October Day Cruise

[Markshoreline]

Due to circumstances beyond our control the wife and I haven't undertaken our annual circumnavigation of Whidbey Island and here we are in October with the days less than 12 hours.  We went out to crab on the winter opener around 11:00 am, bright and early :  )
We started to set the traps then both of us thought that we should attempt a circumnavigation.
Yesterday the sunrise was awesome, but we missed it today...

We dropped the pots then headed North to Coupeville where we tied up to the town dock, for 5 bucks.
  The harbor master remembers our boat because we sent in a ticket for non payment 3 years later after I found it under a boat cushion. We went up to the Front Street Grill and enjoyed a lunch of rare grilled yellowtail lettuce wraps and fish tacos, our window seat allowed us a view of our 21 HT LiLi, though looking a little sad after a long summer in the water and lots of fishing and crabbing.
  We had placid water and could cruise any speed we wanted but we were low on fuel and had to take on gas at the Coupeville dock after we had lunch.  I was disappointed to learn they now have ethanol fuel so I just took on 23 gallons because I didn't want that onboard for any longer than it took me to burn it.
  From Coupeville it is less than a hour to Deception Pass where Whidbey Island almost touches the mainland.  The bridge was built in 1935 and is actually two spans with Canoe Pass to the North and Deception Pass the larger opening to the south.  The opening is so narrow that draining most of the water from the Skagit bay and Saratoga passage on the inside of Whidbey causing whirlpools to form, some large enough to swallow a big log or small boat.  I enjoy running the boat through them and getting turned around before you can get out!



After a couple of round trips playing in the currents we headed South toward home, as it was pushing 4:00 pm.  Lisa was driving  the boat and I took a pic of the entrance to Penn Cove, home of Coupeville and the delicious Penn Cove mussels.

Navigating through the Skagit area there are very narrow channels dredged out in the sediment flowing from the fertile farmland.  You have to pay careful attention to avoid getting grounded!

While we ran out of daylight it was a beautiful day!  We arrived home to find our crab pots with no legal crab so we lowered them again and hope for the best tomorrow morning.
This last pic is us cruising home on the glassy water as the sun is wanting to set..beautiful day on the water!

When we got inside we were both hungry but didn't want to cook so we warmed up last night's shrimp diablo and poured it over this morn's veggie frittata!  Leftovers can be so good!

[amazing grace]

Sweet Mark. We hope to sell a place and get a small retirement place there. Coupeville would be nice. But lots of nice possibilities.  Congrats to you and Lisa. Keep enjoying it all.  :smile1:

[croaker stroker]

We stopped in Coupeville about 5 weeks ago, just before catching the ferry to Port Townsend on the last leg of our trip to Alaska. There are so many beautiful places in the area. We only had a couple of hours there. Just time to snap a few pictures. Looks like I may have taken a pic of the dock where you tied up. ??

[Markshoreline]

Yes, AG, it is a beautiful place, we love living here!
Yes, Croaker, we were moored about 50 feet to the right of the dock in your photo!
North Puget Sound has the beauty of the Northwest without the population of the mainland.

[croaker stroker]

AG,

You could buy one of these. They have store fronts on the street. You could open a shop and live right there behind the shop.

CS

[beancounter]

Nice trip there Mark.

[rasslingref]

Beautiful trip Mark.


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[Markshoreline]

Couple more pics from my wife's phone




The white thing behind my head is actually the VHF antenna and the gray thing out of Lisa's Head is the end of the crab puller!  Haha

[rasslingref]

Thank you for the explanation Mark.  I was thinking martians at first.


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[croaker stroker]

Teletubbies !

[Markshoreline]

Ok, we're busted!  We really do have things growing out of our heads!

[Yachter Yat]

    Arima boat, beautiful country and smiling faces.  It just doesn't get any better than that.  Thanks for sharing Mark.

Yat

[Rokefin]

Thanks for sharing Mark.

Love all the adventures shared with this group. It's nice to get to see the pic's and half way feel you were there - at least it is a quick get-a-way for the mind....