Tag: Boating Blogs

Thankful This Holiday Season

This past year has certainly been a journey and Scott and I are so thankful this holiday season. When we sold The Wine Alley two years ago, we were not sure what to expect nor what was in store for us. The plan was to buy a boat, but first I had to find a job.

Placencia, Belize

That plan took a strange twist early in 2016, when I was toying with the idea of moving to Placencia, Belize.  What?! You didn’t know the story? I had been consulting for a resort that was under construction and they had offered me the position of Director of Sales & Marketing.

I visited the resort (which was a journey) for a few days. (Be sure to read my blog and check out the awesome photos.) In the end, I turned down the job as it would have meant living apart from Scott and Mac, which I just couldn’t do. Two months later, I was back looking for a marketing position again.

Now that I had launched my marketing consulting business, Allison Leigh Consulting, I started doing a few projects for smaller companies that needed help. In May 2016, I took on a huge project for a retail chain developing their marketing program and team from the ground up.

Since we thought we were moving and had began downsizing our home, we kept our plans to sell our house and move onto a boat. Of course that all changed after we went to the Annapolis Boat Show in October 2016. That’s when we decided to hold off, buy a weekend cruiser and see if we like boating first.

Thankful for all of our blessings

Scott & I started the new year at the Seattle Boat Show and our hunt for boat began. It was certainly challenging and as you know from our blog, it took forever. Finally this past May, we were officially boat owners!

We have been so blessed that we could bring our dream of owning a boat to life. This past year, we are thankful that we shared great times with friends and family on our boat Kokomo. That is one of the best things about boating.

The marketing project has ended for me and now I am searching for a dynamic company where I can share my marketing expertise.  Over the past few weeks I have met with some amazing companies, so I’m thankful for these opportunities. Stay tuned for what’s next for me.

We are thankful to Elliott Bay Marina, for helping us secure our moorage before we even owned the boat.  Spending time on Kokomo and at the marina has become our weekend getaway.

In addition, we are so appreciative of my sister Susan and her husband Kurt for all of their help and advice this summer.

Thank you to all of our loyal subscribers and followers. Now that our boating journey has begun, we are looking forward to sharing more adventures with all of you.

This holiday season, we wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas.

Cheers, Scott & Ally

#KokomoSeattle #BoatingJourney

Did we really go boating in December?

When Scott and I bought our boat Kokomo, we didn’t really have intentions to go boating in December. For those of you following us here and on Instagram, you know I like to check on the boat regularly this winter.  Our marina has lost power a few times already and I like to make sure the heaters are all working properly.

This past Sunday, Scott and I went to the marina with the plan to put holiday lights on the boat, since many of the boats are decorated. Once we got there, we realized that no one on our dock decorates their boat. In addition, we are at the very end of our dock, where no one can see us, so we bagged that plan.

No engines? Uh ho

The weather was wet and cold, so not ideal for boating.  We had planned on running the engines at the dock and checking on our heaters.  After a few minutes, Scott said we needed to take it out on Elliott Bay to clean out all of the carbon buildup in the engines. My concern wasn’t actually the weather, but the engines. It was so cold, that they kept shutting off (which is why Scott wanted to take the boat for a spin). As I was untying the lines, I asked Scott if the engines were warm enough to stay on and he assured me we were good to go.

Our slip mate moved his boat to another slip, so we have the entire slip to ourselves right now.  As I pushed us off of the dock and we started to enter the fairway, both engines died. Of course, I freaked out as we were just floating there with my pole in hand!  Scott started both engines up again and now we were headed between two yachts in our fairway. Just then, the engines died again! Normally, when we go through our fairway, we move very slowly. Scott started both engines and this time, he had to rev the engines up and move quickly between the two yachts.  Ugh!

Boating on Elliott Bay in December

Scott and I left the marina for a quick spin around Elliott Bay. We left our fenders on, as we literally only planned to go out for ten minutes.

As we came back into the marina, it started to pour down rain and we couldn’t see a thing. Figures. We waited for about five minutes for a break in the skies and we quickly headed back into the marina.

By the time we were securing the boat, we were soaked! Guess that’s boating in December in the Pacific Northwest.

Remember the submerged boat?

A few weeks ago, I shared photos of a submerged boat at our marina.  At the time we took the photos, we didn’t realize that it’s hull and bow were located on another dock. So Scott and I headed over to N Dock to check out the remains.

The boat is at the bottom of the bay here.  Here’s the video we took:

Moral of the story is, check on your boat regularly if you keep it moored and not “winterized”.  Next week our marina is having a holiday party and decorating contest and I will be sure to take lots of photos to share. Stay dry and stay tuned.  Cheers, Scott & Ally   #KokomoSeattle

A submerged boat is not a good thing

Don’t worry, we do not have a submerged boat, but someone in the marina does! I get teased a lot for worrying about our boat Kokomo and going down to check on it every week. After today’s visit, I feel justified!

Elliott Bay Marina lost power last week for almost three days during a very major wind storm we had. I talked about this in my last blog. So we wanted to make sure everything we still secured. As I am typing this, I realized we didn’t notice if our owl bird deterrent was still there. Great.

Today the weather was gorgeous and a great day to go down and check things out. Remember a few weeks ago when I was learning how to dock the boat?  Notice that boat docked along the dock there?

Here’s another still shot of the boat, which was called “Morning Wood”. This boat is an old wooden 35′ Trojan. It was making me nervous docking near it.

Notice that there are no other boats along the outside perimeter of “N” dock. That’s because during the Fall and Winter months, the weather is horrible and it’s unsafe to dock your boat there. During the summer months, this dock is primarily used for yachts only.

When things go wrong

Well, today as we walked down the plank way to our dock, we noticed that “something” was submerged where they store small sail boats! Uh ho!

At first, we thought it was two or three of the sail boats that are normally tied up here, but instead it was PIECES of one boat!

This is the bow of the boat and the windshield.

This is the fly bridge. It still had the key in the ignition!

Yep, this is the remains of “Morning Wood”! Apparently, the marina told the owner, not to leave the boat on the outside dock. Despite their warning, he left for a few weeks. Last Monday when we had 50mph winds, it tore the boat apart.  The engine is actually still attached to the dock with a boom around it. I didn’t get a photo of the engine this day, but check out our blog from a few weeks later.

Lesson learned! When the marina says “don’t leave your boat on the outside”, follow their instructions.  There is so much of the boat floating everywhere. There were lights, cushions, books, you name it, all floating around the marina. What a disaster! Not to mention now they have to deal with environmental issues with the engine.

Luckily for us, Kokomo was just fine. The dingy was still inflated and it was nice and warm in the cabin.  Always a good day! Until next time…..we’ll share with you a new product we’re using on the boat.

Cheers, Scott and Ally on #KokomoSeattle

New Boater Worries During the Winter

As a new boaters, we (especially I) worry constantly about the boat while it’s unoccupied in the marina during the winter. It’s silly, I know. Call it the “newby boater syndrome”. During the summer, the weather is so nice and warm and we don’t have to worry about any weather issues. But here in the PNW, our winters are wet and nasty. As I’m writing this blog today, we are in a high wind warning forecast and my house is rocking!

With wind gusts of 50mph and dumping rain, I worry about the boat. It’s secured by four lines, but the winds from the south are so strong, that our boat can be 3′ from the dock when it’s windy.

Breakfast in Magnolia

For me, I feel better if we check on the boat once a week during the winter. Remember, we have a low wattage Dry Warm Air Circulator and an electric auto shut off Ceramic Heater running right now on the boat.  It snowed here last week, so I wanted to see if the heater had kicked on and what the temps were at inside the cabin.

Since Scott and I were coming all the way to Seattle to check on the boat, we figured we might as well make a morning of it.  We headed to “downtown” Magnolia and had breakfast at a great restaurant called “Serendipity Café & Lounge“. The food was simple and amazing! Super fresh, hand made and tons of flavor.  Now that we know how far downtown Magnolia is from the marina, we can walk there though it’s all up hill.

We stopped at the Magnolia Park, so I could get some photos from above the marina. This is a gorgeous park, with lots of trees, great views and dogs galore!

Another crazy wave!

If you remember back this summer, Scott, Kurt and I went out boating and as we left the marina a very long huge wave / trough came at the boat. Well, I happened to notice that there was another one out in the sound. This wave was probably two miles long and not a single ship or vessel was anywhere around.

It really was a strange phenomenon. Some people wondered if maybe an underwater earthquake caused it? Who knows.

A quick trip to the marina

After breakfast, we headed down to the marina. It was super high tide and there were actually a few logs floating down the fairways.

The tide was so high, that the normally visible rock formation inside the marina, was covered. But there was just enough land for this heron and seagulls to stand on it, making it look like they were standing on water.

Upon arriving the boat, the first thing we noticed was our dinghy was deflated. Scott thinks it is due to the cold weather, since both chambers were deflated. We pumped it back up and we’ll see what it looks like next weekend.

Surprisingly, the cockpit didn’t have that much rain water in it. I wonder what it looked like today, with all of our southerly squalls coming in?  While the heater was not kicked on (yet), the temperature inside the cabin was surprisingly at 50º. Outside it was 44º. Our objective is to keep it warm and dry. That’s the key word “dry”. If your cabin is too warm, it will create condensation, which can lead to mold. We don’t want that.

My question to all other boaters who keep their boats in the marina, is how often do you check on your boat? Please share with us your stories and input.  In addition, if you would like to guest blog for us, please send me an email.

What’s ironic about the paragraph above, is the marina has been out of power for two days. This morning they sent out a text that it is up and running, but to come down and check on your boat. I plan on doing that tomorrow when I am in Seattle, but my “worry” is if that is soon enough?

Cheers and happy boating! Scott & Ally #KokomoSeattle #BoatingJourney