We returned to one of our favorite locations this weekend, Mystery Bay on Marrowstone Island. The entry to Kilisut Harbor between Marrowstone and Indian Islands looks absolutely terrifying on the chart, which probably keeps visitor numbers down. But a friend with a larger boat than ours recommended it, and it immediately became a favorite destination for us. We spent a couple of nights there, paddling around, and watching for possible Persied meteors and Aurora Borealis. We had some success with the meteors, but got ghosted by the aurora.
Killing time late yesterday afternoon, my wife discovered while tidying up, that the shower pump in the head was not working... Nothing.
!!! So, I dig into my tool bag and started taking stuff apart. I don't know much about anything but I spent time as a kid on a farm, and that means that I'm not afraid to take things apart, and hopefully not ruin things when trying to figure it out. We shouldn't have worn it out, we hardly ever use it. Not many components, involved, a push button, a relay, a pump. Checked for voltage... some, in places... none in other places... found the full 12 volts eventually. Looked at it and thought some more... decided to take the push button switch out and inspect it. Continuity check said that the switch was good, the contacts look a little dirty, but not that bad... I cleaned them up anyway, and, Voila! Glug! Glug! Glug! Pumping away, just like it always had. Of course, by then, we had long ago sponged out the water from cleaning the floor. But what else was I going to do with that time?
The disappointment came in that it has been a couple of years since we've been able to visit Mystery Bay, and we found that the entire bay has been designated as a "Voluntary No Anchor Zone" and eelgrass restoration area. Add to that, that the bridge from shore to the State Park dock is apparently unstable, and is subject to "EMERGENCY CLOSURE", and is barricaded at both ends. You can still use the mooring buoys and the dock. Certainly, you still need to pay for those, but you can't get to shore from the dock. What else? Somebody swiped the fitting off the end of the State Parks pumpout pump! Give me a BREAK!
None of the disappointments actually affected us at all. But it left a big disappointment on what has previously been a great short trip for us. I'm all for preservation, conservation, restoration... but this has a different feeling to it. It seems awfully nice to find a nature advocacy organization to partner with, to legitimize your NIMBY work for you. I found the organization online, but there a no details at all on any of their locations. They talk about research, and a 98% compliance rate at Port Townsend, but no maps. Just ambiguous buoys, that look a lot like No Wake Zone buoys, and a couple of mentions of a few other restoration locations.
There are still dozens of private mooring buoys in Mystery Bay. I wonder what the compliance rate is for removing the private buoys? It must be nice, to find an organization to help convince people to "voluntarily" stay away from your beautiful setting...
What do you think, is my disappointment causing me to overreact?
Killing time late yesterday afternoon, my wife discovered while tidying up, that the shower pump in the head was not working... Nothing.
!!! So, I dig into my tool bag and started taking stuff apart. I don't know much about anything but I spent time as a kid on a farm, and that means that I'm not afraid to take things apart, and hopefully not ruin things when trying to figure it out. We shouldn't have worn it out, we hardly ever use it. Not many components, involved, a push button, a relay, a pump. Checked for voltage... some, in places... none in other places... found the full 12 volts eventually. Looked at it and thought some more... decided to take the push button switch out and inspect it. Continuity check said that the switch was good, the contacts look a little dirty, but not that bad... I cleaned them up anyway, and, Voila! Glug! Glug! Glug! Pumping away, just like it always had. Of course, by then, we had long ago sponged out the water from cleaning the floor. But what else was I going to do with that time?The disappointment came in that it has been a couple of years since we've been able to visit Mystery Bay, and we found that the entire bay has been designated as a "Voluntary No Anchor Zone" and eelgrass restoration area. Add to that, that the bridge from shore to the State Park dock is apparently unstable, and is subject to "EMERGENCY CLOSURE", and is barricaded at both ends. You can still use the mooring buoys and the dock. Certainly, you still need to pay for those, but you can't get to shore from the dock. What else? Somebody swiped the fitting off the end of the State Parks pumpout pump! Give me a BREAK!
None of the disappointments actually affected us at all. But it left a big disappointment on what has previously been a great short trip for us. I'm all for preservation, conservation, restoration... but this has a different feeling to it. It seems awfully nice to find a nature advocacy organization to partner with, to legitimize your NIMBY work for you. I found the organization online, but there a no details at all on any of their locations. They talk about research, and a 98% compliance rate at Port Townsend, but no maps. Just ambiguous buoys, that look a lot like No Wake Zone buoys, and a couple of mentions of a few other restoration locations.
There are still dozens of private mooring buoys in Mystery Bay. I wonder what the compliance rate is for removing the private buoys? It must be nice, to find an organization to help convince people to "voluntarily" stay away from your beautiful setting...
What do you think, is my disappointment causing me to overreact?
