We leave Rosario and cruise by the rock with the birds at rest and note the low tide, as evidenced by more of the rock being exposed. However, there is not a lot of change at this time today.
We are headed to Sucia Island north of Rosario and quite close to the Canadian border. We plan to meet Bob and Nita of Nellie Too in early afternoon. They will be coming from Anacortes.
Herb sets a 6 knot speed and we sit back to enjoy the ride. Amazingly, we meet on the water before arriving at the island.
Nellie Too has been to Sucia many times, so we follow her in.
Bob and Nita suggest Fossil Bay, which is the finger shown at the southwest corner of the island.
Shallow Bay is at the northwest corner, a more round shaped cove.
It is now just a little past noon, and may be hard to find a place at the dock or a mooring buoy. Many boaters are already arriving for the weekend.
As we approach Fossil Bay, we cannot clearly see a space at the dock; all the buoys are taken, but as we pass one, a man calls out that he will leave in ten minutes and give us the buoy.
We thank him and Herb idles around to take it, just in case we need it. Our thinking is that we can always release it if Bob finds space at the dock.
As we move slowly by the buoy I see the ring is hanging down and I don't think I can get my bow line through it with the wind and current both working against us. So I make a quick decision to catch the top ring with my boat hook. Oh, no! The buoy has a mind of its own! It wants my boat hook! It takes my boat hook, and I let go so it doesn't take me, too!
By this time Bob has tied up to the dock and is waving us to come raft up to him. We plan to do that as soon as we retrieve the boat hook, which is hanging on the buoy.
Herb drives around again so I can grab it, but our own wake interferes, so we have to try again.
In the meantime Bob and Nita are trying desperately to get our attention. We are trying desperately to get the boat hook. We hear them yelling to us. We yell back as I reach for the hook again. We hear Bob call on Channel 72, but we can't answer just yet. We hear my cell phone ring -- and know who is calling.
Then we hear a lot of horn blowing. I see Nita in her red shirt waving wildly and I wave back and yell, "Be there in a minute."
I am finally able to grab the hook and twist it loose from the mooring buoy. Thanks be to God! We have our hook and cruise on over to raft up to the Nellie Too. No photos here; I was busy!
Find Willie's Tug. Find the mooring buoy! The buoy is in the background in this photo, and some other successful person now is tied to it.
The rest of the day goes well. Bob and Nita lead us on some trails that are wide and nicely maintained.
Fossil Bay is one of the Washington State Parks with no services except potable water that you can carry out and toilets.
It looks like a safe place to run, so Jake is allowed off leash and has the time of his life.
When he gets ahead, we just call him back to us.
Well, sometimes he comes back. We take the trail that ends at Shallow Bay and Jake finds the water before we do.
He makes himself right at home, cooling off and getting a snoot full of seaweed.
Then he shakes some water off....
Jake is joined by Jessica, a dog camping nearby. She likes to play stick, also.
She is seen at the right of the photo with her stick covering most of her face. She proudly retrieves and begins to swim back to her owner.
Uh, oh! Jake sees the stick and thinking that all toys are his, he swims toward her. This is Herb's version.
Next we see Jake with Jessica's stick. My version is that the male dog is helping the female dog -- sorta like carrying her school books.....
Jessica and her family say Goodbye to us as we head back up the trail to our boats.
We meet another Golden -- which one is the wet dog?
Just like we never tire of taking pictures of our dog, we never tire of taking pictures of our boats.
Nita and I get the zoom lens and walk over to the other dock to get a better shot of our rafting.
I reach down to get a rock out of my shoe and see a snake!
He is small, only about 18 inches long, and patiently waits for me to get the camera.
Find Nellie Too and Willie's Tug.
While on the other dock, we visit with some folks from Anacortes on Seas the Day.
When we return to our dock we meet two guys who have been friends for a long time. One shows us his T-shirt with the photo of the friend on it.
Now he always has his friend with him. Actually, he says he never has to drink alone!
One of them is on Yachts of Fun.
Herb and I have had our share of fun for the day and now get our books to read, as we enjoy the sunset.
Willie of Willie's Tug,
and Walldog, Willie and Jake
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