Tuesday, August 28 - La Conner

We seldom sleep in past 7 o’clock on the boat, but didn’t get up this morning until almost 8:30!  Erin assigned the task of making some hash brown potatoes to her dad, and boy were they good.  Afterwards Erin and I went for a walk along the edge of the south boat basin to check things out.  The little deli store that had Erin’s favorite ice cream flavor – licorice – was gone, with nothing taking its place.  At the east end was a hotel, where we went in to ask if we could buy a postage stamp for something Mary wanted to mail.  They gave Erin a stamp, but wouldn’t take any money because they didn’t have any place to put it.  That worked for us, but I wonder if they’d turn away a customer who wanted to pay for a room with cash.

Ray and I launched the dinghy around noon to head back to the north boat basin for the walk over to Harbor Marine to see if those thermostats were in.  When we tied to the dock, a worker in a life vest asked if he could help us.  I said no, we’re just going to pick up some parts – and then I added “is there a better place to tie up?”  “No,” he said, “but I noticed you went to Harbor Marine yesterday and this is Bayside Marine’s dock – but go ahead and tie up.  I may have to move your boat, though.”  Bayside Marine looked like it dealt mostly with small outboard powered boats, and I thought about asking if I could get some Cummins diesel parts there but decided to drop it.  Our boat was in the same spot when we returned.

As we approached Harbor Marine, another worker wearing a hard hat, safety glasses and some sort of apron called to us, saying “hey, how are you doing – what’s happening?”, or words to those effects.  Neither Ray nor I recognized him at first, and I assumed he thought I was someone else, but it turned out to be nephew Kyle – one of Ray’s grandsons.  He’d been working at the business next to Harbor Marine for six months or so, and we had a brief visit before he had to get back to work.  What a surprise that was!

Our timing was excellent at Harbor Marine – the parts had just been delivered, so we gathered them up, returned to our dinghy and headed back to the boat.  I really didn’t want to install the thermostat now, as that would mean another night here by the time we were done.  Instead, we checked the sea strainer – it’s an older style made of bronze, and has a wire mesh cone inside to catch any chunks.  The mesh had a little fuzz on it – didn’t look like anything that would impede water flow but Ray washed it off while I waited in the engine room.  We reassembled the fitting, and then made sure it was fully open.  It’s a ball valve, but there is no handle – just a square nut that has to be turned with a handle.  The orientation of the handle plus the location of the valve made it almost impossible to rotate it 90 degrees for full open, but we used the box end of a large wrench I normally use for our propane tank, and it fit perfectly.  It may not have been fully open before.

By then it was a little after 2 o’clock, and we decided to head out and cruise to La Conner.  Shortly after passing Hat Island I noticed an early 60s style Chris Craft behind us that was slowly gaining – about 45 minutes later that were about even with us, and I received a radio call.  It was the Encore, a boat that moors just a couple slips away from us at Washington Boat Center in Lake Union.  The owner, Roger, had helped us get our sofa through the door and back onto the boat just before we did our first outing, the Classic Yacht Rendezvous on the Seattle Waterfront.  Roger was there as well, and we toured his boat.  He was headed towards Cornet Bay to rendezvous with a couple other boats.  Maybe we’ll encounter him later in the islands.  We now have a couple photos and a video clip of him cruising that we can give him.

The rest of our cruise was uneventful – meaning the port engine’s temperature didn’t fluctuate at all, but it did hold a steady 192 or so.  Maybe a bit high so I’ll replace the thermostat at some convenient time.

We enjoyed cruising alongside Camano Island, and the trip from Everett seems quite a bit shorter and more tolerable than running all the way from Seattle – so all in all we had a good stop there.

We pulled into La Conner a little around 6:30 or so.  La Conner is situated on the Swinomish Channel, a dredged waterway through the otherwise very shallow river deltas of the Skagit River.  Due to budget constraints, the channel hasn’t been dredged for quite some time now, and there are some shallow spots developing.  We arrived at high tide so had no issue, but we did go over some spots that were about 12 or 13 feet deep while we were at a 10+ tide. 

Even at the late hour, we found a city dock in front of what used to be Palmer’s Restaurant vacant, so tied up there.  These docks have no water or power, but they are right in town and we walked about a block down to the La Conner Tavern where Ray treated us to dinner.

Across the channel from town is Indian Reservation land, where a lot of fishing boats are housed.  It’s now about 9:20 at night and I’m being treated to a fireworks show – a bonus!

So far, although I’ve found good connections, photo uploading has not been very cooperative – but eventually some will appear.