Echo Bay, Gilford Island, August 15 – 17, 2012; The Party Place

Echo Bay

 

Entering Echo Cove

Land!  I feel like Christopher Columbus discovering the United States, euphoric.  We can walk on something other than docks.  But we still don’t have Internet service and word has it that cell coverage is only sometimes available in the store’s ketchup aisle.  But never mind that, this is the famed Echo Bay of Pierre and Tova – they are like rock stars in the boating world,  known both for their Saturday night themed pig roasts and their flamboyant personalities.   This couple go out of their way to make you feel welcome and catered to.  And they attract not just boats, but yachts.  Several 100 ft. plus mega boats came here just to partake of the ambience.

The setting is upscale rustic.  We arrived just in time for the traditional Wednesday night prime rib dinner held at sunset in the newly built mess hall overlooking the bay.  No BYO appetizers here – well you do bring your own wine and utensils – and you best bring them early.  At 3 PM in the afternoon I spotted a woman from a neighboring boat marching to the mess hall with plates and silverware.  When I stopped to ask her about this she informed me that the protocol is to “reserve” your seat.  Nikki invited us to join her group so I gathered up the paper plates and headed out.  The room was set up with banquet tables and most spots had already been taken.  These are clearly veterans of this event – and no paper plates or plastic silverware here.  China and goblets are the order of the day…and placemats.   I scurried back to the boat to exchange my low rent eating utensils with the real deal and headed back up to claim our place.

Dinner is a fun experience - everyone remains seated until Tova waltzes  in and rhythmically claps her hands, at which point we clap back.  I feel like I’m part of a sorority and we’ve just done the secret handshake.  The meal is a feast of prime rib, salmon – always salmon – and a ton of side dishes.  I don’t even know where all this food was prepared as there is no restaurant here.  And this is only one of three weekly events; there is a Thursday night Italian Supper and of course, the fabled Saturday pig roast.  Running this place is real work.

We stay a couple of days and meet a fellow boater with one of those 110 ft. plus boats who really wants to tour our boat – now there’s a twist.  This guy has been serenading our dock in the evenings with his concert quality piano playing that drifts out of his yacht.  He looks just like Alec Baldwin and when I mention this he admits to having worked in Hollywood for 10 years doing, among other things, doubles for Baldwin and stunts for Schwarzenegger.  And looking at this guy, I get that.

View from Echo Cove

As wonderful as it is here, we must push on – we are running out of supplies, and by this I mean wine. I last provisioned in Ketchikan and  I can’t believe we made it all the way through Alaska without being short of anything and now, when we are in civilization, (although Jim claims this is an intermediary step to civilization) ,  our supplies are dwindling.   But I grab a cinnamon roll before I leave – it has the consistency of a Danish and despite seeing tons of cinnamon, it lacks any real flavor.  Definitely time to push on.



Fog Rolling In