South Pender- North Pender – Port Browning. June 30, July 1st, 2008

We left Poets Cove and went around the bend to Browning Harbor. It was much less crowded and we needed to anchor out so we did, if nothing else for the practice. It was only about 2 miles as the crow flies and there is a small channel. Since we were not in a big hurry and are exploring we went the long way around the island into Plumper Sound. Anchoring is a little different here. The water is much deeper 37 feet and there is a tide change of 8 to 12 feet. That means lots of rode gets deployed and the need to determine your swing radius to avoid other boats is sometimes challenging. We laid out 60 feet of chain and 120 feet of line for a total of 180 feet of rode. Port Browning is more our style. We took then dinghy to the local little marina and there is a pub with a restaurant. We got a late lunch about 3:30pm and met the local folks. We headed back to the boat and watched eagles and seals for the rest of the evening. The next day, July 1 was Canadian Independence day and we went to the little town in Pender. They had a local jazz trio and other events in the grass park in the center. It was great fun and we picked up a few more grocery items and headed back to the marina.

Reid Harbor to Canada- South Pender, Poets Cove- Pender Island Marine Park June 29th

We woke to a really nice day and in order to use our Nexus cards we were to call Canadian Customs Nexus number, 30 minutes to 1 hour before we could enter into Canada. That proved to be a challenge as cell phone coverage was inconsistent. So we spent about 45 minutes just circling in an area where we found we had cell coverage. One to let Canadian customs know our intent and estimated arrival time into South Pender Island and Poets Cove, and second to see if we could get an International calling plan added to either my phone or Alexus’ phone. We had done some unintentional “roaming” calling, while traveling through the Straight of Juan de Fuca, and it was upwards of 79 cents a minute…. Whoa!!!. We were able to add a plan to my phone via Verizon, but not to Alexus’ AT&T account. Off we went to Poets Cove in Canada on South Pender!!!! We pulled into the Customs area and it was a zoo. It was the weekend of Canada’s Independence day- July 1 and there were boats, dinghies, and kayaks everywhere. Alexus had been given number from Canadian Customs and told to display that on a large piece of paper in the boat. If no one from Customer came down to the boat in about 5 minutes we were OK to leave. Pulling in with all the traffic and people Alexus did a great job. It really was tight, too full of people celebrating and simply crazy with the resort traffic added in to the mess. We docked, waited about 15 minutes and no one came to the boat so we pulled out of there. It was very busy, there was no room at the floats or mooring balls so we thought we might end up anchoring out. Anchoring is OK; it is just messy when you leave as the chain has all kinds of junk on it. We also don’t sleep quite as well as we wake to check our position to make sure we are not dragging the anchor and drifting. We always set the GPS Anchor alarm and we have yet to have the boat drift.
We decided to see if we could find Neal and Eva and at least say Hi. As we found their boat and moved towards them another boat signaled that they would be leaving a mooring ball. What luck! We thanked them and ended up mooring right next to Neal and Eva. Like Washington, Canadian Parks are a deal, mooring balls run $10 per night. We “dingyed” over to Neal and Eva‘s boat and let them know we were here. We had not eaten so we took the dinghy over to Poets Cove Resort and had a good, but expensive lunch. Resorts are all the same, you pay too much for what you get. Anyway, we headed back to the boat and later that evening Neal and Eva stopped by and we shared travel plans. Ours were unclear, but Neal and Eva were off to an event that would occur on July 4th. I am sure we will run into them again, if not here in Canada, then in San Diego!
That night we had the most unusual experience. It was about 11pm and we had finished watching TV when a strong gust of wind came in at about 15 to 20 knots and blew for about 5 minutes. We had the Alameda Club burgee on the bow of the boat and it rattles and echoes through the boat when it is windy. Since we did not know if the wind would gust again or all night, Alexus went out to take down the burgee so we could sleep without the noise. She came back in the boat upset that someone in a sailboat had anchored about ten feet away. If they were that close, some time in the night we would swing into them or they into us. I went out with her taking our flashlights trying to get their attention, but to no avail. Alexus decided she needed to get in the dinghy and go knock on their boat and ask them to move. As she was heading back I watched the boat and told her I think they are drifting and not anchored at all. Sure enough, their bow started drifting towards us. I called to Alexus to get the boat hook so we could at least push them off as they came close. They were literally about two feet away as we pushed them off. Alexus used the boat hook to knock loudly on their hull a couple of times. Well that did the trick. A poor sleepy woman popped her head out of the hatch and we told her they were drifting. She disappeared and about two minutes later her boyfriend or husband came out and thanked us. He said they had been anchored since about 11am that morning so they started their motor and off they went to re-anchor. Given, the high tide and wind gust it was easy to see if they had not anchored well how they came to drift. They were not the only ones. There were flashlight and people calling out in other parts of the harbor. What a night.

Anacortes to Stuart Island – Reid Harbor June 27th

Well, the sea trials for the new auto pilot and Sea Tel TV Satellite went well and the guys at Anacortes Marine and Electrical were great. Thanks to Terry, Joe, and the two Bryans, we were ready to go and confident that all was well with the new equipment. Thank you Bryan senior for the loan of the truck as we need to return the first Sea Tel antenna that was incorrectly shipped. Such is life on a boat. Everything takes longer than expected, is more complicated and brings up more complexity than you would think possible. I really do love Anacortes and the folks at Cap Sante Marina, Dale and Willa are fantastic folks. Thanks to Willa we won’t be arrested at the Canadian border. We needed to remove all our wine and liquor that we moved to the boat from the house. You can only take two bottles into Canada. Willa agreed to store it in her garage until our return to Anacortes. Thanks Willa you saved us. And no, we would not be arrested, but probably would have to pay a significant duty fee. Given how late it was in the afternoon when we headed out from Anacortes, we did not think we would make Poets Cove in Canada and be ready for customs too. So we opted to stop in Reid Harbor in Stuart Island State Park. We had spent two days previously at Stuart Island, back on June 6th and had stayed in Prevost Harbor. It was very enjoyable so we decided to stay this time in Reid Harbor. It was so pleasant, we stayed for two days.

Anacortes – June 22 to June 26th

We spent the week in Anacortes having a new Simrad auto pilot and Sea Tel satellite TV antenna installed. The guys at Anacortes Marine Electrical were great and did their best to get the work done efficiently, on time and were simply great and friendly folks.
While we were there, we reconnected with Neal and Eva on their boat Kapalua, their home base is San Diego and they had their boat brought up via a boat transport system. Given the cost of fuel and time, the transport system is actually reasonable. Neal and Eva have a car and were nice enough to take Alexus back and forth to Radio Shack during the installation for odds and ends. They also invited us to go on a sightseeing trip with them. A security guard had told them of a local hilltop where you had a 360 degree view of the San Juan Islands. So off we went and we had a great time hiking the four spots and taking fantastic pictures. Thank you Neal and Eva!! We returned to town and had dinner and wonderful conversation and shared more boat stories with Neal and Eva at the Brown Lantern. Neal and Eva are heading up to Canada also, so if our install goes as planned, we may meet up with them there. As the next day came along we walked downtown to have lunch at a great little Italian Restaurant, Bellisima Tratorria. The owner Mary Anne and her sister were just charming and shared a great deal of information about Anacortes and the San Juan Islands. We have been giving our blog site and contact information to all the great folks we meet. If we are lucky enough to run into them again, they let us know they enjoy reading the blog. As we were having lunch, who should walk in but our Trawler Fest friends, Gerry and Douglas. We met the two of them last month when we drove to Anacortes and the Trawler Fest. At that time, Gerry and Douglas were looking to buy a Nordhavn, “Four Seasons”, that was open for viewing at the event. In fact we began calling it Gerry’s boat. We invited them to join us and discovered they had indeed bought Four Seasons!!!! Given the little ocean experience we have, a boat like the Nordhavn is exactly what you need to cross oceans safely and comfortably. I know they are nervous about having two boats at this time, but it seems that their having the Nordhavn Four Seasons was meant to be. I am confident they will have many adventures and stories to regale folks with about their travels on Four Seasons. She is a beautiful ocean crossing vessel.

Anacortes – June 22 to June 26th

We spent the week in Anacortes having a new Simrad auto pilot and Sea Tel satellite TV antenna installed. The guys at Anacortes Marine Electrical were great and did their best to get the work done efficiently, on time and were simply great and friendly folks.
While we were there, we reconnected with Neal and Eva on their boat Kapalua, their home base is San Diego and they had their boat brought up via a boat transport system. Given the cost of fuel and time, the transport system is actually reasonable. Neal and Eva have a car and were nice enough to take Alexus back and forth to Radio Shack during the installation for odds and ends. They also invited us to go on a sightseeing trip with them. A security guard had told them of a local hilltop where you had a 360 degree view of the San Juan Islands. So off we went and we had a great time hiking the four spots and taking fantastic pictures. Thank you Neal and Eva!! We returned to town and had dinner and wonderful conversation and shared more boat stories with Neal and Eva at the Brown Lantern. Neal and Eva are heading up to Canada also, so if our install goes as planned, we may meet up with them there. As the next day came along we walked downtown to have lunch at a great little Italian Restaurant, Bellisima Tratorria. The owner Mary Anne and her sister were just charming and shared a great deal of information about Anacortes and the San Juan Islands. We have been giving our blog site and contact information to all the great folks we meet. If we are lucky enough to run into them again, they let us know they enjoy reading the blog. As we were having lunch, who should walk in but our Trawler Fest friends, Gerry and Douglas. We met the two of them last month when we drove to Anacortes and the Trawler Fest. At that time, Gerry and Douglas were looking to buy a Nordhavn, “Four Seasons”, that was open for viewing at the event. In fact we began calling it Gerry’s boat. We invited them to join us and discovered they had indeed bought Four Seasons!!!! Given the little ocean experience we have, a boat like the Nordhavn is exactly what you need to cross oceans safely and comfortably. I know they are nervous about having two boats at this time, but it seems that their having the Nordhavn Four Seasons was meant to be. I am confident they will have many adventures and stories to regale folks with about their travels on Four Seasons. She is a beautiful ocean crossing vessel.

La Conner to Anacortes June 22, 2008

The cruise from La Conner to Anacortes is only about an hour and a half. We left La Conner in time for MK and Rachel to head back to Seattle so Rachel could catch her flight back to Denver. At Anacortes we were assigned dock slip C16 very close in and convenient. We said goodbye to Rachel and MK and were sad to see them go. It was great fun having company on the boat and exploring new places with good friends. Just as Alexus and I were walking back to the boat from the parking lot, Alexus received a call from Sam and Robert of the boat – Pier Pressure. We had not seen them since parting ways at the Columbia bar in Oregon as they headed into Portland. They were at the end of C dock and had walked down the dock and seen NuMoon. They knocked to see if we were home and then decided to give us a call. It was great to hear about their time in Portland and they stayed in LaPush on the way, which we did not. They are cruising to Seattle as Sam has some business to attend to and has to fly to Ohio and Robert will visit friends in Seattle. They will be back this way and are headed all the way to Juneau Alaska. So I am sure we will see them again along the way.

Coupeville to La Conner June 21st, 2008

We woke to another beautiful day. MK went for a run while the rest of us wandered around town and went to the local coffee place right on the dock. MK met us there and we had coffee and scones. MK and Rachel picked up some souvenirs for their family and we returned to NuMoon and set off for La Conner. To reach La Conner you travel through a narrow channel named Swinomish. It has high cliffs once you enter and the current moves fairly quickly, so you need to pay attention. It is not a long trip from Coupeville to La Conner, and in the channel the houses along the way, really, they are mansions and are phenomenal. The one in the picture had two huge eagle sculptures on the bluff below. La Conner is a cute town with lots of public docks, restaurants and art and fashion galleries and stores. We wandered the whole length of the town, visited another local museum and hit plenty of the shops. I must admit, owning the boat and having limited space, has curtailed much of my shopping desire. We simply have no place for fragile items and no space for anything other than a T shirt souvenir. Our entire trip, since we left California, I have been waiting to either catch, or at a restaurant eat, a whole Dungeness crab. We arrived before the crab season in Oregon and Washington. Washington’s crab season opens on July 2. So we were too early to try our own luck and use our new crab pot. Rachel had heard my lament and in all the restaurants helped me ask and look over the menu for fresh live crab. We spent all day wandering and returned to the boat in the early evening. MK and Rachel took off to go look at an item they thought they might get for one of their friends in Denver. In about 10 minutes Rachel came running back to the boat, she asked if we had a bucket or a plastic bag. I gave her the bucket we had and about 10 minutes later she came back with four live crabs. Not only were they live, fresh and just caught, she got all four for $10!!! Thank you Rachel!!!! I killed, cleaned and cooked the crab and we had a wonderful feast that night, much to the chagrin of our on board vegetarian MK. We retired for the night and I was extremely happy that finally after two months of sea travel and avoiding crab pots everywhere, that we had a friend from Denver find our first live crab.

Hope Island to Coupeville June 20th – Meeting up with Carolyn, Clyde and Sunny

Day two for MK and Rachel, whereas Alexus and I have been on the boat now since May 8th, almost two months. For us it has gone fast and other than our “Point Reyes” experience, life on the boat has been very enjoyable. After a fun night at Hope Island we set off for Coupeville. We planned to meet Clyde and Carolyn at Toby’s Tavern in Coupeville, as the area of Penn Cove is known for it wonderful tasting mussels. The area around the cove was literally filled with crab pots and crab boats. It was like a slalom course the boat was taking to avoid them. As we entered the cove we saw that Clyde and Carolyn had anchored out. Since we had the four of us on NuMoon, and we knew we would be off and on, we chose to tie up at the dock. The tide was going out as we pulled into the dock and Clyde came out to greet us. He had said they had just moved their boat from the dock as they draw about 6 feet as compared to our 3.8 feet. So we tied up at the far end of dock where it was deepest. We spent the day walking around Coupeville, checking the little stores and museums. The evening when we met Carolyn and Clyde at Toby’s Tavern, we shared life and boat stories. Three of the women were pilots, Carolyn, Rachel and Alexus, quite unusual. We laughed together, enjoyed the mussels and other food stuff and drank much more wine than we ever should have. We came back Numoon, spilled some wine and laughed more. Clyde and Carolyn gave MK and Rachel a list of interesting, quirky and fun places to see in Seattle and by then it was getting late and folks were getting sleepy. We said goodbye to Clyde and Carolyn as they are heading to Seattle now and then on to Canada. We all promised to keep in touch.

Anacortes to Hope Island June 19th, 2008

The four of us, Alexus, Rachel, MK (Mary Katherine) and myself, left Anacortes around 2pm and headed out the Guemes Channel and turned inside of Burrows Island through Burrows Bay and into the Northwest Pass and on to Deception Pass. Deception Pass is where the Straights of Juan de Fuca and Rosario intersect. This is an area where massive amounts of water meet. We would be going there on a flood tide. The pass itself is only about 200 yards wide. Previously we had been there by car and had taken pictures from the bridge. We could see the speed of the current then. Now we would be entering into the pass and taking pictures of the bridge from the water. As we entered the pass by water, we picked up speed and made 11.7 knots, unbelievable for us. The water created significant whirlpools that made navigation a challenge in the small pass, but Alexus handled it well. It would not be a good place to go overboard with all the currents and whirlpools.
We thought we might stay at Cornet Bay, but when we looked it over, Hope Island State park seemed more attractive. In fact as we were passing it, Alexus received a text from Carolyn saying as much and letting us know they were in Coupeville and looking forward to meeting us there.
There were four mooring bouys at Hope Island and we tried our hand at fishing. MK the vegetarian was lucky enough to snag Kelp, but the rest of us had to make due with hotdogs and of course our barbeque favorite dessert, S’moores! That evening we saw bald eagles and we captivated by the sound of coyotes calling in the quite on Hope Island. It was a very peaceful night after a fun, but short first day.

Anacortes June 19th Rachel and MK Join Us

We completed all our tasks for the Nexus card and had returned the car and were getting ready to leave Anacortes in the afternoon and head for some locations south of Anacortes. Alexus had finally given up on the dish and caved in to her TV desire and arranged to have a SeaTel dish installed. It will be nice to have TV, but I don’t want her to know that as we have been reading and doing more computer things and we simply survived quite well without TV all this time. We were going to have the work done early next week in Anacortes and we also needed a new auto pilot as our remote on the fly bridge had died after we got into the San Juans. We used the auto pilot a great deal at sea, as it kept us on course with the wind and seas. We also knew it meant staying about four to five more days in Anacortes next week, but it is a great marina and a good place to walk so we were both up for the change in not traveling daily for a while. As we were heading back to the boat to leave, Alexus got a phone call and guess what! Rachel and MK were in Seattle, they had completed a great deal of their move in activities and due to a pet action, “Thank you Ripley” were headed back from the airport. We told them we were in Anacortes and that in less than two hours they could join us on the boat and spend until Sunday when Rachel had to fly back to Denver. They agreed and were on their way. We had also heard from Clyde and Carolyn and had agreed to meet them in Coupeville at Toby’s Bar for excellent Penn Cove mussels. The weekend was set!

Obstruction Pass to Anacortes June 16th to June 18th, 2008

We left Obstruction Pass and made our way to Anacortes. We had been to Anacortes by car for “Trawler Fest”, when we left NuMoon in Coos Bay Oregon due to weather. It felt like returning to home. Anacortes is a small town of about 5000 people. Much of the activity is focused on boating and fishing and is part of Fidalgo Island. I think for us it felt a great deal like Alameda in California where we had kept our boat. We needed to rent a car again and drive up to Blaine for our Nexus interview at the customs office. A Nexus card allows you to easily go between the US and Canada by calling into a number rather than reporting in to a port. Since we will be going back and forth, we thought it was worth it. The cruise to Anacortes was uneventful and pleasant. We traveled down the west side of Blakely Island, through Thatcher pass and took a small detour around James Island to check out the state park there. We crossed Rosario Straight into Guemes Channel and around the north east portion of Fidalgo Island to Cap Sante Marina. Cap Sante is a great marina, new and a good place to leave the boat while we drive up and back to Blaine for our interview. Anacortes is a cute and efficient town with everything within walking distance. So we do walk everywhere.

I thought it might be fun to add this link of an interactive Google map of the San Juan Islands and everywhere we have been in the boat. It does allow us to mark where we have been. Enjoy exploring! If the link does not work for you. You may have to copy it and paste it into your browser.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=112591290979354503478.00045087da79697dcfb51&ll=48.407326,-123.469849&spn=1.126783,2.765808&z=9

Sucia Island to Obstruction Pass – Orcas Island June 15th , 2008

After spending three great days on Sucia Island hiking, exploring by dinghy and meeting Clyde and Carolyn, it was time to move on to the next location. So we went around the east side of Orcas Island, still hoping to see Orcas, but they were busy that day in another area evidently. We rounded the coast of Orcas via Rosario Straight through Obstruction Pass on the south east end of Orcas, between Obstruction Island and then on to Obstruction Pass State Park. It was a beautiful and amazingly protected little mooring spot that gave us a view of Lopez and Shaw Islands and Upright Channel. In the far distance, we watched the big transport ferries go back and forth between Orcas and Lopez and Shaw Islands. Via texting we heard from Carolyn and Clyde that they were headed for Rosario Resort, north of us, also on Orcas Island. We took the dinghy and went around the bend to a little place called Lieber Haven. Alexus swore she heard banjos here. I agree it was a little unusual, but once again the people were warm and gracious. As we walked up to the little store in front of concrete block cabins there sat about six folks who did give us the look of you are not from here. We asked if the store was open and one woman said it can be if you want and she went and opened a small store that was well stocked given the location and number of folks around. She told us that she and her husband, a concert pianist, who built the schooner in the picture, sailed around the world before settling on Orcas and creating Lieber Haven. We picked up a few things and headed back to the boat to enjoy the day.

Sucia Island – Flora and Fauna June 14th, 2008

While hiking around Sucia Island we see the normal fauna of birds; Bald Eagles, Ravens, Finches, Jays, and deer, but we also see other type of animals/ insects/ bugs. The island had a number or large slugs as you can see in the picture. In the flora department, they have wild roses, mostly pink everywhere. As wild roses they are very fragrant and have the more open blooms. We have seen otters, dolphins, but as of today…. still no killer whales or Orcas.

Echo Bay to Fossil Bay – Sucia Island June 13th, 14th, 2008

After a rocky rolling night in Echo Bay we decided to moor out in Fossil Bay. We towed the dinghy around the corner and were lucky enough to moor fairly deep into the bay. We spent the next two days hiking and taking the dinghy into all the little inlets and coves. Alexus talked me into a long dinghy ride over to where they have a dive park. It was a little bumpy on the way there, but the hike was worth the ride and it was very smooth on the way back. We were also lucky enough to have our first real fire pit weenie roast and “smoore” campfire. Fossil Bay is where we also met Carolyn, Clyde and Sunny! They have a beautiful sailboat and with another couple they had met, we had a boat progressive dinner night moving from their sailboat to our boat. After much wine, good food, conversation and great stories, and trading of contact information, everyone headed home for the night. The aft swim deck looked like a dinghy parking lot , it was a sight to see.

W. Sound Orcas Island to Sucia Island- Echo Bay June 12th

We left Orcas Island YC dock and our new friends from the Capital City Yacht Club and headed to Sucia Island. None of these are great distances as compared to what we had been doing in the ocean travel. It only takes two to three hours, sometimes less to get to the next destination point. We have been staying – mooring- in Washington State Parks. They are beautiful and with the annual pass we bought, very inexpensive. They are only $10 per night and with the pass we don’t have to worry about correct change and we will definitely get our moneys worth, and have already. It is also so much easier to moor out than to dock. Sucia Island looks like a hand and has four fingers of water you can travel in and it has a couple of coves. It is about 3 miles square and is forested, has a dive park, a float for docking and upwards of 20 plus mooring balls spread across the fingers that make up the island. We hiked all over that island in the three days we stayed there. We actually moved from one finger –Echo Bay, to one further south, Fossil bay. Echo Bay was like a bay, very open to wind and current, but the length of the finger mitigated the impact. We stayed there one day and that night the swells were so bad we had to secure things we had not secured since leaving the ocean. We decided to try Fossil bay since it was much more narrow and just as deep.

General Comment – Weather in Washington

I know it seems like we have been complaining about the weather. That maybe…..just maybe we are spoiled California kids…. However, I wanted to share the front page of the Seattle Times – even the locals are restless about the lack of warmth at this time of year. Seattle was colder than Fairbanks Alaska, International Falls Minnesota, Olso Norway, Portland Maine and Tomsk Siberia in Russia!!! So just maybe we aren’t being big “wusses”, just cold, along with the locals.

Friday Harbor to West Sound Marina- Orcas Island Yacht Club June 11th,, 2008

We woke to some sun and as the day progressed it stayed partly cloudy with out rain. Yea!! We pretty much circumnavigated Orcas Island checking out the marine state parks as we went. The weather was simply dismal, gray sea and gray skies. So we decided to visit the Orcas Island Yacht Club. Well there was no one at the club, but the British Columbia, Capital City Yacht Club was there and we docked with them. They were a wonderful group of folks with some beautiful boats- Chris Crafts and others. They shared stories about cruises they had taken and gave us great tips about making it to Princess Louisa Inlet and Desolation Sound. We were not sure if we would go that far north into Canada, but everyone keeps saying if went have come this far, the scenery there is spectacular with waterfalls and tight canyons, something we should not miss. So, when we head over to Canada and Victoria, we will make it a point to stop at the Capital City Yacht Club. The day was overcast and we enjoyed meeting the folks from Capital City, they made the day much brighter. The next morning we walked over to the small marina as the depth sounder was working intermittently. We have charts, but pulling in to some of the State Parks and mooring up, the depth sounder makes life a little more comfortable. They were able to have someone come over within the hour to pull the plug and take a look at it. This is something that makes me nervous, as you take it out via a through hull and we are in the water. There is a plug and you simply put the plug in to stop the water coming in. The tech came over and did the work with Alexus watching. I could not watch water come in to the boat through the hull, way to scary. Alexus said the water really came barreling in, especially for a hole an inch and a quarter in diameter, but it was what she had expected after talking to Dan, our local technician. Dan was confident Alexus could do it herself, but it is better to watch someone the first time. I am confident Alexus could check it too, I did peek a little when he replaced the speed wheel, but it was still a little unnerving for me see the water come in to the boat like that.

Roche Harbor to Friday Harbor June 10th, 2008

Well we did not get even mediocre weather. It was pouring so we went back to Friday harbor as a Yacht club member, if there is space the reciprocal allows us to stay for 24 hours for free and just pay $6.00 for electricity, which is a great deal. Especially given the stay we just had at Roche Harbor. Even in the rain there is more to walk around and see at Friday harbor, so off we went. I picked up the Seattle times because the front page was priceless. This area was colder than Siberia!!! Well it was still pouring rain, not sprinkling, pouring so we went bowling, yep, bowling. Neither of us had been bowling in 20+ years so it was fun and a good way to spend a very rainy day. Tomorrow, no matter what, we head to a state park and see if the weather stays cloudy without rain.

Stuart Island to Roche Harbor June 8th, 9th, 2008

We left Stuart Island and the sky was still cloudy, but not raining at that time. It was a short ride to Roche Harbor. Roche Harbor is a resort type marina, it is expensive, like staying at a hotel, but you get to use all the aspects of the resort. They have tennis courts, a pool and a couple of decent restaurants. There is not much to the town of Roche Harbor other than the resort. It used to be a lime quarry and there are a number of ruins, like the lime kilns and some of the early machinery. It rained off and on so we just took our umbrellas everywhere we walked. Our boat friends would like the docking experience, you stern in to large single finger slips that have two boats side by side. Alexus did a great job backing into the single finger slip and very adeptly avoided bumping the boat next door. The other good thing is that the resort has dock hands running all over the place and they took the lines tied us off and helped connect the power. It was kind of like bell boy service at a hotel. We went into the resort restaurant and since the weather was minimally good with some sun, but windy and cool we decided to sit outside. There were about 10 people sitting outside in the sun with those outdoor heaters all turned up high. They had a young woman there performing, a singer,songwriter, guitar player, she was very engaging and professional given the small audience size. By the time she took her break, Alexus and I were the only ones left on the patio, so we invited her to sit with us. Her name is Devorah and she just had a second CD released and is close to a label deal. We had a great time chatting and laughing and Alexus told her about Nikki and Erika, and Devorah shared her head shot and gave us an autographed CD. She is very petite like Nikki and we told her about Nikki’s shoe modeling and she just died and was amazed, then said if Nikki ever wanted to get rid of any of her shoes to send them to her as she is also wears size 6 shoes. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the resort and at the spa, made an appointment for a massage the next day at 2pm. The next day June 9th it was raining and raining hard so we spent most of the day in the boat until our spa appointment. The spa is new, very clean with a pleasant décor. We arrived a little before our appointment and we used the stream room, relaxation room and enjoyed the hot showers and finally the massage. I took three hot showers in a 3 hour period. Our boat friends will appreciate the luxury of standing in a hot shower longer than the short, military like, boat showers we are used to where we conserve our water. We had a nice dinner at the restaurant McMillian’s ,named for the original owner of the resort and retired early since a hard rain had started up again. We hope to make another marine state park tomorrow if the weather clears.

Stuart Island - Prevost Harbor June 7

We had a nice breakfast and took the dinghy over to the dock on the island. The weather was less sunny than yesterday, but at least it wasn’t raining. We hiked over to the other side of the island , which is Reid Harbor, then we hiked up to the one room schoolhouse and settlement area of Stuart Island. The people on the island are completely self- sufficient, no electricity or water, so many of them have solar, propane, wells and catch water and of course cell phones. There is only one short county road on the island that runs from the Harbors to a small light house. Alexus took a trip down memory lane when she saw the one room school house and one room library. The school was operational from the late 1800’s until a few years ago when they built a new schoolhouse. There was no school this year, but they will start up again in September 2008 when two students will be attending. The area around the school was simply beautiful, with ferns, deer, birds, and extremely peaceful. There was a honor system “Stuart Island “ Treasure chest that you could buy T-shirts, postcards and then mail them a check. It was a very different feel than the hustle and bustle of our world off this island. After our hike we were thinking it would be fun to do a weenie roast over one of the fire pits on the island, but it was a little cool and it meant going back to the boat in the dinghy loading up the food and drink, getting back in the dinghy, collecting firewood and starting a fire. We decided it would be just as nice given the weather, to do a weenie roast on our back deck and just use the barbeque, so we did.

Stuart Island State Park June 6th, 2008

There are simply hundreds of little and larger islands in the San Juans. We wanted to get away from the marinas and find a place to moor out for a day or two. Many of Washington’s State parks have small docks, floats, mooring bouys, and something we had not seen before, in line mooring. Alexus found a great island called Stuart Island and it was a state park. So we left Friday Harbor on a nice sunny day, (Yea!), and headed to Stuart Island to check out Reid Harbor and Prevost Harbor. We left Friday harbor after 1pm as we were waiting for our next mail delivery. Thanks to a wonderful person, Ava at UPS in Alameda, we have been able to keep up with our mail. We may not exactly be next day, but we are only about a week to a week and a half in getting our mail delivered to us, wherever we may be. Alexus had her bills set up as autopay, and I have done much of the same. It is very easy to manage all other business via e-mail. We got to Reed Harbor and it was very pleasant with trees and a beach, a small dock and mooring bouys, but we wanted to see Provost harbor so we went around to the east side of the island and it was just so peaceful, beautiful and there was less wind. So we we moored out,brought the dinghy down put it in the water, and spent two days in the Harbor and on the little island.

Friday Harbor 3 days of Intermittent Rain June 3, 4, 5th

Except for the intermittent rain, Friday Harbor is a great little town on the island of San Juan. Yea!!! We made it to the San Juan Islands!!! It has a nice and somewhat busy marina. It is only 1.5 hours from the mainland and passenger /car/truck transport ferries stop here about 8 times per day. Friday Harbor is considered a large island town with gift shops, restaurants and a small movie theatre, one grocery store, etc… Since for our next stop, we wanted to anchor our, we decided to see if the weather would clear before we left Friday Harbor. You will see from the pictures we had some sun, but mostly showers and overcast. We met some very friendly folks, Jane and Ed from the Capital City Yacht Club in British Columbia, who were on a cruise out with members of their club. We shared travel stories and promised we would try and make it to the Canadian side of the water and the Gulf Islands. Given the rainy weather, it was a good opportunity to change our travel pace, go to a movie and just enjoy the small town. It is small enough that we could walk everywhere and did not need the bikes. In fact we saw two movies, Sex and the City and Indian Jones. Sex in the City was good if you had watched the series. Alexus thought it was the best movie we have seen this year. Indian Jones on the other hand, I would not recommend. It had no plot and seemed to be set up to make a video game out of then movie after its release. Again we enjoyed the charm of Friday Harbor and were hoping for a break in the weather.

Sequim Bay to Friday Harbor June 3rd

June 3rd we woke to more rain and decided to spend a good four hour part of the day cruising to Friday Harbor. To get there we had to cross intersection of vessel traffic for the Straights of San Juan, Rosario and Haro. The weather, although raining and slightly foggy, had no wind, which means a fairly mild sea. We also wanted to time our entrance into "Middle Channel" between Cattle Point on the island of San Juan and Point Davis on Lopez Island to a flood tide. This channel is about 3/4 of a mile wide and the currents in some of these passes can reach 15 to 18 knots. (3 to 4 times faster than we can go) As the water is funneled through these small channels it picks up significant velocity and you need to be cautious or you run aground or into trouble. We started off knowing it would be 4 hours in light fog and rain, carefully watching our radar and AIS systems. Boating in the delta and bay area has provided us some good experience. We are used to cargo ships, high speed and tour ferries, with plenty of pleasure craft thrown in. It is early in the season here and there is so much more space, monitoring vessel traffic has not been any more of a challenge than in the bay. On the way to Friday harbor, we did have a couple of interesting experiences. We saw some strange blip formations on the radar as we headed across the straight. We could tell the direction, so using the binoculars I watched that area while Alexus watched the radar and AIS. (AIS stands for automatic identification system and all commercial ships must have it.) AIS allows us to see what kind of ship they are, how fast they are going and most importantly where they are. There was nothing showing on the AIS, but the blips kept showing on the radar. You will see the picture here. As they came closer out of the fog, with binoculars, we could see five escort ships and a submarine. Being naval ships was the big reason they were not showing in AIS, but were on the radar screen. They were moving slow, were far to the west and would pass behind us unto Admiralty Inlet which has a large naval operations center. The next interesting event was moving through the channel at Cattle Point. The channel is well marked and by the time we reached it about 2 hours later the visibility had improved. What was fun for us, is that on a flood tide we were hitting about 11 to 11.5 knots through the channel. We get excited when we get to go a little faster, it is a pleasure, saves fuel and is just plan old fun!! We got into Friday Harbor late afternoon and ended up spending three nights there. More about Friday Harbor in the next post.

Port Angeles to Sequim (Squim) Bay

On June 2nd, we left Port Angeles heading to Sequim Bay. It is pronounced "squim", although that took some getting used to. It was a short four hour cruise eastward, down the Straight of Juan De Fuca. It was cloudy, light fog, overcast and rain off and on, but no wind and the water in the straight was very calm. We rounded Dungeness Bay, which I learned was named for a person, named Dungeness not for the crab, and we could see the entrance to Sequim Bay. The marina there is named after John Wayne the actor. John Wayne had an old navy mine sweeper converted to a pleasure craft and he spent a great deal of time and owned property in Sequim Bay. The family gave the property to the state on the condition that they maintain a marina. It is a very nice marina, with a Yacht Club, Restaurant, (that everyone told us about, but was closed the day we were there), and the town is within biking, not walking distance. Early that afternoon, it semi-cleared up and we rode our bikes into town looking for a hardware store and a marine supply store. Every stop we make, we are still looking for a replacement cap for our deck anchor locker, that we lost coming around Point Reyes. (our big, weather, wind, wave, boat capability and personal tolerance learning event) We found a hardware store about three miles into town and met some folks who also boat and saw our folding bikes. They had some that they took to Europe and rode all over Europe in them. They told us of a restaurant a couple miles further called Cedar Creek, that was very nice and they recommended. So we took off to find the restaurant, unfortunately, we got there at 4:30 and they did not open until 5pm, but since we had now walked and biked over 5 miles, I convinced Alexus it would take us thirty minutes to ride to find another restaurant that was open So we waited and it was worth the wait. By the time we finished dinner it was about 7pm, gotten colder and was sprinkling again, so… good thing the bikes fold up. We called a cab for the ride back to the marina. We have learned that everything from a marina is uphill, no matter where you go from the water or the boat it will be uphill. Makes sense given we travel at sea level!!!

Neah Bay to Port Angeles

Neah Bay to Port Angeles was a welcome 4 hour ride of no ocean. There is current in the Straight of San Juan de Fuca and plenty of traffic. But, it really is no different than the bay area with freighters, high speed ferries and the Angel Island and bay large tour ferries. Since we are used to all of that in a much smaller space, the San Juan straight felt like home. We will stay here one day and head on the Sequim (pronounced Squim)Bay and stay at John Wayne Marina.

Grays Harbor to Neah Bay

We left at "0" dark thirty to start our 14 hour day to Neah Bay. The skies were overcast, seas were 3 feet at 12 seconds, but the wind was 15-20 knots of the the north west creating chop the whole way. Not bad chop, but like a slightly choppy day on the SF Bay. We got to Neah Bay without an incident. The fuel filter change in Grays Harbor did the trick. No issues with either engine!!!We pulled into the Straight of San Juan De Fuca and were finally off the ocean. The light house on Cape Flattery is a beautiful sight and a welcome one. It means we stop our travel and start our cruising. Although current, winds and tides are still critical, there will be islands and bays to take shelter in. Along the way into the straight we saw birds called Tuffted Puffins and at Neah Bay a bald eagle picked a fish out of the water about 20 yards from us. Two great sights for a birder!!! We pulled into Neah Bay at 7:45pm and it was about 8:45 when we finished tying up and messing with the the power on the dock. We walked over to the Big Salmon Marina which is on an Indian Reservation and they said the only place open was "The shack" across from the mini mart so we started walking. It really is a shack, but the food was fine. It is hard to ruin a burger, or breakfast for that matter. Anyway we walked back ate our burger and turned in for the night. Tomorrow we head to Port Angeles.