Four days of vagabonding: Day 1-2

META: Well now that was interesting.  The profound difficulties of typing on an iPhone keypad changed my writing style!  Looking back at yesterday's post, I see short sentences (where normally I have to carefully guard against overly-complex, parenthesized, run-on sentences, like this one) and a seeming majority of words with only one syllable.  This morning, while Jane has her weekly two-hour telephone conversation with her mother (who is, incidentally, 97 years young), I am typing on the computer because we have an internet connection here in Poulsbo.

Picking up where I left off on Vagabonding Day 1 (Friday): Following the consumption of our morning lattes and enjoying the peaceful morning in Port Madison, Jane rigged our new crab ring (Deluxe! Glow-in-the-dark harness!) and put it over the side - July 1 is the first day of crabbing season here. Within an hour or so, we had lunch: steamed crab and drawn butter. YUM! While I was cleaning the crabs, I took some pictures of the process because my little three-part series on crabs did not provide detailed enough information on just how to do that. Look for an upcoming addendum to the "Crab" series.

Following the leisurely lunch, when the tide had turned and would be with us going thru Agate Pass, we hoisted anchor and headed out. The warm, calm weather continued, so we traveled using the motor. By 14:45 we were anchored in Liberty Bay, in front of Poulsbo, relaxing and reading in the warm sunshine.

And the Bay was already filling up. Once we were settled, we watched a steady stream of boats enter the Bay and put down anchors, including s/v Ambition, who share our slip with us. We hailed them and set up to meet at the Hare and Hounds for a pub dinner.

We put the dinghy down and went into town. And then here came s/v Ghost, from across the dock! Scott grabbed this picture as we idled along side of Ghost, welcoming them as they entered the anchorage. He even managed to get Eolian in the picture!

There was only enough time to browse the used book store (must remember: bring chocolate for the proprietress!) before it was time to walk to the pub. After a great dinner sitting outside on the roof with Brent and Jill, sampling many beers, it was starting to cool off - my Hawaiian shirt was beginning to feel a little thin. So we stopped at Eolian and grabbed flannel shirts and fleece and a couple of glasses of wine to take over to Ghost as a sundowner. One common topic of conversation among anchored boaters is how close others have anchored. and with the continuing stream of boats entering the bay, we had no shortage of opportunities to discuss this. Two boats had anchored between Eolian and Ghost, where one perhaps would have been appropriate. I know I didn't sleep well, wondering what the boats would do at slack water when there is nothing to keep their anchor chains stretched out going in the same direction. Needless worry, it turns out. There were no bumps in the night.

This morning is one of those warm summer mornings that we all want. It is warm - all the hatches and ports on Eolian are open - and it is calm. It is gorgeous! And the bay is even fuller. Two large circle raft-ups are forming. (For those of you not familiar with this, perhaps 30 large boats will tie up together with their sterns in, forming a large circle. I am sure these are fun, but they are not for us. And they are noisy to be anchored near.) Later today we will leave Liberty Bay and go across to Manzanita Bay on the back side of Bainbridge Island where we expect to find peace and solitude.

Back to typing on the iPhone tomorrow.

Four days of vagabonding: Day 1-2