2-5July2015, Blake Island

Weather:  Sunny and hot!  Wind:  Calm to N@10-15.  Waves:  Flat except for wakes.

Anchored on the east side of Blake Island State Park for the 4th of July holiday.  From the east side, we had a tremendous view of Vashon Island to the south, and from Tacoma all the way north of Seattle.  Downtown Seattle and the Space Needle were clearly visible.  Impressive view and a great place to watch fireworks without the boom and bang to scare the dogs.

Thursday evening, after tying to a mooring buoy and walking the dogs ashore, taking care to avoid the abundant deer and raccoons, we settled into a nice, quiet sleep.  Early Friday morning, the dogs got us up and we took them ashore for their morning constitutions, once again, avoiding the deer and raccoons.  The dogs would have loved to chase the critters.  The deer would have outrun them and we probably would have lost our little girl in the woods since she does not know when to call it quits and come back.  Though the dogs think they are tough, the raccoons would have torn them to shreds.  Still, once sighted, the dogs would set off a caterwaul to wake the dead.  We tried to keep them quiet and let the campers sleep.

The island had more tent campers than we had seen before, but it was only the beginning.  By Saturday night, the NE corner of the island was nearly packed.  One of the park employees stated there was even a special ferry coming out, depositing more people just for the fireworks.

After breakfast, while still calm, I adjusted the waterstays.  Later, after other boats were moving about, Kelly hoisted me up the mast to retrieve the errant spinnaker halyard.  It was not as easy as I thought it would be.  The passing boat's wakes made life up the mast difficult.  At one point, I could see a set of big ones coming and I called for Kelly to hurry up about 3 more feet so I could stand on the spreaders and hold on.  But, got the halyard down!

RT, MM and Em arrived aboard Freestyle about 1130 Friday having rode the tide from Gig Harbor.  They tied off of Strider and then, since Freestyle weighs 27,000 pounds and Strider only 5,100 pounds, the mooring buoy was transferred to Freestyle.

Spent the next couple days comparing notes, telling lies er embellishing stories, watching Em and her friend Andrew jump into the 55 degree water (kids are insane), watching RT deplete his beer store.  Found a way to turn a hanging chair and a hammock into wind scoops.  Played with white tarps as sunshades...if Washington state can have blue tarp campers then it can have white tarp sailors!  The combination aft tarp and wind scoop kept Strider very comfortable.  Saturday, Em and Andrew fished in earnest and caught enough rock sole, augmented by 5 rock crab, to make a meal!

Saturday evening...great place to watch the fireworks.  The view, as mentioned above, was panoramic.  Once the sun was down and dusk nearly over, the fireworks began and did not really end...though most were over by 2300.  The display from the Federal Way/SeaTac area was consistent and long term leading us to believe we were seeing individual and not city fireworks.  Tacoma's was probably the longest large display and was quite lovely.  Seattle's, while spectacular, was very short.