Karma's First Birthday Celebration!
Port Orchard to Des Moines
Yes, I know it is only Wednesday but what better day to start your weekend! I departed Port Orchard at 2:00 pm this afternoon under brilliant sunshine and a light breeze that created just a light ripple across the surface of the water. The sky was that unbelievable blue that you get on a crisp fall afternoon after a day of cleansing rain.
The cruise down to Des Moines was uneventful with just two tugs with their tows as well as two car carriers. The views though, were incredible. Coming through Rich Passage I spotted two Bald Eagles soaring overhead in search of an easy meal. After circling round and round, the lead Eagle plunged to earth and plucked itself a nice fish right out of the water!
Coming around the bend in Rich Passage, off in the distance was Mount Rainer, covered in a fresh coat of snow from yesterday’s storm. The mountain was all aglow in orange from the setting sun. While the top of the mountain glowed, its base was surrounded by low gray clouds. What a sight! I now had Mount Rainer visible to the south, the snow capped Olympics to the west and Mount Baker to the north! And then when you don’t think it can get any better, off to the east you have Seattle, glistening on the eastern shore of Puget Sound, as the setting sun cast its orange glow upon the high rises.
The destination for today is Des Moines. It is here that Maureen will join me tomorrow evening for our cruise up to Bell Harbor. First though, we will spend the Thursday night in Des Moines awaiting the arrival of our daughter Meghan, who will fly in on Friday morning from Newport Beach. Once she is on board, we will depart for Bell Harbor.
We will spend Friday and Saturday night at Bell Harbor enjoying the company of the crew from Zuma. Maureen and Meghan have the goal of kick starting the economy of Seattle on Saturday by spending the day shopping. I am sure this will mean we are now going to be a year further from retirement….. Once the girls return from shopping we will be off for a nice dinner downtown to celebrate 30 years! (Hopefully we will still have enough money to pay for dinner……)
The cruise down to Des Moines was uneventful with just two tugs with their tows as well as two car carriers. The views though, were incredible. Coming through Rich Passage I spotted two Bald Eagles soaring overhead in search of an easy meal. After circling round and round, the lead Eagle plunged to earth and plucked itself a nice fish right out of the water!
Coming around the bend in Rich Passage, off in the distance was Mount Rainer, covered in a fresh coat of snow from yesterday’s storm. The mountain was all aglow in orange from the setting sun. While the top of the mountain glowed, its base was surrounded by low gray clouds. What a sight! I now had Mount Rainer visible to the south, the snow capped Olympics to the west and Mount Baker to the north! And then when you don’t think it can get any better, off to the east you have Seattle, glistening on the eastern shore of Puget Sound, as the setting sun cast its orange glow upon the high rises.
The destination for today is Des Moines. It is here that Maureen will join me tomorrow evening for our cruise up to Bell Harbor. First though, we will spend the Thursday night in Des Moines awaiting the arrival of our daughter Meghan, who will fly in on Friday morning from Newport Beach. Once she is on board, we will depart for Bell Harbor.
We will spend Friday and Saturday night at Bell Harbor enjoying the company of the crew from Zuma. Maureen and Meghan have the goal of kick starting the economy of Seattle on Saturday by spending the day shopping. I am sure this will mean we are now going to be a year further from retirement….. Once the girls return from shopping we will be off for a nice dinner downtown to celebrate 30 years! (Hopefully we will still have enough money to pay for dinner……)
Des Moines to Bell Harbor
Currently, Karma and her crew are securely tied to the dock in Bell Harbor. You never tire of the view out of your windshield while tied in Bell. The Seattle skyline from your own floating home is incredible!
Our journey from up from Des Moines yesterday afternoon was uneventful. We did get a later start than what we anticipated as Meghan’s plane arrived late. We finally got out of Des Moines at 3:30 which guaranteed us for an after dark arrival in Bell. No need to worry. We love being on the water after dark. The entire experience changes.
Shipping traffic was non-existent until we came into Elliot Bay. Then we had a water taxi wiz by at 30 knots. A sailboat fell in behind us to follow us into Bell. The ferries from Bainbridge and Bremerton were both headed in. A tug with his tow crossed our bow and then a Nordhavn 52 was coming at us from behind the tow! We dodge it all and made it safely in!
We had no sooner gotten secured and Lyman and his son Jesse showed up. We wander up to Pikes and then up and down the streets looking for a “dive” to dine in. I cannot believe how all of the restaurants close at 6:00 on a Friday night. Finally we found a little hole in the wall and went inside. The food was great! The atmosphere was good, and the company was outstanding.
It is one year ago today that we took delivery of Karma. What a year it has been! We have seen things we would have never dreamed that we would see. Met incredible people. And just had a great year!
Overall, we have been very pleased with Karma and the support that you receive from the factory when there is an issue. We thought we had all of the bugs worked out though. And then yesterday, the VHF decided to take a crap……. Oh well! What are you to do? Guess it’s time to trade Karma in and get a new one……… Oh wait, the VHF is still under warranty, probably cheaper to get it fixed!
Tonight we will dine with Lyman, Janeane, Jesse, Taylor, and Rachel at Morton’s celebrating all of the special dates that just happen to fall into this week.
Tomorrow, it’s back off to Port Orchard and then home to Vegas for the night. I will return to Karma at the end of the week while Maureen will have to forgo the weekend as she has commitments at work. However, this will be a good time to prep Karma for her Thanksgiving cruise to Victoria and the San Juan’s.
We will cast off at six on Thanksgiving morning and head for Victoria. There we will meet up with Gail and Patrick as well as Tim and Kim. Anyone else that would like to join us is more than welcome! We will spend Thursday and Friday night in Victoria. On Saturday the plan is to head over to Friday Harbor. Sunday we will depart for our trip back to Port Orchard. Then it is off to Alaska for the week (only work….. no playing……)
We would like to say thank you to all of those that have traveled along with us on this amazing adventure! Just to name a few:
John and Laurie, Bruce and Vickie, Bob and Nita, Gary and Rosalie, Ken and Sandy, Tim and Kim, Barry and Gil, Gail and Patrick, Dave and Lynn, Dennis and Darlene, June and Herb, Mac and Lynda, Sonny and Fernando, John and Rosa, John and Daisy……, Bill and Abbey, and last but not least, the Boyd Family, Lyman, Janeane, Jesse, and Taylor.
It has been one incredible year with one heck of a group of incredible people!!!
See you all on the water!
Our journey from up from Des Moines yesterday afternoon was uneventful. We did get a later start than what we anticipated as Meghan’s plane arrived late. We finally got out of Des Moines at 3:30 which guaranteed us for an after dark arrival in Bell. No need to worry. We love being on the water after dark. The entire experience changes.
Shipping traffic was non-existent until we came into Elliot Bay. Then we had a water taxi wiz by at 30 knots. A sailboat fell in behind us to follow us into Bell. The ferries from Bainbridge and Bremerton were both headed in. A tug with his tow crossed our bow and then a Nordhavn 52 was coming at us from behind the tow! We dodge it all and made it safely in!
We had no sooner gotten secured and Lyman and his son Jesse showed up. We wander up to Pikes and then up and down the streets looking for a “dive” to dine in. I cannot believe how all of the restaurants close at 6:00 on a Friday night. Finally we found a little hole in the wall and went inside. The food was great! The atmosphere was good, and the company was outstanding.
It is one year ago today that we took delivery of Karma. What a year it has been! We have seen things we would have never dreamed that we would see. Met incredible people. And just had a great year!
Overall, we have been very pleased with Karma and the support that you receive from the factory when there is an issue. We thought we had all of the bugs worked out though. And then yesterday, the VHF decided to take a crap……. Oh well! What are you to do? Guess it’s time to trade Karma in and get a new one……… Oh wait, the VHF is still under warranty, probably cheaper to get it fixed!
Tonight we will dine with Lyman, Janeane, Jesse, Taylor, and Rachel at Morton’s celebrating all of the special dates that just happen to fall into this week.
Tomorrow, it’s back off to Port Orchard and then home to Vegas for the night. I will return to Karma at the end of the week while Maureen will have to forgo the weekend as she has commitments at work. However, this will be a good time to prep Karma for her Thanksgiving cruise to Victoria and the San Juan’s.
We will cast off at six on Thanksgiving morning and head for Victoria. There we will meet up with Gail and Patrick as well as Tim and Kim. Anyone else that would like to join us is more than welcome! We will spend Thursday and Friday night in Victoria. On Saturday the plan is to head over to Friday Harbor. Sunday we will depart for our trip back to Port Orchard. Then it is off to Alaska for the week (only work….. no playing……)
We would like to say thank you to all of those that have traveled along with us on this amazing adventure! Just to name a few:
John and Laurie, Bruce and Vickie, Bob and Nita, Gary and Rosalie, Ken and Sandy, Tim and Kim, Barry and Gil, Gail and Patrick, Dave and Lynn, Dennis and Darlene, June and Herb, Mac and Lynda, Sonny and Fernando, John and Rosa, John and Daisy……, Bill and Abbey, and last but not least, the Boyd Family, Lyman, Janeane, Jesse, and Taylor.
It has been one incredible year with one heck of a group of incredible people!!!
See you all on the water!
Bell Harbor to Port Orchard
We awoke to one of those mystical sights you will see in Seattle. The tops of the skyscrapers came and went as the low clouds rolled in and out. This went on all morning as we sat at Karma’s table where it was nice and warm.
Nothing beats this. A hot cup of coffee, a beautiful view, and the people that mean the most to you all in one place!
It was ten when we cast off the lines and headed back to Port Orchard. The low clouds had now turned to fog. Visibility was ¼ mile at the entrance to Bell Harbor as we departed. We heard the ferry bound for Bremerton call out to traffic that they were ready to depart. We motored slowly ahead watching the ferry depart on the radar. Once we were clear of the ferries, we increased our speed to seven knots. I called Seattle traffic on the handheld. I gave them our departure point, destination, heading, and speed. They in turn gave me the run down on any traffic that may be ahead of us. The good news was, other than the ferries that we were already aware of, there was no commercial traffic to deal with. It was reassuring though when the Bainbridge-Seattle Ferry announced their departure from Bainbridge, to hear Seattle traffic give them the details of our voyage!
Once we reached to shipping lanes, the fog had lifted and visibility increased to two miles. As we approached Rich Passage, blue sky started peaking through the clouds. Rounding the bend coming into Sinclair Inlet, we had sunshine and blue skies. What a contrast to what we had when we departed Bell Harbor!
We arrived at Port Orchard just after noon. Karma now has 308 hours on her. Over 2,000 miles have slipped under her keel and 1000 gallons plus of diesel have gone through her motor.
We have had one great year and are excited to start the next! We look forward to seeing even more of Desolation this year as well as possibly doing the South Sound.
Nothing beats this. A hot cup of coffee, a beautiful view, and the people that mean the most to you all in one place!
It was ten when we cast off the lines and headed back to Port Orchard. The low clouds had now turned to fog. Visibility was ¼ mile at the entrance to Bell Harbor as we departed. We heard the ferry bound for Bremerton call out to traffic that they were ready to depart. We motored slowly ahead watching the ferry depart on the radar. Once we were clear of the ferries, we increased our speed to seven knots. I called Seattle traffic on the handheld. I gave them our departure point, destination, heading, and speed. They in turn gave me the run down on any traffic that may be ahead of us. The good news was, other than the ferries that we were already aware of, there was no commercial traffic to deal with. It was reassuring though when the Bainbridge-Seattle Ferry announced their departure from Bainbridge, to hear Seattle traffic give them the details of our voyage!
Once we reached to shipping lanes, the fog had lifted and visibility increased to two miles. As we approached Rich Passage, blue sky started peaking through the clouds. Rounding the bend coming into Sinclair Inlet, we had sunshine and blue skies. What a contrast to what we had when we departed Bell Harbor!
We arrived at Port Orchard just after noon. Karma now has 308 hours on her. Over 2,000 miles have slipped under her keel and 1000 gallons plus of diesel have gone through her motor.
We have had one great year and are excited to start the next! We look forward to seeing even more of Desolation this year as well as possibly doing the South Sound.
