Dolphin Point

with Frederick and Joan Lorenz

July 7, 2014

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Growing up with a Marine Corps dad and an adventuresome mom, I was put to work at an early age.

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These are some images that my dad scanned recently from his wealth of 35 mm slides.

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Now my parents live in Tacoma, Washington,

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and on a trip to see them in June, we took the ferry out to our friend Stuart Hennessey’s cabin on Vashon Island.

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The Chetzemoka is a beautiful new ferry that connects Vashon to Point Defiance. It was designed to travel a busier route, “but sea trials revealed excessive vibrations in the vessel’s propulsion system.”

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The Chetzemoka was almost completely empty when we crossed the bay,

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but she seemed to be working just fine,

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and I started to get excited about what could be waiting for us on Vashon Island.

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There are no roads to the Hennessey’s house, just a pretty walking trail.

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Of course, you could always get there by boat. The house is on Dolphin Point,

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originally serviced by Puget Sound’s ‘Mosquito Fleet‘in the 1920’s.

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The Hennessey’s have a pair of sturdy ocean kayaks,

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and the first thing we did was paddle out into the sound.

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We were treated to a perfect view of Mt. Rainier – elevation 14,411 feet.

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The next morning, we went out again with my mom.

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“This is my kind of boating.” she said.

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I agree.

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It’s not common to get such a clear, sunny day in the Seattle area, and it was mesmerizing to drift along.

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There were eagles perched in the treetops,

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and, as promised by the poster back on the Chetzemoka, seals poked their heads curiously out of the water.

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The water was as still as glass,

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and I stopped to admire the hundreds of jellyfish.

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I thought they might have been laying eggs.

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The water around them was filled with tiny bits of something.

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My parents had moved on, and I paddled to catch up.

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There are jellyfish to bother back home in New York City,

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but just another week with my parents this summer,

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and lunch was waiting back on shore.

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