Category Archives: Liveaboard Topics

EarthDay April 22nd, 2025

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As boaters, we have an especially close relationship to our environment-we live and play in it every day!  There are resources here for clean green boating.

To paraphrase Ghandi..”Be the change we want to see”.

The Starfish Parable:

One day, an old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one.

Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, “I’m saving these starfish, Sir”.  The old man chuckled aloud, “Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?”

The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the water and turning to the man, said, “I made a difference to that one!”

Spring is Here! Check out these upcoming events..

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4/12         Fisheries Supply Swap Meet (in their parking lot)

4/22         Earth Day

5/3           Opening Day Parade-Montlake Cut/Lake Washington

5/17         Syttende Mai Parade-Ballard, 24th&Market St, 6-8pm

5/16-18    Poulsbo Viking Fest-Liberty Bay, Poulsbo

5/24-25    Swiftsure International Race-Victoria, Canada

6/28       WA360mile -Sailboat Race around Puget Sound-Port Townsend

6/30          WA St. Registration Decals due

Weekly Sailboat Racing and Monthly Cruises-now through Aug-check out CYC and STYC for details and/or crew positions (links on this Shilshole Blog).

Fisheries Supply Swap Meet-April 12th

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Now is the time to start thinking about cleaning out your storage locker, your bilge, and your van and get those items down to the Fisheries Supply Swap Meet, Saturday, April 12th!  Get there early to get a parking/display spot.  You may also find the one thing you need (or don’t need but want) to bring home to the boat.  Get details here…

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/swap-meet

2025 Shilshole Sea Lion Deterrent Program

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In January 2025 the Port of Seattle started testing a new device to deter Sea Lions from the docks at Shilshole. Broox Ultrasonic Pest Repellent.

The port employees have put the devices in problem spots temporarily and moved them to new locations as needed.

The sea lines seem annoyed enough by the devices that they have spent more time on the seawall than the docks. An independent university researcher has reported that the seals were spending more time on the breakwater than the docks.

There is an internal presentation by a Port of Seattle employee documenting many of the deterrents that have been attempted in the past, as well as both the damage and dangers encountered. Hopefully it will be publicly shared as a resource available to other marinas dealing with similar issues.

Public Auto Charging at Port of Seattle

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To have a comparison with the public charging station in Ballard that I looked at on Friday I took pictures of the north facility at Shilshole.

Working device

One of the two devices has no charge cables. The second device had both charging points in use.

I took pictures of the charging state on each of the vehicles. The PoS devices charge by time plugged in. The Seattle charger I looked at seemed to charge by KWh. Charging by power delivered seems to make a lot more sense. I was trying to get an idea of how much power these devices can deliver.

I’m learning about electric vehicle economics right now.

It looks like each of these cars is charging at about 1 kWh / 10 minutes. Because the rate at PoS is based on time, $5 and 4 hours might get 30 kWh delivered. The rate at the Seattle charger in Ballard was listed at $0.21 / kWh, with a maximum parking time of four hours. If the charge speeds are the same, 30 kWh in Ballard would cost $6.30. While the pricing structure is different, at least PoS doesn’t appear to be more than nearby.

Please leave comments about how usable the system is and how often you have to wait for available chargers.

Public Auto Charging in Ballard

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Public Charger on 57th Ave east of 17th

While walking to the post office I noticed changes to the public charge point nearby. When the charge point was initially installed it had long cables hanging down to charge two cars at the parking spots on either side of the utility pole.

Retracted Cables

Today I initially thought that the cables had been stolen for $5 in copper. Then I noticed the standard plug up high and out of reach.

This design seems a great idea to reduce cable theft. I’d be interested in hearing from anyone that has experience with this system as to if it works well or otherwise. Simply not having the inactive cables stretched out on the ground seems like it would reduce wear, though the need for the motor to lower the cable on demand from the app is one more thing to go wrong.

For the Port of Seattle to install something like this would require moving the existing charging spots to be at the lighting poles or installing significantly taller poles at the current locations, but it’s the first real solution to cable thefts I’ve seen.

Shilshole Billing Update

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Accountants at the Port have been painstakingly connecting moorage payments to customer’s accounts manually for months to get caught up. They tested out billing with Fisherman’s Terminal recently and found a couple errors, but making progress. Shilshole Bills could be sent out as early as this Thursday the 20th.

Everyone should receive one bill with line items for each month plus utilities. Please check bills with your past payments to ensure accuracy.

No late fees or penalties will be issued for past months until March at the earliest.

Please be patient and courteous with staff if you see any errors. This hasn’t been easy for anyone involved and they’re working hard to get it right.

Welcome To Our New Neighbors!

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We have many new neighbors and families on our docks, so please introduce yourselves around!  We have a great community here at Shilshole and as liveaboards, we also provide a high level of security by knowing who should be on the docks and watching out for each other.

Get to know your dock captain and make sure he/she has your contact information for marina updates, security issues and upcoming events.  Ask questions if you are unsure about hazardous waste disposal, pumpout service, parking or pet issues.  And…please review the pages and links on this website for items of interest to us here at Shilshole.

Here’s some other helpful info…