Here's a shot of a Rhinoceros Auklet that Nan got on our Labor Day Cruise off of Vashon Island.
Duirng breeding season, these guys have a large vertical horn on the top of their beak (thus the name). By now the horn has (mostly) gone for the year.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Labor Day Cruise
Last weekend, we went out Saturday through Monday.
We wanted to leave early Saturday, but by the time we got all the food and things we needed it was 10 am before we got to the wall (The wall is where you tie up to wait your turn to go through the Locks out to the Puget Sound). On nice Summer weekends, the wait can be several hours. This was not a nice weekend weatherwise - it rained most of the time, so we got through fairly quickly.
After we got out of the locks we cruised across the Sound to Bainbridge Island, and then along the coast of Bainbridge to Blake Island. Blake Island is a State Park in the Sound. We can see it from our house. We decided to tie up to one of the mooring buoys that the Park provides - we wanted to improve our mooring skills and use the dinghy. We picked a buoy on the sound side and then we rowed into the Park marina. It was a long row. We went ashore and had lunch and a nice hike. Blake Island is great - there are deer and lots of birds, and not a lot of people. The Argosy Cruise boat comes out twice a day to deliver tourists for a salmon dinner and Native American show and folks camp in the park, but otherwise it is quiet.
While we were hiking, we saw that quite a few boats were moored on the west side of the island, but only we were moored on the North side. That night when we went to bed, we discovered why - we spent the night rocking and rolling from a combination of wind, waves and wakes. We were on the side of the open Sound, and got a lot more movement then the other folks who were in a narrower passage.
It rained most of the night. The sound of the rain on the boat was great, but the constant rocking and rolling was not. It wasn't the most restful night, so we got up early, emptied the rainwater out of the dinghy, and headed down to Gig Harbor, a small port town on the Olympic Peninsula across from Tacoma.
It was pouring when we got there. We found a spot on the community dock, put on our foul weather gear and sloshed to the Tides Tavern for breakfast. It rained on and off for most of the day. When we got home the next day, we learned there had been a tornado on the mainland!Late in the afternoon, several boats came in and docked just in front of us (one rafted to the other). They played guitar (admittedly very well) and carried on into the night. It made us pine for the secluded rocking and rolling on the buoy!
The next morning we got up, and motored back to Seattle. We had a strong current behind us, so we made the entire trip in just under 3 hours. We spent an hour or so waiting at the locks, and got home around 5:00 pm.
It was a blast.
We wanted to leave early Saturday, but by the time we got all the food and things we needed it was 10 am before we got to the wall (The wall is where you tie up to wait your turn to go through the Locks out to the Puget Sound). On nice Summer weekends, the wait can be several hours. This was not a nice weekend weatherwise - it rained most of the time, so we got through fairly quickly.
After we got out of the locks we cruised across the Sound to Bainbridge Island, and then along the coast of Bainbridge to Blake Island. Blake Island is a State Park in the Sound. We can see it from our house. We decided to tie up to one of the mooring buoys that the Park provides - we wanted to improve our mooring skills and use the dinghy. We picked a buoy on the sound side and then we rowed into the Park marina. It was a long row. We went ashore and had lunch and a nice hike. Blake Island is great - there are deer and lots of birds, and not a lot of people. The Argosy Cruise boat comes out twice a day to deliver tourists for a salmon dinner and Native American show and folks camp in the park, but otherwise it is quiet.
While we were hiking, we saw that quite a few boats were moored on the west side of the island, but only we were moored on the North side. That night when we went to bed, we discovered why - we spent the night rocking and rolling from a combination of wind, waves and wakes. We were on the side of the open Sound, and got a lot more movement then the other folks who were in a narrower passage.
It rained most of the night. The sound of the rain on the boat was great, but the constant rocking and rolling was not. It wasn't the most restful night, so we got up early, emptied the rainwater out of the dinghy, and headed down to Gig Harbor, a small port town on the Olympic Peninsula across from Tacoma.
It was pouring when we got there. We found a spot on the community dock, put on our foul weather gear and sloshed to the Tides Tavern for breakfast. It rained on and off for most of the day. When we got home the next day, we learned there had been a tornado on the mainland!Late in the afternoon, several boats came in and docked just in front of us (one rafted to the other). They played guitar (admittedly very well) and carried on into the night. It made us pine for the secluded rocking and rolling on the buoy!
The next morning we got up, and motored back to Seattle. We had a strong current behind us, so we made the entire trip in just under 3 hours. We spent an hour or so waiting at the locks, and got home around 5:00 pm.
It was a blast.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
One More Docking Story
This weekend (Labor Day) we went first to Blake Island and then down to Gig Harbor. Lots of rain, but the seas were mostly calm and we had a blast.
When we came home, it was my turn to dock the boat. I had to abort my first pass, but came in perfectly on the second, backed her right up into the slip, gave her a little burst of forward to bring her to exactly the right spot and hopped off the boat to grab a line.
And realized I had left the boat in forward, and she was leaving the dock!
Fortunately, I was able to jump back on the boat and put her in neutral.
Meanwhile, Nan had been in the stern of the boat, preparing to put one of the stern dock lines on when suddenly she found herself trying to stop the motion of a 9 ton vessel. Guess who won. She gave it a valiant effort. One of her arms is now significantly longer than the other.
Another picture perfect ending ruined by stupidity.
Nan asked me, "Are you going to put this story on the blog?" Here it is: warts and all
When we came home, it was my turn to dock the boat. I had to abort my first pass, but came in perfectly on the second, backed her right up into the slip, gave her a little burst of forward to bring her to exactly the right spot and hopped off the boat to grab a line.
And realized I had left the boat in forward, and she was leaving the dock!
Fortunately, I was able to jump back on the boat and put her in neutral.
Meanwhile, Nan had been in the stern of the boat, preparing to put one of the stern dock lines on when suddenly she found herself trying to stop the motion of a 9 ton vessel. Guess who won. She gave it a valiant effort. One of her arms is now significantly longer than the other.
Another picture perfect ending ruined by stupidity.
Nan asked me, "Are you going to put this story on the blog?" Here it is: warts and all
Friday, September 4, 2009
Terror on the High Seas - part 2
I never thought I would say this, but we hired a Personal Trainer. And although we are not noticeably more buff, nor are we likely to grace the cover of People, we have become better boaters.
Bob Meng runs a service called On Water Training. He is an ex- airline pilot and licensed ship captain. He comes and spends 2 days on your boat and takes you through docking, systems management, maintenance and emergencies. It was incredibly worth it.
We started off with docking (See Terror on the High Seas, Part 1 for an introduction to our docking experiences). We learned to do things we didn't think possible with a single screw. First we pivoted the boat in the marina. Then we moved on to docking - and the first thing he did was have us aim directly at the dock and swing at the last minute, using alternating forward and reverse to swing the stern into the dock. This is wildly different that anything we had done before (coming in at an angle), so we were both fairly certain he was crazed, but damn - it worked perfectly. After we had practiced docking for a few hours, we had both broken out in sweats and our adrenals were the size of grapefruits, so we moved on to boat systems - we went over the boat from bow to stern. We learned an incredible amount about how things worked, and what to look for, etc. Bob tends to be a bit dogmatic (This is my way to do things, and I don't care what else you may have read, my way is the right way), but for the most part, his advice has been right on.
On our second day, we started with more docking, and then went out on Lake Washington. After going through the radar system with us, he suddenly put a pair of goggles over my face that had the top part opaqued, so that you could only look through the very bottom - enough to see your instruments and nothing else. It was very cool. We were in the middle of the lake in full sunlight, but we were effectively running in a thick fog. We really learned to use the radar, so that we knew where we were, and more importantly where the other boats were, and who was headed in our direction.
At the end of the day, we came back to the slip, and did the unthinkable - Nancy backed the Guillemot into her slip under power. It was beautiful, and she didn't hit anything!
Bob Meng runs a service called On Water Training. He is an ex- airline pilot and licensed ship captain. He comes and spends 2 days on your boat and takes you through docking, systems management, maintenance and emergencies. It was incredibly worth it.
We started off with docking (See Terror on the High Seas, Part 1 for an introduction to our docking experiences). We learned to do things we didn't think possible with a single screw. First we pivoted the boat in the marina. Then we moved on to docking - and the first thing he did was have us aim directly at the dock and swing at the last minute, using alternating forward and reverse to swing the stern into the dock. This is wildly different that anything we had done before (coming in at an angle), so we were both fairly certain he was crazed, but damn - it worked perfectly. After we had practiced docking for a few hours, we had both broken out in sweats and our adrenals were the size of grapefruits, so we moved on to boat systems - we went over the boat from bow to stern. We learned an incredible amount about how things worked, and what to look for, etc. Bob tends to be a bit dogmatic (This is my way to do things, and I don't care what else you may have read, my way is the right way), but for the most part, his advice has been right on.
On our second day, we started with more docking, and then went out on Lake Washington. After going through the radar system with us, he suddenly put a pair of goggles over my face that had the top part opaqued, so that you could only look through the very bottom - enough to see your instruments and nothing else. It was very cool. We were in the middle of the lake in full sunlight, but we were effectively running in a thick fog. We really learned to use the radar, so that we knew where we were, and more importantly where the other boats were, and who was headed in our direction.
At the end of the day, we came back to the slip, and did the unthinkable - Nancy backed the Guillemot into her slip under power. It was beautiful, and she didn't hit anything!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Birding Extravagnaza
One of the main reasons we got the Guillemot was to search for birds on the water (commonly called Pelagic birding - although strictly speaking pelagic refers to the open ocean off shore, and we are mainly in Puget Sound). In any case there are birds who seldom if ever come on land, and the only way to see them is to be on the water. On our trip to Marrowstone last weekend, we saw lots of Pigeon Guillemots (our namesake bird), as well as several groups of Common Murres, just changing to their winter plumage. Nan got a nice shot of one:
But the best birds were the Jaegers.
On Saturday, as we came around Point-No-Point, we found a Parasitic Jaeger on the water. Although they occur with regularity off the coast during fall migration, it was the first time we had seen one in Washington. In fact, I have only seen them a handful of times, in places as far flung as Korea and Finland (one of their arctic breeding grounds). We got a good look and the bird flew off, but i spent the rest of the day going, "Oh Wow. A Parasitic Jaeger. How very cool!"
The next day in the same waters, we stopped to watch a mixed flock of Common Terns and Bonaparte's Gulls feeding. Nancy wanted pictures of the Terns fishing:
Even though the gulls are only slightly larger than the terns, they would often chase after them trying to get them to give up their fish. And that's when the Jaeger came through. Jaeger means hunter in German. and the Parasitic describes their hunting habits. They are (at least during migration) kleptoparasitic - they chase after smaller birds and force them to disgorge their fish. They are big and extremely agile.
The Jaeger came barreling through the flock of terns and gulls (themselves fast fliers) and chased them until they decided it made more sense to give up the fish than be harassed any more. This all happened at high speeds right over the boat. I think it's incredible that Nan manged to get any photographs. Then the Jaeger would go away, eat his prize and come back again. We watched 3 or 4 passes through the feeding flock, It was absolutely amazing.
But the best birds were the Jaegers.On Saturday, as we came around Point-No-Point, we found a Parasitic Jaeger on the water. Although they occur with regularity off the coast during fall migration, it was the first time we had seen one in Washington. In fact, I have only seen them a handful of times, in places as far flung as Korea and Finland (one of their arctic breeding grounds). We got a good look and the bird flew off, but i spent the rest of the day going, "Oh Wow. A Parasitic Jaeger. How very cool!"
The next day in the same waters, we stopped to watch a mixed flock of Common Terns and Bonaparte's Gulls feeding. Nancy wanted pictures of the Terns fishing:
Even though the gulls are only slightly larger than the terns, they would often chase after them trying to get them to give up their fish. And that's when the Jaeger came through. Jaeger means hunter in German. and the Parasitic describes their hunting habits. They are (at least during migration) kleptoparasitic - they chase after smaller birds and force them to disgorge their fish. They are big and extremely agile.
The Jaeger came barreling through the flock of terns and gulls (themselves fast fliers) and chased them until they decided it made more sense to give up the fish than be harassed any more. This all happened at high speeds right over the boat. I think it's incredible that Nan manged to get any photographs. Then the Jaeger would go away, eat his prize and come back again. We watched 3 or 4 passes through the feeding flock, It was absolutely amazing.
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