Locks. At times we would be traveling the same speed and direction as the wind, which
left us with no wind at all. Erin brought up an electric fan and we placed it on the bridge dash behind the computer to create our own breeze.
After about 6 hours of cruising, we arrived at the locks, and as we were cruising down the fairway towards the railroad bridge, I could see that the green light was lit for the small lock. We continued on towards the entrance to the lock, thinking how lucky we were to hit it just right. As we approached the light, it quickly changed to red and the locktender’s voice came over a loudspeaker “What is your length? Call us on channel 13”. I called to report our overall length, and they said “sorry, you won’t fit – we’ll get you on the next locking”. The tide was fairly low, so rather than tie up to the barnacle encrusted waiting wall we stood b
y, waiting for 20 or 30 minutes until the lock was available again. At least we were first in line.
The small lock typically holds 5 or 6 pleasure boats, and is by far the more desirable of the two locks available. It also features floating walls that the boats tie to, so no line work is required during ascent. In the large lock, the locktender throws a small line down to each end of the boat, your lock lines are tied on and secured to bollards topside. As the water fills the lock, it’s necessary to keep the line taut as the level changes. To add to that difficulty, 3 or 4 other boats are usually rafted alongside with their weight pulling on your lines as well. So, we were grateful for the small lock, even with the wait.
As we exited the lock into the ship canal, I called our friend Trav, who had volunteered to operate the “Interurban”, a ride so Ray and I could retrieve our car from home while Erin and Mary organized stuff. We soon returned with Erin’s car, the PT Cruiser. It’s smaller than our Jimmy, but I remembered that the air conditioner had failed about a week before we left on our trip and it was now 91 degrees outside with the temperature still rising. We stuffed what we could in the back of the car, and we all climbed in to air conditioned comfort, including, of course, Tribble, who had earned her stripes as a genuine boat cat.
We had a great time the entire trip and were delighted that Ray and Mary could come along with us. We enjoy their company and look forward to assembling the photos and video so we can revisit the good times. The boat performed flawlessly as well, making the trip all the more pleasurable. A good time was had by all.
he Swinomish Channel, the current flows fairly strongly in either direction, depending on the tide. It was still flowing in our favor, but wouldn’t be for long. We shoved off a few minutes before 7 o’clock in the morning. I angled the stern out away from the dock and let the current catch it and push us away before heading out of town and under the Rainbow Bridge.South of La Conner, after passing Shelter Bay, is Hole In The Wall, the narrow opening created years ago by the Corps of Engineers when they converted what was Swinomish Slough into a navigable channel. From there we make a sharp turn to starboard, line up with the range markers and follow the dredged channel past the mud flats on either side that are being exposed by the falling tide. We are “behind” Whidbey Island and the tidal flow ebbs around either end of the island – to the south around Possession Point, and to the north through Deception Pass. We were just a few miles from Deception Pass where we made the turn to the south, so the ebb current opposed us, reducing our headway speed.
But, it was a beautiful morning with glass smooth water and scenery
everywhere, including Mount Baker coming into view as we passed by the Skagit Bay shallows. We had an almost chilly breeze at the time, and I said out loud that we would be wishing for this breeze in a few hours, as the forecast was for temperatures into the 90’s.Once we had cleared the shallow channel and viewed the close-up scenery, Erin went below to stir up some breakfast, and soon reappeared with some egg and sausage sandwiches, perfect hand food for eating on the run. We were soon at Strawberry Point, where we angled towards the western shore of Camano Island to follow it south through Saratoga Passage. Along the way we were removing the windows on the bridge until we had just the canvas top, which we left up for shade from the ever warming sun. I had the throttles at 1400 rpm, which was about 8.5 knots through the water, although our boat speed was usually a little less due to the ebbing current. As we got further south the ebb actually helped us for a short time before the tide turned.
We passed both the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry and Edmonds/Kingston ferry routes as we continued south towards Shilshole and the Ballard Locks. At times we would be traveling the same speed and direction as the wind, which
left us with no wind at all. Erin brought up an electric fan and we placed it on the bridge dash behind the computer to create our own breeze.After about 6 hours of cruising, we arrived at the locks, and as we were cruising down the fairway towards the railroad bridge, I could see that the green light was lit for the small lock. We continued on towards the entrance to the lock, thinking how lucky we were to hit it just right. As we approached the light, it quickly changed to red and the locktender’s voice came over a loudspeaker “What is your length? Call us on channel 13”. I called to report our overall length, and they said “sorry, you won’t fit – we’ll get you on the next locking”. The tide was fairly low, so rather than tie up to the barnacle encrusted waiting wall we stood b
y, waiting for 20 or 30 minutes until the lock was available again. At least we were first in line.The small lock typically holds 5 or 6 pleasure boats, and is by far the more desirable of the two locks available. It also features floating walls that the boats tie to, so no line work is required during ascent. In the large lock, the locktender throws a small line down to each end of the boat, your lock lines are tied on and secured to bollards topside. As the water fills the lock, it’s necessary to keep the line taut as the level changes. To add to that difficulty, 3 or 4 other boats are usually rafted alongside with their weight pulling on your lines as well. So, we were grateful for the small lock, even with the wait.
As we exited the lock into the ship canal, I called our friend Trav, who had volunteered to operate the “Interurban”, a ride so Ray and I could retrieve our car from home while Erin and Mary organized stuff. We soon returned with Erin’s car, the PT Cruiser. It’s smaller than our Jimmy, but I remembered that the air conditioner had failed about a week before we left on our trip and it was now 91 degrees outside with the temperature still rising. We stuffed what we could in the back of the car, and we all climbed in to air conditioned comfort, including, of course, Tribble, who had earned her stripes as a genuine boat cat.
We had a great time the entire trip and were delighted that Ray and Mary could come along with us. We enjoy their company and look forward to assembling the photos and video so we can revisit the good times. The boat performed flawlessly as well, making the trip all the more pleasurable. A good time was had by all.
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