Port Angeles and Seattle have a strong connection with China.  China is so far away, not just geographically, but culturally and economically, most of us in Sequim and Port Angeles hardly give China a thought.  We’re going to be hearing a lot more from China in the years to come.  We already have growing ties with China, and it is all good.

Ryan Kent Smith of Sequim has been teaching in China for several years.  My own son, Jesse, competed in Chengdu, China four years ago in the World’s Strongman Contest.  Jesse told me that Chengdu was exploding throughout the city with enterprising businessmen.  Most recently, a client of mine who is buying property in Port Angeles, has a thriving trade show business in China.  Seattle has a sister city in Chongqing, China.  Economic relations between Washington state and China is building momentum as the Chinese economy escapes the grip of its past bondage.

A massive new U.S. Embassy, the second-largest in the world after the heavily fortified compound in Baghdad, formally opens in the Chinese capital this week, a testament to the depth and breadth of the ties binding us.  President Bush, who will be attending the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies Friday, will preside over the ribbon-cutting at the $434 million, 500,000-square-foot compound that same day.

The Olympics are bound to break a few more boundaries between us, and this is all good.

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The Bounty of the 18th Century arrived in Port Angeles.  We were fortunate to have visitors from sea, replicas of 300 year old ships.

Click on the photo for a beautiful enlargement.

In 1787, the Deptford Naval Yard in England was commissioned to re-fit the Bethia, a collier built in 1784 (in Hull), for a voyage to Tahiti.  Tahiti was the source for the breadfruit plant, which was to be used as a cheap source of food for the workers on the sugar cane and indigo plantations in the West Indies.

The Bounty’s voyage was to last 18 months.  Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, enlisted David Nelson, who was the botanist and gardener at Kew, and William Bligh to oversee her refitting as a floating garden.  This set the stage for the Mutiny on the Bounty.

The Bounty was built in 1960 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, from the keel up by the shipwrights of Smith & Rhuland Shipyard, following the original plans in the British Naval maritime Museum.  Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer studios commissioned the ship to be built at a cost of $750,000 to star in the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlin Brando (Fletcher Christian) and Trevor Howard (Captain Bligh).  Work began in February of 1960 and on august 27 of that year the ship set sail to begin primary filming in Tahiti.

The Bounty displaces 412 tons, includes 400,000 board feet of lumber (American Oak from New Jersey for the frames, Nova Scotia Black Spruce for the hull, and British Columbia Fir for the masts, yards and decks), 112 tons of screw bolts, 14 tons of bar iron, 2 1/2 tons of spikes, 1200 pounds of putty, 10 miles of line for rigging, 192 blocks for mechanical advantage, and over 10,000 square feet of hand-sewn canvas for the sails.  Bounty is 120 feet on deck, 180 feet overall, 114 feet off the water.  She has a 30-foot beam, a 13 foot draft, and 13 feet of freeboard.

I’m no pirate, but as a photographer, this was a great tour.

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You can take a Ferry from Port Angeles to beautiful Victoria, Canada, and you have a choice. You can take your car across on the big Ferry, or you can walk on the little Ferry. If you haven’t been to Victoria, you really are missing out. It’s a great place to spend the day sight seeing and shopping.

Photo by Chuck Marunde, Aug 2007.

Black Ball Transport Ferry “Coho”
The Coho provides year round vehicle and passenger service between Port Angeles and Victoria, B.C. Sailing time is approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes. The ferry arrives and departs from downtown Port Angeles to the inner harbor in Victoria. Reservations are accepted.

For more information on sailing times and fares, call (360) 457-4491 (Port Angeles), (250) 386-2202 (Victoria) or (206) 622-2222 (Bellevue).

Coho Ferry websites: www.ferrytovictoria.com or www.cohoferry.com

Victoria Express Passenger Ferry
The Victoria Express is a passenger only ferry with service between Port Angeles and Victoria, B.C. Sailing time is approximately 1 hour. Like the Coho, the Victoria Express arrives and departs from downtown Port Angeles to the inner harbor in Victoria.

Reservations are accepted and recommended in the summer. For more information on sailing times and fares, call (360) 452-8088 (Port Angeles), (250) 361-9144 (Victoria) or (800) 633-1589 (WA State only).

Victoria Express - http://www.victoriaexpress.com/

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I’ve assembled what I think is the best links for Port Angeles. At least this is a great place to start for nearly anything you want to know or find in P.A.

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