Scott and I took his sister & her family out for an afternoon cruise and we decided to go around Blake Island to check it out.
Now that we have practiced anchoring, we wanted to see what the bays look like around the island. Blake Island is just six nautical miles southwest of Seattle, so it’s a quick trip from Elliott Bay Marina. It took us about 30 minutes going 9 knots.
Blake Island is managed by the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission and is accessible only by boat. When Scott and I bought our previous boat, we took a quick trip to Blake Island to check it out. Turns out it was a horrible day and we struggled to get into the marina! The marina has either 30 minute slips or overnight slips. They don’t take reservations, so it’s first come first serve. You do need a Discover Pass to visit. There’s plenty to do on Blake Island, including visiting Tilicum Village, hiking and beach combing.
Where do they anchor at Blake Island?
There are four mooring fields with anchorages and one dock. Though we didn’t see anyone moored outside the marina.
On The anchorages are actually pretty shallow. Our charts were showing as shallow as 2′. Scott reminded me over and over, that I would have to get used to entering shallow waters. (LOL). Remember, I have freaked out a few times entering Port Madison!
We cruised around the island, counter clockwise, heading to the west side first. What I am curious about, is what the weather (specifically winds) are like on the west and south side? Our old house had a southwest exposure, we we got beat up by the weather all the time.
Quaint mooring fields
As soon as we saw the boats, I actually got excited. How fun this would be, to come out for even just one night. You can take the dinghy to the beach and then go explore the island!
We counted about seven balls on the west side. The question for us newbies is, how do you know what the ball is rated for in weight? Are they all the same?
On the south end, there were only two mooring balls, with one available. I’m guessing the south end is not very comfortable based on the winds that come from the south. Then as we rounded back to the east side of the island, there were more boats anchored. There might be mooring balls, but we didn’t get close enough to check.
The Blake Island marina is located at the north east corner of the island. There’s plenty of beach right next to the marina, which is just a few steps away from Tillicum Village. Since we’re new to anchoring, I don’t think we’ll try that yet this Fall, but we are hoping to make a trip over and stay at the marina this Fall. By then, there should be more slips available and less tourists.
Blake Island
One thing to note, is do not overstay your 30 minute visit. The park ranger will come out and ask you to leave. Before we start staying overnight at anchor or anywhere else, we have to figure out if our holding tanks are leaking. Stay tuned for that blog post. Next week, we’ll share with you some of the remodel ideas we came upon at the Boats Afloat Show.
As always, thank you for following our boating blog! Scott and I have a lot of things coming up, including our big haul out in a few weeks. Please be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. #boatingjourney
Scott and I finally anchored for the first time last weekend! When we had Kokomo, we went through the process of pulling out our anchor and marking it in feet. So we did the same thing with this boat a few weeks ago. It’s important to check your anchor for a few things: is it in good shape, is it all chain and how much chain do you have? Plus, once the chain locker is empty, you can inspect it too.
Our anchor is tied to a cleat on the bow, which helps keep it secured. But as you can see, we need to replace the rope – it’s seen better days.
On this boat, we have foot pedals on the bow for the electric windlass. The anchor you see in the photo below, is actually our spare anchor.
Laying the anchor chain out on the dock.
Turns out we have all chain and no rope. That’s a good thing. However, we noticed the first five rungs were really rusty, so we decided to remove those. Easier said than done, but Scott managed to do it with a set of bolt cutters.
Next we knew that the dock was built in 10′ segments, so we laid out the tarp and then I slowly released the anchor chain and Scott lined up the chain every ten feet on the dock.
How much anchor chain do we have?
Our previous boat had over 250′ of chain and we never once anchored with that boat. Since this boat has a generator, we hope to spend the night on the hook next summer. Once Scott laid out all of the chain on the dock, he spray painted the ends, indicating “every ten feet”. The previous owner had also tied ribbons on the chain, every 25′, so now we have two methods of measurements we can use.
Notice the end of the chain, we double painted it yellow and orange, so we would know we were at the end when anchoring.
Turns out we have about 240′ of chain. The chain locker looked good and we were very careful when we brought it back up. We checked the locker a few times to make sure it was laying flat.
One word of caution – don’t pull the chain / anchor too tight. As you can see in the photo below, I did just that and it got stuck on the anchor plate below the bow. Scott was finally able to loosen it, by attaching a line to it from the dock and pushing the boat back and forth. But if you’re on the water, you’re stuck.
Let’s practice in Port Madison
Last weekend, we headed over to Port Madison to practice anchoring. Kurt came along to give us some tips and advice. It was a beautiful day and perfect to practice anchoring for the first time.
The original plan was to enter into Port Madison and anchor inside.
However, it was also a very low tide that afternoon and once we got inside where Treasure Island is, we were in only 7′ of water and I got uncomfortable. Not only was I worried about our draft (yes, our draft is 4′, so we were fine), but there were a lot of boats inside and the last thing they needed was a newbie practicing around them. When anchoring, make sure to practice proper etiquette.
So we decided to turn around and head back out. We would practice anchoring in the outside bay. (smart decision). If you are looking to practice anchoring, Port Madison is perfect – it’s only 40 min from Seattle (at 9 knots) and a fun trip.
We’re finally ready to anchor for the first time!
Right outside the bay, we picked a spot that was about 20′ deep and there were no boats around. We untied the anchor and slowly started to lower it into the water. Since there were no boats around, we decided to let out 100′ of chain (5 -1) versus 140 (7-1). If I noticed that the boat was moving forward over the chain, I had Scott slowly back up. We did this a few times, until 100′ was let out. Then we waited about 3 minutes to see if the chain was holding. It wasn’t vibrating, which can be an indicator that it’s dragging.
Success on the first try! We’re not going anywhere. Time for lunch!
The four of us enjoyed lunch in the cockpit while at anchor. It was a bit weird and you do move a lot. This is not a bay I would stay over night in, so I’m assuming it would be calmer somewhere else.
Now we have to pull up the anchor
You’ll love the pictures here, as I was wearing our GoPro camera while pulling up the anchor! LOL. Scott and I followed the same procedure of backing up the boat, if it started to move over the top of the anchor. I would give him arm signals, indicating which direction the anchor chain was as we were pulling it up.
The wet chain made a bit of a mess on the bow, with some rusty water. We took a bucket of water and rinsed it off right away. We only brought up a little bit of kelp, so nothing too bad. The anchor had a lot of mud on it, so I carefully lowered it a few times to rinse it off. In all, it was a successful first time anchoring. I’m really glad Kurt was there to show us the ropes and help with the process. Be sure to check out our next blog as we take a trip around Blake Island to look for a spot to anchor!
Here’s the full footage on our YouTube channel below.
As always, thank you for following our blog. We’re booking our bareboat charter in the British Virgin Islands this week. Our friends Ben & Maria are chartering a Power Catamaran with us next April. I will be sure to share all of my research and am looking for tips and advise too in upcoming blogs.
A few weeks ago, we joined the Union Marine getaway in Bremerton and we brought along my college friend Jen. The Bremerton Marina is just across the bay from Port Orchard, where we were earlier in the month, so it was nice to know where we were going. The three of us left Friday around 3pm, so that I could get a dock party set up for our event. Going at 10 knots, it would take us about 90 minutes to get there.
The weather was a bit grey, but the water was almost calm the entire way! We even saw a few porpoises, but I never got a chance to get their photo.
Entering the Bremerton Marina!
Most of our crew & guests were already at the marina, so I called our broker Steve and said we were coming in. He warned me that the current was swift and to be ready. We entered the Bremerton Marina on the west end, as we were on the guest dock in the center. That all was very smooth, as the water was so calm. But once we turned down our fairway, Scott said the current was fast!
The fairways and slips are very wide (thank God!) and we were grateful for that, as we were sharing a slip with one of our customers who has a beautiful 48′ Sea Ray yacht. As we started to back in, the current over took us and we had to try again. This time we went to the end of our fairway, turned around and backed in again. Let’s just say, we were grateful for all of the extra hands on the dock!
The docks are nice and wide and well appointed. The marina doesn’t have a breakwater wall, but instead an outside dock.
Happy Hour on the Dock
Union Marine was hosting the wine & beer hour on the dock. Each boat then brought an appetizer and there were some amazing bites that everyone made (being so busy, I brought store bought chips & salsa – boo!) One boat brought Caesar salad in a cup! Genius idea!
One of the best things about this getaway, was hanging out with the three fur babies! I mean, we had a Corgi, Bernese AND a Golden! Heaven!
After our happy hour, Jen, Scott and I decided to explore DT Bremerton and find a bite to eat. The Port is very nice and has a lot of culture built in. The US Navy is based out of Bremerton, so much of the Port is dedicated to our service men and women.
Our First Night in Bremerton
The three of us headed into Bremerton and stumbled upon the South Pacific Sports Bar, which is walking distance from the marina (just past the bus terminal). The food was fantastic and they had plenty of seating! I highly recommend a stop here during your next visit.
It wouldn’t be a boating getaway, if there wasn’t a night cap party on the dock. Luckily the weather never got bad and it was a really great night to sit and mingle with good friends on the dock.
Touring the USS Turner Joy
I wanted to check out the USS Turner Joy Navy ship, for a possible future event. The ship is located at the Port, right next to the marina. They gave us a quick tour of the upper deck, where parties would be held. This is a very cool venue! You can even stay the night on it as a group!
USS Turner Joy was one of 18 Forrest Sherman-class destroyers of the United States Navy. It was named for Admiral Charles Turner Joy USN. Commissioned in 1959, it spent its entire career in the Pacific. It launched in 1958 and was decommissioned in 1982.
Apparently this is the party deck! Better hold on tight!
A Quick Trip to Port Orchard
Say, weren’t we just in Port Orchard two weeks ago? Yep, but there is so much to see there, that we wanted to show Jen the cute town and farmer’s market. Port Orchard is located directly across Sinclair Inlet from Bremerton – yes, we could take our dingy there, but that would be too much work. Instead, we hopped on a vintage ferry boat – the Carlisle II.
Carlisle II is the oldest of only two operational Mosquito Fleet vessels in Puget Sound. (The other is the 1922 Steamship Virginia V. which is located on Lake Union) They were once part of a large fleet of small passenger and freight carrying ships that linked the islands and ports of Puget Sound in Washington State in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The ferry runs every 30 minutes and it’s best to have your ORCA card. Otherwise you’ll need cash (I think $2) for each way.
We talked to the Captain and found out that the ferry will be decommissioned in a few months and replaced with an hybrid catamaran foot ferry.
There was a tall ship “festival” in Port Orchard, but we only saw one ship at the marina. Jen, Scott and I decided to walk around town a bit and check out a few things we didn’t see before. Including the must have belly rub on a sweet golden.
One of the funniest things we encountered was at the Candy Shoppe in downtown. They not only sold these cute “turtles”, but they also sold “turdles”. LOL!!
After a quick one hour tour, we headed back to Bremerton on the ferry for the Union Marine Party at Anthony’s.
Union Marine Getaway Party at Anthony’s in Bremerton
Union Marine hosted the Bremerton Getaway cocktail party at Anthony’s Homeport, located right at the marina. We rented a private room and it was perfect for our group. The staff did a fantastic job and the food was amazing! Thank you to everyone who made this a great event.
Prism Graphics sponsored the event and talked with them for quite awhile. Scott and I would love to change the name of our boat, as it’s not one we would pick (“Our Happy Day”). To do that properly, you need to have a proper ceremony to avoid bad luck. Turns out that Prism offers that too!
Walking around the Bremerton Marina and the Port
Our group told us to go check out the fountains, just walking distance from Anthony’s. I was skeptical, wondering what the big deal was. Well, were we in for a surprise! These things were so cool and the photos don’t do them justice. We think they are meant to simulate a submarine.
With everyone content with good food and cocktails, we returned to the dock to relax. Somehow, that’s where all the stories are told (or begin for the next time). This is a great group of boating friends and I’m glad I’m part of their family.
A Beautiful Trip Home from Bremerton
We couldn’t have asked for a better travel day. The weather was calm and warm. In fact, I wish we could have stayed out on the water a bit longer.
Since we had a lot of chores to do, we decided to kick it into gear and let the boat burn off some carbon across Puget Sound. We made it home in 45 minutes!
Scott and I are thrilled about how well our Bayliner 4087 has done this summer. We’ve taken her out to Kingston, Tacoma, Port Orchard, Port Madison and now Bremerton. For our first year, we couldn’t be happier. We’re looking forward to the next getaway, wherever that may lead us.
As always, thank you for following and subscribing to our blog! Stay tuned for our YouTube episode and tour of Bremerton. If you want to get notifications of our next episode, be sure to subscribe to our channel – click here!
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