July 4, 2013 ~ Lake Union

Well, it’s the Holiday, and we’re “dock cruising”.  We had planned on leaving early enough this morning to make the run up to Oak Harbor before their fuel dock closed.  Instead, we slept in a bit, and took our time getting to the boat as well.  We brought along Ray and Mary, and they took our car back with them, as parking here is at a premium, and we wouldn’t leave a vehicle here for over 2 months even if we could.  Once they left, we got down to some serious boating preparations, and took a nap.  Apparently all our getting ready activities have done us in.  But, we’re on vacation!!

Our next plan was to go anchor out in Lake Union this afternoon, as the fireworks show is happening off Gasworks Park this evening.  As we watched more and more party boats cruise by our moorage staying put seemed like a much better idea.  Last year we did anchor out for the fireworks, and we avoided all the marine and road traffic afterwards by spending the night at anchor.  It’s one of the few times overnight anchorage is permitted on the lake.  The times that we have anchored out for the fireworks show, it’s been our experience that as show time approaches, more and more small boats tend to crowd in, either anchoring too close or not anchoring at all, choosing instead to drift into your space while not paying attention.  But, it’s a great venue for a fireworks show – none better, what with the skyline and shorelines being illuminated by the show.

We will head out tomorrow morning, and we still plan on going to Oak Harbor.  We haven’t been in there for quite some time – not since stopping in while still cruising in the Free Spirit – so I’d say it’s been 15 years or more.  The town and marina management there have recently made some changes to better attract the boating community, so we intend to take advantage of that.  We’ve usually fueled up at Ballard Oil on the way out of town, as they have about the best price for diesel anywhere around.  Now it looks like Oak Harbor is matching that, and they also offer a discount of 20 cents per gallon up to the cost of a night’s moorage, so we may be reporting in from there tomorrow night.