S/V Wand'rin Star: April Around Puget Sound

April Around Puget Sound

April began with above average temperatures and lots of sun, almost summer like weather, but a week later a wetter, cooler month prevailed. Normally I would break this up into two post, however the month has not been exactly normal and in the interest of just getting April done I just put it all into one.

Big D takes the Helm for a sail across Puget Sound., just tall enough to see over the companionway and through the dodger, he sailed us to Madison Bay and back with very little assistance from me except for sail trim. We had 15 knot consistent winds and a great view of the mountain ranges.

Foss Tugs headquarters is in Seattle, they are a worldwide operation and do most of the tow work in the Port of Seattle This newer vessel is 155' and is the largest of the Seattle Foss Fleet.

This Foss tug is about 95' and this size vessel does most of the daily Seattle Port chores.

The great early April weather has you shedding your jacket on a afternoon walk.

A small area of wet land restoration at the North ends of Goden Gardens Park is a great place to just stop and chant.

These are last years winners of the Race to Alaska,team "Sail Like a Girl", they were visiting Shilshole to give a presentation to a yacht club. I notices they were preparing to depart but they were pinned to the dock by the Westerly winds. I was not sure if they even had a auxiliary engine on board and thought they were trying to sail out of the fairway,

They through a line to a crew standing on the right in red, so they could get their bow pointed out, She then ran around and jumped aboard,

and off they went under power.

Ballard has become our new neighborhood, so we have been taking a few walks around the neighborhood to see whats up. Some interesting associations live here.

The spring weather has the neighborhood beginning to bloom.

How to lift several hundred tons of gravel plus a big tug.

Just add water.

The Gulf of Mexico coast has an abundance of Blue Herons, Here they are far and few between comparatively.

The Seattle Sounders have been on a winning streak since the beginning of the season, we hope it last a long time.,
We arrived a bit late to join the Supporters March to the game so we joined the Sound Wave!

See: https://youtu.be/a8KrRqtXIe4

The Shilshole Bay Yacht club extended us an invitation to accompany them on their annual trip to Blake Island.

On the way out of our marina this little harbor seal was getting some Sun on the breakwater.

The small channel leading to the marina at Blake Island is just deep enough for our keel at 0 tide so you have to always check the tides since during certain moon stages the tides can be below 0.

We left early on Thursday morning between weather systems not knowing if we would be able to find any space in the small marina on a popular weekend, Easter. To our pleasant surprise, it was nearly empty. We moored on the NW dock since there was a full moon out and the low tides would be minus 2.

We took the Cross Island trail, pretty grown over, the volunteers that help the rangers have a big job to get all the trails ready for this years visitors.

Smart Phones are handy to make sure your not lost!.

Just us.

But I brought along a cheap selfy stick and we were trying to learn how to use it.

I think we need some training by a Millennial, but were not getting close to any ledges!

A lot of people take a commercial vessel to the island and just bring
Camping gear.

So they have a choice of bringing their tent
or staying in one of these bunk structures

Comfortable 2x4 and plywood bunks

You might want to evict all the spiders first though!

By Friday a few members of SBYC show up.

Several SBYC members have sold their sailboats and bought a trawler.

Lots of interesting driftwood on the beaches

You could count the rings.

A small dock has drifted to the beach, you see several homes owners alonng the coast with these anchored out about 50 yards from shore to use as a swim deck for there kids or small boats.

Interesting, they used old tires with inner tubes filled up with air for flotation.

So 3x2x7=42 recycled tires now on the beach

The deer do not care about the dock

Canada Goose staying dry

52' Selene, Now THIS is a PNW Trawler!

The birding is great in April

Kingfishers always are fun.

You could hear their conversation all over the Island.

Lots of Raccoons around, they are sorta of Scragley looking. they take advantage of low tide to feed on clams and crabs.

And they invite themselves aboard for a snack!

While I was looking West, the Admiral got these pics looking East

Incredible purples

A Pink Moon rising would bring -1.8 tides by 11:00 in the am so we would be up early to make sure we had enough water to exit the shallow inlet to the marina.

The sail back to was great fun, nice winds and for me a little competition. Most of the sailboats were headed back to Shilshole so besides nice winds I could work on sail trim. Having other boats to measure your performance helps to learn your boat and the local waters.

Morning Star is a newer version of our boat and lives just a few slips down from SNOWBALL. I was pleased with SNOWBALLS performance.

Back at Shilshole for a very nice ending to a fun Easter weekend at Blake Island.

The Cherry Blossoms all over Seattle, these are at the Univ. Washington Quad are in Bloom.
A Celebration of the Blossom at Seattle Center: https://youtu.be/VmRPBzfMY7I