THE CROCUS PROJECT
The last fall that I lived in my Port Townsend house, I planted 2700 crocus bulbs in the circle in my back yard.
THE THUNDERBIRD
When I first met Bob he had a sailboat which he kept in Seattle. On his maiden voyage with this boat, he discovered Port Townsend, and after we were married he moved his boat there.
THE LING COD
After I met Bob, we spent as much time as possible sailing.
DESOLATION SOUND
This is not a story. It is just so I can post a picture of Desolation Sound.
THE PHANTOM BOAT
Gradually we became aware of a boat motor. It was that deep, low, slow, thrumming sound made by large power boats: tur-huum, tur-huum, tur-huum.
TOBA INLET
We sailed up Toba Inlet. Ours was the only boat. We felt that we had gone back to the beginning of time.
THE TOWEEA TOWEEA BIRD
On long summer evenings, especially in the northern part of our watery ramblings, we were serenaded by birds that could only be heard and not seen.
GORGE HARBOR AND THE HIPPIE RESTAURANT
Cortes Island is in Desolation Sound southwest of West Redonda Island. Along its west coast is a place called Gorge Harbor. The harbor is like a very large lake with islands in it.
GEODUCKS AND THE LIVING ROOM OF LUND
We tied up at the Lund dock about 9:00 o’clock one morning, having anchored nearby the night before. Someone had told us there was a 24 hour tavern there, and that it was a good place to eat.
SMUGGLER BEARS
This was where, one late summer afternoon, we chose to spend the night and sailed in on an early evening tide through its spirals and doglegs.
RAVENS AND OSPREYS
As we entered this cove, the other boat was already anchored and its owner was in the cockpit with his binoculars. He motioned us to tie up along side him. As we did so a raucous racket was going on…
AH SWEET MYSTERY OF LIFE
Near its upper end is Princess Louisa Inlet, a tiny five mile long gouge in the landscape that is an eastern appendix off the main course. It is one of the world’s spectacular places.
FISH AND GAME
The spring before the summer that Bob and I sailed into Princess Louisa Inlet, the government of British Colombia had changed the laws about fishing.
THE BAGPIPE RESORT
As we pulled up to the dock, a kilt-clad laddie (a tall, blonde young man) playing the bagpipes, came stepping out of the lodge and down to where we were.
STRANDED ON A DESERT(ED) ISLAND
One of the places we stopped was at Manson’s Landing on Cortes Island.
THE RED SNAPPER
I thought they were made by its spirit leaving its body.
PREVOST ISLAND
Of all the islands we visited in all our years of sailing, Prevost Island was my favorite. It is in the Canadian Gulf Islands just north of the San Juan group in the United States. It is ridiculous to say…
TWINK RODD
One morning when we were anchored in a sheltered cove in Desolation Sound, a tiny man in a tiny kayak approached us from a conversely large ketch anchored not far away.
VANCOUVER B C
I said, “ OH MY GOD! Look at those CLIFFS! Where in the world are we?” Bob said dryly, “We are coming into Vancouver.”
SIN CITY
There are two places in the United States that I know of, OTHER THAN ISLANDS, from where you cannot get to another place in the United States, without having to go by water or go through a foreign country. One…
HUMMING BIRDS
Having lunch sitting on the porch of this hotel was like being in a Maxfield Parrish painting: sun sparkled blue waters, deep blue sky, puffy white clouds, other islands in the distance, delicious food on the table, flowers—and humming birds,…
THE CAMPERDOWN ELM
A Camperdown Elm is a tree that has very large leaves for an elm and has writhing, corkscrew-like branches that come clear to the ground at their outer tips like a cover-you-to-the-toes umbrella.
THE PIG WAR
Why were there both British and American military camps built on the same small island at the same time in this remote corner of the world? It was because, in true Gilbert and Sullivan tradition, a pig almost started a…
FRIDAY HARBOR LOG BOOK 1971
Now you may think, especially since Watership Down, that there is nothing new to learn about rabbits, but you have never seen rabbits until you have seen San Juan Island rabbits.
BABY TEARS
One of these houses had large rocks down the hillside between the house and the street and the entire hillside was covered in a bright green ground cover that was about two inches high,
BUCHART GARDENS
Every time we returned from sailing in the Canadian Islands, I would ask Bob if we could visit Buchart Gardens. He always said no.
INNER HARBOR, OUTER HEBREDES
One summer the tide and wind were just right for going around the end of Vancouver Island and into the Inner Harbor.
AN EXERPT FROM OUT SHIP’S LOG, 1974
This is the first time we have sailed into Port Angeles. I feel very tiny. Approaching the Olympic Mountains at water level on the wind’s wobbly wings is an amazing experience.
SALMON BAKE
I knew that the name “Protection Island” had been bestowed upon it by Captain Vancouver because it protected the mouth of Discovery Bay. I didn’t think it was inhabited by anything or anybody except puffins.
APPLE CRUNCH
Jim was a retired doctor from southern California who had chosen Port Townsend as a place to build an ocean going sailboat for an around-the-world cruise. When he got it finished, he wanted to give it a try-out. He decided…