Gunkhole Adventure 2000

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White Swan's Gunkhole Adventures in 2000 began in South Puget Sound....
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Early in May we left Port Orchard with Tami and her boyfriend Mike, Julie "of Caesar Salad Fame" and me (Pamela) and headed south down Colvos Passage under a gorgeous sky with 12 knot winds behind us. It was a glorious day, with Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainer, the Cascade Range and the Olympic Mountains all out! We made a short day of it and put into Gig Harbor, where Mike and Julie left the boat. The next day dawned under a blue sky, abnormally high temperatures and not a breath of air stirring...which set the scene for the next week...hot with no wind! Tami and I headed south, through the Tacoma Narrows into South Sound...where we were to meet Lynn in three days.

Our first stop was Longbranch, where we left White Swan and went exploring in the RIB with a brand-new 15hp outboard...We had a blast! Covered a lot of territory, visited Penrose, Lakebay, Eagle Island---where we perfected the art of crabbing with our feet! While wading in the shallows we would kick the crabs onto the beach, where we turned them on their backs with a big rock on them to keep them still until we gathered enough for a feast....We had quite a "crab graveyard" on the beach, and were watched with amazement by some nearby fisherman. I think they thought we were nuts...we are, but we won't go into that.

After leaving Longbranch, we headed into Case Inlet, where Cliff and I live. We were eager to see the house from the water for the first time. Tami loves to tell how we went past it...waaaaay past it until I realized what had happened. It was hard to spot at first! We then put into Fair Harbor marina and took the dink out to whale watch. There had been a grey whale in the area for nearly a week, and Tami and I were eager to see it. And see him we did! Amazing...but he kept coming closer and closer to us, even as we moved away. Two days before he had overturned a kayaker who had come too close, so we were being very cautious. When we decided it was time to get out of there, I started the outboard and it immediately died! Great...we were out of gas! Opps! I had forgotten to check the tank. Yikes! A friendly whale and a mile from the marina...oh well, Tami loves to row! And row she did, sweat running down her back. A power boat offered to tow us back, but I told them we were fine...Tami was doing great! :>)

Later that evening, after getting gas, we took the dink over to my house to meet Lynn. Coming back across the inlet we were treated to a gorgeous sunset. During the night we heard the whale blowing, he came into the little harbor even! Early the next morning Lynn and I took our coffee and went out in the dink and whale watched again...so beautiful!

After leaving Fair Harbor, we visited Jarrells Cove, a wonderful little jewel of a place, and then headed back to Gig Harbor and then on to Port Orchard. Coming north up Colvos the last day there was a tremendous amount of flotsam in the water, including some huge logs due to the extreme high tides we had that week. Just before we got back to Port Orchard I saw my nephew Steve in his boat with some friends, heading to Olympia. I radioed him to warn him about the debris...always the worried Aunt! Even though we had no wind, other than the first day, it was a great trip...And wouldn't you know it...5 hours after we arrived back at home the winds came, and blew for a good solid week!