Thursday, July 5, 2012

Kayaking around Friday Harbor...

Friday Harbor is more than the town - it is a nice protected natural harbor.  Most of the activity revolves around the marina and up and down the first 5 blocks or so of Spring Street.  But, following the shoreline to the south of the ferry landing, reveals another aspect of the community.

With a day off, beautiful weather, and no schedule, we decided to get the kayaks down and poke around in the water south of us.  The tide was out... way out.  We had to paddle through what I call "lettuce", the sea grass that covers the bottom in the shallow areas...


In places, it came right up to the top of the water, making it impossible for me to pedal my Hobie kayak.  Joan's sit-in Pelican had no issue gliding right through and over it.  It took me a while to paddle and catch up with her; the huge leaves underwater caught on my fins, even with them pulled up tight against the hull of the kayak.

We made our way behind/under the main pier, past the fuel dock, and heading towards the ferry dock.  The ferry was in, and we could see that cars were still loading... we knew we had a few minutes to get around to the other side...


The ferry looks especially huge from the vantage point of your butt right on the water!  We continued south, admiring some of the homes with big boats at their private docks...




And some without boats...


Or that float without a boat...


Continuing further south, we paddled past private dockage, moorings, and a boatyard with docks and boathouses...


Not as swanky as some of the places further up, but decent protection for a boat.  When we ran out of water that direction, we turned east and headed towards Brown Island.  More nice houses and private dockage, and a few sea planes...


Love the sound of a radial engine on an airplane.  Looking the other way, this went by...


And now you know how you get a car onto an island that doesn't have ferry service.

We rafted up the kayaks to have lunch, then turned back to the north.  Another ferry was coming in - yeah, we decided to let him get by.  We got waked by a few boats, including one big sailboat where the driver was apparently not able to turn his head even a few degrees.  Running across the harbor to the east of the marina, this tall ship dominated the dock - prepare to be boarded!


We paddled/pedaled around the far side of the marina, with a plan to get back to the same docks where we launched the kayaks.  Running into more "lettuce" that direction, Joan left me behind.  When I got to the kayak docks, a guy was helping her empty water from her kayak... seems that one of us got a bit sideways when exiting the kayak... not mentioning any names.

We carried the kayaks and paraphernalia back to our boat, hosed it all off, and strapped 'em back on top of Wild Blue.  I wish there was a way we could keep them in the water by the boat, so it would be easier to take an impromptu ride once in a while, but there just isn't room.

Soggy britches aside, it was a perfect day for being out on the kayaks.

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While working up images for this post, Izzy and I were sitting in the cockpit.  A family with a couple kids and a big dog walked down our finger dock, looking at the sailboat next to us.  The dog saw Izzy and started pulling at the leash; I could see that the guy had a firm grip on the leash, so I waited to see what Izzy would do... she stood her ground at the edge of the cockpit.  The guy said, "It's OK, he likes cats," about the same time the dog started growling.  Izzy arched her back and snarled back at the dog!  The dog continued to growl, but backed off.  I said to the guy, "It's OK, she's just defending her territory.  I won't let my 7 pound cat whoop up on your 60 pound dog."  ;-)




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