Every year, I set the same two outdoor goals for myself: spend twenty nights in a tent, and do at least one outdoor activity per month, whether it be a day trip or camping, hiking or kayaking.
In 2017, I hit forty-two tent nights, easily satisfying the first goal. But my attempts to do an outdoor activity for the month of December 2017 had so far been thwarted by scheduling conflicts and dangerously icy logging roads in the mountains.
When a research project took me to the Port Orchard library at the end of the month, I jumped at the chance to finally get outdoors.
Port Orchard is on the south shore of Sinclair Inlet, Puget Sound, directly across from Naval Base Kitsap. I had heard it was possible to paddle a kayak up close to the aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines, but until now, I had never tried. I invited my dad along to come look at the big boats.
Route map. Sinclair Inlet is fairly sheltered from wind, and tides are only a minor factor.
There were many grebes and sea ducks in Sinclair Inlet, and I also got extremely good looks at a trio of Brandt’s cormorants from the ferry. The birds often formed rings, with the buffleheads and goldeneyes farthest inland, then the horned grebes farther out, then the red-necked grebes and scoters, and then finally the western grebes and alcids farthest from shore.
The main attraction, of course, was the ships. What an incredible display of firepower!
Horned grebe at Port Orchard. This is our most approachable species of grebe.
Aging Kitty Hawk. The Kitty Hawk was the last of the navy’s oil-burning aircraft carriers. All the modern ones use nuclear reactors for power. The Kitty Hawk had been decommissioned and would soon be scrapped.
Two fast combat support ships and a decommissioned missile frigate. The carriers require lots of protection and support while they are at sea. The frigate is the Rodney M. Davis, now decommissioned.
John C. Stennis. Signs on the docks said to stay 300 feet away from the ships, but when we approached the active carriers, a patrol boat came out and warned us to stay 300 yards away.
Nimitz, lead ship of her class and the oldest American carrier still in service. I like big boats and I cannot lie.
Decommissioned nuclear submarines. The active submarines are across the peninsula at Bangor.
Dad and two vehicle cargo ships. The ships’ ramps are for loading and unloading heavy armored vehicles. They are part of the navy’s fleet of force prepositioning ships.
Alex near Port Orchard boat ramp. Sinclair Inlet was surprisingly quiet and peaceful, considering the massive amount of military power that lives there.
The floats that held up the base’s security nets were swarming with male California sea lions. I counted at least seventy of these giant beasts, honking and barking at one another.
I love Puget Sound for this mixture of human and animal life. Sometimes, the shipyards workers and their equipment were louder than the sea lions; other times, the sea lions were louder than the humans.
Everybody was louder than dad and me. We just drifted past, taking in all the sights and sounds.
—Alex Sidles