Our objective for adventure today was to take Stuart out for a spin, and hope that he wouldn’t strand us somewhere and we’d end up calling Tow Boat to get us back to Island Girl. We had a leisurely morning just hanging out and enjoying the beautiful weather. I’ve always enjoyed the State Park docks, more than a regular marina. They are always such a nice little temporary community of adventurous like-minded friendly people.
The tide was going out, and it was going to be a minus one this morning… more than a 15 foot change between 4:10 am and 11:15am. That is a Pacific Northwest condition that we deal with, along with the currents that move that volume of water in and out and around all the islands and peninsulas.
These kind of low tides can make the dock ramps really steep! Going up this one was a really good calf muscle stretcher!
Around 1:30 or so we got Stuart out of his cradle and his engine started right up. But Kenny had to pull-start him… I guess the electric start wasn’t serious about working consistently. 😕. I packed a few things in our dry bag, and we headed out. There is a marina about six miles away that I wanted to go check out, and maybe tootle up to the town of Allyn for lunch. The water was splat flat, just like we like it.
I put my phone in a waterproof case that I can hang around my neck. Three things about that: I can’t get it very far from my own face for taking a selfie, I can’t see what I’m taking a picture of (or when my fingers are in the way) and the plastic isn’t very clear, so the pictures aren’t very clear. But oh well… one still must document the adventure!
Our first stop was the Fair Harbor Marina. I had read that it was a popular venue for weddings, so I wanted to scope it out. We didn’t really see the attraction, as the property seemed like it was just the docks. The house above the marina said it was private property, so 🤷♀️. But they did have some beautiful rhodies in bloom, and I loved the colors of this one!
Back down to the dock, Stuart decided not to start. 😏 Of course we didn’t have any tools along with us. Kenny worked and worked on it, and finally it started and ran great! What the heck? Well, we could continue on to the town of Allyn and wander around the little town, or we could go back to Island Girl while Stuart was running. Kenny said we could go on to town, so that is what we did.
It was about another three miles up to Allyn, and holy sea lions! As we approached the dock, there was a big one in the water that came up right in front of us and flopped over like a breaching whale. He was big, and certainly could flip Stuart over if he wanted to!! I swear he looked the size of a walrus – YIKES! The dock was at the end of a pier, and was a T, with the top of the T at the end of the pier and the leg of the T sticking out in the water. The sea lions were sinking the whole end of it. 😵💫. We tied up to the top part of the T and watched them for awhile. There were some young men hanging around, so between that and the fighting among the big sea lions, we decided not to leave Stuart unattended. There was one in the water (he’s floating with his fins in the air just in front of the power pedestals), and the other big ones on the dock wouldn’t let him up. And of course, they were barking loudly at each other, “AAR, AAR, AAR”. We decided to head back to Island Girl….. but Stuart wasn’t ready. Again, he wouldn’t start. Kenny took the cover off and fiddled with the fuel line and other stuff, and eventually it started. He’s thinking that maybe it’s related to heat, why it won’t start right up again. 🤷♀️
Once Stuart starts, he runs great! We zoomed all the way back to Island Girl with no problem. My Navionics app on my phone said we were going 18-20mph. 🚤 Some of the water was a little choppy, but not even enough to splash me. The wind was chilly, but once we turned off of the main channel and out of the wind, it got warm again. It was interesting that we’d go through warm air spots and cold air spots.
Ahhh – there’s our Girl. And notice the water level now, and how flat the dock ramp is!
Mr Mechanic set about working on Stuart. He got out Wally the computer and hooked up the Suzuki diagnostic cords to see what was wrong. See, it isn’t really Stuart that is misbehaving, it’s Stu-zuki that has the attitude. 😉 He didn’t find anything real definitive regarding the temperamental starting issue. Hmmmmm. Well – Kenny still plans to take the engine apart and replace the head and head gasket. Who knows? Maybe once Stu-zuki has a new noggin, he’ll quit having amnesia, and will remember to start when he’s supposed to.
Island Girl’s stern is facing west, so we get a lot of hot sun in the afternoon. A few days ago, I stopped in at the Goodwill store near our son’s house, and I purchased a couple of lightweight flat bed sheets for $1.79 each. With my towel clips, I can put these up in a jiffy, and it provides shade but still light. They work really good! Not so fancy, and Kenny says we look like hillbillies, but it keeps the boat cooler and we can sit outside in the light breeze. I used to hang up my Nemo & Dori blanket, so this must look a little better, right? 😉
We’ve had lots of little birds flitting around, chirping and frolicking in the air. These two decided to take a break on the railing outside our front window. Not a good picture through the screen, but they were pretty little guys.
Here was our adventure today – just under 19 miles round trip. We stopped twice, and both times Stuart, no… Stu-zuki was a poophead about starting. However Mr Mechanic prevailed, and we did get back to the Mothership without calling TowBoat. Whew!!
There is a three night maximum stay on the State Park docks. We decided that we’d just stay two, and then tomorrow we’ll head down to Olympia and stay in a marina there for a couple of nights. It’ll be fun to wander around, find a brewery, taphouse or ciderhouse. Plus, our oldest daughter lives down there, so she can come visit for a bit, which will be fun!