We’ve been hanging out near Seattle, making a couple of trips through the Ballard Locks to do some boat projects, and checking out the local scene. Coming most recently from Southern California where Catalina Island and a couple of local harbors are pretty much it for cruising, this is an amazing area.

Take Port Madison on Bainbridge Island as an example. A lovely protected anchorage, with several hundred boat slips, moorings, and various anchorage areas, it is less than an hour from the big city.

It is such a bucolic spot that boats have a hard time leaving. This one even has its own tree in the cockpit!

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The anchorage has good holding, and we were able to find just enough space for Wind Horse, with room to swing (anchored on two-to-one scope at high water).

A couple of hours north is the town of Everett, with a huge yacht marina and space for visitors on their outer dock. To get an idea of the tidal range, check out the pilings. This is at half springs tide. Everett reminds us a lot of Marina del Rey with its shops and infrastructure.

This business must be really hopping this in the summer. It starts to get light about 0445 and then doesn’t go dark until after 9pm (and it is worse further north).

During the winter, when the situation is reversed – short days, lots of overcast, rain, and cold – this is the business with the line waiting to get in.

We were in Everett for a visit to the Washington State Ferry system radar lab. They use the same type of Furuno radar as we have aboard Wind Horse and it was fascinating to see what they have learned (we’ll write this up in another article).

Coupeville is another couple of hours north, on Whidby Island. It is one of those magical spots which seems to escape notice from cruisers – we were the only yacht on hand. The town is located in the midst of an area which will never be developed due to zoning covenants, so the area is still home to working farms, with low population density. The anchorage is protected from the south and west with good holding in 35 feet (10 meters).

Of course there is a local coffee shop. We might have passed it by, except the construction timber from the early part of the previous century had too strong a pull.

And check out the view from our table.

Lots of interesting stores to wander through, including a number of art galleries. Most of these buildings appeared to be from the early 1900s.

When we first saw this piece we were quite taken with it. But decided to hold off. We then walked around town, visited the museum, and checked out the local neighborhoods. At the end of this the attraction was still there, so we went back and did the deal.

The museum had the usual collection of local artifacts, which hereabouts includes mammoth bones. But for Steve the highlight was this model of an 1850s style revenue cutter. She sailed out from the East Coast, around the Horn, and then proceeded to patrol this part of the world. Check out that bow shape.

And that lovely run aft. Without any numbers, just by eye, you can tell that this vessel would be difficult to sail away from!

Saturday, there’s a Farmer’s Market a few blocks up from the waterfront.

These cherries, from a local’s back yard, had to be the best we’ve ever ingested. The only thing which held us back from extreme excess were images from "The Witches of Eastwick."