Jarrell Cove

The weather this weekend was a far cry from what we had last weekend.  Highs in the low 70's with rain showers were forecast.  We decided to head South and decide where to go on our way.  We were thinking of either Hope Island Marine Park, or Jarrell Cove Marine Park. 

We got a late start out of Gig Harbor, partly because we just do that, and partly because Gig Harbors Thunderbird Fleet #1 was holding a series of races in the harbor.  I learned to sail here in Gig Harbor, the home of the Thunderbird and used to see large fleets of them race in the Harbor.  It was very nice to see over a dozen boats once again racing by the birthplace of this wonderful boat.

We finally got out of the harbor and headed South.  Unfortunately, the wind was headed North.  We eventually were able to put up the main and do some motorsailing as we got through the Narrows.  Eventually, the wind was holding fair for the course so we decided to continue South through Nisqually Reach instead of through Balch Passage as we usually do.  This route is a little longer, but it kept the wind fair longer.

As turned NW towards Case Inlet, the wind freshened.  Still motorsailing to smooth out the gusts and wind shifts we were making over 7 knots.  At this point we decided to continue heading North and go to Jarrell Cove around the Northern tip of Harstene Island.  This took us past McMicken Island, where we stayed last weekend in entirely different weather.

The whole trip we were surprised by how few boats we saw.  Maybe it was the suddenly typical wet and cool summer weather that kept folks away, or maybe everyone was cruising Northern waters but the Sound seemed empty.  We did pass and wave at Steve Franklin who was headed North in his Cataline400, "Platypus".  It was going aboard "Platypus" that first convinced my wife and I that a Catalina 400 would be the "perfect" boat for us.

Jarrell Cove was likewise empty.  We had been here a few years ago and it was a very crowded little anchorage.  This weekend, we had our pick of the 10 or so State Park mooring buoys.  Other than the wildlife, it was a very quiet night.

The next morning the weather had turned a bit more ominous.  As we were leaving Jarrell Cove we could see rain ahead.  We were hit with a few thundershowers and no usable wind for the motor back to Gig Harbor.  At least here in the PNW, when the weather is poor, we have interesting clouds to look at.

McMicken Island

Well, it has been a very, VERY long time since I updated this.  Life has gotten in the way of sailing unfortunately.  A couple weddings over the past couple years, family commitments, professional activities, and then the demands of my own practice have kept us off the boat more than we would like.

This summer was going to change that.  I had taken two weeks off from work and we were going to head north towards Desolation Sound.  We were super excited about the trip and the time away.  Unfortunately, the last week of school one of my wife's students accidentally ran into her knocking her to the floor.  My wife ended up with a break in the distal end of her radius.  The orthopedist ruled that she wouldn't be able to make the trip this summer since some of the stern-tie anchoring takes two people to manage the boat.  Maybe if we had been there before and I had more experience with that terrain it would have been different, but for now the trip is delayed once again.

However, this last weekend we did get a chance to get out.  We have had an unusually hot and dry spring and summer here in the PNW.  With weekend temps predicted to hit 90 degrees, I thought of what might be a nice spot to go for a quick overnight, McMicken Island Marine State Park .

We had anchored overnight here a couple years ago and I really enjoyed it.  McMicken is a small, 11.5 acre, island in Case inlet that is is connected to Harstene Island by a drying spit at a very low tide.  Behind McMicken there is a very shallow, wide basin of a cove which makes for a great anchorage since Hastene Island shelters you from the prevailing southerlies. Not that there was any wind this weekend however.  As usual in Pugets Sound, when we have nice weather, we don't have wind.

Saturday afternoon there was a 15' tide change at McMicken.  With low water in Gig Harbor at around 1:30pm, we decided to leave as close to low slack as possible and catch the current south through the Narrows.  Just an hour before we left the house my daughter and son-in-law called an invited themselves along as well.  We scrambled to get some more food and then headed for the boat.

With the current running South it took us about 4 hours to get to McMicken even with a fuel stop at Zittel's Marina at Johnson Point.  (An indication of how little we have been able to get on the boat over the past year is that it had been 14 months since we last filled up with fuel.)

When we got to McMicken all the mooring buoys on the back side of the island were taken.  We anchored in about 20 feet of water with a nice view of Mt Rainier peeking over the trees of the island.

With the very hot weather, the shallow cove, and the large tide change we did something that we hardly ever do in Puget Sound.  We went swimming!  The waters of Puget Sound stay right around 50 degrees F year round except in certain places under certain very unusual conditions.  This summer is one of those unusual conditions.  I don't like cold water and normally when I jump in the Sound I am just as quickly jumping back out again.  This time, I swam around for 20 minutes and convinced the rest of the family to join me.

We took off the next morning to catch the outgoing tied and get back home before the 90 temps made our PNW brains bake.  A very nice quick escape, not much over 24 hours but a nice time with the family and a chance to enjoy South Puget Sound.