Time to Catch Up!

We’ve had such a busy time cruising with company that I’ve fallen miserably behind in my blog.  So, sit down and get comfy, because I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!

Since I last wrote, we did a couple of day cruises with friends before family arrived for longer trips.  The first was with Dale and Anita Neifert on Sunday, August 15.  Dale is a professional boat captain and Anita is the chef, first mate, and all around support.  Jerry and Dale huddled in the pilothouse, going over electronics, computers, and controls, while Anita and I discussed all the nuances of cruising.  We covered sites to visit, how to store food, do’s and don’ts of boat maintenance and so many other things.  They both gave us invaluable information!  When our brains were full, we cruised down to the entrance to Deception Pass during a beautiful, sunny afternoon.

Some of Anita’s pearls:  storing fruits and vegetables for a long cruise can be challenging, given limited refrigerator space.  She stores the “sturdier” produce in plastic crates (you know the ones that are portable file boxes) in a cool spot.  What a great idea for storage in our lazarette!  She also suggested that boxes of mixes, etc. be removed from all packaging and placed in zip lock bags, with just the directions inside.  That will sure cut down on the trash to be dealt with.  

She had great advice on clearing customs going through Canada and both Dale and Anita suggested we go through customs at Tsehum Harbor, just north of Sidney, BC.  Anita also suggested to places to anchor with our company.  You’ll hear more about these spots in a little while, because they were fabulous:  Shallow Bay on Sucia Island and Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island.

On Monday, August 16, Dick Shirk and Vicki Stasch joined us for a day of circumnavigation of Fidalgo Island.  Dick is a retired COS professor, having departed to the Northwest about five years ago.  Vicki did some consulting work with a COS committee on which I served last spring and she and I plotted then about a get together on our boat this summer.  As they boarded, Dick said, “Do you know what day this is?”  Of course I did!  The day classes resumed at COS.  I was excited to be going out on the water with friends rather than starting another year of nursing instruction.  “Nope,” says Dick, “That’s very cool, but this is Vicki’s birthday.” (I’ll let her tell you how old she is!)  

We had a beautiful day on the water and, unlike the last time we tried this cruise, we had beautiful sunny weather, rather than fog on the west side of Fidalgo between Flounder Bay and Deception Pass.  The photo of Vicki shows our approach to Deception Pass from Rosario Strait.We anchored in a bight (yep, gotta figure out these nautical terms one of these days) off of Burrows Island for lunch and had beautiful views of the west side of Anacortes.

Tuesday, August 17, our daughter, Jill, and her boyfriend, Bob Kluck, flew into Bellingham, WA.  We cruised over to meet them, so we’d be ready to take off for the San Juans the next day.  Anita and I had plotted out the whole itinerary and we had great plans, and wanted to show them the best of the San Juans, since they would only be with us until Sunday. 

Jill, ever-watchful, spotted this orca right there in Bellingham Harbor, and we were hopeful that we’d see many, many more before they left. 

Wednesday morning we departed Bellingham at the amazingly early hour of 11 AM (“boat time” is an amazing thing!) and headed for Shallow Bay on Sucia Island.  On our way we “grabbed a buoy” off of Clark Island so that we could all relax and have lunch.  This was a great spot and the water was so clear we could see the eel grass growing up from the bottom!  We quickly got Bob oriented to piloting the boat and Jill easily settled in as well!   As you can see, it was a good thing we had cell phone and internet service as we cruised!

We’d been to Sucia Island before…with Jim and Chris Much a year and a half ago and with Jim and Maxine a couple of weeks ago.  Both of those times, we’d anchored in Echo Bay, on the northeast side of Sucia.  This time we dropped anchor in Shallow Bay, on the west side of the island.  The bay has a fairly narrow entry, as you can see from the red and green buoys, but no problem!  We soon found good anchorage and got the dinghy down from the boat deck to explore the island.  We found a pretty walk over Lawson Bluff on the northwest side of the island.  We had our eyes peeled for orcas, but no such luck!

We were back on the boat deck in time for cocktails and beer, as we watched the sun go down.  Anita was right.  It was an amazing sunset and we’d recommended this anchorage to anyone!  The only downside is that it opens to the west, so any waves or winds out of the west come right in to this little bay.  Our boat does get enough “bow slap” (waves breaking against the bow) to disturb my sleep, since our cabin is in the bow of the boat.  Consequently I was up early…5 AM…the next morning.  It almost felt like I was back at COS getting ready for work!  L

After breakfast on Thursday we took a little cruise across Boundary Pass to Poet’s Cove on South Pender Island in British Columbia.  Although we did not plan to stop, we wanted to see what this custom’s check in point looked like.  A quick look and we were off again to our next anchorage at Prevost harbor on Stuart Island.  In the past we’ve dropped anchor in Reid Harbor, on the island’s southeast side, so it was fun to explore a new anchorage on the north side of the island.  Once again, we unloaded the dinghy and explored the island.  We hiked to the schoolhouse and museum, a couple of miles from the harbor…down and up one giant hill.  We think it’s really important to get ofr the boat and walk every day, if we can, otherwise, cabin fever will set in quickly.  Our weather was beautiful and it was lovely walking through the forest.

Back on the boat, we BBQ’d dinner and watched the harbor seals swim around the boat.  What a pretty spot!  After a noisey night the night before, this anchorage was perfect.  We had lovely flat water and a great night’s sleep.

Friday brought another sunny, beautiful day and we were off to Haro Strait, by way of Johns Pass, to search for orcas.  We hunted, called, searched, and cruised but nope!  No orcas today.  

We boated through Mosquito Pass and past Roche Harbor on San Juan Island and pulled into Rosario Resort on Orcas island about 2 PM.  Bob’s birthday was the day before (I’ll let him tell you how old he is, too!) but I couldn’t get reservations at Rosario on Thursday night.  We explored the resort and listened to the organ concert/history lecture of the resort.  Dinner in the resort dining room was, well, interesting.  Bob’s dinner included homemade fennel-flavored ramen noodles!  Yikes!  We did have a great carrot-birthday cake, though.

Saturday morning we were up and off at our usual late morning departure.  We cruised up to the north end of East Sound, hoping to see a place to anchor or tie up so we could explore the little town there.  No luck, though.  The dock was a mess and it was too choppy to anchor and dinghy into town.  So, we headed back to La Conner.  Crossing Rosario Strait was a chance to tune up our radar skills since it was VERY foggy.  No problems, though...this boat is amazing!

We had Jill and Bob back at the Bellingham airport Sunday afternoon, after touring around Anacortes et al a little bit.  What a great visit...hard to see them go!