Walker's Island

It's down by Cathlamet, well out of the marine air that is so cold and blustery so when you are running up from Astoria bugged by the howling-ass sea-breeze you keep right on going around  Puget Islandfor another halof hour or so and there it is on the Oregon side. Go on past and then cut around behind. Walker's Island. It isn't very big and you wouldn't really think it would be so excellent an anchorage. I think your eye gets jaded by the size of all the islands in the lower river.But I like to snuggle back there in the lee of the seabreeze and I can feel like I am someplace.

Gillnetters think they own the river. This guy came steaming over and made me move a hundred yards up the beach for no real reason he didn't even set where I was at before, he just wanted to fuck with somebody in case he didn't get any fish he could blame me.

Like I said that's a big bay and you can see how the wind dies down back there

There was one other cruising sailboat back there, a young couple with a baby having a wonderful time, swimming and dinking around in their little inflatable.

A bucket full of flowers from the island is also a bucket full of bugs.

I like to sleep out "on the hook" and I would rather that than some marina, even the nice ones, and I have paid attention to my anchor gear to where I can put the hook down and generally stay right where I put it right on through the tide changing and the wind shifting and the ships passing in the night. There's a deep spot that is just out of the wind and a sandy beach on the island and all wildflowers and willows on the beach and its real pretty and just a truly great anchorage and nobody goes there but the cruising sailboats that don't want to tie up with the sissies in town