Smugglers Cove day two

Very pleasant night here last night. This morning I learned that our local assessors back home did not agree to my request to lower their appraisal on our home. They raised our appraisal 4.6% from last year, while all the data I have found shows 1.6% is the market increase. I have spent a lot of time in the past getting our appraisal to an accurate number, using free market analysis and then monitoring the data of what the market is doing. The appraisers have been within reason for several years, but not this year. So I sent a request to appeal to our City Clerk to forward to the Board of Review…. Then I went for a kayak ride around the cove here. Back to the boat for lunch. While getting ready to take the kayak to shore, I noticed a weird animal or something, swimming near C-Traveler. I got on my kayak to head over to shore to go hiking, but first stopped next to the snorkler to see what he was doing. We had a nice conversation, and I learned he had ridden his motorcycle in to the marine park here, put on his wet suit and was looking at the water life. He informed me that he had seen several large crabs, so after hiking around the park, I came back and dropped my crab pot in. Soon after starting my hike, Bill and Mike arrived around 1:30p. They reported a pretty bouncy ride out on the Strait. They got anchored and set up, then off they went to explore the cove in their Kaboats. During my hike, I looked for and found a geocache. There were some descriptive signs along the trail describing some of the plant life and early life here in the cove. Smugglers Cove was once the home of the “King of the Smugglers”. It derived its name from a time when “assisting” Chinese laborers across the border into the United States was profitable. Checking my crab pot this afternoon, I see I already have some crab in it. Looking forward to seeing how many are in it in the morning. Seeing the crabs cheered me up. Getting back on my kayak after my hike, my handheld marine radio must have fallen off the kayak, as it was gone before my next stop.Read more