Boating Journey Blog about boating for the first time

October 13, 2017October 13, 2017

What’s under all that sea growth?!

Sea growth and how does it form so fast?

Sea growth is part of owning a boat and life in a marina. When our neighbor moved in next door, I couldn’t help to notice how much growth he had on the bottom of his boat. His boat is aluminum, so honestly I don’t know if aluminum boats have anti-fouling paint on the bottom. Our boat, was recently painted so that was not really a concern of ours. However, it also has never sat in salt water for any extended period of time.

Back to sea growth! As Scott was working on changing the oil last weekend, I noticed that the dinghy had water in it. Great – now how to get rid of that?!

Well, my brainy idea (which worked) was to use our Bilge Sponge to remove the water. They soak up a lot of water and work great. The only issue was the water was so stagnant, that even after washing my hands five times, I still stunk! Next time I will use gloves. Scott and I have also thought about getting a small hand pump to remove the water. We’ll let you know what works best.

Is that our propeller??

As I was leaning over the swim platform to clean out the water, I noticed our propeller! Yikes!! In fact, it freaked me out so bad, I immediately sent out a posts on Facebook, asking everyone what to do.

Here’s what the other one looked like!

Some of the comments I got on Facebook were:

“Run around in the bay”
“Go in reverse really fast”
“Get a wire brush and try to clean it”
“Haul it out and scrub it”
“Does your boat have anti-fouling paint?”

It got pretty comical. Just so you know, anti-fouling paint has nothing to do with your propellers. My brother-in-law did think it was odd to have that much growth on them though, but then again, we hadn’t taken the boat out in over five weeks. Then I walked around the marina and looked at other boats. They were exactly the same way. Perhaps Elliott Bay Marina is really fertile? LOL. Determined to tackle it, I decided to get our regular Boat Brush with Long Handle out and see if I could reach the propellers.

Sure enough, the stuff came right off. That’s the good news. The bad news is, I realized that our port side prop was bent. This would explain why we had troubles getting going on our way to Kingston. What we don’t know, is how it happened? When we left for Kingston, our bow line got loose and was under the boat the entire trip (30 min). But the line was unscathed. Could it have bent the prop when it first got loose? It’s amazing really that we didn’t experience too much trouble considering we went to Gig Harbor and also through The Locks after that.

Repair plan

Since it’s now winter and we don’t plan on traveling anywhere, there’s no rush to get it repaired. A new prop will probably run about $400, plus labor. We can call a diver to fix it or fix it when we haul out in the spring to do all of the annual maintenance work.

I’m heading to the boat today since it is cold and rainy. When we left last weekend, we only turned on the warm air circulator in the cabin. I want to see how well that kept it warm and dry. The weather is forecasted to get colder and down into the 30’s next week, so we will most likely turn on the ceramic heater this weekend. Scott has to change out the oil filters on Sunday, so we’ll give you an update! Stay tuned as always…..Scott and Ally

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October 10, 2017October 11, 2017

Changing the oil on our boat

DIY Oil Change on our Boat

Changing oil on your boat is easier than you think. When Scott & I bought our 2000 Bayliner Ciera 3055, Kokomo in May we had both a survey (that checks the structure of the boat and functionality) and a mechanical inspection (just for the engines). Since our boat had not been used in two years, the oil was old and needed to be changed.

Upon moving into Elliott Bay Marina, we found out that Monkey Fist YachtCare will come out and service your boat while you are at work! They get the keys from the harbor master, do the service and invoice us. It wasn’t outrageously expensive, but it was around $500. Our mechanical inspector, Matt from Puget Sound Mobile Marine, told us to change the oil at the end of the summer to really clean everything out. Well, that would be another $500! Now this is getting a bit expensive.

Scott talked to many other boaters and we found out that most do the oil change themselves. All we needed was an oil extractor, oil and new filters. I bought a 6.5 Liter Oil Changer Vacuum Fluid Extractor Pump for about $60.

What kind of oil do you use?

That is a loaded question, so be careful when you ask it! I recently did a blog post about going to Auto Zone to pick up the oil and got grease on me. (Then I did a plug for OxiClean Max Force Laundry Stain Remover, which was amazing!!!) Anyhow, I digress. After that post, a few boaters reached out to me and asked if I really used “automobile” oil in our marine engines. ?Huh? Luckily, we had not changed the oil yet, so we started our research. After posting the question on Reddit and hearing all of the advice, we changed our mind. We returned the automotive oil and bought what Monkey Fist had used, which was Delo 400 SAE 30w Motor Oil . We only needed three gallons at $26 each.

The overall opinion was that automotive and marine oils are basically the same, but to stick with what the manual says for peace of mind.

We bought the two filters at West Marine, which ran about $26 each. The boat already had a Hopkins FloTool Spill Saver Measu-Funnel , so in total this oil change cost us about $230 including the extractor. Moving forward it will only be about $160.

How easy was it to change your own oil?

It was actually pretty easy. The biggest challenge was how long it took to pump out the old oil and put in the new oil. The extractor works as a vacuum and since it’s manual, it goes slow. You also want to be VERY careful about the tube that goes from the pump to the engine, as it can fly out and oil goes everywhere. That happened twice to us. Before you begin to remove the oil, you want to run one engine for about 5-10 minutes to allow the oil to warm up and get viscous. Then be careful and allow the engine to cool a few minutes as it will be hot to the touch.

Our Bayliner Ciera 3055 has two twin Mercury Mercruiser 5.7L engines and each takes 4.5L of oil. When Scott removed the oil from the port side engine, only about 3.5L came out, which indicates we were burning some oil. It took about 40 minutes for the pump to remove all of the oil. Then it took another 15 minutes* to add the oil, as you have to add one quart at a time and the tubing is very skinny, not allowing for a lot of flow.

*(Note, after originally posting this blog, a few other boaters asked why it took so long to fill it. We did fill it thru the dip stick hole, as Scott didn’t see another cap. Looking at other photos and videos of similar engines, we can’t really find the cap on this engine in this photo. When we go back to change the filters this weekend, we’ll take a look.)

Again, run the other engine for about 5-10 minutes. When we removed the oil on the starboard engine, it pumped out 4L of oil. That is better than the other one, but that one is also burning some oil. With that said, we’ll be sure to have extra oil on hand. Considering the engines are seventeen years old, that’s actually pretty good. Scott was not able to swap out the oil filters because he did need Oil Filter Pliers, which we will have to buy.

Cleaning up

Changing the oil on your boat is messy. Be sure to have plenty of Shop Towels on hand, as you will need them. Even as we were leaving the boat, the tubing from the pump got loose and we had oil all over again. We keep Dawn dish soap on our boat and it’s great for grease cleanups.

Wondering what to do with all that oil now? Take it to your local auto shop. As long as it is clean and free of water and sediment, they will recycle it for free.

Stay tuned for more info on keeping the boat dry and warm for the winter and other tips! Cheers, Scott and Ally

October 7, 2017October 7, 2017

Boating Desserts

Boating desserts are difficult to prep on a boat

When you are prepping dinner in a small galley, the last thing you have time for is making dessert. On top of that, I’m not much of a dessert eater, but Scott is. This summer, I decided to keep dessert simple and easy.

Typically we are enjoying a great bottle or two of red wine relaxing on the deck.

Red Wine & Chocolate

If you love red wine, be sure to pick up a bottle of Cab from SuLei Cellars out of Walla Walla. They are one of our favorite boutique wineries! Since dark chocolate goes well with red wine, I decided that’s exactly what our desserts would be this summer! Pick up your favorite chocolate bar or bark and pair it with your favorite wine! Here are our picks: Thindulgent, Roca Thins, Alter Eco, Green & Black’s & Divine.

Next time you are entertaining or just relaxing on your boat, grab your favorite bottle of wine & chocolate and you’re all set! Have a great weekend! Cheers, Scott & Ally

October 4, 2017November 7, 2017

Prepping for Winter

Prepping for Winter on our Boat, a Bayliner Ciera 3055

It’s October 3, 2017 and finally it’s actually cold this morning at 46º. When you just spent the past four months in 80º+ weather, it’s hard to thinking about prepping your boat for winter. But here in the PNW cold weather can happen fast.

Since Scott and I have not moored or owned a boat during winter before, we made sure to ask a lot of boaters what steps they recommended. My brother in-law moors his boat, as do many of our friends. We also read comments on Reddit and other blogs. First question was about heating the boat. Keeping a heater on the boat does freak me out. The key was to find one that has an auto shut off, low thermostat and can’t be tipped over. We had many recommendations, from oil based radiator styles to electric heaters.

Keeping the cabin mold free

After much research, we bought Caframo DeltaMAX Ceramic Portable Space Heater – 750w-1500W. The catch is, the heater will be left on at all times, but on the lowest temperature. Since it’s a 750w heater, we will turn off our fridge so we don’t trip our circuit. We plan on putting it in the head on a piece of tile and keep the door propped open to the cabin. Scott and I plan on going down to the boat at least every two weeks, if not weekly to check on it.

Other tips we were given to keep mold out of the cabin was to clean everything with a vinegar / water mixture and to open up all lockers and closets.

We also took all of the lids off of the storage spaces in the hull.

Bedding

During the summer we kept all of our linens and towels in a large Ziploc Space Bag . For the winter, we brought all of them home, including the foam pads we use on our bed.

The other big tip we got was to prop up all any cushions to allow for air flow. When we propped up the v-berth, we found MORE storage and a bunch of fenders! Crazy how much storage is on this boat! We used the lid to one of the storage bins to prop up the v-berth mattress and poles to prop up the aft-berth mattress.

We already had one dehumidifier in the cabin, but we bought another Star brite No Damp Dehumidifier just to be safe. In fact, our yacht neighbors bought a bunch of them too!

mold prevention boat prepping for winter

The Cockpit

While the cockpit is meant to be “outdoors”, we want to keep the moisture level as minimal as possible. We always have one dehumidifier no damp dome up top, but we also bought a warm air circulator from West Marine. This is only 70 watts and gently dries out wet cabins.

Scott also removed all of the deck carpets and took them home. Normally, we keep the life preservers under the seat in the well of the floor, but we moved those down to the cabin so there is nothing on the deck of the floor now.

The canvas on our boat is almost brand new, however it still isn’t a tight seal. In fact, water does come in (especially when we wash it) on the sides of the canvas (see circle).

Because of that, the previous owner put in weather stripping on the inside to direct water to flow out. We need new stripping, which I found at our local hardware store and we’ll get that up this weekend. In the picture below, that is just remnants of the old stripping, that someone removed.

Lastly, our boat came with a dashboard cover and we used it to cover up the gauges & electronics.

Some people might think we have gone over board (no pun intended) on trying to keep the boat dry and mold free. My biggest worry of course, is leaving the heater on “automatic”. The one we bought does come equipped with overheat protection and automatic shut off to help provide peace of mind. We’ll test it out this weekend and if I’m not comfortable with it, we’ll search for another.

Scott will be doing some maintenance items on the boat this weekend, which I will include in our next blog. Many people have asked us if we still plan on using it during the winter and the answer is “yes!” While we won’t be boating in bad seas or stormy weather, we do plan on taking the boat out on crisp sunny winter days and staying on it. Stay tuned for that next adventure – Winter Boating! Cheers, Scott and Ally

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October 1, 2017

Autumn at the Marina

PNW Autumn at the Marina

Today Scott and I went down to the boat to take things home in preparing for the winter. The irony is, we HAD planned on spending the weekend on it, but on Thursday the weather forecast was rainy for all days. Sure enough, last night was dry and today it was gorgeous! Oh well.

Later this week, I’ll give you detailed post about our prep work for the boat. For today, I wanted to capture the beauty of the marina. Elliott Bay Marina, is truly exceptional, compared to most. It has lots of foliage, views of the mountains and view of the city. Everyone is so friendly that’s it a bit surreal sometimes.

One of the yachts that came in early in May, is back this week. M/Y Picosa Lady is on the dock next to us. She is a 101′ yacht from the Marshall Islands and gorgeous!

So calm and quiet

The marina was dead calm and quiet. In fact, had we planned ahead, we should have gone out boating today, but it just wasn’t on our agenda! Such a bummer too, because today is probably one of the last sunny days we’ll see in awhile.

Of course, the Holland America Eurodam was back from Alaska today too. That part of the marina life we don’t miss on weekends. Since our dock is so close to the cruise ships and we can hear every announcement.

Making our boat our home

Scott and I do plan on coming down to the boat and staying during a few stormy weekends. I know you are asking the question of why, when we didn’t even stay on it last night! Well, we want to see what it’s like and can we handle it? Remember, we are planning on living aboard, so we have to be able to endure the brutal wet winters of the PNW.

During a storm, we’ll be hunkered down in the cabin watching movies, playing games or reading. It will definitely be cozy! Before we bought the boat, Scott and I would give each other boat themed gifts. For our wedding anniversary, we stick to the traditional gift and this year it was “Ivory”, so I gave him the custom ivory pillow below for our boat.

I do try and make our v-berth “homey” too. Most boaters just sleep in sleeping bags, but I wanted to give it more of a comfy feel.

We wrapped up the day, with lunch at Maggie Bluffs and ate outside for the last time of the season. Just as we paid our bill, the clouds rolled in and it started to rain. It was the perfect day at the marina. Look for my next post about prepping the boat for winter!

Cheers! Scott and Ally

September 26, 2017September 26, 2017

Favorite Boating Blogs

Thinking back on how this dream of living on a boat started, it all began when I started following other boating blogs. Business would be slow at our wine shop and the weather was miserable. Why not immerse yourself in someone’s journey? The unfortunate part of following other bloggers is that in some cases their boating journey comes to an end. I remember feeling a bit depressed, know that they had to be sad too.

Some of our favorite old blogs were found on Sail Blogs. Here you can search through the list of active blogs and read where they are in the world and what they are doing.

Our Favorite Boating Blogs Right Now:

Sailing Britican – This is a family of three on board their 56′ sailboat and they have traveled over 18,000 miles over the past three years. They share a lot of tips, lessons and advise on their blog.

Quit Your Job & Live on a Boat – Author Ed Robinson wrote his first book “Leap of Faith – Quit your job and live on a boat” which tells the story of how he and his wife left the rat race and are now living on their trawler in Florida. You can follow him on Facebook too.

Sailing Totem – This is a family of five on their 47′ sail boat, which left the Puget Sound in 2008. They are still cruising and both of them co-author many articles in 48º North and Sail Magazine.

Lahowind – This was one of my favorite blogs to follow. Jereme & Kim from Florida decide to leave the rat race for one year onboard their 37′ sailboat along with their dog Oliver. They traveled all over the Caribbean, got engaged and returned home a year later. They sold their boat, married and had a child. Now she blogs about family and raising their baby. Kim is a professional photographer and her photos & videos of the Caribbean are stunning. Check out her photos & video of the pigs in the Exumas!

Jill and Jake Adventures – This couple started sailing in February 2015 from the East Coast down the ICW onto the Caribbean. Be sure to start reading from the beginning to really feel their adventure.

Sailing La Vagabonde – This is a YouTube blog following an Australian couple as they sail on their new Catamaran across the oceans of the world.

I am always looking for new blogs to follow, so if you have any favorites, please share with us! Cheers! Scott & Ally

September 22, 2017November 7, 2017

A Summer to Remember

Pacific Northwest Summer

Pacific Northwest Summer has come to an end and it surely will be one to remember for a long time. Everyone teases us for all of the rain we get and how dreary Seattle is. So imagine their shock when we say we didn’t have any rain for almost four straight months setting an all time record! Of course, we watered our plants and yard every day, only to get a $1000 water bill this week! Finally, Autumn is here and we are looking forward to it.

The Summer of 2017 will always be the one where our boating journey began. Scott and I really lucked out having a great weather summer. Normally in Seattle our summer starts on July 5th and doesn’t last very long. Thanks to our great summer, we made sure we took advantage of our time on our boat.

Pacific Northwest Cruising Destinations

In the short four months we have been boaters, we covered a lot of water in the Pacific Northwest. When Scott and I first got the boat, we didn’t expect to make that many trips at first, but we got the cruising bug instantly. Where did we visit?

mooring balls pnw bainbridge island — Port Madison

western sunset boating seattle — Dusk at Elliott Bay

We also went through Deception Pass on our way home from the San Juan Islands. That was on our bucket list!

Labor Day in Seattle

We enjoyed the three day weekend of Labor day turning it into a four day mini vacation. We started in Gig Harbor, then Seattle and then the Ballard Locks!

One of the coolest things we did this summer that I recommend every boater do at least once, is go through the Ballard Locks! We had so much smoke from the fires in Eastern Washington that all of our photos and videos have a “burnt sienna” look to them. Check out our video below:

It was definitely a summer to remember. Seattle usually has a mild Fall season in September and October, so we are looking forward to spending some weekends on the boat coming up. Stay tuned! Cheers, Scott and Ally (and Mac too)

September 9, 2017September 25, 2017

Going through the Ballard Locks for the First Time

Ballard Locks

Scott and I didn’t want to finish the season without going through the Ballard Locks for the first time. They are also known as the Hiram M. Chittenden locks. We invited my college friend Jen and my sister Susan and her husband Kurt to join us as all three have been through them before.

We decided to go through the locks the day after Labor Day, thinking that it would be less busy. Friends of ours have their boat moored inside the locks and this past summer it often took them hours to get through. The weirdest part of the trip was that everything was “orange” as Western Washington was engulfed in ash and smoke from the fires in Eastern Washington.

Before you go through the locks, you do need to have on board, two 50′ lines each with a 12″ eye on each end. These are not cheap and luckily we had our rewards from West Marine that we used to purchase them.

Entering the Locks

As we entered the locks, we immediately saw a huge yacht in front of us. We slowly followed it and what we thought was a fire boat behind it. Turns out it was their tender!

Thank God we had Jen, Kurt and Susan with us, as we had no idea what to do. There are two sets of locks. The large one holds many boats and the outside boats tie up (using your 50′ lines) to the cleats at the locks and then boats inside tie up to one another. In the small lock, you simply tie up to the wall and go through individually. As we got closer to the actual locks, we figured out we were probably heading into the large locks.

Once inside, the lock workers shouted down to us to tie off to the sail boat next to us. We used our own line on their cleats. Make sure your fenders are up high, as you will be locked in tight with the other boats!

Then a few minutes later, they had another 30′ boat tie up to us. Once we were all tied up you can see how tight we all are inside the big lock.

In this entire process, this huge M/Y Spirit, a 178′ yacht came in behind and next to us. She was coming down from Alaska for maintenance work at one of the shipyards. She sleeps 11 guests and has a crew of 13. It’s available for charter for just $270k per week during the low season.

Once all of the boats are tied up, they close the locks and they raise us up to the height of the locks, which is about thirty feet or more.

Our Lucky Day!

We really lucked out on our first trip through the locks as we literally came straight into the big locks without waiting, tied up and then waited a total of fifteen minutes before they filled up the lock. The sailboat next to us had been waiting on the wall for over an hour and a half! Overall, it took us less than an hour from the time we entered the channel to when we left the locks.

You do feel a bit weird having all of the spectators watching you. We felt like we should do the parade wave!

There is not a lot to see as you travel through the Fremont Cut. It is very industrial and there are a lot of large vessel shipyards.

We planned on having lunch at one of the restaurants at South Lake Union , but there was no transient moorage as they were setting up for the Boats Afloat Show next week. When you are at South Lake Union, you do have to be watchful to stay out of the fairway for Kenmore Air.

The crew decided to have lunch at Ivar’s Salmon House located at the north end of Lake Union. They have a nice long dock, with easy access.

Going back through the locks again

After lunch, we headed right back to where we came from. We had no idea if it would be crowded again. As we approached the locks, there was only one small sailboat in front of us. You will see a red or green light at the locks, which will tell you if you can enter or not. Within about ten minutes the green light for the small locks came on and we followed the sail boat.

The locks crew had us use our small lines to tie up to the moving wall. Again, make sure your fenders are up high, so you don’t rub on the wall. After we were tied up, they closed the small locks and the two of us went down about thirty feet and off we went.

I have to say that this journey was one of the coolest things I’ve done in awhile! Originally we were going to moor Kokomo inside the locks. Can you imagine us going through these on our first day of owning and operating a boat?! Crazy. If you have the opportunity to go through them either on your own boat or someone else’s I highly recommend it.

Cheers, Scott & Ally on Kokomo

September 7, 2017September 25, 2017

Labor Day Weekend-A Trip to Gig Harbor

Labor Day Weekend at the Gig Harbor Marina

Scott and I had no plans for Labor Day weekend, so we decided to go down for one night on Sunday on our boat Kokomo. Gig Harbor is located just southwest from Seattle.

We were able to make reservations at the Gig Harbor Marina & Boatyard about one week out. After we made our reservations, they emailed us our slip number (B24), the codes for the restrooms and a map of the marina.

The weather was warm and sunny, 85 degrees with winds NNW winds at 9mph. We went through Colvos Passage on the east side of Vashon Island as it would be quicker and ideally more calm. There were a lot of boaters in the passage, along with gobs of green floating plant life.

Unfortunately this past week, Washington state has been battling some major fires in Eastern Washington and near Mount Rainier, so as we got closer to Gig Harbor the skies got smokier.

It took us about 1 hour to get there and as soon as you exit the passage, it does get extremely windy. You have Commencement Bay to your east and the Tacoma Narrows to your south. We were trying to figure out where the entrance to Gig Harbor, as we could see it on the map, but not physically.

Getting into Gig Harbor

As you can see by the image above, the entrance is very narrow and not visible from boaters coming from the north until you start to travel west. As Scott and I approached the narrow channel to the harbor there was a lot of marine traffic – both boaters and kayakers!

The entrance to the harbor is just around the corner of the beach sticking out (hard to seer!!)

Once inside the harbor, it was very crowded with boats anchored and on mooring balls. Scott and I were not sure where to go when we first entered the harbor, as the fairways are not marked. But we had a map from the marina, so we were able to figure out which way to go. I will tell you that if it’s windy and during tide change, the current is very strong inside the harbor.

Our slip was next to the permanent moorage and all of the guest slips are single slips, which we enjoyed. You do have to be careful that you don’t hit the posts holding up the roof though.

After a quick lunch on the boat, we decided to check out this cute town. The marina is literally in the heart of the town with lots of shops and restaurants within walking distance. Much different than our trip from the San Juan Islands, when we visited Oak Harbor!

Scott and I decided to try and find 7 Seas Brewing and on our way, we stumbled upon the Skansie Brother’s Netshed. The netshed was built in 1910 just after Andrew Skansie built his home in 1908. He immigrated from Croatia in 1907 and was one of the first settlers in Gig Harbor. This is now maintained by a non-profit organization and it was full of historical items.

This tour is free to the public, but they do rely on donations. Be sure to stop in and check out this historical place. You will also notice along your walk, that many of the buildings have historical significance and stories in regards to the early settlers of Gig Harbor.

Where is 7 Seas Brewing?

Scott and I continued walking north through Gig Harbor, looking for the brewery and we then stumbled upon Arabella’s Landing Marina. This marina was sold out, but is also very popular for guests.

Eventually, we found 7 Seas Brewing, which was not on the main drag. In fact, it appears to have been originally some sort of grocery store or shopping center. It was over 90 degrees and by now we were hot and thirsty. It was so refreshing to sit inside and cool off. The staff was super friendly and surprisingly, children are allowed. They even offer retro board games for families to play.

We each ordered a flight of four samplers for just $5!

Shopping for Gifts

Our good friends watched our golden retriever Mac this weekend, so I was on the hunt for a thank you gift. Gig Harbor is full of quaint boutique shops and so this was not a difficult task.

On the main drag, we came upon “For the Love of Spice” store. I love to cook and so do our good friends, Dave and Kathy. I knew I would find something here. We met the owner, Windy and she hand makes all of the spices herself. They also feature an olive oil and vinegar bar, artisan made pastas, rare and unique grains, flavored sugars, and infused salts. We lucked out that they happened to also be doing a wine tasting. For $5/pp, you get to try three wines out of a selection of over ten wines. Scott and I purchased a bottle, so one of our fees was waived.

If you love to cook, this is a must visit!

Wait, there’s more!

We continued our way back to the marina and came upon Heritage Distilling.

Scott and I have only been to one other distillery and Heritage was sampling everything they make! You buy the tastings in packages and we both decided to sample two 1/2 oz liquors plus one cocktail, called a Bevanda for $7.50.

The Brown Sugar Bourbon was a bit sweet. We bought a bottle and I plan on glazing our Thanksgiving turkey with it! Yum.

People were lined up along with small bar trying all kinds of spirits. The guy next to us, sampled the vodkas above including the Ghost Pepper vodka!

Now that we had covered all three beverage groups for tastings, it was time to head back to the boat and relax before heading out for dinner. I happened to find out earlier that one of my childhood friends, Ben was also in Gig Harbor on his boat with his wife Maria. They came over on their dinghy for a quick visit and it was great hearing their boating stories. Ben has been super helpful these past few months with advice and tips on boating.

Dinner in Gig Harbor

Many of our friends had told us we needed to go to the Tides Tavern for dinner. Since we were only here for one night, then this was where we were going. It was Labor Day weekend and yet we were lucky to get right in. They offer good pub grub and seafood. Our server was very friendly and funny.

After a long day of boating, walking, shopping and drinking we were ready to call it a night.

Labor Day

The marina was very calm in the morning. We made breakfast and headed out about 9:30am. It was warm & sunny with winds about 14mph NNW. The harbor was once again filled with boats and kayakers, so be careful as you exit the harbor. Considering it was Labor Day Weekend, Gig Harbor was still easy to get around and visit.

The Colvos Passage was very choppy and windy coming home, as we were heading right into the wind. Scott and I arrived back to Elliott Bay Marina about an hour after we left.

If you haven’t been to Gig Harbor, we highly recommend it. It is an easy boat trip from Seattle and a fun day for everyone. Scott & Ally on #KokomoSeattle

August 23, 2017October 18, 2017

A Quick Boat Trip to Kingston – Boating Journey

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! oven. I can’t imagine not having this on the boat! If you don’t have one, go get one today! I use it regularly to make omelets, frittatas and toast bagels when we are on the boat. There are tons of recipes that come with it too!

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