17 January 2009, Saturday
The weather report states the weather will be sunny in Scappoose, Oregon where Shatoosh is berthed. However, this morning Puyallup looks gray and foggy. I decide to go anyway. There is fog all the way down I-5, but as soon as I cross the Lewis and Clark Bridge at Longview, Washington the sun appears and it is bright and beautiful and I can see alot of water still hanging around: ponds are small lakes, creeks are rivers, and trees have slide off the mountain sides.
I stop and get lunch and water at Fred Myers and I notice ice on the sidewalks and some left over snow piles. Hiking up to the top of the levee I have a specta
cular view of the valley. The sky is c
rystal clear, the air clean and crisp. Mt Hood is off to the east, Mt Adams northeast of me and Mt St. Helens west of Adams.
cular view of the valley. The sky is c
rystal clear, the air clean and crisp. Mt Hood is off to the east, Mt Adams northeast of me and Mt St. Helens west of Adams.
The
beautiful farming and nursery to the west of me. I amble down the steep ramp to the marina and there is some frost on the decks and I notice some new decking is in place. I turn down E dock and have to play hop-scotch to keep from stepping in all the 
poop from the Great Blue Heron who lives on the dock at night. Alas. there are my favorites: Shatoosh and Pashmina, waiting patiently for me to visit them.
I bypass the marina and head up river a bit. I see hundreds, if not thousands of flying Canada Geese over Sauvie Island which is a wild life refuge. Three eagles are sitting in a tree and a few merganzers are swimming by the boat. I check out a few of the marinas and boats in the area and then.JPG)
return down river to my dock.
It is so beautiful I decide to go for a short cruise downriver. I check out the cabin temperature: 48 degrees, burrsy. After unplugging the electrical cord, turning on the battery switch, firing up the diesel heater, and opening the water intake valve, I start the engine. On the first crank it starts---I love it!
All the osprey are in South America and have been replaced with hundreds of cormorants. They are very busy warming their wings, fishing and having a good time. There are many fisherman on the Multnomah Channel and a few speed by me and kick up quite a wake. Shatoosh takes them all well with quite a bit of maneuvering on my part. There is a lot of debris in the water, logs, small trees and small wood chips, so I have my eagle eyes open.
I circumnavigate Coon Island. Since it is a long weekend, there is a Yacht Club spending the weekend on the east dock. There is only one boat on the west side. I head back up river and me
et the 3 knot current. Later, I pull off to the side to get a glimpse of 10 cormorants sunning themselves on a floating log. Boy, I know how that feels, the sun is warm on my face and with the heater on I am getting hot. I turn the heater down to the bare minimum, drink most of my water and then have a horrifying thought! The heater is on and I forgot to lower my fenders on the starboard side near the heater exhaust. Yipes, I slow the boat down, quickly open the starboard window flap and see a burnt, melted spot 
on my fender. I slacken the line and return to the helm. I am always so mindful of this possibility happening that I always check where that fender is when I have the heater on. Ugh. The fender feels soft, so may not hold any air, which means another trip to the marine store for a replacement. A lesson well learned. Thank heavens the heater was on a low setting.
et the 3 knot current. Later, I pull off to the side to get a glimpse of 10 cormorants sunning themselves on a floating log. Boy, I know how that feels, the sun is warm on my face and with the heater on I am getting hot. I turn the heater down to the bare minimum, drink most of my water and then have a horrifying thought! The heater is on and I forgot to lower my fenders on the starboard side near the heater exhaust. Yipes, I slow the boat down, quickly open the starboard window flap and see a burnt, melted spot 
on my fender. I slacken the line and return to the helm. I am always so mindful of this possibility happening that I always check where that fender is when I have the heater on. Ugh. The fender feels soft, so may not hold any air, which means another trip to the marine store for a replacement. A lesson well learned. Thank heavens the heater was on a low setting.I bypass the marina and head up river a bit. I see hundreds, if not thousands of flying Canada Geese over Sauvie Island which is a wild life refuge. Three eagles are sitting in a tree and a few merganzers are swimming by the boat. I check out a few of the marinas and boats in the area and then
.JPG)
return down river to my dock. I take some photos of my friend's boat which is a very large steel cutter with about 7 guestrooms. Paul built it many years ago and has recently refurbished it. It is amazing to get to see this unique design. It is a great layout for a charter boat in Alaska. My leisurely round trip has been about 1 hr 40 minutes and 7 + nm.
I tidy the boat up and head back to Washington. I feel so happy on the water and especially if the sun is out. Driving up I-5, the fog greets me, but the twilight lingers, so I have extra time to savor my first cruise in 2009. I have had a wonderful, beautiful day filled with the glories of nature. How lucky I am!
Remember to double click on any photo to enlarge.
