To Bremerton & Back

Warm weather was sticking around and we had a full 8-10 days available before Nancy's next work commitment, so we decided to head out for another cruise and take advantage of this extended summer in Sequim.  The last few summers have been anything BUT a summer.  So maybe we've finally returned to "normal" here in the Pacific NW.  In any case, with no plans, no "have to's" (other than being back by a certain date), we take off heading south this time to explore more of Puget Sound. 

Approaching Point Wilson near Port Townsend.

 First stop was Pt. Hudson Marina in Port Townsend.  We love Port Townsend and the marina is so close to town.  The day was really hot, but we still walked through town, stopping at a few stores to browse, stopping at our favorite wine store for a bottle of port, and then on the Sirens, a local pub, on the 3rd floor of an old downtown building, with a deck on the south side looking over the water.  It's a great place to relax on a hot day and have a drink.  The deck is normally packed, but we were lucky this day, getting a table.  Later we returned to the boat and cooked up some King Salmon that was given to Nancy by one of her clients.  Fresh!  Yummy!  How better can life get?!

Channel markers lined up for entering Mats Mats Bay.

 Next day we continued our journey south, stopping at Mats Mats Bay for a lunch break.  Mats Mats Bay has a very narrow entrance, and you have to turn into the entrance once the two markers are lined up.  Then once in the channel, stay in the center as you make a dog leg towards the entrance of the bay.  We dropped anchor near the fishery, made lunch, and enjoyed the quiet and charm of this small bay.  

Part of Mats Mats Bay; quite a secluded little bay!

We continued on south after lunch towards our next stop, Kingston.  Kingston is a very popular stop in Puget Sound, directly west of Edmonds, and on a ferry route.  Kingston is normally filled up during the summer, especially on weekends when there is a Farmers Market on Saturday mornings and concerts in the park adjacent to the marina on Saturday nights.  We got lucky this day, getting a slip for the night.  Next morning, we walked into town to mail our voter ballots and get some groceries at the local IGA.

Heading down Agate Pass towards Poulsbo.

We were in no hurry to continue south as we knew our next stop would be Poulsbo.  We have always loved driving to Poulsbo, walking the quaint Scandinavian village, and walking the docks.  This time, however, would be our first time visiting with our boat, so we knew we'd need a couple of nights to fully enjoy our stay. 

The Scandanavian welcome sign coming into Poulsbo

We met a lovely couple, Jay & Barb, in Poulsbo, who moor their boat in Everett.  We enjoyed spending our evenings visiting with them, and Barb and Nancy even headed into town together the last morning for one more shopping trip (Nancy making out well at their second hand store).

The local Indian Casino with fancy totem pole.

Saying good-bye to hopefully new friends, we continued our journey south, briefly passing Bremerton and the US Destroyer Turner Joy.  We headed north under two bridges connecting Bremerton to the Olympic Peninsula and then made a left into Oyster Bay.  Waggoner's Cruising Guide recommended this bay, anchoring on the west side along a "dense forest".  Well, shall we say dense forest is a touch over-exaggeration, as it was a treed area, but had a parking lot at the end of the road and then a walking path through the treed area.  We saw and heard voices all afternoon, barking dogs for hours that evening, and we lost the sun at about 6:00 p.m. because of the trees.  If we choose to anchor in this bay again, we'll consider the east side nearer the houses.  At least we'd have the sun for a few more hours.

The morning greeted us with hundreds of jellyfish

Jerry did put the fishing pole to use that afternoon, catching a couple of dog fishes about 3 feet long.  Both were cut free and he realized this bay wasn't the best place for fishing.

Next morning we headed out, heading to the unknown, when we again approached Bremerton.  We weren't sure where to go next, the day was quite warm (hot actually) and the idea of a tour of the destroyer Turner Joy and dinner at Anthony's called us into the Bremerton marina.  The marina is brand new and beautiful.  The town has worked hard at rebuilding this area, and has a collection of fountains in the area where children can play in the water.  The one negative about the marina, however, is that the breakwater is open to ferry wake and the first two docks just inside the south entrance are subject to the wakes.  We moved our boat after realizing we didn't want to bounce around all night.  The marina staff is quite warm and welcoming, one boater mentioning that they drove him to the store a few miles away and would not take a tip for the service.

Dinner at Anthony's was fabulous and we had a window seat and got to look down on Cloud Nine while we dined and ate.

The next morning we began our slow trip back home checking out Manzanita Bay east of Poulsbo along the way.  Waggoner's Cruising Guide wrote that it was good, overnight shelter with excellent holding ground.  

Being that it was a Saturday, Agate Pass was full of boaters, and added to that were swimmers at the north end of Agate Pass.  Boaters coming from the north were unaware and a traffic jam occurred as too many boaters from the south, along with the swimmers and their flotilla, met up with very fast boats wanting to enter from the north.  The US Coast Guard Auxillary, who were present for the swimming event, should have been on Channel 16 warning boaters in the area.

We continued northward and stopped briefly at Kingston to see if there were any available slips, but the dreaded "Reserved" signs were on all of the empty slips.  That meant a longer day at the wheel continuing northward around Point No Point and into Port Ludlow.  We anchored out at the southwest corner of the bay, enjoying our stay immensely and hoping to return again soon.  The next morning, we watched an otter family of four frolicking in the water nearby.  We got the kayaks down and went kayaking into the inner harbor, where we were treated to an enormous star fish, as well as other smaller versions of various colors and even an orange sea cucumber.

Seals near Fort Flagler

We eventually left for the day, heading toward Port Townsend, but this time we ventured down to Mystery Bay on Marrowstone Island to see what this area was like.  We didn't like the meandering approach into the area around Fort Flagler as it twisted and had some narrow and shallow areas.  Being a weekend day, there were a lot of boaters and families around the beaches at Fort Flagler as well as further down in Mystery Bay.  None of these places looked relaxing for the night, so we called Point Hudson and got a slip again with them.  We celebrated our last night out on our voyage with drinks and dinner at Sirens.  The heat spell was continuing, and so on our way back to the boat, we swung into the ice cream shop to get some ice cream to enjoy.

Our final morning found us once again returning to Sequim.  We both wished we had more time out and look forward to the day when we can leave Sequim forever and go wherever we want every day!