Boat Haul Out - Afloat Again

Yep the boat is safely back in the water and nice and slippery in the water with her clean bottom and smooth prop. We were on Standby at the port for launching but they managed to get us in by about 10:00 right after the Hunter sailboat they tried to launch but because it was leaking too much they had to pull back up. The guys at Port of Port Townsend are great to watch - they are really quite masterful at pulling boats in and out in all sorts of conditions. When launching they lower the boat and wait with it in the slings until you are sure everything is ok.
And the guys at Gold Star Marine get a - well they get a Gold Star! they did a fine job working through my various tasks - I had asked them to install a battery box for a third battery I had and they did more than that - cleaning up a rats nest of wiring and hooking the battery up - they had missed one part of the connection though which they quickly made right at the dock. I am quite happy with the care they took of Attitudes and plan to bring her up for the next big job once I save enough pennies!
After getting up at the crack of dawn today we did not feel like going far - We only went as far as Point Hudson Marina at the other end of town and after a trip to town for a beer and bookstore we have spent the afternoon reading and relaxing. I have the stove cranked up and am heating up some grub then I expect to get back to some heavy reading and sleeping.

Kabul

I have been trying to get my spousal unit to come with me to the Kabul Restaurant in Seattle for quite some time now. He is a rather strict vegetarian and always has the response that Kabul would be a very meat centric place.
But I have been running in to it pretty much every time I search for Vegetarian Fare in Seattle and have been curious to go there. So off we went.

Excellent Food! A little pricey but not too bad. They have a very good vegetarian section on the menu but I notice they also had a variety of carnivore fare!
I'd go back... 

New Restaurant: Coffee Social in Spokane

Congratulations to Matt and Rachel on the opening of their new restaurant. Coffee Social at 113 W. Indiana, Spokane WA if you are in the area check it out. It looks great! They serve organic fair trade food and coffee. I am looking forward to making it over there and checking it out myself. Leave a comment if you go!

Ugly Fish??

One of the fish mags I enjoy is a British magazine: Practical Fishkeeping - They have a web presence and on their latest update they have an article about 10 Ugly Fish - Now most I agree are quite hideous but this one I think is cute!!

I liked the guys comment:
Ogcocephalus darwini (Picture: Niranjan, Creative Commons). In the same order as the anglers, comes this beauty - the Galapagos Batfish, Ogcocephalus darwini. While not in the same horror show category as it's cousins, it still looks like it should have a good shave before it tries make-up again.

Boat haul Out - Back at Work

Well we where back at work today.
The boat is up in Port Townsend in the care of GoldStar Marine. I called them today and the bottom paint was complete plus they replaced a couple through hulls that where going bad. They still have an engine maintenance to do and the hatch to replace plus a few minor things I asked them to check out.
So far I am happy with them, haven't seen their work yet but they recommended my not having them do a few things I had on my list as being too expensive. I appreciate their not trying to do a wallet cleanse on me when they had the opportunity!
The haul out was pretty painless. We got it out on Monday shortly after arriving in Port Townsend. It turns out that the Port had had a couple cancellations and so where able to pull us out right after we got there. That of course made for a frantic bit getting our stuff together and getting ready to go. I had been looking forward to a relaxing afternoon wandering around Port Townsend. But it was good to get it up on land early so they could get the painting done before the weather turned.
I am still hoping for a vacation next week with Boat in water. We'll see how that turns out.

Boat Haul Out - Part One

Well we just made the slowest trip to Port LUDLOW that I have ever made I think. (Instead of Port Townsend as planned!) I imagine the propeller is a big ball of barnacles or something because we just could not make any headway - Tried sailing for a while and the wind was great but from right in front so hard to make headway. We had the tide against us for much of the day also. - We decided to overnight in Ludlow and go to Pt Townsend in the morning. The Haul Out is scheduled for 2:30 on Tuesday so we have plenty of time.

Other than the frustration with the engine smoking from the propeller load and the slow progress it was a nice day. Sunny with a good wind. We did have a nice long and pretty good sail. I really worked up a sweat tacking. We saw porpoises at Point No Point and got to watch the other boaters, cruise ships and wildlife.

Port Ludlow is a nice place to lay over - way fancier than it used to be but this time of year there are not many people. We had a good dinner at the resort restaurant along with a couple drinks which I for one was ready for.

Boating Plans

well not much summer left but I finally made arrangements to take the boat up to Pt. Townsend for bottom paint. In fact I have a whole list of items to work on and am hoping I can get some of them completed. I have hired Goldstar Marine to do the work on the boat, it will be a nice change having someone else do it! So next week we head north.