Boat on the bottom of the sea

So I guess now one of my favorite songs has a mascot... I guess sometime in the past a lovely 20 or so foot boat broke is mooring and drifted across the South Puget Sound. Well after many twists and turns and probably numerous adventures it finally came to rest on the beach along the spit to camp. 

This afternoon after being informed of the " bounty of the sea", Sam, Julie and I wend down to investigate. Low and behold there she lay like a beached whale slumped over and full of water. The bottom was encrusted with some fist sized mussels that looked like they had been on there for quite some time. Water sloshed inside and out and although we were able to get a line to it and tie it off to a large log on the beach it did not look like it was going to be going anywhere. 

When I went down to the beach I put on a pair of hip waders. I have had these waders for over three or four years and over time the rubber had started to get some what stiff and worn down on the inside. It was starting to give me a bit of a cramp but braving the pain I trudged on down. During the effort to get the line on the boat I had to wade out almost to the top of the waders. While I was on the boat the sneaky sea was conspiring against me and decided the time was ripe for the tide to come in. Well needless to say when I stepped back down off the boat to get back on the beach the spot I climbed aboard was not as shallow as it had been when I started. Have I mentioned that the water in the sound is ridiculously cold? Well if I had forgotten that bit of information I was certainly reminded of it when about a gallon or so of the briny brown Puget Sound rolled over the top of my waders and joined my toes in a not so welcome fashion. 

I got most of the water out of the boots before I started up the trail but I had a bit of a quandary once I got back up... the rigid rubber and the fact that I had thick cotton socks that swelled up with the water left me with two feet stuck inside. Now I am sure that old rubber boots would make a great fashion statement and had I left them on they would have had been the greatest rage to be... But I was cold and wanted to get a hot shower so I had to cut them off with the first sharp object I could find... in this case a fillet knife. Its just like getting the skin off a dead fish; except this fish was not going to be too happy if the real skin got damaged in the process... well that went over well and the epidermis was unharmed.

But being the curious type I had to check the boat out when the puddle was not up to the gunnels. That being right about now I took off to the beach bundled up with my trusty dive light. Well I pick a perfect night for a stroll. This area only has a strong wind advisory till tomorrow and the rain coming sideways was not too much of a bother. But I got out to the boat and got to take a good look at it. I guess if some rich person is reading this and looking to throw down some green to get the little lady up and running by all means go for it. The roof of the cabin is holed right where it connects to the side of the boat and is also ripped along that edge for about 3 feet... good luck with that project... I am sure this being the winter and not the type of weather you want to be out in a boat anyway if you had a big enough garage this would make a great project. 

So thats the story of the boat on the bottom of the sea... hopefully we will be able to get it moved off... or else its going to make one cool bit of structure for the sounds creatures to make their home... At high tide that is.