Category Archives: Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 14, 2014 | 2 comments

Ain’t love sweet?


The photo shows a pair of seagulls on their own little rock, oblivious to all, as the tide slowly rises in Mud Bay. At least I think they are a pair based on observing them for about 20 minutes. The male (another guess) jumped in a few times and swam around the lagoon to impress his lady friend. There’s no word on whether that worked. But clearly he was smitten as he always returned to the rock.

I took the picture yesterday afternoon but held off on posting it until now. Perfect for Valentine’s Day.

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point

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Driveway Party

Posted on February 9, 2014 | 2 comments

The Mud Cat wasn’t invited.


It’s Sunday morning after an overnight snowfall—the first of the year for Rocky Point. I haven’t been outside yet, although the Mud Cat went out briefly before 6:00 AM. When I viewed the driveway from the upstairs windows to see if I will be snowed in today, a party scene greeted me, both on the hill and in the flat area outside my front door (see photo).

The prints were made by critters, probably raccoons. I don’t get a newspaper, and even if I did, no human would walk down the hill to deliver it to my house. There must have been a good band although I didn’t hear anything (I’m a heavy sleeper). In a few places it looks like the party goers were dancing the two step. The Mud Cat didn’t leave these tracks. His prints are smaller and, well, more cat-like. Besides, he would never date a raccoon.

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Pi, Weather

Cat Trail

Posted on January 6, 2014 | Leave a comment

The shortest distance between two points

It’s the Mud Bay version of a private on/off ramp to Highway 101. Shown in frosty relief in a photo taken on a cold January morning, the cat trail is a permanently flattened route in the grass that bisects my nearest neighbor’s small waterfront yard. It directly connects my deck with the main Mud Bay shore trail. The Mud Cat uses the cat trail all the time when he visits the Muller’s.

I have never seen another animal use this route. Other than raccoons there aren’t a lot of pets or critters in the area. Dogs are rare and always stay on the beach. I see an occasional cat, but the Mud Cat is so territorial that feline visitors don’t hang around long. Raccoons shuffle across my deck daily hoping for a handout, but when they come up empty they go up the hill or head down to the shore in the other direction. Perhaps the plot of grass is off limits to raccoons.

That leaves the Mud Cat as the trail blazer. Or aliens.

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Pi

Boat Traffic

Posted on May 7, 2013 | 2 comments

Headed out after a quick exploring trip


Perhaps it’s the gorgeous May weather. Or the favorable afternoon tides. Whatever the motivating factors are, I have seen more boat traffic on Mud Bay in the last few days than I can ever remember. Kayaks, standup paddleboards, runabouts, even cabin cruisers. Despite its name, at high tide the water is deep enough in Mud Bay’s main channel for all of them. The photo was taken late yesterday afternoon. Both the tide and the boat are on their way out.

Mud Bay is not a navigable waterway. I figure most people who sail, paddle, or motor in know that and just want to see its upper end. But perhaps some think Mud Bay connects to Oyster Bay, its larger neighbor to the south. It doesn’t. You have to navigate through a narrow passage between Marine Drive and Madrona Pont to get into Oyster Bay. Marine Drive is the next point to the west of Mud Bay.

It’s been fun seeing all of the watercraft. With great weather forecast for the rest of the week, I hope the boat traffic keeps up.

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Sailing Days

Posted on March 9, 2013 | 1 comment

Square rigger in Mud Bay


The Sweetie out of Grayland, Washington, might be the biggest boat ever seen on Mud Bay. Certainly she’s the most unusual (see photo, taken earlier today just before high tide). In fact, let’s not refer to the square-rigged replica as a boat as Sweetie looks big enough to be called a ship.

The Sweetie entered Mud Bay under a combination of sail and engine power. About 40 minutes later when she left, all of her sails had been rigged and she proudly headed back out into Dyes Inlet on wind power alone (see photo below).

Leaving under full sail

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Heron Gates

Posted on December 11, 2012 | 2 comments

Unusual security gates


I don’t have a security gate because my driveway is too steep and I also don’t want to discourage the few visitors I do get. But if I did I would want it to be a heron gate (see photos). At least I think the birds are herons, although they might be cranes. I’m going by the crooked necks and long bills.

Great blue herons are regular residents of Mud Bay. By day you see them stalking the mudflats, patiently spearing fish in the shallow water when the tide is out. At night you hear their painful-sounding squawks in response to some threat real or imagined.

The owners of the gates in the photos must also feel that herons are symbolic of their waterfront properties. The top gate is from a home on Rich Passage off Beach Drive in Port Orchard. The exquisite bottom gate secures the driveway to a home on Erland Point in Dyes Inlet. I see the gates frequently as both locations are on regular bike rides. The photos were taken last weekend.

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Other Local Places

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What Is It?

Posted on November 15, 2012 | 4 comments

Pontoon busters: who you gonna call?


The first question that popped into my head when I saw the Big Concrete Object (see photo) that washed up on my neighbor’s beach last night is the title of this post. More important points to ponder include where did it come from? and what can my neighbor do to get rid of it? Dyes Inlet is having 13+ foot high tides for the next few days, but just because the BCO floated in on one doesn’t mean it is going to float back out.

A few musings before I post the photo. The BCO looks like it broke away from a commercial marina or a breakwater. I don’t think it is part of a floating concrete walkway though. Not with those rusty bolts protruding into the center channel. The top part is normally above water as only the lower portion is encrusted with barnacles. Concrete floats or at least it floats when the pontoon’s air chamber is big enough. How long has it been floating around posing a threat to boat traffic in Dyes Inlet and Port Washington Narrows?

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Rocky Point Road Reflectors

Posted on September 24, 2012 | 2 comments

A five-vehicle, seven-person process


Today a crew from Kitsap County Public Works installed road reflectors in the recently paved section of Rocky Point Road. Although the process is labor intensive (see photo), when the crew is working in sync they can install the reflectors quickly.
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Posted in Government, Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Hurry Up and Paint the Fog Lines

Posted on September 10, 2012 | 2 comments

Smooth and too quiet


Last week’s paving job (see photo) makes Rocky Point Road a joy to drive on. Until the fog lines are painted, however, the road is a bit dangerous for cyclists. I hope Kitsap County Public Works realizes that and makes the painting job a top priority.
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Posted in Biking, Government, Mud Bay & Rocky Point

The Swimming Raccoon

Posted on June 18, 2012 | 2 comments

Why did the raccoon swim across Mud Bay? I can’t answer the riddle unless the reason is that the hunting is better on Rocky Point than Marine Drive or simply that the swimming raccoon I saw yesterday has a den on my side of Mud Bay. There’s no photo to accompany this post as it was almost dark and the cross-bay swimmer was out of range of the zoom on my inexpensive digital camera.
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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Pi