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I recently posted about the number of mooring buoys in Port Madison and the likelihood that most are probably illegal. That post is here. I emailed the folks at the Department of Natural Resources regarding this issue. I received a response from the DNR today. It is posted below. I also included my response at the bottom.
We were anchored in Port Madison a few evenings ago. We’ve been here many times. When we kept the boat on Lake Union, Port Madison was often our last stop on the way home. One of the things I notice is that there is very little room for anchoring compared to years ago when we first started coming here. There are mooring buoys everywhere. I find it hard to believe all of these buoys are legally placed and permitted.
Update 6.21.19: Received a nice response from the DNR. Will post more shortly.
Robert at Windbourne in Puget Sound posted additional information regarding my post. You can find it here.
Update 6.14.19: Later this afternoon … I received a response from the right resource at the DNR stating they would respond to my inquiry next week.
Earlier this morning … No response to my second email. I sent a third email to the DNR’s aquatic resources devision’s general email address (ard@dnr.wa.gov). Waiting …
Update 6.6.19: It has been a week since I emailed the folks at the DNR (aquaticleasing.orca@dnr.wa.gov). So far no response. I resent the note. Will see if I get a response …
Last evening. Anchored in Port Madison. Continue reading
Port Madison was our destination last weekend. Another short overnight trip. And the weather was fantastic once again.
This was the weekend of the annual Puget Sound Grand Banks Owner’s Association’s annual rendezvous in Roche Harbor. We would have liked to attend, but I was supposed to be moving a data center this weekend so could not. Now that’s been moved back a couple weeks so we went out on the boat anyway.
We departed Seattle Saturday afternoon. The plan was to get outside the locks so we could motor north early. Lots of boats waiting so we all ended up in the large lock. The large lock is easy, but it is always interesting. The larger boats tie to the wall with the smaller boats rafted to them. As soon as the gates open, they announce “larger boats first”. Invariably, the small boats all rush in. There is no where for them to go and no way for the larger boats to get in. The lock attendants patiently sort out the chaos and we all eventually end up where we wanted to go.
Port Madison is a great place to anchor for an evening or overnight. Too bad our windlass decided to rebel the last time we were there. It all started well. Step on the button and the motor dutifully pays out chain. Then … it all went wrong. The windlass started to spin and chain was roaring out. The 50 foot mark, then the 100 foot mark flew by, and then the 150 foot mark. They were recently repainted and looked nice for the second or so I saw each one. We managed to get it stopped with about 175 feet of chain sitting on the bottom. We were only in 15 feet or so of water.
Well there’s your problem …
Warning. Spoiler alert! This post contains descriptions and photos of actual boat use. Not the usual fix this, untangle that, install something sort of project post that has bogged this site down recently. Read on if you dare …
Our friends Tim and Carmel, and Cindy came up from Southern California for a day on the boat. The weekend before the Fourth of July was amazingly warm and perfect. People in California think it rains all the time in Seattle. It was nice to show them how wonderful it can really be here. We swore them to secrecy upon their return to California.
They only had one day with us so I picked them up from a dock on south Lake Union in the dinghy bright and early Saturday morning. Kim had breakfast waiting when we arrived. After a quick tour and orientation, we headed for the locks eating breakfast along the way Surprisingly, there was no wait at the locks. We motored in behind one boat and two smaller boats followed us in. We popped out through the locks and headed for Blake Island.
On the way over, Tim and Cindy were playing with the flybridge intercom. Tim ordered up a couple of Vodka Tonics. I called their bluff and produced two high quality drinks. They were surprised and somewhat appreciative. It was 10:30 in the morning. I think they liked them.
