Cama Beach

The Trail down to Cama Beach

Atypical Cabin, you just have to bring your own food, and bedding. They have Heat!

Long rocky beaches.

The tide was on it's way in (Flood tide) You can see the small seawall to the right and the water line at High  Tide.

That is Saratoga Passage with Whidbey Island to the left. The currents form the tides is a concern for anyone rowing, paddling, or sailing, and those with powered boat better hope the engine does not die on them.

Most of the rocks are pebble sized.

I took this pic closer to the water, can you see the difference? Do you know why?

Only one boat was put out for rent on this Sunny but chilly February Day

A bit of History

The boat house/Livery is huge with several sailing, rowing and outboard fishing boats ready to go.

This is the exterior of the Livery

Lots of cabins to for lots of visitors keeping this area where on any day you can see Eagles, Killer Wahales, Otters and lots of other wildlife not to mention crabbing and Salmon fishing.

Google Earth Pic of Camino Island

And Pic of Cama Beach

Made it back home to catch this sunset over Elliot Bay and South Puget Sound

Cama Beach
http://www.parks.wa.gov/407/Cama-Beach-State-Park

When you go through the Orientation as a volunteer for the Center for Wooden Boats they introduce you to to several types of volunteer opportunities including volunteering at their Cama Beach location which is an old fishing camp that is now part of Cama Beach State Park. Cama Beach is located on Camino Island about 2 hours drive North of Seattle. If you go up and volunteer on a weekend you get a a free cabin to overnight in. Since Cama beach is located on the West side of Camino island just across Sarartoga Passage from Whidbey Island, this is a pretty attractive deal .For one thing volunteer work at the CWB is all fun and since you are only required to do 4 hours work on Sat and 4 on Sunday you have the rest of the time to enjoy this awesome part of the PNW free.
A Volunteer orientation at Cama Beach was on the calender so I signed up. I got a call from Shane at Cama Beach and he informed me I would be the only person attending the orientation so he would just do a one to one orientation but at a later time than was originally scheduled since he had a volunteer training meeting with current volunteers scheduled. No problem I would just get there around 1pm rather than 11am. Shane gave me a complete facility tour and it became quickly apparent that he relies on whatever volunteers he can muster since he is the only full time employee and he has a a lot on his plate especially during the very busy summer season. Besides renting out cabins, there is the boat rentals (including sail, row, and outboard powered fishing boats), fishing equipment rentals and just the overseeing of all the safety for those out and around the water. So he is also the safety boat person. There is a complete wood shop at the site to maintain, repair and build all the wooden boats there. I quickly realized that he needed volunteers who could do any of those jobs just depending on who showed up and how busy they happen to be. I already had the Livery and Sail Instructor Orientation and check out so I made sure to attend a orientation for the Boat Shop as well so I could pitch in there also. I have been wanting to get in to help at the boat shop so I could learn any tricks about maintaining and repairing wood on vessels. Even though Wand'rin Star has a Fiberglass Hull, all the interior is wood and of course there is all sorts of wood trim on the exterior as well. Since boats have all curved surfaces it can be a delicate project if you ever have to replace a piece that has to be matched to the curvature of the hull.I know most of the labor volunteers provide is sanding, scraping, and painting, but they also at times get in on replacing structural pieces. either way you can always learn something new about how to do anything from this PNW culture.
Not sure when I will return to do my 1st volunteer gig at Cama Beach but I think I will do it in March before it gets to busy so I can learn the ropes slowly. I have to get some waders though since some things require getting in the water to launch or retrieve boats right off the beach!