Our first boat visitor...Chuck Schleich

Chuck Schleich arrive on June 16 for a weekend cruise...our first visitor!  He didn't get here until about 9:30 PM and was starving so we went looking for something to eat in La Conner.  Apparently the sidewalks get rolled up about 9 PM!  We would up having sandwiches at the Indian casino bar just outside Anacortes!  A first for us.


Friday morning, about 9:30 AM, we cast off and headed for Roche Harbor on the NW side of San Juan Island.  It's a long cruise, but a great way to see lots of lovely islands.  We even approached Roche through Mosquito Pass.  When we rented a Nordic Tug in 2009, we weren't "allowed" to take Mariah through there.  Well, we conquered it and did great!

Roche Harbor is a lovely marina and little town, very touristy and pretty.  We took a hike to the airport, and on the way back to the marina, stopped at the top of the hill and took this photo.  We're docked way to the right of the photo.  


We were up 'til almost midnight solving the world's problems and swapping lies!


Saturday morning we headed out again and went to Blind Bay on Lopez Island.

The structure on the other side of the Bay is the ferry dock on Shaw island.  Blind Bay was a lovely anchorage, but, as you can see, it was overcast.  We decided not to get the dinghy down on go cruising.  Rather, we stayed on the boat and had a marathon "Mexican Train" contest.  Didn't go to bed until 1:30 Sunday morning!  Unfortunately, it was windy all night so Jerry and I, whose  berth is in the bow, didn't sleep well.  The "wave slap" was very noisy and the swinging of the boat was something we weren't used to.  When we're back in La Conner, we'll pursue an anchor bridle and some swimming "noodles" to slow down the slap.


While we floated on the hook in Blind Bay, we watched a seal having breakfast. He (she?) floated on his back and ate fish after fish!  He was no more than 20 feet off the stern of the boat!


We left about 1100 Sunday morning and made our way back to La Conner through Thatcher Pass, between Blakeley and Decatur Islands.


It was a great weekend, and we're looking forward to lots more company!