Torpedo Town USA – Naval Undersea Museum is located at the small U.S. Navy depot, Torpedo Research, and Testing Facility

After doing some research on the Liberty Bay area, for our planned stop in Poulsbo, I stumbled across information on the little town of Keyport, WA., nicknamed “Torpedo Town USA. Its major tourist facility, the Naval Undersea Museum is located at the small U.S. Navy depot, Torpedo Research and Testing Facility, tasked with ranging and repairing torpedoes for the U.S. Navy and its allies. The museum features exhibits and displays on undersea technology, including the Trieste II, which descended to 20,000 ft (6,100 m). After pulling anchor in Poulsbo, we arrived at Keyport’s free town dock, in a matter of minutes, for a tour of the Museum.

We happened to be there the same day as a Naval ceremony took place inside the museum, so we got to see a lot of servicemen, all dressed up in their Navy Blues, and their families getting ready for the ceremony. We spent an enjoyable couple of hours learning about everything to do with undersea naval operations as it relates to the preservation, collection, and interpretation of  U.S. Naval undersea history, science (geology and weather), and operations. It was a good stop to get off the boat to stretch our legs before we continued on our way to our next anchorage, Eagle Harbor, off Bainbridge Island.

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Little Norway on the Fjord – Poulsbo, WA

Poulsbo, sitting at the edge of Liberty Bay, is a delightful, highly Scandinavian-influenced, community. This quaint, picturesque, little town has a strong Norwegian heritage. Its founders came from Norway via Michigan and Minnesota to settle in a landscape that was similar to their own snow-peaked mountains and fjords. Other Scandinavian immigrants soon followed.

On a prior visit to Poulsbo, we had docked at the city marina, so this time we decided to anchor out in the protective confines of the bay and dinghy into town for our on-shore leave. We arrived late afternoon, so we hung out on the boat and enjoyed a nice sunset and a peaceful night at anchor.

The next morning we dinghied over to the city marina to tie up so we could have lunch and shop. We were surprised to see Teddy Bear (above) docked at the marina. We first encountered this interesting yacht in Anacortes, WA when we took possession of our Fathom 40.

Poulsbo has an array of gift shops, galleries, and stores with unique and unusual items to look through. We found a Mexican Cantina-style restaurant for a tasty lunch which in hindsight is about as far away from Scandinavian food as I guess you can get.

Thinking back to our first visit to Poulsbo, we remembered a nice bakery in town, although it was late in the day, we tracked down Sluys Bakery. We each made mental notes to decide what we wanted to pick up the next morning for breakfast when I would return by dinghy for a pastry run.

Something seemed to be amiss in the water in the bay, especially in the marina. Not sure what it could be, can only imagine. Wouldn’t want to accidentally fall into the water in this area.

The next morning we awoke to a pea soup-type fog; it took forever to lift.

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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 city in the Puget Sound area, so a lot of new buildings and Victorian houses were built. However, the rail system the founders counted on to make this happen, only made it to Tacoma. So Port Townsend never became the big city mecca they hoped for. The good news is that today Port Townsend, with its rich maritime history, has a unique small-town village feel with elaborate 120-year-old buildings lining the main street of downtown.

We arrived in port the day after the annual wooden boat show and were happy to see some of the classic wood boats still lingering in port. Like most towns we visit by boat, we walked the entire length of the downtown area,  located within a block of the marina. Lisa especially liked the variety of shops and spent some of her free time shopping. After taking a tour of the main street, we ventured up the bluff overlooking the harbor for a spectacular hillside view of the town and waterfront.

We stayed two days and can attest to why so many of our boater friends suggested we put Port Townsend on our 2014 PNW itinerary… we’ll be back.

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One of the ancillary benefits of boating is the many social opportunities present. Everywhere we anchor or dock we’ll either run into old friends or we’ll end up meeting some very interesting people. We can’t think of a better place to do this than at the 2013 Ranger Tugs / Cutwater Rendezvous. The event was held this year at Cap Santé Marina in Anacortes, Washington.

Because we’d been cruising in British Columbia for an extended period of time, our calendar allowed us to arrive a few days early. We would use the time to catch up on the usual boat chores. These chores included a thorough cleaning of the boat, inside and out, washing clothes, and picking up a batch of mail. In the midst of our getting settled and organized, Ranger Tug owners, and residents of Anacortes, Bob, and Nita (below), on Nellie Too, approached us and said they were trying to put together a group to head up to Anthony’s for the early bird special. So, with a sprinkling of familiar faces and a few new mixed in, we had an unofficial kick-off to the rendezvous.

We’d met Bob and Nita (above) during our first 2011 Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Rendezvous in Bremerton, WA. soon after we took possession of our Ranger Tug R27. Nita and Bob are so much fun, we wish we could just take them home with us.

Before the rendezvous started, we had time to walk downtown on our way to visit the farmer’s market and have lunch at the Croatian Restaurant our fellow tug nut, Tym told us about.

The next day boats started showing up in droves to the 2013 Ranger Tugs / Cutwater Rendezvous

Although most of the folks were from Washington State and British Columbia, Canada, there was representation from Texas, California, Oregon, Michigan, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and more. We tug owners attend these valuable rendezvous to learn more about our boats. We like to see what upgrades others have done to their vessels, attend seminars, eat, drink, celebrate our time together and share our boating pursuits as Ranger Tug or Cutwater owners. The conversation includes where we’ve cruised, if we trailer or not, and more often than not, we share maintenance tips and tricks. Jim gave a PowerPoint presentation about our cruising time on Lake Powell.

73 boats in attendance, 150 people including owners and Factory Personnel

The Anacortes Rendezvous was our third as Ranger Tug owners. We’d have to say the event is more like a fun family picnic or large reunion. Except most of us are not related. Boating, with our Ranger Tugs and Cutwaters, is the common denominator and basis for a likely friendship. The family part comes into play because Jeff, John, Andrew, Kenny, Ivan, Linda, and others representing the factory, bring their own families to the three-day event and have a grand time alongside the owners’ group during the three-day event.

Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats Foster a Community Feel Among Their Owner Group

One of the things we admire about Fluid Motion as a company (builders of both the Ranger Tugs and Cutwater boats) is how hands-on they are with their owners’ group. We get the distinct impression that one of the company’s main goals and objectives is to help people get out on the water to the boat. This thinking is supported by how they actively engage their owners’ group in boating activities, how thoughtfully they build their boats, with ease of use in mind, and take care of their owners. It goes without saying that such a philosophy is beneficial to both owners and factory alike.

Herb, on Willie’s Tug (above), was getting help with something on his boat.

Harmony (above) was responsible for organizing the event, and her two little pups helped.

Rich and Cheryll, on Roam (above) just returned from a trip to Alaska on their Ranger Tug. Gill and Barry, on Laxey (below)

There was a rumor going around that Jim (below) kissed Bob while he was kiddingly sitting on his lap. Somehow we didn’t get that shot. Maybe next time.

A few of the many participants at this year’s rendezvous. Georgene and Colin (above), Willie and Herb, on Willie’s Tug (above), Vicki and Bruce, on Moondance (below-left), and Tym and June, on Circle T (below-right).

Bob (above) and Nita (below) are always in charge of making margaritas for the rendezvous. We call him “Margarita Bob,” As you can see, they’ve got this chore down to a science. I caught Nita downing the last batch of the mix just before we wrapped up happy hour to begin feasting on dinner.

Ivan (above), from the factory, came to our boat to install a Bluetooth module to our Fusion stereo unit. This is a job that would have taken us a few hours and took Ivan only a few minutes.

On the last night of the rendezvous, the sky was on fire.

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