The last time we came to Seattle we wanted to stay at Elliott Bay but they were too proud of their moorage. This time we almost didn’t call them. I had a deal pretty well made with a very nice lady at Shilshole but when we learned that George (Gray Hawk’s previous owner) had left the marina Marilyn called Elliott Bay to see what they had to offer. Turns out they have a really good monthly rate – I think a lot of the marinas down here are hurting – there’s certainly a lot of empty slips around us.
We’re back on B-dock, about 2 slips away from where it all started 3 years ago. We’re facing the other way this time – we must have been in an even numbered slip – this time we’re in B-31. Unlike the first time I put Gray Hawk in a slip here, there was very little drama when I put her in this slip yesterday.
There was however quite a bit of drama on the bus when I rode it to the Seattle Boat Show today. Marilyn had some finishing up to do with the document editors on her project so I said I’d go to the show alone today and go back with her tomorrow. That worked out well because I did more walking than I needed to do today. We’ll be able to go more or less directly to where we need to go tomorrow. Evidently riding public transit in Seattle is not as socially acceptable as it is in some cities. I certainly encountered a different social strata than I am used to interacting with.
I sat in the front section of the bus, foolishly trusting that the driver would do as he said he would and tell me when I should get off. He never did so I could just as well have sat in the back but I would have missed most of the floor show if I had done that. First a couple of guys about my age got on – they were probably only in their late forties but they had lived considerably harder than I have. Both of them used canes and one of them had his foot wrapped up in a big crude bandage. He was loudly protesting how “those doctors should have more compassion” and “you’d think they’d give a guy some pain killers” and “my foot is such a mess it makes me puke to look at it.” A few stops later another guy got on dragging a 2 wheel cart with a huge tower computer (as well as most of his other worldly possessions) on it. The computer was old enough to have a 3-1/2 floppy drive in it. It turned out that he also had some pretty powerful pain killers in his backpack which he proceeded to sell to the guy with the bad foot.
There’s a scene in the Soprano’s where Tony takes AJ into a poor neighbourhood to look at some houses that he is buying as part of a HUD scam. On that visit AJ meets a crack whore and as it turned out either she or her twin sister go on the bus today and immediately started bothering the driver. While he was busy dealing with her he also had to put down the wheelchair platform because some big fat blob was too lazy to climb the stairs onto the bus. Once he got all that sorted out and sent the crack whore to her seat she started hollering about how “that bitch Joyce” had thrown her ass in jail again and now she had to go get her stuff. Then there was a big discussion about how they didn’t store your stuff anymore when you went to jail and as it turned out there were 4 passengers within earshot who had direct personal experience with Seattle’s hoosegow. Mr. Badfoot had never been to jail here “but now Vegas, that’s a whole ‘nuther story”. I was really glad to get off at the boat show. On the return trip I made a point to sit further back.
Fortunately our trip here from Port Townsend was less exciting than the bus ride. A good rule for boating is “boring is good”. We got an early start Wednesday morning, right after daylight. There’s a narrow dredged channel down by Port Hadlock separating the peninsula from Indian Island. We got through there close to high tide and then its just a long grind down to Seattle. We had to go right next to the traffic separation lanes most of the way which can get pretty exciting when traffic is heavy, like it was on Wednesday.
Tonight we ran into Maximo’s mom and dad at the door to Elliott Bay Yacht Brokers. They told us that Kahu is on the market. Kahu is the converted New Zealand navy vessel that we were onboard in Plumper Cove last spring. There’s a sad tale there for sure. Kahu’s owners were so happy and excited about their world travels when we met up with them last spring. We don’t have an internet connection here to find the story but I’m sure its not good. Kim thought their business had collapsed when they left it unattended.
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