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Port Townsend Recommendation

Port Townsend – Washington’s Victorian Seaport & Arts Community Over the years people have highly recommended a visit to Port Townsend, WA, but, for whatever reason, we have never made the stop. During our trip out west this year, we put Port Townsend on our planned route as we headed south from the San Juans toward Puget Sound. Port Townsend, one of the coolest small towns in America, sits at the northeast point of the Olympic peninsula where the Strait of Juan De Fuca and Admiralty Inlet meet. In the late 1800s, Port Townsend was intended to become the main…

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Transiting Deception Pass in a Pocket of Fog

Heading for Deception Pass After spending a pleasant night on the hook at Hope Island, we woke to a blanket of fog so thick, we could hardly see more than 150 feet in any direction. We waited and waited until finally, close to our planned departure time, the fog began to lift a little. We pulled anchor, turned on our radar, and headed towards Deception Pass. A safe trip through Deception Pass needs to be done at slack tide. We needed to be positioned at the pass for the optimal tidal event. We ended up following a barge through Deception Pass while…

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Catching a Mooring Ball at Hope Island

Positioning ourselves at the Hope Island anchorage to transit through Deception Pass in the Morning. Leaving the dock at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes, I saw our fuel gauge flashing a bright red “low fuel” light, setting my mind into a bit of a panic. Idling to the fuel dock, I was hoping we’d make it before running completely out. How embarrassing would that have been? I haven't run out of fuel since I was in High School. The good news is we made it to the fuel dock without conking out in the harbor. Confidently fueled up, we headed…

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Cap Sante Marina – The Anacortes Connection

There were several Ranger Tug owners we wanted to connect with while we were at Cap Sante Marina. We'd been to Anacortes, Washington, the gateway to the San Juans Islands, several times in the past 15 years so it felt a little like a home away from home for us. After launching the boat and stowing the trailer and truck it was time to get organized for some serious PNW cruising. We needed to stock up and collect our thoughts a little. Guess the week we spent on the road took its toll. Lisa kept saying maybe we need another day…

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Kismet's Captain Jim Chart Review

Preparing, Packing and Planning for Our Trip West

Planning for the trip west! After spending this past winter holed up at home in northern Michigan remodeling our kitchen, we feel we're more than ready for some new cruising adventure. We are preparing, planning, and packing to head west soon to begin another fun boating season. First, we'll visit the Flaming Gorge  Reservoir on the Green River in Northeast Utah/Southern Wyoming. Then we'll continue on to Puget Sound in Washington State, there we'll put in at Anacortes and cruise north into Canada's Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound, and more. Check back often, the fun is soon to start.

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Ranger Tug Kismet, Blake Island, Washington

Blake Island Jogged a Memory

We didn't linger too long in Bremerton after the Ranger Tugs Rendezvous because we had a really interesting cruise planned for today. We said our goodbyes to new boating friends and shoved off the dock late morning. Just around the corner from Bremerton sits Blake Island, a 476-acre Washington State Park which lies in Puget Sound approximately eight miles from downtown Seattle. This Island, with its five miles of beach shoreline and magnificent views of the Olympic Mountains and Seattle skyline, is only accessible by boat.  The island was an ancestral camping ground of the Suquamish Indian tribe. Later, it…

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Ranger Tugs Rendezvous, Bremerton, Washington

2011 Ranger Tug Rendezvous

The People... "We Love Our Tugs!" We arrived in Bremerton on Wednesday so that we could take care of some chores before the festivities began – we were the third boat to arrive in the harbor. Over the late afternoon and early evening, and the whole next day, the tugs slowly arrived in the harbor. After we tied up to the dock I took off to do laundry while Jim cleaned the boat, then we treated ourselves to dinner at Anthony's – a great choice. We've been anchoring out a lot and, with no dinghy to get to shore, cooking…

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Ranger Tugs Rendezvous, Bremerton, Washington

2011 Ranger Tug Rendezvous

The Boats... They're Everywhere! Sixty-eight Ranger Tugs and Cutwaters in one place, at one time. They were many sizes, from 21 to 29 feet. If set end to end they would have measured 1,768 feet or one-third of a mile long. A rainbow of colors was represented – yellow, dark red, fire engine red, blue, green, tan, and white with owners from as far away as Maine and New York, on the east coast, Michigan, Texas, California, Montana, Colorado, and Oregon. Most were from Washington State, many hailed from British Columbia, Canada. With 68 boats present, Lisa and I had…

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Oak Harbor, Dragon Race Team

Unusual Encounters

Not long after we set the hook for a peaceful night at anchor in Oak Bay along comes this racing skull with mostly women aboard. I think we provided some amusement as they had a ton of questions about the "cute tug boat." We knew they were a friendly and happy group when they started to inquire about what sort of alcoholic beverage we might provide them for happy hour. Apparently, they were on an end-of-class outing and were not too serious about practicing. You wouldn't normally think you'd run into many social opportunities when anchored out for the night…

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To Anacortes, Washington

Return to Anacortes, Three Years Later…

Smooth sailing today on the Sound and LaConner Pass. Returning to Cap Sante Marina for one night before we head over to the San Juan Islands. As we were approaching our slip we happened to see Herb and Willie on Willie's Tug, (above-left) we already feel like we know them because we've been corresponding with them on the Tug Nuts forum. They are also new owners of an R27 with a gorgeous yellow hull. Just after we tied up to the dock, we helped Jo into her slip next to us. She had just come from the Gulf Islands today, we…

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Map of Puget Sound Washington State

The Biggest Sound Around

Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the country. It was formed around 15,000 years ago by a massive glacier moving south across the area. This glacier was over 3,412 feet thick. As it moved south, it shaped the land like a giant bulldozer, carving out the basins that makeup Puget Sound. Over fresh waters of 10,000 rivers and streams of the Seattle area flow into the Puget Sound creating the estuarine habitat that's so valuable for wildlife in the sound. Our first stop is Gig Harbor, a very unique boating destination. We'll be attending the PNW MTOA Rendezvous at…

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Gig Harbor, Washington

Gig Harbor Encounters – Washington State

    Our son, Ross, who lives in Portland, OR, joined us for a few days. We explored Gig Harbor together, he helped us get to the store to stock up on groceries and we played a few games of Liverpool. Kismet, sitting pretty in Gig Harbor Captain Ross!             Christopher, (above-left) brother to Sarah, our soon-to-be daughter-in-law (fiancé to son Skyler), lives nearby, just south of Seattle so he made a special trip to Gig Harbor to have lunch with us on Sunday. It was really nice to spend some time with Christopher and get to know him a…

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MTOA Rendezvous, Gig Harbor, Washington

The PNW Chapter of MTOA Puts On a Mean Rendezvous.

Can't think of a better location than Gig Harbor, Washington for the PNW MTOA group of boaters to come together to laugh, share and learn. We never felt the "odd man out" (being from out of state) with this group of boaters, we got a big, warm welcome, right away, from everyone we met and the group is just small enough that it really was possible to spend time with almost everyone to hear boating stories and/or tips. We had so much fun, we think we'll have to come back in two years. Bill Stults hosted the rendezvous and worked…

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Ranger Tugs Kismet

Sea Trial Fun – Kent, Washington

The big day finally arrived, the day we saw the results of our long-planned transition into becoming owners of a Ranger Tugs R27 trailerable trawler. We were so excited to see our new boat, we arrived an hour earlier than scheduled to start our new boat orientation and sea trial with Andrew. Andrew Custis, Ranger Tugs Customer Service Manager, is responsible for our new boat training and introduction. The better part of a day was spent on Lake Washington with Andrew going through the boat systems and answering our questions, the session finished after a sea trial – Andrew wanted to make sure…

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Gig Harbor

Off We Go…

Thursday afternoon, after we provisioned the boat, Andrew drove us down to the boat launch in Point Defiance, waved goodbye, and said to call him when we got back. We left the truck and trailer at the factory this time out. So, long story short, we're off on our own and FINALLY back on the water on a new Kismet. Gig Harbor, here we come.

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