Time to plant those bulbs

The holidays are upon us and all the leaves are blowing off of the trees. Down at the port, the staff is buttoning up things for the winter. The crew will be planting new bulbs so we can look forward to those great springtime flowers.

Late October and early November found quite a commercial fishing fleet tied up at the transient docks. I have not heard how they did, but there sure was a lot of activity.

Compromise with Army Corps

The projects the port is working on continue to move ahead. In mid-October, the Army Corps of Engineers had a few questions about the kayak dock we want to build. They asked us to put a couple of skylights in the roof so more sunlight could shine onto the water. Too much shading makes it hard for the little fish swimming around to grow into bigger fish. We argued that breaching the integrity of the roof would weaken the structure and make it more susceptible to damage from wind and snow loads.

A compromise was reached when we agreed to place more grating on the deck of the float to allow light to shine through the floor of the structure to the water below. Word is that the permit has been issued and we should finally be underway with this project. It is interesting that the permitting phase always takes so much longer than the construction on these projects. Look for completion of this long-awaited facility by early spring.

Works in progress

The next activity you will see will be the remodel of the storm water drainage system on the west edge of the parking lot. We will be installing a new state-of-the-art filtration system. When this project is done, those ditches will be leveled off and we will gain a little over an acre of new usable park space.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is going to tell us soon when the North Beach seawall project will start. There is a question as to whether they will even do it this coming winter because they are so busy with hurricane repair in the southern states. The window for doing this type of work is only during extreme low tides in the wintertime. Salmon migration patterns preclude this happening at any other time of year. If they delay the work, it will be scheduled for the winter of 2010.

Kitsap arts festival here

We have found out that the Kitsap Arts Festival wants to come to Kingston next year for the weekend of July 24-26. This will be a great addition to events planned for our town and bring visitors from all over. The folks at the Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce will most likely be coordinating the event with the arts festival organizers. I am not too sure how it will all shake out but I can see various venues from Lindvog Road all the way down to the waterfront hosting great displays for everyone to enjoy.

Isn’t it great to be planning for next summer before winter is here!

Salmon and snowbirds

Kingston Cove Yacht Club held its annual salmon derby early in November and my reports are that a relatively small blackmouth weighing just over eleven pounds took the grand prize of $700. There were 87 anglers competing and the weather was perfect for a great day of fishing.

Crabbing is open again in our area and I heard from a couple of guys that have been doing very well at bagging those tasty crustaceans for their winter crab cakes.

I am preparing this edition of Down at the Port from Indio, Calif. I made a trip down the coast calling on several passenger vessel operators to see how they are organized and operate. Then I attended a technical writer’s conference in San Diego.

Watching the pre-election television commercials in California was not much different from seeing them at home. The advertisements seemed to be just the same but the names were different. It is nice to get a little warm sun and visit with some of the Kingston snowbirds while the Northwest is getting a good watering.

Only six words to go until the big crossword puzzle. So here is the December 2008 Nautical Term of the Month: BOTTOMRY – Using the ship as collateral to finance a sea voyage.

It looks like the end of the page is getting near so I had better sign off for this month. I will be seeing you around town and give you a year-end wrap up in the holiday issue. Thanks as always for taking time to read this stuff. Have a great December.