Monday, October 28, 2013

Saturday, 20July, 2013: Gig Harbor to Dockton

Weather:  Sunny and warm.  Winds:  Variable, mostly light.  Seas:  <1ft.

After spending a few days anchored in Gig Harbor, enjoying the company, attempting to crab (a couple small red rock) and sailing the dinghy around we headed out.  Another sail when we can, motor when we have to.  Motored out of Gig Harbor around 1200 and was able to sail initially.  No real hurry as Dockton is only about 10 miles, but the winds died abreast Point Defiance and we motored across Dalco Passage.  Was able to sail again approaching Quartermaster Harbor.  A lot of crab pots to dodge at the entrance.  Nice, gentle sail towards Dockton.  Motored into the King County Park.

Nice park and well maintained.  Good shower facilities.  Clean.  Easy to walk the dogs in the surrounding area.  Upon arrival, checked for moorage fees and apparently few people were paying.  Since there were kids jumping off the roof of the building into the water (66 degrees), they felt there was no supervision around so they could get away with it.

Dropped a crab trap on the way into the park area, a spot no other pots were.  4hrs later, retrieved the pot with 4 large crabs, 3 were female and tossed back.  The 4th was missing 2 legs and both claws, dude had been around the block!  Cleaned him, but did not eat.  Speaking with locals later, the area is polluted by sewage runoff.  So, dinner became crab bate.

There was limited space on the dock, but Kelly has become accustomed to anchoring, actually preferring it over a dock when we have the dogs.  A lot less hassle as the dogs have the run of the boat and we do not need to worry about potential negative encounters with other dogs.  But where to go?  The place is full of private buoys.  I'd had enough of 'private buoys in public water' so we took one not labeled private.  According to the local ranger, most of the buoys there were illegal, having been set by someone unofficially.  The DNR is attempting to rectify and are replacing the buoys as they can with legal, and safe, ones.  Apparently they are finding all kinds of things being used as anchors, including 6-7 car batteries chained together.

Spoke to a kid bottom fishing off the dock, using hotdogs as bait and catching sole, dogfish and...I don't remember.  Gives me ideas though....

Of interest to me, it appears south sound does not seem many multihulls, certainly not the Dragonfly.   Today was the first encounter with someone going out of their way to take pictures and complement the boat.  Later in the trip, one guy paused thoughtfully and stated, "Multihulls and south sound, makes a lot of sense."

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