Thursday, December 11, 2008

Day 11: Eagle Harbor

Swimming in a marina sucks. That's the answer to the attitude problem in swimming Eagle Harbor. One more little bit and I'm outta here.

I started from a nice little "road end" park on Gowen Road (photo at right). It's beautiful, even with the junk tire in the foreground. Notice the fantastic clouds and reflection in the water (photo at left).
We do grey here in Seattle, more on that later.

It was a good swim at first, a bit boring over the mucky bottom and with some docks to dodge. But bursts of sunlight were nice, the glassy water is always a delight, and the cold air and water made it even better since I was staying fairly warm. Well, a few cold toes.

But when I hit the marina, I started to feel like crap again. It was pathetic, swimming past the dock and moored boats, wondering how many poop molecules were leaking around the snorkel in my mouth and imagining what I would think if I were the people walking on the dock looking at the idiot swimming by. Here's the marina, looking to the right from my exit at Waterfront Park (photo at right).

So now I get the Eagle Harbor problem, I'll just swim on out of the harbor and never look back. I long for the open coast again.

just one tiny obstacle, the ferry dock looms. And, even worse, the ferry maintenance yard is before the ferry dock. Here's the ferry maintenance yard looking left from my exit (photo at left) Should I go around or under? Or, portage? Would that be cheating?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think you can skip it or portage it! You have to press on or those of us swimming vicariously through you won't get the full effect. We need to know how bad it is, how gross. Think of all those creatures that have to live there! But, please be careful!

Mark Powell said...

OK, that's a pretty clear and compelling comment. I'm leaning against walking around, so I'll try to find a way to swim the "ferry" leg safely.

David J. Hirsh said...

You have to keep safety in mind, Mark. Remember the SalmonMan that swam the length of Columbia River to raise awareness of water quality issues there? He got all sorts of sick along the way, got some limited attention, raised a little money, and well, who's heard anything about wq in the Columbia since?