Bruce Anchor and other projects

I decide to check out anchoring with my new Bruce, so we depart the marina and it is a flooding tide, no wind, waves or rain. I select that nice little bight where I saw the doe and her twin fawns at the creek  last week.  I dropped the anchor in 20 feet of water and backed Shatoosh to 7 feet of water, cleated off the rode and the anchor dug right in.
While having a covered slip is nice in the rainy northwest, it is nice to hang out on the hook and get some fresh air. I take this time to play around with placement of my gifted new fish finder and depth sounder.
This spot looks good.

This sounder will go to 600 feet while my old one that came with Shatoosh only goes to 100 feet. While I don't need a fish finder, it might show those harbor seals swimming by which throws the depths to 3 feet out of the blue and causes my heart to pound. I'm really only interested in the first 10-20 feet of water, but this one will show contours which can be useful. Thanks, Too Tall, for your gift.

The day is overcast, but what the heck, I weigh anchor and head to McMicken Island for the night. I can always find something to eat out of the tin section of the pantry. That is why my stores have such items, so I can have dinner on my numerous, spur of the moment,  trips. No one is on the water, I call the Viking Star to see where they are and find them in the next inlet-Carr at Penrose State Park. I round the north west point of McMiken Island and there are 3 big sailboats on the buoys, but the one on the east side is empty, so swing back around and pick up the buoy. I have never buoyed up on this side, so will see how I ride tonight. I open the side flaps and leave them open, as it is not cold today, however I still have long pants and shirt on. I close my eyes and just listen to the sounds; crows-cawing, eagles- screaming, kids- yelling, harbor seals-splashing, gentle waves- washing ashore and the busy wing flapping of the Pigeon Guillemots as they take off and land near Shatoosh.

It is high tide, a few sun breaks appear and I settle down reading a 41 year old letter Ann Gash hand wrote to my twin, Jean, while sailing her 24 ft Folkboat,  Ilimo 2, on her Hawaii leg to San Francisco. Starting  place was Sydney, Australia. I recently got a letter from an Australian author who is writing a book on Ann Gash, The Sailing Granny of Australia. I thought this letter might hold some interesting tid-bits for him and I was not disappointed. Decifering her handwriting is challenging, but one has to remember it is hard to have a steady hand on a bouncing boat in the middle of an ocean. I have already made a list of 10 stories that Jean and I remember and this will definitely sweeten the pot. Chris, if you are reading this, Smile. I have found a gold mine of info, that you will love.

I, also began to look how an extra shelf could be put in the port cockpit  locker. I took measurements and will see if I can build it.This will provide for better organization of all the things I have stored there. There is a lot of wasted space.

I  found some clam chowder for dinner. I don't know why they put so much salt in canned soups but it was too much for me, so the remainder went over board this morning and the Pigeon Guillemots loved it. It was a calm night once the 10PM winds stopped. There was a minus tide at 0830 this morning and the giant erratic rock stood watch over Shatoosh.

The rain and fog continued, so in spite of it, I turned on the radar, unhooked my buoy line(which I switched to the starboard side yesterday) and headed on a track-back course on my gps. It is 6nm and a straight shot home. I didn't bring my net-book yesterday, so am without my chart plotter. I'll see if I can remember how to get home without all that fancy gadgetry. As I move towards Johnson Point the fog gets thicker and this will be the area of any boat traffic. So I need to be alert.
The view from the helm.

As I approach the channel marker this 40 footer is closing in on my port headed south to Olympia and there is also another vessel, small, fast 27 fter speeding up on my starboard side and zooms in and around the channel marker, neither, never slowing down. I juggle Shatoosh to take on all the converging waves. I'm glad I was alert and ready for boat traffic.

What a nice 24 hours it was. I got lots of things accomplished, had a lovely time on the water and will make some new changes on Shatoosh.  There might be a weather break on Monday. See ya then.