fall at jarrell cove
Date: November 1, 2019
Time Start: Noon
Time Finish: 3 p.m.
Cruise From: Swantown Marina, Olympia
Cruise To: Jarrell Cove, Harstine Island
Engine Hours Start: 1136
Engine Hours Finish: 1139
Weather/sea conditions: Cold, beautiful fall day, below freezing to upper 50's, light clouds, calm
Hello, November! It's a stunning fall day, we have had a series of them, and the leaves have been spectacular. The leaves remaining on the trees are gold and bronze, ready to drop in the next good breeze. After enjoying the change of seasons from on shore, we're looking forward to catching the end of this colorful show from the water. So here we are, making tracks out of Olympia on our way to Jarrell Cove! Sea birds make their tracks, too. The Olympics are a shadow today, and Mt. Rainier is hazy in the distance. It's a beautiful cruise.
Time Start: Noon
Time Finish: 3 p.m.
Cruise From: Swantown Marina, Olympia
Cruise To: Jarrell Cove, Harstine Island
Engine Hours Start: 1136
Engine Hours Finish: 1139
Weather/sea conditions: Cold, beautiful fall day, below freezing to upper 50's, light clouds, calm
Hello, November! It's a stunning fall day, we have had a series of them, and the leaves have been spectacular. The leaves remaining on the trees are gold and bronze, ready to drop in the next good breeze. After enjoying the change of seasons from on shore, we're looking forward to catching the end of this colorful show from the water. So here we are, making tracks out of Olympia on our way to Jarrell Cove! Sea birds make their tracks, too. The Olympics are a shadow today, and Mt. Rainier is hazy in the distance. It's a beautiful cruise.
We think we have a potential hazard ahead, a floating tree. No, there is movement. A group of sea lions are joined together, basking in the sun, with flippers raised in the air. We give them some space.
With the exception of a small sailboat with no one aboard, the long dock at Jarrell Cove is empty. With NORTH STAR secured, we stretch our legs in the park. A group of four deer are enjoying fallen apples off of the orchard trees, that is, all except one. The "runt" or "misfit" is being bullied by another fawn and is kept from getting any of the apples. Sibling rivalry? A true bully? Every time the runt approaches the apples, it gets chased away. For some reason, the doe completely ignores this behavior.
We soak up the late afternoon sun on the dock. Then, cormorant time! (See previous Jarrell Cove posts.) And with a new twist! This time, instead of heading to the trees, they are landing on the water. As they arrive, a few at a time, and sometimes in groups of twenty or so, they all circle the cove and spiral down to the water, all landing facing the same direction. The arrival of cormorants goes on for over an hour, there have to be hundreds of them. While they arrive, the sunset sky is spectacular. Then, just as the reds of the sky begin to fade to gray, a total surprise. All of the birds take off from the water at once and move to the trees. It only takes minutes before they are all roosted for the night. And then, silence. No more arrive, and there is no sound. You wouldn't know they were there. And so the mystery continues. Why the switch to a water landing before moving to the trees? Was there a signal for them to move to the trees all in unison? Why do they come here, where do they come from, where are they going tomorrow? How we would love to have a conversation with a cormorant!
Cormorant watching consumes us! We have some video footage of them moving to the trees taken with our cell phones, which is posted below. For us, it was just as fantastic and moving as seeing whales and rates right at the top of our "nature" experiences. What a grand finale to the day!
Date: November 2, 2019
Time Start: 1:40 p.m.
Time Finish: 4:30 p.m.
Cruise From: Jarrell Cove, Harstine Island
Cruise To: Swantown Marina, Olympia
Engine Hours Start: 1139
Engine Hours Finish: 1141
Weather/sea conditions: High clouds and cool a.m. (30's) warming to 50's with sun, calm
The temperature is near freezing when we wake up. The cormorants are gone. Did we dream them? There is a mist floating just over the top of the water in the cove, disappearing as the day warms. Oatmeal, hot cocoa, toasted muffins fuel us up for what looks like another gorgeous fall day.
Time Start: 1:40 p.m.
Time Finish: 4:30 p.m.
Cruise From: Jarrell Cove, Harstine Island
Cruise To: Swantown Marina, Olympia
Engine Hours Start: 1139
Engine Hours Finish: 1141
Weather/sea conditions: High clouds and cool a.m. (30's) warming to 50's with sun, calm
The temperature is near freezing when we wake up. The cormorants are gone. Did we dream them? There is a mist floating just over the top of the water in the cove, disappearing as the day warms. Oatmeal, hot cocoa, toasted muffins fuel us up for what looks like another gorgeous fall day.
We are ready for a shore walk. First stop is the apple orchard where we shake down fruit off the trees to feed the deer. We don't see any sign of rivalry between them today, although one still hangs back from the group. Intimidation is such a powerful force and seems to have a carry over effect even with the deer.
Next stop is the dock at the entry to the cove. It is much smaller than the long dock. The park boat is kept here, and there is a pumpout station. Unfortunately, it is out of commission for now. Right across from this dock on the opposite shore is a private marina. There is a small convenience store there that is open in the summer, nice for those who want some ice cream. Today, the dock is a place to soak in some sun and take in the beauty of Jarrell Cove.
Our walk continues, following the road and then taking a wooded trail through the forest in the park. Dead and fading leaves, leaf skeletons, bare trees, trees with leaves of gold, and trees that look like ghosts with their branches laden with moss and lichens - it is easy to see that we are deep into the fall season here. There is beauty in it all.
It's back to the cove, back into pure sunshine to enjoy the water world. We enjoy watching the bird life. A couple of kingfishers chase each other, a heron seeks out the best spot to catch fish, ducks and gulls paddle along the surface. Ahhh, November . . . lovely so far.
Time to leave, and as we do, we spot something floating out in Pickering Passage. It is a portion of a dock float and not something you would want to run into in the fog or the dark. We snap a photo and also document our GPS coordinates before making a call to the Coast Guard. We send them the photos, and it doesn't take long before we hear a report of our sighting in the VHF radio!
The cruise home is easy on this pretty day with calm water, fall colors along the shores, and lots of sunshine. Arriving at Swantown, our dock heron is having a feast. The water in our fairway and between all of the finger piers along it is alive with an enormous school of small anchovies! A seal is feeding on them, too. And, like everywhere, the last of the fall colors are just plain eye catching! Another wonderful cruise is added to our log.