Port Townsend, WA 2022
As most seasoned liveaboard cruisers will tell you, the cruising life is often described as “fixing your boat in beautiful remote places”. That also applies to preparations for setting off and readying for a circumnavigation. With covid, lots of things went sideways and delayed, so now there are projects to catch up on as well as those to prepare for upcoming offshore passages.
Aramis had been at the dock in a marina south of Vancouver for longer than she’d like to admit and she was ready to get going when Savvy Sailing Girl rejoined her and her captain Paul, aboard. The plan was to haul out in April, but things don’t always go as planned and the haul out was delayed and relocated. It isn’t a bad thing that the haul out was rescheduled for a few months later as the weather was cold and wet all the way through June.
It was mid-July and time for Aramis to be lifted out of the water and propped up in the boatyard (aka haulout) for some much-needed TLC. What we anticipated being a short time in the yard (estimate was about 3 weeks) turned out to be more like 3 months! Projects were more involved and took longer than we thought and stretched out to weeks not days, and unplanned projects had to be researched and planned as well.
The upside to this is that Savvy Sailing Girl got to spend some additional time in the lovely town of Port Townsend, Washington. A quaint little place with an interesting maritime history, Port Townsend has some wonderful attributes to keep the crew happy during off-work hours. Savvy Sailing Girl isn’t much of a history buff, so she’s focusing on other touristy and fun activities, but to be sure, there are plenty of museums and historic sights to be enjoyed as well.
The top of the list, for those who love movies, is the Rose Theatre. It’s a local art film venue with amazing freshly-made popcorn prepared with real butter. There are two theaters downstairs and then there is the Starlight Room upstairs next door. The Starlight has chandeliers, quirky antique sofas, chairs, and tables. Popcorn is served in proper bowls and beer and wine are also available. It’s a great place to go and the movies happily aren’t your standard Hollywood showings.
Restaurants are plentiful and offer a wide variety of food as well as lovely ambiance. Siren’s, a second-floor pub in a historic waterfront building, has a great deck out back where you can gaze lovingly at your yacht if anchored there. If you aren’t lucky enough to have your own boat, you can watch the ferry coming and going. The Waterfront has great take-out/delivery pizza and then there’s Elevated Ice Cream for a taste of the really good homemade stuff. There is also a myriad of little shops, with artistic, quirky, and specialty items. The Wine Seller is a terrific little shop with all sorts of offerings you wouldn’t necessarily find in your normal bottle shop. I even found a favorite Sherry I had discovered in Europe last year and didn’t think I’d see again outside that region of Spain.
The town is divided into “Uptown” and “Downtown”, with the up and down pretty much a literal height distinction. Uptown has a small and fun weekly outdoor market, with as many yummy bakery stalls as it has for fresh produce. And speaking of bakeries… Pane d’ Amore is a favorite. There is a shop Uptown and the main bakery is right by the boatyard (about ½ mile outside of town). This has proven to be both wonderful and challenging, as it’s hard not to indulge regularly when you are so close and need some comfort food to get you through the long haulout.
Downtown has some beautiful buildings, statues, and lovely places along the waterfront to sit.
Port Townsend almost became the capitol of Washington in the late 1800’s when the railroad was planned to be built there to carry goods shipped in to the thriving port. However, when the depression hit and the railroad couldn’t finance the project all the way to Port Townsend, the town was all but abandoned. Almost overnight, the town rolled up the sidewalks, ceased building and most workers moved out. There are still some remnants of this radical change of course to be seen. There is a definitive before and after look about the place. That said, Port Townsend has a long and rich history in the maritime industry, most notably for its wooden boat business. There are still many talented tradespeople here to support the boating industry. There’s a Wooden Boat Foundation and an annual Wooden Boat Festival where people show the results of their stunning work.
One of Savvy Sailing Girl’s Favorite things to do, which also helps counteract the bakery forays, is taking local Zumba dance fitness exercise classes. If you happen to be visiting Port Townsend, try and take a class with Bailey, a wonderful and inspiring instructor (thanks Bailey!) But despite the many things this town has to offer visitors, most of our time in Port Townsend has looked more like this…
As we near the end of our stay, Savvy Sailing Girl notices that the trees are starting to turn, the apples are ripening, the geese have flown off, and fall is here. Winter is coming and we need to follow the Canadian geese we have enjoyed watching and hearing, and head south.
