Voyage #8 -- Fletcher Bay to Manzanita

After a few weeks off due to bad weather and vacations, we took advantage of the beautiful day yesterday to complete the "Battle Point" section of our kayaking adventure. As I sit watching the rain pour down and the wind gust this afternoon, I'm even more glad we were able to make it out yesterday!

I finally found a kayak. It was on Craigslist, and ended up being right in Poulsbo, about 20 minutes from my house. The woman selling it was an older lady who didn't use it much anymore. When she bought it about 8 years ago, she and two friends all bought the same kind of boat and took them on their camping trips together. They even kayaked around Bainbridge Island together! She was so happy to hear I will use it for exactly the same things! It was meant to be. It handles really well. I'm very happy to have my own boat!

We started at Fletcher Landing (click on the link for an interesting history of this "controversial" access spot).

In highschool, Brad and his friends would water ski right out here and gas up the boat at the marina in the picture.

First we paddled around in Fletcher Bay. It's a small bay, and most of the homes are more "mature". I love how each bay has it's own characteristics. Fletcher Bay is very tranquil spot.

Outside of the bay, the water felt like mud: very thick and hard to paddle through. We couldn't figure out why because we thought we were going in the same direction as the tide, and there was no wind. The only thing we could guess was that the currents must split somewhere close to here and we were actually going against the current.

A beautiful home on the shores of Battle Point:

Once we got closer to Battle Point (the strip of land in the picture below is the actual "point") the current changed and paddling became much easier.

This marker indicates the Point. I wish I would have gotten a better picture of the actual beach. It looks like it would be a great place to play in the summer. Too bad it's privately owned!

You can kind of see the beach in this picture, behind this...whatever it is...an old billboard? a gallows? (there's a rope tied on the end) anyone know what it really is?

Hey, Katie G...recognize this place? Does it look the same? A few more kayaks in the yard, maybe?

Our friends used to live here. I'll never forget their generosity one Christmas when we were building our house. They went on vacation during Christmas break and let us stay here, greatly reducing our stress at a very critical time in the house-building process!

We ended another successful kayaking adventure at Manzanita Bay. I'm learning so much more about this beautiful Island I live on. Another plus is that when I'm driving, I can orient myself much better now that I've seen parts of the Island from the "water side".