The thread on yacht clubs and Sunchaser's query about marinas vs yacht clubs got me thinking about our own harbor.
We decided to keep our boat in Bellingham even though it's 100 miles north of where we live east of Seattle for several reasons. One is its proximity to the islands where we like to cruise. Good facilities with reputable services and marine supply stores is another.
But an important third reason is that the harbor is a commercial harbor as well as a recreational boat harbor. There are several fish processors and a large cold storage company which is a port of call for ocean ships bringing stuff in and taking stuff out. These ships come from as far away as Russia.
There is also a decent-sized commercial fishing fleet based in our harbor. The boats range from Alaska limit seiners and combination boats to local crab boats and gillnetters. There are also several buy-boats that collect fish from the fishing boats and unload at the processors on the pier across from our dock. So there is always interesting activity going on to watch.
A few years after we started keeping our boat in Bellingham a Seattle-based boatyard company took over an abandoned steel fabrication facility beside our marina and turned it into a full-service boatyard complete with 35 and 150 ton Travelifts. The 150 ton lift lets them work on some pretty big vessels, including commercial fishboats and privately owned yachts.
We were up working on our boat today (in 20 degree f. weather) and at the end of the day I shot a few shots in the commercial basin. The two yard shots are pictures I've taken in the past few years.
Notice the Grand Banks 42 Europa converted to a commercial salmon troller in the second photo.
Spicy Lady is a combination boat home-ported in Petersburg, AK. The boat in the background behind Spicy Lady's stern is the David B., a restored Bristol Bay buy-boat from the early 1900s. Her present owners converted her to a charter boat offering wildlife adventure cruises in SE Alaksa during the summer. She is still powered with her original Atlas engine.
The purse seiner Yankee Boy is home-ported in Bellingham. I did not take the last shot, which shows Yankee Boy at work in Alaska.
We decided to keep our boat in Bellingham even though it's 100 miles north of where we live east of Seattle for several reasons. One is its proximity to the islands where we like to cruise. Good facilities with reputable services and marine supply stores is another.
But an important third reason is that the harbor is a commercial harbor as well as a recreational boat harbor. There are several fish processors and a large cold storage company which is a port of call for ocean ships bringing stuff in and taking stuff out. These ships come from as far away as Russia.
There is also a decent-sized commercial fishing fleet based in our harbor. The boats range from Alaska limit seiners and combination boats to local crab boats and gillnetters. There are also several buy-boats that collect fish from the fishing boats and unload at the processors on the pier across from our dock. So there is always interesting activity going on to watch.
A few years after we started keeping our boat in Bellingham a Seattle-based boatyard company took over an abandoned steel fabrication facility beside our marina and turned it into a full-service boatyard complete with 35 and 150 ton Travelifts. The 150 ton lift lets them work on some pretty big vessels, including commercial fishboats and privately owned yachts.
We were up working on our boat today (in 20 degree f. weather) and at the end of the day I shot a few shots in the commercial basin. The two yard shots are pictures I've taken in the past few years.
Notice the Grand Banks 42 Europa converted to a commercial salmon troller in the second photo.
Spicy Lady is a combination boat home-ported in Petersburg, AK. The boat in the background behind Spicy Lady's stern is the David B., a restored Bristol Bay buy-boat from the early 1900s. Her present owners converted her to a charter boat offering wildlife adventure cruises in SE Alaksa during the summer. She is still powered with her original Atlas engine.
The purse seiner Yankee Boy is home-ported in Bellingham. I did not take the last shot, which shows Yankee Boy at work in Alaska.
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