On our last day in Arcata, we decided to go for a cruise on the Humboldt Bay aboard the Madeket, which is the oldest Coast Guard inspected vessel in continuous service in the US, according to our captain. It was originally a ferry to get people from the mainland to the islands in the Bay or across it. Now it’s a tour boat docked in Eureka. It was a perfect day for a boat ride - sunny and warm with almost no residual fog by the time we disembarked.
We saw a lot of sea birds, including Ospreys, Cormorants, Pelicans, and Egrets,, some impressive orange jellyfish and a seal or two (sadly, the seal and jellies eluded my attempts to photograph them).
The egrets were nesting in a grove of trees - Jo says sometimes there are so many that it looks like snow on the trees from a distance.
After the cruise, we returned home to feed the animals and change. Then we were off to the Hatchet House Arcata, which we remembered fondly from our last visit. We again decided to go in the afternoon before the drinking crowd arrives ((hatchets and booze - what could go wrong with that?).
Let’s just say that the hatchet leagues will not be recruiting us at this point, but we had a good time. Jo was the most practiced and most skilled. You’ll notice my picture demonstrates that I got the axe into the wall, but not how close (far) it was from the target (I’ll let you draw your own conclusions). Good fun though.
That evening, Jo pulled out some photos she took of us in college days. Here are two from 1977
