Almost sundown at Shilshole Marina
Shilshole Marina
Ballard, Washington
November 14th and 15th
At 5:30 a.m. I
reported for duty and at exactly 6:00 a.m.
we headed out of the marina heading north. It all went very smoothly with lots
of green and red lights flashing on buoys showing us the way. We were about a
half hour late from our goal reaching the Tacoma Narrows after slack tide, and
our 7.1 knots dropped to 5.4 as we cut through the currents. As soon as we ran the Narrows
and survived once more, we both relaxed.
I had some great shots of the Tacoma
Narrows Bridge
as we cruised beneath it, the only problem was…I forgot to put my photo card
back in my camera after loading my pictures on my computer! Drat! I hate when
that happens. I got a few good shots looking back at the bridge but they’re
just not as dramatic.
After 7 ½ hours of cruising we found our next destination in
Ballard, Washington.
The Marina is next to the Ballard/Chittenden
Locks that lead into Lake Union.
The Shilshole Marina is advertised as the largest facility for pleasure boats,
and as we approached the marina, the masts of the hundreds of sailboats docked
there looked like teeth on a comb. The marina is just north of Seattle,
and Ballard is supposed to have a lively nighttime music scene. We will
definitely be checking that out.
About an hour out of Ballard our GPS shut down. The radar
was working fine but that’s all. It was just a little worrisome. We have all
the charts we need but we are so used to relying on that navigation screen
especially when approaching a harbor. Luckily, about a half hour later, it just
kicked back on. It’s a mystery.
When I called in to the Shilshole Marina to ask for guest
moorage, I was told that they had many large fishing boats on the guest docks because
one of the swing bridges was being repaired preventing them from getting to
their home ports. She gave us a number of a slip that she believed would work
for us. We rarely tie up in a slip
because it is easier for us to execute a dock tie. We found the assigned spot, but
we were going to have to maneuver into a narrow space next to what looked like
a million dollar boat. David did not feel confident about making it in smoothly
so asked me to call the marina for another location. He turned the Belle around
180 degrees while I got on the phone and called for another slip.
Theresa, at the marina office, was so kind and understood
our situation and found another location a few docks back which meant that
David had to make another 180 degree turn. Imagine a marina filled with
high-end boats and a breakwater of huge boulders both of which you definitely
want to avoid as you make a “20 point turn” with a 58 foot boat with no bow
thrusters and one propeller. David did
an exceptional job but he was definitely working hard and sweating bullets.
As we were heading for the second slip assignment, we heard
a voice from behind us. Theresa was standing on an end dock yelling to us
asking if that spot would be better. “Oh, you bet! We’ll take it!” yelled back
David. This meant that we had to make another complete circle to head back in
the opposite direction! With Theresa’s
help, we landed the Belle sans insurance claims. It took a pretty stressful hour from the time
we entered the marina to the time we finally tied up. Phew!
When we finally got up to the Marina Office to pay our
moorage, I walked in and a lovely lady wearing a big smile asked, “Are you
Pat?” When I said, “Yes” I realized that
from her vantage point she would have been able to watch our entire
“performance”. When I asked her if she had witnessed our arrival she said, “We
were rooting for you!” If nothing else,
we are always entertaining!
We were in need of a celebratory beer so walked down to Rays
Boathouse and had a pint along with some clam chowder. I tried Pumpkin Spice
beer for the first time and the waitress served it with the glass rimmed with
cinnamon. What a surprisingly pleasant taste!
That evening while playing a rousing game of Bananagrams,
the lights suddenly dimmed. David checked all the circuits and switches and
discovered a secondary bilge pump that was smoking! Once it was dealt with, the power was back to
normal. It will be a huge greasy project for David tomorrow when he has to deal
with the pump problem.
Friday….
Yep, David is down below right now elbow deep in oil messing
about with the broken pump. Fortunately for us, losing the pump will not effect
the operation of the boat, but the oil mess that David is dealing with is not
fun. He should be pretty well covered by the time he surfaces.
Once we were both scrubbed and “polished” we took the marina
free shuttle to downtown Ballard. This town is a suburb of Seattle
and has become a bedroom community with residents enjoying public
transportation to downtown Seattle.
Ballard has many historical brick buildings which have been nicely renovated
into restaurants, pubs, business offices and shops. We were told that 20 years
ago, Ballard was a pretty rough place with some tough seaman roaming the
streets at night looking for a fight. There is still a viable shipyard adjacent
to downtown but apparently, the workers are much tamer. We passed by a portion
of the locks as we rode in and were told that the fish ladder for migrating
salmon near the locks was quite the popular tourist attraction this last
summer. Some day we hope to use the locks and cruise into Lake
Union.
We had a nice time strolling the streets of Ballard even in
the rain. We came upon what we thought was still the Public Library Building
but after studying it for a time, we realized that the bottom floor had been
turned into an Australian/New Zealand pub called Kangaroos and Kiwis (maybe it
was the tecate beer neon sign in the window that gave it away). Of course, we
had to check it out. David was hoping they would have some Bundeburg rum but no
luck. I had brought some to him when I returned from teaching in Australia
in the 70’s and at one time, he could get it at a bar in Murphys but no more.
The pub had a “Ladies Lounge” and the women’s restroom was labeled
“Shielas”…brought back memories for me.
After more walking, we found an English pub and stepped in
for lunch. They were showing the World Cup matches on the various TVs mounted
on every wall. We watched the England
vs Chile match and the Scotland
vs USA…England
lost and the USA
tied Scotland…zip
to zip. Once the games ended, the place
emptied. David had a conference call and went outside to take it. He was
outside for an hour in the freezing cold dealing with a business issue. He was
a bit blue when he came back in.
The weather has changed dramatically since we left at 11:00 this morning. The winds are gusting
through the marina and the huge yacht on the other side of the dock from us is
bobbing up and down…we are rolling a bit. That same “neighbor boat” was being
scrubbed today by a marina cleaning service…we were envious. Probably would
scare the young man to death if he had to tackle our boat!
We are in for the night…no nightclubs for us…just too cold
and windy.
Pub, Pub, Pubbing in Olympia (forgot to add to my last post)
Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Now, this is a real working boat!
The Marina Breakwater...someone had some fun!
A Pub in Disguise
