home sweet home

While on vacation we didn't know where we were returning to. We'd been subletting a slip from Port of Everett, one of the biggest and nicest marinas on the west coast but a 25 minute drive from our house, that belonged to a couple on a boat sailing to Alaska and back. They returned early because of poor weather, so we found another couple from Port of Everett sailing to almost Alaska and back and stayed in their slip until we left on vacation. We were second on the list for a slip at Port of Everett, sixth on the list for the Port of Edmonds (15 minutes from our house) where sailboat slips are much more limited, and there was room available at some marina a bit up the Snohomish River in Everett, where, as Jarred reported, there were a few sunken boats and the average depth was something like 6 feet at low tide, which is a little more than what we draw.

We met up with our second subletters in Port Browning, CA on their way back home and our seventh night on our two day cruise. We both anchored in the bay and dinghied to shore at dinnertime. We exchanged stories, theirs big, considering where they'd been, and ours small, over beers and burgers at the local bar.

Several days later we got the voicemail from Port of Everett that we were at the top of the list and we had our choice of four slips. One was on A dock, which we figured from our marina guidebooks was near the entrance. This meant exposure to weather, and views. We thought about it, discussed it for about five minutes, then called back and took it.



It's fun and all to be at the dock looking at the butts and other anatomy bits of other people's boats, but there is something to be said for looking at an island (Jetty Island), and over it another island (Whidbey Island) and over it the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula. And so that's what we have for now. We also have a front row view of the fuel dock and the boats, especially lately a lot of fishing boats and their tenders, that visit it. And we can see the boats coming and going through the entrance. We are pretty impressed so far by the number of sailboats headed out at twilight in cool fall weather to go sailing for an hour or two, presumably with beer. And, we have a big sailboat and an even bigger powerboat to our southwest side, which is where most of the weather comes from.

Everett is a bit of a haul so we are still trying to figure out what to do in the long term. It might be a year before we end up at the top of the list at Edmonds, so we probably have plenty of time to decide and enjoy our luck.

view from A dock to entrance