Birthday launch

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Captain Peter is never happier than when on a boat, especially Ama Natura. The start of our Inside Passage decarbonizing journey in 2021 luckily coincides with his birthday, a fitting present for this sailor on a mission.

We hustled out of Portland, normally a sleepy Sunday morning, Luna happily snoozing after her morning feeding and garden watered for the last time. Arriving to our homeport, Martin's Marine in Olympia, WA, towards the end of an incoming tide making loading effortless. Already fully stocked, we managed to add even more including provisioning of our favorite croissants this side of the Atlantic from The Bread Peddler and we set off at 0910 (9:10am).

With light winds on our bow, we head north out of Budd Inlet rounding the picturesque point of Boston Harbor and enjoy a smooth cruise all the way to through the Tacoma Narrows, hitting it exactly right at slack tide. Unfortunately no wildlife spotted outside Gig Harbor maybe because of all fishing boats off Point Defiance at the head of Tacoma's Commencement Bay.

Clear skies and rolling (actually motoring) all through Puget Sound, just rocking a bit when super-sized freighters pass us on their way to Eliot Bay in Seattle. Normally, we love to drop anchor on our first night to enjoy the peace and relative darkness of a quiet anchorage. Instead, we made it to Eagle Harbor just in time for a dinner ashore.

The first dock in harbor is open to transitory boats like us but with no dock master in sight, it looked like visiting boats were tied willy-nilly, interspersed with dinghies and kayaks so we move on, finally poking our bow into the last dock where we make land deep inside Eagle Harbor in Winslow WA.

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Photos

Bridget & Peter first night Eagle Harbor, Winslow, WA
Docking at one of our favorite spots halfway to Port Townsend.

Air Pot solids
Before we head out for the summer each year, we empty the solids from our Air Pot. Originally used by indigenous people of the Pacific NW, our head is designed to separate the liquids from the solids. Liquids go overboard when we are out to sea or in the local facilities at port. Solids decompose slowly over time with a fan exhausting odors. The solids are dug into a neighbor's garden to fertilize roses.

Winslow walkway
We meandered along the harbor edge on Winslow's legendary walkway to a celebratory birthday dinner ashore.