The next few days we spent at Jerrell Cove and Hope Island.  We all went on a really long kayak/paddle board ride in Jerrell Cove and explored all the little inlets.  After anchoring on the north side of Hope island we kayaked over to the island for a hike.  We were a little nervous about leaving our boat because the current was running like a river where we anchored.  We had a fun hike around the whole island then fed the deer some apples in the orchard.  After seeing our boat was exactly where we left it we felt much more relaxed.  However, as night fell that relaxation turned stressful when Julie and I woke up to weird noises coming from the anchor chain.  Its always hard to know if your anchor is dragging or its just the chain pulling across the ground as your boat changes direction with the current.  I was up at 3am on anchor watch, seeing the sun come up and and watching the seals play in the calm water, it was an eerie feeling.

The next day we pulled anchor and made our way to Pirates Cove just a couple miles north.  Pirates Cove is a long time favorite.  Julie’s aunt Toodie and uncle John have a cabin in the bay.  We come here every year on the boat for a family reunion but this time it was just to play.  We took the boys waterskiing and tubing, trying to whip them around and dump them off.  We were successful and they had a blast.

Just by chance Julie’s aunt happened to be at the cabin for a girls weekend but all the girls had left except one who also happened to be a long time friend of my mom and dads.  We picked them up in our dinghy and had a nice ride to Allyn where we all had dinner at the Boathouse restaurant.  It was very nice to see them both!

The next day we had to take Dylan back to Tacoma so his mom could pick him up at Point Defiance.  Instead of taking the big boat all the way back (30mi each way) we decided to take the Edgewater on a fast cruise back to Tacoma.  It was a little cold but sunny and calm.  We made a pit stop at Boathouse 19 for some lunch then on to Pt Defiance where Dylan’s mom was waiting on the dock.  We said our goodbyes then fired up the engine for a 1 hour 30 knot cruise back to Pirates Cove where the big boat was waiting at anchor.

We pulled anchor from Penrose park and took off through Pitt Passage but not before Skylar and I studied the charts closely.  This can be a tricky little passage be we made it through without incident.  The weather was just cloudy most of the way but as we got close to Olympia the rain started to dump hard.  We waited a few minutes before prepping the boat to dock but it became evident it wasn’t going to let up soon.  So we geared up and braved the rain.  It was actually kind of fun.  The wind and water was so calm, just the rain pouring down.

After getting tied up we spent the next few days checking out the city and the farmers market.  We took the kids to the Capital for a self guided tour that was really fun.  Our friends Scott and Trisha drove down to bring their son Dylan (Skylar’s friend) to stay on the boat with us for a few days.  Skylar was excited to have a friend on the boat and we were happy to have him.

After leaving Olympia we set a course for McMicken Island state park.  This is a new anchorage to us and we wanted to check it out.  A tiny little island creates the state park with a drying spit that connects to Harstine Island at low tides.  We anchored on the North side then got the kayaks down for the boys to play around and explore the island.