Erin made pancakes this morning, with some turkey bacon on the side. “Shall I put the leftover corn in the batter?”, she said. My puzzled look elicited the further explanation “When we were growing up, all sorts of leftovers went into the pancake batter.” I can report that the corn pancakes were excellent.
I had already disconnected our shore power cord in anticipation of making a move over to the Government dock, and shortly thereafter noticed a powerboat leaving from the breakwater dock, where both the Coast Guard and seaplane terminal are housed. We were cast off and away from our slip within minutes, heading over to our new moorage. We were supposed to notify the dockmaster here by 9 am if we were going to be staying another day, otherwise check out no later than 11. I guess we notified them at 9 by our quick departure.
The rules here at the Government dock are totally different than at the marina. Moorage here is free for short stays of a couple hours during the day, and overnight moorage, less than half of what we paid last night, is only due for those staying beyond 4 pm. I made several trips in the afternoon to the marina office at the other harbor, finally catching them open just before 4 o’clock. When I paid, I asked about the hours of the Saturday Market, which runs until three or four in the afternoon. “When’s your checkout time?”, I asked. “One o’clock, but we don’t care if you stay an extra hour or so.” Now that’s the way to run a business and get repeat customers.
We enjoyed our location today, watching people come and go to the seaplane dock, and just watching the hustle and bustle of the harbor. Several small commuter seaplane carriers, including Kenmore Air, make regular stops here. Most of the planes are either Dehaviland Beavers with rotary engines, or Otters with a single turboprop. The piston powered planes come idling up and shut off their engine 40 or 50 feet away from the dock, coasting in while the pilot gets out on the pontoon, picks up a line and grabs a cleat as the plane slowly drifts alongside the dock. The turboprops come in under power right up to the dock, reversing the propeller pitch at the last moment to come to a complete stop before setting the pitch to neutral and letting the prop wind down. They stay pretty busy from around 7 in the morning until just before dusk. They’ve got a fuel tank behind the Coast Guard dock, and sometimes taxi around there to fill up. An attendant usually hoses the plane down with fresh water to rinse away the salt spray if there’s some extra time between arrival and departure.
We went for a walk around town earlier in the afternoon, visiting quite a few art stores and a bakery that was several blocks away from the center of town. It was beyond where the sidewalks end, but they were busy nonetheless with local car traffic. We went in and bought a couple of sausage rolls to take with us in our wanderings.
Dinner tonight was fish & chips at the head of the dock. The cod was really good, but the batter was too thick, and we peeled most of that off. We both noted the wooden forks that came with our order and recalled talking to a young couple a few years ago that were in an old Chris Craft anchored in Fossil Bay on Sucia. They had patented a method for making biodegradable wooden tableware to compete with and replace the plastic in use at most places today, and were in the process of trying to introduce their product and make some sales. We hoped that this was an indication of the successful fruition of their venture.
Trav will be interested to know that we also picked up some sippin’ items from his shopping list.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
8/26 Prevost Harbor to Ganges 19.5 nautical miles
We’re in Canada, in the town of Ganges on Salt Spring Island. Or, Saltspring Island – there’s always plenty of controversy about which spelling – one or two words – is proper, but we don’t have a horse in that race.
As we approached the Canadian Customs dock at Bedwell Harbour I noticed a couple of uniformed agents walking the dock – the first time I’ve seen an actual agent there in many years. But, they hopped in an inflatable and were leaving as we approached the dock. After we secured our lines I headed up to the customs shack, and as usual it was locked. There are three phones on the outside wall – I picked up one to be connected and reported our arrival. Yes, I had a rabies vaccine document for our cat and no, I wasn’t bringing weapons or $10,000 or more in cash into the country – so we were cleared to go, with a clearance number to display in our dockside window during our stay.
The customs dock is shaped in a big ‘U’, and the only spot available when we arrived was down at the base of the U, with sailboats perpendicular to us on either side. The wind was blowing straight into the dock holding us there – which made our approach easy, but getting away was another matter. I used the “poor man’s bow/stern thrusters” to get away from the dock – hard left rudder, port engine in forward for thrust away from the dock, and starboard in reverse to prevent forward motion. I had the engines revving up quite a bit above idle to defeat the wind, so we sidled away from the dock in a flurry of turbulent water and diesel exhaust. Once we were several feet from the dock I could swing the stern out without having the bow go into the dock. Then we could just back away into the wind. We received kudos from those on the dock, but I think they were mainly relieved we didn’t take any chunks of their boats with us.
Bedwell Harbour is on South Pender Island, but the harbor is actually formed by North Pender Island as well. There is a small, narrow and shallow channel between the two islands that goes under a highway bridge. We like to take that route because it’s scenic, fun to do, and provides an opportunity to blow our air horns as a warning, as the entrance is a dogleg with limited visibility for boats coming the other way. But, we were at low tide, and in previous years at low tide we’ve looked at it and turned back. So, we just headed out the other way and followed the shoreline of North Pender Island up Swanson Channel and towards Ganges.
We were hoping to find moorage at the Government dock that is adjacent to the seaplane terminal. It provides easy access to town, and the rates are reasonable. We saw a couple of openings, but none our size. We debated whether to just anchor or take a berth at the private marina just across the way. We decided on the marina, and have a nice slip just across the way from the government dock. We were going to stay at least two days so we could go to the Saturday Market they have here, but this marina is both expensive and aggressive with their 11 am morning checkout time. So, our plan is to watch the government dock like a hawk tomorrow morning and pounce on any openings as soon as they occur. Plan B is to go out into the harbor at checkout time, anchor, watch the government dock like a hawk…
We’re happy to be at the dock tonight, though. The wind has picked up quite a bit and it’s much more comforting listening to the docks and lines creak and groan than it is to swing around at anchor in this kind of weather.
We are plugged in to electricity, so we are charging batteries, and have the icemaker doing catch-up duty. We put the arm up when we’re on battery power - it doesn’t draw a lot of power keeping the ice cold, but it draws power like crazy when it’s making a new batch of ice cubes every 20 minutes or so. So, we were down to the bottom third of ice cubes in our bin, and we all know what a hardship that can be.
As we approached the Canadian Customs dock at Bedwell Harbour I noticed a couple of uniformed agents walking the dock – the first time I’ve seen an actual agent there in many years. But, they hopped in an inflatable and were leaving as we approached the dock. After we secured our lines I headed up to the customs shack, and as usual it was locked. There are three phones on the outside wall – I picked up one to be connected and reported our arrival. Yes, I had a rabies vaccine document for our cat and no, I wasn’t bringing weapons or $10,000 or more in cash into the country – so we were cleared to go, with a clearance number to display in our dockside window during our stay.
The customs dock is shaped in a big ‘U’, and the only spot available when we arrived was down at the base of the U, with sailboats perpendicular to us on either side. The wind was blowing straight into the dock holding us there – which made our approach easy, but getting away was another matter. I used the “poor man’s bow/stern thrusters” to get away from the dock – hard left rudder, port engine in forward for thrust away from the dock, and starboard in reverse to prevent forward motion. I had the engines revving up quite a bit above idle to defeat the wind, so we sidled away from the dock in a flurry of turbulent water and diesel exhaust. Once we were several feet from the dock I could swing the stern out without having the bow go into the dock. Then we could just back away into the wind. We received kudos from those on the dock, but I think they were mainly relieved we didn’t take any chunks of their boats with us.
Bedwell Harbour is on South Pender Island, but the harbor is actually formed by North Pender Island as well. There is a small, narrow and shallow channel between the two islands that goes under a highway bridge. We like to take that route because it’s scenic, fun to do, and provides an opportunity to blow our air horns as a warning, as the entrance is a dogleg with limited visibility for boats coming the other way. But, we were at low tide, and in previous years at low tide we’ve looked at it and turned back. So, we just headed out the other way and followed the shoreline of North Pender Island up Swanson Channel and towards Ganges.
We were hoping to find moorage at the Government dock that is adjacent to the seaplane terminal. It provides easy access to town, and the rates are reasonable. We saw a couple of openings, but none our size. We debated whether to just anchor or take a berth at the private marina just across the way. We decided on the marina, and have a nice slip just across the way from the government dock. We were going to stay at least two days so we could go to the Saturday Market they have here, but this marina is both expensive and aggressive with their 11 am morning checkout time. So, our plan is to watch the government dock like a hawk tomorrow morning and pounce on any openings as soon as they occur. Plan B is to go out into the harbor at checkout time, anchor, watch the government dock like a hawk…
We are plugged in to electricity, so we are charging batteries, and have the icemaker doing catch-up duty. We put the arm up when we’re on battery power - it doesn’t draw a lot of power keeping the ice cold, but it draws power like crazy when it’s making a new batch of ice cubes every 20 minutes or so. So, we were down to the bottom third of ice cubes in our bin, and we all know what a hardship that can be.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
8/25 Blind Bay to Prevost Harbor 14 nautical miles
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| Kitty cheesecake |
It’s Erin’s birthday today so I arranged for another day of perfect weather. I don’t think it’ll hold much longer – some clouds are due for tomorrow. Not saying which birthday it is, but we expect Erin’s invitation to join AARP to be in the mail when we return.
This morning we removed all the windows around the bridge for maximum viewing and ventilation, but left the canvas up for shade. It was the right combination for today.
We got a much earlier start, heading out of Blind Bay at 11 o’clock. As we were leaving the bay a ferry was approaching, but it turned in towards the Shaw Island ferry dock as we entered Harney Channel. We took our usual route through Pole Pass, but then as we passed Jones Island we turned a little bit more to the north to pass along the other side of Spieden Island on the way to Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island. There was quite a current flowing in Spieden Channel and it was in our favor, bumping our casual 7 knot speed up to about 9.5.
When I took the captain’s class a couple years ago, we learned all about calculating for set and drift, and how to determine what heading to take when a current is coming towards you at a cross angle. We did it all with current tables, paper charts, parallel rules, compass and dividers – and maybe a pencil and paper too. For our run from Jones Island across Spieden Channel I followed the little blue highway on our navigation software, turning to starboard until it was straight. We cut a nice straight line across the channel to our next waypoint with our bow headed about 15 degrees off to starboard. I like technology.
As we were cruising along the shoreline of Stuart Island we received a radio call from a passing boat, reporting that our port engine was making more smoke than starboard. Unlike gasoline engines, which use a spark plug to explode the fuel/air mixture, diesel engines depend on the heat generated from their high compression to ignite and burn the fuel. Full combustion is best with the engine at its peak operating temperature. We had been cruising along at 6 or 7 knots, and I suspect more than the usual amount of unburned fuel was heading out the exhaust. We accelerated up to about 12 knots for a few minutes to generate some more heat, then backed off again – the amount of smoke seemed less. But, these are 40 year old engines and there are many other reasons for smoke, some probably not so good.
We lazed around most of the afternoon. Erin read a book while I perused through parts of last Sunday’s paper. Later in the afternoon we went for a dinghy ride around the harbor, and may go ashore in the morning when it’s cooler to take a walk on some of the trails.
Tomorrow we’ll head into the Gulf Islands. We’re only 4 miles from Bedwell Harbour on the other side of Boundary Pass, where we’ll check into Customs. If it’s a typical entry, there will be no one at the Customs dock – we’ll report our arrival via the dockside phone, surrender any forbidden fruits or vegetables, receive our clearance number and be on our way. Our way will probably be to the town of Ganges on Salt Spring Island. It’s a great little town and one of our favorite stops in the Gulf Islands.
8/24 Hunter Bay to Blind Bay, 11.8 nautical miles
What a beautiful morning! We slept in a bit, until past 7, and got up to find ourselves anchored in a dead calm, with the sea like a mirror. Quite a change from last night when a bit of a wind kicked up to ripple the waters. The strongest gust measured 13.8 mph, nothing that would blow us away.
Just north of Hunter Bay is Spencer Spit, a natural formation and a state park. The spit has been slowly advancing, on a geological time scale, towards Frost Island and from a distance appears to almost touch it. On either side of the spit are several mooring buoys and there is plenty of room to anchor as well. This wasn’t our destination, but we passed between the end of the spit and Frost Island, made all the more dramatic looking by the fact that it was low tide.
As we cruised past Humphrey Head and Upright Head on Lopez Island, we were adjacent to the major ferry route, where all the boats traveling to and from Anacortes come through Thatcher Pass to head to their various destinations. We must have hit the ferry schedule jackpot, as we had 4 ferries pass us heading north or south within the 15 minutes or so we were in that area. The Lopez ferry dock is on Upright Head, and the last boat made a turn to the ferry dock, coming around behind us shortly after we passed by.
We had decided to explore Grindstone Harbor, a small bay on Orcas Island, just east of the Orcas ferry landing. At the mouth of the bay is a reef, with another rock centered further in. Safe passage can be made on either side. Grindstone Harbor became famous, or maybe infamous, around here many years ago when the captain of a Washington State jumbo ferry, the Elwha, took a detour through the entrance to Grindstone Harbor to show off to his girlfriend, who lived nearby. Well, he ran that jumbo ferry smack into the reef in front of the bay, most likely making a lot of grinding noises and knocking a few tourists akilter. He was able to get off the reef and continue on to the ferry landing, just minutes away, where all the cars and passengers, whether that was their destination or not, were offloaded. I think they had divers check the extent of the damage, some of which was apparent down in the bilges where some water was coming in where it shouldn’t. The Elwha was sent back to Seattle for repairs at dry dock, with an Orcas Island pumper fire truck on board as an auxiliary bilge pump. Within days a new hit song was playing on the radio, “Elwha on the Rocks”. An investigation of the incident ensued, and I think the captain got off with a 30 day suspension without pay – although I don’t recall for sure.
We passed the reef and rocks and proceeded to the back of Grindstone Harbor, which ended in a small basin surrounded by a few homes, and with several mooring buoys placed. There really wasn’t a lot of space for a boat our size to anchor between the buoys, and we headed back out and towards today’s destination, Blind Bay on Shaw Island.
In all our years of boating, we’ve never been to Blind Bay. I guess we were always heading to or returning from points further north and always passed it by. Our friends Craig and Kristine stop here frequently, and we decided to see what it was all about. We’re glad we did.
Shaw Island and Orcas Island lie on either side of Harney Channel, and Blind Bay is adjacent to the Shaw Island ferry landing. Across the channel and a bit to the west is the Orcas ferry landing, so we see quite a bit of ferry traffic from our anchorage. The bay is large with a lot of space for anchoring boats, and according to the cruising guides is one of the best protected bays in the islands. We’re anchored next to a tiny island with a view of farm houses and fields in one direction and the ferry landings and Harney Channel in the other. We went for a dinghy ride around the shore, and over to the ferry landing, where we passed under the ramp to a small dock with moorage for the local store. We had neither any money with us nor a need for anything and didn’t go in, although I suppose we should have just for the island ambience. Other than the store at the ferry landing, there are no commercial enterprises within the bay and we are enjoying our rural setting.
Dinner tonight was a fresh garden salad with a tuna melt sandwich. Erin has made a fruit buckle using the blackberries I picked the other day plus a few strawberries. It just came out of the oven and smells delicious. We’ll know for sure soon enough.
At dusk we were treated to a full moon rising in the east over the trees. It’s now about 30 degrees further up in the sky.
After a leisurely breakfast and a morning of enjoying our good fortune at having this boat and these cruising grounds, we hoisted anchor at the crack of noon, cruising further north at our putting speed of 6 knots.
Just north of Hunter Bay is Spencer Spit, a natural formation and a state park. The spit has been slowly advancing, on a geological time scale, towards Frost Island and from a distance appears to almost touch it. On either side of the spit are several mooring buoys and there is plenty of room to anchor as well. This wasn’t our destination, but we passed between the end of the spit and Frost Island, made all the more dramatic looking by the fact that it was low tide.As we cruised past Humphrey Head and Upright Head on Lopez Island, we were adjacent to the major ferry route, where all the boats traveling to and from Anacortes come through Thatcher Pass to head to their various destinations. We must have hit the ferry schedule jackpot, as we had 4 ferries pass us heading north or south within the 15 minutes or so we were in that area. The Lopez ferry dock is on Upright Head, and the last boat made a turn to the ferry dock, coming around behind us shortly after we passed by.
We had decided to explore Grindstone Harbor, a small bay on Orcas Island, just east of the Orcas ferry landing. At the mouth of the bay is a reef, with another rock centered further in. Safe passage can be made on either side. Grindstone Harbor became famous, or maybe infamous, around here many years ago when the captain of a Washington State jumbo ferry, the Elwha, took a detour through the entrance to Grindstone Harbor to show off to his girlfriend, who lived nearby. Well, he ran that jumbo ferry smack into the reef in front of the bay, most likely making a lot of grinding noises and knocking a few tourists akilter. He was able to get off the reef and continue on to the ferry landing, just minutes away, where all the cars and passengers, whether that was their destination or not, were offloaded. I think they had divers check the extent of the damage, some of which was apparent down in the bilges where some water was coming in where it shouldn’t. The Elwha was sent back to Seattle for repairs at dry dock, with an Orcas Island pumper fire truck on board as an auxiliary bilge pump. Within days a new hit song was playing on the radio, “Elwha on the Rocks”. An investigation of the incident ensued, and I think the captain got off with a 30 day suspension without pay – although I don’t recall for sure.
We passed the reef and rocks and proceeded to the back of Grindstone Harbor, which ended in a small basin surrounded by a few homes, and with several mooring buoys placed. There really wasn’t a lot of space for a boat our size to anchor between the buoys, and we headed back out and towards today’s destination, Blind Bay on Shaw Island.
In all our years of boating, we’ve never been to Blind Bay. I guess we were always heading to or returning from points further north and always passed it by. Our friends Craig and Kristine stop here frequently, and we decided to see what it was all about. We’re glad we did.
Shaw Island and Orcas Island lie on either side of Harney Channel, and Blind Bay is adjacent to the Shaw Island ferry landing. Across the channel and a bit to the west is the Orcas ferry landing, so we see quite a bit of ferry traffic from our anchorage. The bay is large with a lot of space for anchoring boats, and according to the cruising guides is one of the best protected bays in the islands. We’re anchored next to a tiny island with a view of farm houses and fields in one direction and the ferry landings and Harney Channel in the other. We went for a dinghy ride around the shore, and over to the ferry landing, where we passed under the ramp to a small dock with moorage for the local store. We had neither any money with us nor a need for anything and didn’t go in, although I suppose we should have just for the island ambience. Other than the store at the ferry landing, there are no commercial enterprises within the bay and we are enjoying our rural setting.
Dinner tonight was a fresh garden salad with a tuna melt sandwich. Erin has made a fruit buckle using the blackberries I picked the other day plus a few strawberries. It just came out of the oven and smells delicious. We’ll know for sure soon enough.
At dusk we were treated to a full moon rising in the east over the trees. It’s now about 30 degrees further up in the sky.
Monday, August 23, 2010
8/23 Lake Union to Hunter Bay – 67 nautical miles
Kudos to the weather forecasters – it was a beautiful day from start to finish today. We backed away from the dock a few minutes before eight this morning and headed for the locks. Most of this morning’s marine traffic consisted of racing shells from the various rowing clubs and schools in the area. They were accompanied by their catamaran chase boats carrying the coaches who were shouting instructions to the crews. We saw 2, 4 and 8 man boats – only the 8 man configuration carries a coxswain – I guess the others have to guess where they’re going or look over their shoulders.
When we arrived at the locks there were no other boats waiting, and within 5 minutes the gates to the small lock opened and we entered past the green light. We – well, probably everybody – prefer the small lock because it has floating walls that we tie to so we don’t have to tend to our lines on the way down or up. It’s also a much faster transit than the large lock because of the much smaller volume of water being moved as the level changes. We waited for a few minutes for another boat that was approaching, which turned out to be a Seattle Police Harbor Patrol boat. They were positioned right behind us, and the officer on the bow asked if I’d cut our engines, which I did. We sometimes leave them running when we’re in the small lock alone as it only takes 5 minutes or so to change levels.
We were out in the salt water and headed north a few minutes before nine o’clock. I had calculated that if we left the lock by 9:15 and cruised at 8 knots we’d have plenty of time to arrive at Deception Pass at or near slack water. We had a bit of a boost to begin with, as the tide was still ebbing – we cruised along the first couple hours at about 8 and a half knots, passing Edmonds and then Clinton on Whidbey Island – the other terminus from the Mukilteo Ferry run. This run up between Whidbey and Camano Islands always seems long – well, it is long – but we had smooth water and great weather so just kept chugging along.
As we continued past the northern end of Camano towards Strawberry Point on Whidbey Island, I could see that we were well ahead of schedule, so backed off on the throttles, down to just above idle. We continued on past the entrance to Swinomish Channel, the route to La Conner, heading towards Deception Pass. According to the current table built into our navigation program, the current at Deception Pass was still flooding (coming towards us) at 5 knots. We continued on, but took a little side tour along the shore of Hope Island, looping around past Skagit Island before continuing on towards Cornet Bay and Deception Pass. We went through about 45 minutes early, with the current against us indicated at 3 knots. No problem at all with turbulence, and we were well out into Rosario Strait by the time of slack water.
Crossing Rosario Strait was a breeze, with the only hazard being a few gill netters along the east side. We had flat water all the way, and because we were early at the pass we also caught the last of some favorable current to push us along. We passed through Lopez Pass and cruised right into Hunter Bay, where we’re anchored for the evening. This was most likely the longest cruising day of the trip – 9 hours from the time we left our dock in Lake Union to Hunter Bay – a distance of 67 nautical miles.
The evening was dramatically quieter than last night at our Lake Union moorage, where we’re situated nearly under the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge. Actually, it would probably be quieter directly under, but we’re a half block away where the traffic noise can reach us directly. It’s not so much annoying, but just hard to hear in normal voice when we’re up on the bridge. This evening is especially peaceful because, even though there are a dozen or so other boats in the harbor, no one is sharing any loud music, which we greatly appreciate.
Tribble has been exploring the boundaries of the boat, walking cautiously and deliberately in full alert mode around the entire outside perimeter – twice. We’re not sure what she thinks of the water 4 or 5 feet below, and we’re hoping she doesn’t decide it’s something she can walk on. We have the salmon net for such an occurrence, but hopefully it doesn’t come to that. At dusk we closed the doors to a narrow opening and lowered the rear side curtains, but she managed to squeeze out on deck somewhere, where we found her sitting at the stern. We’re trying to keep her wandering for now to daylight hours as she’d be easier to find while doing the cat paddle.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
8/22 Lake Union
We’re on the boat, and we have no other means of transportation, so our trip has officially begun. We brought a final load of clothes and supplies to the boat this morning and returned home to wrap up things there. Mom & Dad Ames came over about 2 o’clock to take us down to the boat and return the car – parking here is pretty tight, especially for long term.
You never know quite what you’re going to see cruising along here, and later this afternoon we saw a dinner and dancing party. They were on a log raft that was powered by a small electric outboard. They had a table set at one end, and there were three or four couples dancing some formal numbers, like waltzes, tangos and rumbas. They cruised by at a small fraction of a knot, and I was surprised that tiny electric motor could move it at all – they were definitely going at quarter impulse speed.
The weather forecast for today called for rain and temperatures in the low 60’s. The forecast for the rest of the week calls for warmer temperatures and sunshine. The first day of cruising to anywhere up north is usually the longest day, and rather than hurry up and leave in a cool drizzle, we decided to stay put for this evening. We have great moorage, and the price is right! We’re on the end of the dock with a view of the boat traffic that passes between Portage Bay and Lake Union under the University and Ship Canal bridges. As usual, the forecast wasn’t entirely accurate – it warmed up nicely and we didn’t have much rain at all after 3 o’clock. Hope the forecast for good weather the rest of the week is spot on .
Our only other passenger for this trip is our cat Tribble. She earned her sea legs last year, so hopefully as a seasoned veteran will spend less time hiding under the couch. She’s already explored the boat from stem to stern and is on a much quicker adaptation schedule than last year. She must know there are no other guests on board, as she’s already claimed the bunk in the guest cabin as her own.
Adjacent to our tiny parking lot, and up against the approach to the University Bridge is a huge blackberry patch. I went on a little blackberry picking excursion this afternoon and picked a few cups. The mass of vines extends up 20 or 30 feet, and the really nice and ripe berries are of course out of reach. Eye level and below have been recently picked, and although there are plenty of berries that are black, I’ve found that if they don’t literally fall off in your hand, they aren’t ripe enough to be sweet. There was a band of ripe ones that were apparently beyond the reach of some previous pickers, and that provided my supply.
You never know quite what you’re going to see cruising along here, and later this afternoon we saw a dinner and dancing party. They were on a log raft that was powered by a small electric outboard. They had a table set at one end, and there were three or four couples dancing some formal numbers, like waltzes, tangos and rumbas. They cruised by at a small fraction of a knot, and I was surprised that tiny electric motor could move it at all – they were definitely going at quarter impulse speed.
While the dance party was cruising by, Erin was busy in the galley fixing our first on-board meal. She sautéed some Italian turkey sausage, peppers, onions and garlic together, then mixed in some angel hair pasta and a light sauce made with the pasta water and some juice from a can of diced tomatoes. That was topped off with some grated cheese. It is definitely worth a repeat later in the trip.
Since we’re already here and ready to go, we’ll get an early start tomorrow morning – but not too early if we want to reach Deception Pass at slack current. We plan on cruising north up Saratoga Passage between Camano and Whidbey Islands, out through Deception Pass and across Rosario Strait to the San Juan Islands. If our timing is off, we’ll make a right turn at the Swinomish Slough and cruise through La Conner and past Anacortes instead.
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