Blog
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Sept 2011 What’s Up Dock
I’ll tell you what’s up….August… the Hump month in Friday Harbor, and I mean that as in “getting over the hump” not otherwise. Like a rising tide, the visitors started trickling in during May, steadily increased in June, swelled alarmingly in July, and then surged off the ferry in August, breaking against the frail bulwarks of the shops of Harbor, car alarms blaring, kids wailing, dogs snapping. Cash registers rang valiantly, straining to ingest the flying piles of cash and plastic cards. In the restaurants, college-softened wait staff collapsed under the demands for seating with a water view. Drivers inched [...]
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Aug 2011 What’s Up, Dock?
WHAT’S UP, DOCK? Friday Harbor Waterfront Views By Cap’n Crabby I’ll tell you what’s up….people…up in the trees, acting like overage Tarzans. County Fair time. Bakery Boat. Rowdy Rendezvousses. Lots of stuff happening in Friday Harbor in August. The speed limit on Spring Street is reduced from 20mph to 10mph, due to the numbers of tourists standing in the street, staring blankly in various directions. There are no traffic lights here, no whistling or tweeting Walk/Don’t Walk technology, so pedestrians are pretty much given free rein. It is like when the cows find a hole in the fence…they all congregate [...]
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July 2011 What’s Up Dock?
I’ll tell you what’s up…the tempo and the volume….at Rock the Dock, the 4th of July Waterfront Street Party at the Port of Friday Harbor. This is the 10th annual event, always featuring the fabulous and famous Timebenders and sponsored by the local Rotary club. Undoubtedly the best all-ages Vegas-style, live-music-with-some-comedy family- street-dance on the planet. The Rotary runs the beer garden, the Lions Club cooks the food, the San Juan Island Yacht Club gets in on the act by having a BBQ for members and guests, the Chamber of Commerce shoots off the fireworks, and all the gate proceeds [...]
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June 2011 What’s Up, Dock?
WHAT’S UP, DOCK? Friday Harbor Waterfront Views By Cap’n Crabby I’ll tell you what’s up…slip reservations at the Port of Friday Harbor marina. Lots of group reservations for yacht club cruises, rendezvouseses, and get-togethers, as well individual boats. The biggest group coming is the Latitudes and Attitudes Rum-A-Thon, coming to Friday Harbor in August 20, with over 100 boats registered. Be afraid. Making sure everyone has a fun, safe time takes a lot of work by Port staff, and one of the critical functions is Port Security. In Friday Harbor, Port Security is embodied in a man – [...]
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May 2011 What’s Up, Dock?
I’ll tell you what’s up. Local boat parade participation….record setting levels. Last week’s Opening Day boat parade and festivities put on by the San Juan Island Yacht Club went smoothly, with the boat parade, docktail party, boat christenings, an engine room exorcism, and all the usual partatious exuberance related to the upcoming cruising season. The beautiful new No Knot Yacht 44 (built right here in Friday Harbor) led the parade, looking smart under tow by the shiny Towline marine assist boat. The No Knot 44 has been a big hit, with 2 under construction, and 3 more on order. The [...]
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April 2011 What’s Up, Dock?
I’ll tell you what’s up. Ol’ Sol, The Bane of Prozac Pushers. Seems just a few weeks ago, the sputtering and useless orb would timidly peek over the horizon far to the south of Turn Island, skulk across a small arc of the southernmost sky, and slip sullenly behind the ridge of American Camp. But this morning – the blazing fireball came shooting up from behind the crest of Turn Island, rocketed skyward, floated majestically for hours and hours across the heavens, and then slowly dropped into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Yippee and @#$%^&* That means Boating Season [...]
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March 2011 What’s Up, Dock?
I’ll tell you what’s up. The local saltwater bullfrog population. Back in the 1950s, the University of Washington created the UW Marine Labs in Friday Harbor, with a mandate to use marine science to further local economies. One of the earliest projects involved an effort to raise bullfrogs for the frogleg market. Several barrels of bullfrogs were brought from Texas and introduced into a small lake on San Juan Island, which lake is now part of Lakedale Resort. One scientist also attempted to crossbreed Dungeness crabs and frogs, hoping to get eight frog legs per frog, but the effort was [...]
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Feb 2011 What’s Up, Dock??
I’ll tell you what’s up. Actually, I’ll tell you what’s down. The Flat Earth Society finally took down their Christmas tree in their meeting room at Shipyard Cove Marina. They hadn’t planned on taking it down until March or so, but the Fire Marshall happened to pass by, so it came down a little early. It was time anyway, because the pile of discarded Christmas trees down by the shoreline had grown to include at least 20 trees, left there by local islanders for the Annual Christmas Tree Float. It is not known exactly when the first Christmas Tree Float [...]
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Jan 2011 What’s Up, Dock?
Friday Harbor Waterfront Views By Cap’n Crabby I’ll tell you what’s up. The meniscus in our rain gauge. The Harbormaster reports that the water level inside the harbor breakwater has raised 6” from all the rain. Also up…the Beaufort scale. Friday Harbor Northeaster, 11 degrees, 60+ mph winds. Some boats were tied a little tight to the docks, and were yanking the dock floats up and down, tearing out bull rails, yanking cleats, chafing lines, popping fenders. It went on for a few days. The Lighted Boat Parade and Santa Boat drew a huge crowd of raindrops. Xmas came and went, [...]
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Dec 2010 What’s Up, Dock?
Friday Harbor Waterfront Views By Capt Crabby I’ll tell you what’s up. Tempers. And, believe it or not, the SOBs are agitated over little bunny rabbits. American Camp, one of two historic National Parks on San Juan Island, has been home to a very, very large and growing herd of bunnies. Understand, these bunnies were not in American Camp when Colonel Pickett was eating poached pork, but were introduced later by mainland tourists bringing their unwanted furry pets to the island, and dropping them off here to keep us company. And the bunnies thrived to the point where they became, at [...]