Port Madison to Lake Union – Lake Washington August 6th, 2008

With Bruce aboard we had a third hand who had extensive boating experience from his life on a boat. We decided we would go through the Ballard Locks which take you from the salt water in Puget Sound up to the freshwater in Lake Union. Bruce had been through locks in a boat with his wife Jackie, but locks were a new experience for Alexus and I. Off we went, we were lucky in that we timed it perfect and did not have to wait. We had a 50 foot line on the stern and a 75 foot line on the bow. All our fenders were down as you tie up to the wall of the locks and a boat may raft up to your other side as they fill the locks. Bruce was at the bow, I had the stern and Alexus was at the helm. The dock hands at the locks throw you a line and you attach your dock line to their line, they haul it in, and they attach your dock line to the lock wall.. It was actually very easy as they slowly raised the level of the water about 20 feet to the fresh water lake level. Once the boats ahead of you have exited, they untie your dock line and toss it to you and you are off into fresh water. Fresh water is a good thing after so many days in salt water. It is good for the boat as it cleans off all the little barnacles and other growth from the salt water and with our raw water pump, we could hose off all the salt water on the boat. We toured around Lake Union and had lunch at Chandlers Crab House using the docks right in front of their restaurant. After lunch we made our way through the cut between the two lakes that goes right by the University of Washington and we were in Lake Washington, which is a much larger lake. We headed north and anchored out near the north end of the lake. We watched sea planes come and go and watched the sun set and the moon rise. It was a wonderful night and Bruce went for a bath/swim in the fresh water.