I gotta stop this...

Every morning seems more beautiful than the one before. I may need to leave my camera at home, 'cause I already have quite a collection of marina sunrises. This morning, there was a bit of smoke in the air from a fire in Idaho, making for a beautiful diffused color on the mountains...


Another long day at the helm today, and down right chilly this morning... 31º on the docks. It made for some slick surfaces on the boarding steps and on the boats. On the REALLY bright side, we had NO mosquito situation with our breakfast cruise on Elk Island. One in a row! I heard a few guests complain about the cold, but no one said a word about getting eaten alive.

Plenty of guests on the scenic cruises the rest of the day. This is about the time that things will start winding down, but we haven't seen that, yet.

Our new C-Dory friend, Dave, came by to say good-bye when we were getting ready to head out on the breakfast cruise. Nice to have them here; to see them have fun in the area and get to visit with them about C-Dorys.

And now: two days off and absolutely glorious weather forecast!

Counting down...

About 5 weeks to go. As much as we love this place, we are looking ahead... some might call it "itchy feet," amongst 5th wheel owners, it's called "hitch itch."


Another beautiful morning, two boats for the breakfast cruise. The mosquitoes haven't let up much, but we are supposed to get a couple cool nights, tonight and tomorrow night. It was 46º when we got up this morning... the mosquitoes here laugh at that temp.

Mother Nature gave us thunderstorms this afternoon. I went out with the manager in the rescue boat and "herded" rental canoes, kayaks, and powerboats back to the marina. Not soon enough, though; the storm dumped rain on us before they could get back... and hail... and lightning. Big fun when out in the metal rescue boat. We also had a shuttle pick-up for a hiker in Moran Canyon... all the way across the lake in that rain, wind, and lightning. The hiker was happy to see us, and was at the pick-up site early.

The dinner cruise was canceled this evening due to the weather... an easy day of only 9 hours for me! Joan took off early, too... nice to be home together shortly after 4:00.

Moonset and Sunrise...

What a spectacular morning! I was in early to prep the cruise boat and was treated to a full moon setting over the Tetons...


There were quite a few people with cameras set up in the marina area when I walked down the dock. While I am no doubt biased about the marina being one of the prettiest places in this park, it was pretty obvious that I am not alone. Especially with the full moon.

When I got to the cruise boat, there was a couple out on that finger dock; they started to leave as I boarded the boat. I told them, "You sure don't have to leave on my account. Stick around a few more minutes and you will see the first light hit the mountain peaks."

"We don't want to be in your way," she said.

"You are certainly not in my way. It's a treat to share the dock with someone who appreciates the beauty of this and is willing to get up early to capture it," I told her.

And just a few minutes later...


It never gets old. Look close at the image above, and you will see the moon right at the top of the mountain on the right.

Nice way to start the day.

It was a long driving day for me... starting with a breakfast cruise, 3 more scenic cruises, and ending with the dinner cruise. It was a beautiful day, but hard to top the views from early morning.

A chill in the air...

Whoa! 35º this morning! It is supposed to be a near-perfect week, weather-wise, with a predicted high today of 81º. Quite a swing, compared to what we're used to in the Tropical Tip.

Kayaking...

Another glorious day off today. While Joan puttered around the coach, I took the Hobie out for some fine kayaking... light breeze, morning temps in the 60s, bright blue sky... perfect!

Heading out of the marina...


Then out towards those beautiful mountains; islands to pedal around, I had the water almost entirely to myself...


A great view of Waterfall Canyon. Nearly 7 miles away... can you see the cascade and the horsetail falls?


Then out of the main part of the lake and poking around the bays and through this shallow passage...


Back to shore, out of the water, and into the truck. Easy.

Joan and I drove down to Signal Mountain Lodge for a leisurely late lunch, then some cat walking. Nice day off.

Well, mostly. Joan had to go in late this afternoon to help close. One of the "perks" of management. On the way to take her to the marina, we came across these nice folks...


Dave and Ginny, from the C-Dory Will-C, all the way from Pennsylvania. They will be staying at Colter Bay for a few days. We didn't take a lot of their time, since they were in the process of getting their boat ready to launch. We also got to meet their furry companion, Lucy... all 55 pounds of her; no photo, yet, but I'll work on that.

It was just the C-Dory infusion I have been needing. I talked to a couple last week on a CD-22, but they had never heard of the C-Brats and "... didn't do much with computers." It's surprising how that forum tends to make you feel like you have so much in common.

Big Boat Eats Little Boat...

There was a thread on my favorite sailing site (TSBB), regarding Right-Of-Way and Rules of the Road. I laughed out loud while reading it. Here's my response...

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I had to laugh while reading the thread on Right-Of-Way... or any discussion of Rules of the Road... or any thread on stupid boater tricks.

This is something I deal with EVERY TIME I head out of the marina driving the cruise boats. There are 36 rental kayaks, 15 rental canoes, 15 rental powerboats, and a marina full of privately owned boats, as well as a boat ramp where boats are constantly being launched and retrieved. And there are times when it seems like ALL of them are coming at me in the narrow opening from the marina to the bay!! They turn in front of us, start crossing our path and stop, roar past us in a no-wake zone... damn, I've seen our cruise boats get hit by those rental powerboats when we're still tied to the dock!! (yes, really) All they need to rent any of the above is a credit card.

Forget the Rules of the Road... this is a water jungle, and you have to know that 99% of the people out there don't know "the Rules", many of them have never run a boat, paddled a canoe or kayak, and probably don't speak enough English to understand the instructions they're given. ("When you're about to run into something - STOP PADDLING!!")

I explain to my first mates that we are following "The Good Neighbor Policy", and we do our part by using proper sound signals (knowing that no one else knows what we're "saying," but hopefully the wandering hordes will at least turn their heads to see that there's a bigger boat moving nearby). See and AVOID. Neutral and reverse are my friends. A mate watching behind and in my blind spots.

A sense of humor and some patience helps... I have the former in spades, still working on the latter.

Oh, and do all this on a schedule.

Best wishes,
Jim B. (anxious to get back on my own boat)

Rock 'N Roll...

Our last work day of what seemed like the longest week, yet. Fortunately, all I had to do was drive a boat all day. It was another typical day, weather-wise... for most of the day. Before our 6:30 Sunset Cruise, a check of radar showed that we were definitely going to get some weather before we could get back to the marina.

We had 2 foot waves on the way south out of the marina, but that leveled out nicely when we got in the lee of Elk Island. Coming around to the south of the island, it was more rock ‘n rolling. Heading to Moran Bay, we could see the storm clouds coming at us...


My first mate and narrator, Terry, had to hold on to one of the posts in the boat... one hand for you, one for the microphone... or something like that.


It wasn’t bad, some wind, spray, and wave action. I told the guests that we were throwing in the whitewater trip at no additional charge!

On the way back to the marina, storm caught up with us... I was watching in on radar on my Droid, so there was no doubt that it was moving faster than we were. Truth be told, I was having a lot of fun with the ride. Looking back over my shoulder, I could see the guests were having fun with it, too - no one had a death grip on the seat back in front of them.

By the time we got back to Colter Bay, the wind had gotten a lot stronger and changed directions... surf’s up, Dude! The marina is normally well protected, but we had a lot of wind as we came to the dock. I kinda enjoyed the challenge of making that arrival look good. As usual, Joan was on the dock to catch lines... but with the strong wind, our off-duty captain came to the dock to assist, as well.

We had two boats for this cruise. Since we got back first, I went to the other boat to help with lines... we all have each others’ back with our captain crew.

This is Tuesday, which is our “Friday”... we’re both looking forward to a couple days off.