30 June 2013 | Shilshole Bay Marina, Seattle, WA to Murden Cove, Bainbridge Island,WA
We took a break from our boat work today, to enjoy the warm, sunny weather with a sail on the Sound. We had a great sail today: not much wind, but warm sun and mellow conditions. Scoots seemed happy to be back on the open water again, after three months in her slip. Eric and I were happy to be sailing again, too.
At one point, a small pod of orcas appeared nearby. Some adults and some juveniles repeatedly surfaced to breathe as they swam along, expelling large misty clouds as they exhaled. They stayed nearby for about 5 minutes. That was really cool!
We sailed along the Seattle waterfront for awhile, where we saw three cruise ships moored. During the thirty minutes or so that we were in Elliott Bay, all three cruise ships left their docks and headed north. If you're not on your cruise ship by 4 pm Sunday, you're getting left behind.
In the early evening, we anchored in Murden Cove, a quaint inlet on the east shore of Bainbridge Island. The inner part of the bay petered out into mudflats, but the outer portion of the bay was bordered by tall cliffs, topped with Sitka spruce trees. Nice houses perched on the cliffs, some with intricate wooden staircases down to the rocky beach. A little motorboat bobbed on its mooring a few yards offshore, and a bald eagle called from the trees. From our vantage point, we could see both Shilshole and Seattle, gleaming in the evening sunlight. It was quite peaceful.
After anchoring, we had some sundowners, even though the sun doesn't actually go down here until after 10 pm. We fired up the cockpit propane grill for the first time and cooked kabobs for dinner. I'm happy to report that no eyebrows were lost in the process and dinner was quite tasty.
When twilight came on, we switched on the blue under-dodger lights, as well as the masthead anchor light, to be sure that any approaching boats would see us. We relaxed in the cockpit for awhile, riding the wavelets and listening to the birds calling to each other as they flew off to find their nighttime roosts.