Visiting Kingston, a small quaint town just across from Edmonds & NW from Seattle
Visiting Kingston, which is in the state of Washington, not the UK. Why would I even mention that? That’s because as I was trying to find the phone number for the Port of Kingston Marina on google as we were approaching the port and the only one that kept popping up was in the UK! Luckily there’s a great app that we used all summer, DockWa that is like open table, but it’s for dock reservations! Super easy to use.
Scott and I planned a boating weekend with our close friend Randy and his girlfriend Meghann on our boat Kokomo. Originally, we were going to do a two night trip going to Edmonds first then Kingston. Unfortunately, like many marinas in the summer time, Edmonds was completely booked by a yacht club. Instead, we decided to stay Friday night at our marina, do a cocktail cruise and then have dinner in Ballard.
We spent an hour before their arrival prepping the boat, making the beds and gassing up. One thing to remember in Washington when getting gas for your vessel is to save your receipts! You pay road tax when you buy gas, but the state will reimburse you for that tax, since you are not driving on roads. Here’s the scoop on Fuel Tax Refunds.
Seattle activities
This happened to be Hempfest in Seattle this weekend, which is held at the Seattle Sculpture Park along the waterfront. This also brought out all kinds of fun people, including these rafting on large ruby ducky’s.
While we attempted to enjoy some appetizers and a cocktail overlooking Downtown Seattle, it was nearly impossible as the wakes from other boats were sloshing us all over the place. I don’t recommend trying this!
Soon we turned back to our marina and the clouds were beginning to roll in. What a cool sunset and view they created.
After we provisioned the boat, the four of us headed into Ballard for dinner.
An evening in Ballard
We made reservations at Moshi Moshi Sushi and the food was fantastic! It’s located on Ballard Avenue in the heart of all things exciting! I used to live in Ballard from 1999 to 2002. Back then, there were only a handful of restaurants on Ballard Avenue. Now there is one every fifty feet it seems.
The four of us finished the night at one of our favorite old time stomping grounds, The Conor Byrne Irish Pub. They have live music and the bar is very old. It was so fun going back and revisiting an old fav.
Off to visit Kingston!
Since we couldn’t check into Kingston until 1pm, we had decided to wait until the afternoon to leave. Meghan and Randy arrived to our doc about 2pm and we set off soon after.
Soon after this video, we thought we were having engine trouble. We stopped, checked the props, all was good. We think the issue was we were having trouble getting the boat to plane out and it was struggling a bit. After trying again, we were off and running!
The conditions were warm and sunny with winds coming from NNW at about 9mph. There were lots of sail boats taking advantage of the winds!
Turns out that Kingston is only about 12 nautical miles from Elliott Bay, so we arrived in about 30 minutes! The marina is located around the corner from the Mukilteo-Kingston Ferry Dock.
We finally arrived (after just 30 minutes!)
Our friends Cory and Stacy were already at the marina on their boat Bold Adventure, a 37′ Larson. They were in slip 16 and we were in 18. So that worked out perfect for them to meet us. It is a bit tricky entering the marina, because you don’t know at first which side of the dock to be on, but we figured it out quickly that the even numbered slips were on the inside.
As we approached our slip, we soon realized that the bow line was NOT THERE! What the?? Well, it was, but it had come loose from the railing and we obviously dragged it all the way from Seattle! That line could have gotten caught up in our prop. Luckily, it was in perfect shape, so no damage done (or so we hope!)
We were ready to relax and have a beer now with Cory and Stacy.
The marina is quiet and the staff was super friendly. After lunch, we decided to explore the town.
Visiting Kingston is an easy two block walk
Kingston is not very big. It has a few restaurants and shops along the main road, which leads to the ferry terminal. We stopped into a d’Vine wine bar and they were doing a wine tasting! Imagine that. LOL. We met with the owner and she was super friendly and it was fun to talk shop with her. The wines were from Long Cellars out of Woodinville and they were fantastic! We bought a bottle of the Faiken Red.
Just around the corner from d’Vine is Sweet Life Cakery and they specialize in cupcakes. Scott was in heaven and bought a half a dozen cupcakes, including a chocolate salted caramel cupcake. I just now realized that I should have taken a photo of the cupcakes! Instead I was too excited about the “giant chair” right outside. In fact, these chairs are all over town! Here’s the back story about them.
Summer Concerts in the Cove
All summer long, Kingston has free concerts at the marina park which are sponsored by the Kingston Chamber of Commerce. Saturday night, they had Sister Mercy a rhythm and blues band. They were fantastic! We brought a picnic dinner and sat on the lawn for a perfect evening!
Randy was generous to bring two phenomenal bottles of wine, including the Caymus Select Cab and the Five Star Cellars Merlot. Both of which, were stunning wines and a true treat!
The marina is very quiet and we couldn’t have asked for a better night to relax and catch up with good friends.
The next morning, I made another frittata in my Good Times Xpress Redi Set Go Cooker
Uh Ho, Not again!
We planned to leave Kingston soon after breakfast as we knew we had a couple of hours of cleaning to do when we returned. Unfortunately, when we started the port side engine we heard a terrible sound so we shut the engine off. Uh ho! Not again. Scott opened the engine door and we tried starting it again. Watching it, the serpentine belt was not moving. Great. This was the same engine we had to replace the power steering pump on during our trip to the San Juan Islands. Scott determined that the belt just wasn’t tight enough, so after a few adjustments we gave it another shot and Voila! We were in business once again. Whew!
We left Kingston during low tide and the channel was about 11 feet deep. However, some folks in the bay were not so lucky and were grounded until high tide came back.
Now that we know Kingston is so close to Seattle, we’ll plan a few more trips to visit Kingston.
Once back at Elliott Bay, we spent a couple of hours cleaning the inside and out. It is amazing how nice it looks when it is cleaned! As I was cleaning the back end, I had my sunglasses on my head and suddenly they fell off into the darkness of the marina below. Always an adventure when we are on #KokomoSeattle
Lessons learned on this trip:
- Make sure all of your lines are secured, even after you leave the marina
- Don’t wear your sunglasses on your head when working on your boat