R Lil’ Ship

We feel very blessed to have R Lil’ Ship, our stout 40′ Nordhavn. She provides us with a means to refuge and get away from the “crazy” that life has become amid the scare of the coronavirus. With the ability to cook in a full service galley, wash clothes, take showers, make water/power, compact weeks of garbage, watch movies and just relax without the constant barrage of phones and emails it was just what we needed after a fairly stressful work week. Our original destination was Blake Island however a lot of like minded mariners must have had the same idea and the first come, first serve marina was pretty full. No matter, we pushed forward and eventually ended up in Eagle Harbor and were able to get a nice spot on the public dock. The public dock is a bargain at $.50 a foot and $5.00 a day for power. The docks even have water and a dumpster for trash. There are great restaurant, shops and a great grocery store within 5 minute walk from the dock. Our three dogs love Z Bones a great pet store. On our way we decided to fuel up in Des Moines where diesel was only $1.99 a gallon! Since we don’t have to fuel up very often it had been quite some time since we stopped in Des Moines. They have continued improvements and have a nice little sandwich/sundries shack. It even […]

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So it has been a soggy start to our 2020 boating season. Our State had a record January rainfall of 15.5 inches and so far February has been pretty wet as well. The rain doesn’t typically stop us from boating but it sure made for some unusual boating conditions. For the first time ever, we had to navigate through so much debris in Commencement Bay into our channel that we thought perhaps a log boom had come loose! As it turned out it was just hoards of logs and trees from the Puyallup River flooding. Despite these conditions we managed to get out for a few boating trips to the Foss Harbor Seaport with our Selene boating buddies, the Mackeys. We attended a Tacoma Power Squadron rendezvous in Gig Harbor and spent an evening at the the Tacoma Yacht Club. In those three short weeks we had several boating maintenance items arise. At the TPS rendezvous while having our vessel safety check, we discovered our fairly new LED anchor light was barely alit and at 13ft high from the boat deck, its not a light that is easily replaced. That same weekend, our Hurricane diesel heater went out and we have yet to figure out what is wrong but the compressor is currently the number one suspect. Thank goodness for redundant systems, our heat pumps kept us toasty until our 30 amp shore power breaker went out too. Of course […]

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This December we were able to get out on the water on a couple of weekends and enjoy some festive winter boating. A favorite spot of ours is the Point Defiance public dock. Moorage is extremely affordable and the close proximity to Point Defiance and Point Rustin make it a fun and convenient place to hang out for the weekend especially now that all the upgrades have been finished. For those that are unfamiliar with this area, it has been undergoing a facelift for about 3 years now. A new public park, Dune Peninsula has been added to the waterfront adjacent the Tacoma Yacht Club, walking paths, slides, yes slides! and a bridge that connects both sides for easy access. On the Point Defiance side which is also the access to the ferry terminal there is Anthony’s Restaurant and the Pointe Defiance Zoo. On the weekends, you can walk the 5 mile drive around the point on the main road as they close access to car traffic until about 1:00pm. There are several viewpoints that give great views of the Narrows, Gig Harbor, Dalco Passage and Vashon. If you like hiking within the forest there are several trails, the Spine trail is about 2.5 miles and the inside loop trail is almost 4 miles. From the Dune Peninsula side you can walk to Point Rustin where they continue to develop the area. A true testament to the phrase, “If you […]

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We took advantage of the long weekend and headed to Eagle Harbor for Veteran’s Day weekend. Normally with only two days off and a slow boat, we wouldn’t go this far but we really love Bainbridge Island and all that it has to offer that makes anchoring so convenient and enjoyable. For starters, the new public dock always has space for our dinghy and its relatively easy when we need to take our three doggo’s ashore. The town of Winslow is just a couple blocks away and has many restaurants, shops, a fabulous full service grocery store and of course dog stores. In fact we found Piper a pair a pink non-slip dog socks to help her navigate the decks especially when wet! Another bonus on this location is that the local stations come in very strong and we can catch all the football on Saturday and Sunday! (Go Hawks) This visit, we walked the entire waterfront trail which totaled jut over 5 miles. The walk is easy with very few elevation changes and not allot of traffic. The beauty of autumn is everywhere and there are many interesting things to see on the walk as the trail winds in and out of the town and throughout residential areas. We have not had the chance to enter the historical museum because we always have our dogs with us, but they have some very cool pieces outside and we imagine the […]

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