La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

The Fourth of July was just fantastic! We had so many people contribute their time and efforts I can’t possibly name them all, but I will say our marina maintenance staff and dockhands were everywhere all the time and I could not have been more pleased with how they represented The Port of Skagit.

We see all types of travelers passing through the La Conner Marina and RV Park. One example is an RV couple who is trying to be out for an entire month. They want to see if they enjoy actually living on the road like this, but they want to try it out first. They need Wi-Fi to do some work during the week since they still have their day jobs, so our RV Park is a great place to set up camp for a bit. I hope they enjoy La Conner!

We have a very big yacht club coming in this week. They are out on a 10 day circuit, starting in Tacoma and going all the way up to Lopez Island, which sounds like a lot of fun! One of the benefits of yacht club membership is having the help and connections to organize these types of multi-day, multi-stop group excursions. It is a big group of boaters of all stripes and they are having a great time while they enjoy the fantastic cruising waters of Puget Sound and the San Juans.

We have a few dedicated crabbers going out into Skagit Bay. It is such an important part of boating for a lot of people. We have quite a few reservations after July 15 that were specifically made to take advantage of the crab season opening in the San Juans.

Maintenance tip: check your bilges often. Make sure there is no oil or oily waste sloshing around down there. If there is, clean it up and be absolutely sure your bilge pump does not activate until you do! Spilling oil with your bilge pump is dirty, bad for the environment and illegal, with significant fines awaiting in most cases. Additionally, if there is oil in your bilge, it came from somewhere it is supposed to be and it is no longer there. If it came out of your crankcase, you have a leak and that is a real problem. Get with your marine mechanic to get problems like this checked as quickly as you can.

See you on the Channel!