Monday, August 27 - Everett

Our moorage is situated between the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge and the University Bridge, and by 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning the traffic on the freeway bridge rises to a steady din, not unlike the ocean surf – other than it spreads a lot more grit.  We managed to sleep in until 7:00 or so in spite of that, and backed away from the dock around 9 o’clock.

We arrived at the locks about 20 minutes or so later, and at first glance, although both the small and large lock signals were red, it looked like we’d be first in line at the small lock.  We waited 15 minutes or so, and finally the gate opened – but the light remained red.  We looked around to see if there was a fishing boat approaching, as commercial traffic always has priority over recreational vessels, but none was in sight.  We hovered next to the red light and the invitingly open gate for another 15 minutes or so.  Eventually a small skiff with a couple of guys wearing Army Corps of Engineers life jackets zipped by us into the lock and began tinkering with one of the floating walls.  The gates closed behind them, and we were directed to the large lock, along with two other smaller boats that rafted to us after we tied to the wall.  I asked the lock tender there if they were having trouble with one of the floating walls in the small lock, and he confirmed that it was hanging up and not moving correctly with the changing water levels.  So, our little flotilla of 3 boats and a lot of water went down to sea level in the large lock.

As we exited the lock and cruised into Puget Sound we were met by the Lady Washington, our state’s official ‘tall ship’, and a replica of the original Lady Washington, the first American flagged vessel to round Cape Horn and visit the Pacific Northwest.  She had just one sail deployed, and may have been waiting to come into the large lock.

We decided to head for LaConner, probably a 6 hour cruise from here at our leisurely pace.  This was our first extended trip at cruising speed so I was monitoring the instruments pretty closely.  I noticed that the temperature gauge for the port engine would rise from 190, an okay temperature, up close to 200, a not okay temperature, then fall back again to 190.  There are probably a few reasons for this behavior, any of which would need fixing.  I suspect either a sticking thermostat, or perhaps the raw water intake is not completely open or partially clogged.  As we passed Edmonds, the high temp alarm beeped for a couple seconds before the needle went back to 190, so I backed off a couple hundred rpm, whereupon it became more stable.  We decided to head to Everett, where there’s a large marine store.  I need spare thermostats and impellers for next year’s cruising anyway, so I may as well get equipped now.  We had been cruising at 1500 rpm when it touched 200 degrees, and we were now cruising at 1400, where it hovered from 190 to maybe 195.  As we passed Mukilteo I increased back to 1500 rpm to see if it would repeat it’s alarm, which of course it didn’t. 

We pulled into Everett around 2 o’clock, and moored at the guest dock in the south boat basin.  We’ve made Everett a stop a few times in recent years, as it breaks up the monotony of the long cruise north, so we weren’t at all disappointed in this stop.  Harbor Marine, the store I had in mind, was just north of the north basin – probably a walk of over a mile each way, but only a few blocks when we hopped in the dinghy to putt over to the north basin.  They had the impellers I wanted in stock, but the thermostats will have to be sent via overnight UPS, so we’ll pick those up before we leave tomorrow.  Don’t know if we’ll swap one out tomorrow or not – we may just observe for now but we’ll be prepared.

We have a great view of Jetty Island, a barrier augmented by the dredging of the Snohomish River and now a park with lots of trails.  Just to the south of us is Naval Base Everett, where the USS Nimitz is currently in port.  These days the rules are to stay several hundred yards away from military ships, but the entrance to the port is such that we cruised by about 50 yards from the dock.

It’s sunny and warm, and the afternoon breeze that usually powers a bunch of kite surfers off Jetty Island has abated to almost nothing.  It’s a great stop and a good way to break up that long first day cruise north.