Monday, August 2^nd, 0555

Stovetop Expresso, the black hole that sucked up the nonfat milk without discoloring; warming my hands and starting my heart. The Galley lights attracted or disturbed a King Fisher whose cicada like call woke me as I prepped for the coffee; stark contrast to the cranes and drydocks of the Washington Ship Canal of Lake Union. We are tied to my friend Bob Wold’s boat, just inside the Ballard Locks in Seattle. It’s foggy, surreal like and there are a half a dozen ravens gauking around.

I guess that this is day three, Saturday was such a buzz with all the loading of the boat. We didn’t leave Shelton until almost 5pm and fought the tide to Gig Harbor for four hours. We anchored a little after 2100 and slept fast and well. We left Gig Harbor yesterday a little after 2pm, after breakfast and lunch with Dan Evangalista and Anneta on the Dawson. After breakfast, Becky and I went to a church service and then Dan took us to lunch at the Tides Inn. After we cleared Gig Harbor I gave the wheel to Becky and she steered until we got to the locks. I cleared and stowed the things that I had stuffed into the aft cabin. We had to wait for about an hour and two lock exchanges before we were able to get into the lock. That was a little stressful, with all the jockeying for position and 15 boats close together, being pushed around by the current. We got through and had my friends Micheal and Agneta and there children Christian and Megan awaiting us at Bobs dock. They have just returned from Sweden,  where Agneta was representing the USCG at the International Maritime College in Stockholm.

She is now a Commander and they have been in Seattle two weeks and haven’t gotten their furniture yet. We went out and cruised lake Washington, had dinner and view downtown Seattle. Today we hang in Seattle and have dinner on the boat with my partner Dan Callan. Tomorrow we head north. Todays agenda is to get more Ram onto my Computer, the navigation program is bogging it down.

By Becky – After a great night sleep with the boat gently rocking us, we woke to another great day.  We grabbed a quick cup of coffee and headed out for some exploring of Hope Island before the tide was right for going through Deception Pass.  A nature hike around the island proved too much of a bush scramble for me so we headed back to the beach and paddled around the island instead.  Eagles and herons kept us company as we paddled.

A short day of cruising got us to Soucia Island where we anchored in Shallow Bay.  We had a great hike to Echo and Fossil Bays and then were treated to a fantastic sunset.   Morning brought a peaceful breakfast with sun and glassy water.  Another hike and we were off again.  Ganges Harbor on Saltspring Island was the next port.  We explored the shops and enjoyed happy hour of oysters cooked on the grill.

We have been enjoying the warm summer weather but now need to push to make our way north which will probably mean cooler temperatures but more great adventures.

Heading smoothly north, up Saratoga Passage, trying to get to Deception Pass State Park for the night. I spent the morning hooking  the boat GPS to my computer, instead of using a remote antenna. One of the reasons we were in Seattle was that my friend Bob has a boat there, in Ballard and conveniently it is only 4 blocks from Lunde Marine. Where I originally bought the navigation software.  We were able to get the cables and drivers for the soft ware and instruction on how to setup the addresses on the NAVnet computer. It was like learning a foreign language, but Becky and I got it done. We left Ballard at noon and into the lockes. Coming out of the lockes a sailboat got sideways  right in front of me and rammed the breakwater. That was bad enough but when he did, his anchor deployed  and then he proceeded  to back down and stretch his anchor rode halfway across the channel. I was second out of the Locke with 4 boats behind me, I had to wave everyone around me. They couldn’t see him and there was an outflow from the Locke making things worse. I was getting some angry looks from them as they came around me. Poor man. I felt so sorry for him, it was classic, right out of Caddy Shack.

So out of the city; last night we had a great dinner and night cruise around downtown Seattle and Lake Washington. Becky cooked a great meal and we grilled some steaks. Dan Callan and his partner Kathy were onboard; it was nice to see him and a pleasure to be able to reciprocate for his generosity. Dan is my boat partner and I am hoping that he can use the boat this fall.

Cruising, Becky is cooking and she took the wheel while I mounted some hooks to secure the propane bottle for the grill. We spent two hours on the upper deck soaking up some sun, with the hand held remote control, that was nice. I’m glad that I have that working, looking forward to more of that. We had a smooth passage up Saratoga passage, on the eastern side of Whidby Island. We were late (1930) getting a mooring at Hope Island in Deception Pass State Park. But Becky managed  another great salad and fired up the BBQ with some marinaded chicken breast while I managed to keep the music on, us in the channel, and reset the heading on the radar.

Becky picked up the mooring without a hitch and after the engine was off a pair of eagles greeted us from the trees on shore.

Watched the sunset as we cleaned the salt spray off of the windows.

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Monday, August 2^nd, 0555

Stovetop Expresso, the black hole that sucked up the nonfat milk without discoloring; warming my hands and starting my heart. The Galley lights attracted or disturbed a King Fisher whose cicada like call woke me as I prepped for the coffee; stark contrast to the cranes and drydocks of the Washington Ship Canal of Lake Union. We are tied to my friend Bob Wold’s boat, just inside the Ballard Locks in Seattle. It’s foggy, surreal like and there are a half a dozen ravens gauking around.

I guess that this is day three, Saturday was such a buzz with all the loading of the boat. We didn’t leave Shelton until almost 5pm and fought the tide to Gig Harbor for four hours. We anchored a little after 2100 and slept fast and well. We left Gig Harbor yesterday a little after 2pm, after breakfast and lunch with Dan Evangalista and Anneta on the Dawson. After breakfast, Becky and I went to a church service and then Dan took us to lunch at the Tides Inn. After we cleared Gig Harbor I gave the wheel to Becky and she steered until we got to the locks. I cleared and stowed the things that I had stuffed into the aft cabin. We had to wait for about an hour and two lock exchanges before we were able to get into the lock. That was a little stressful, with all the jockeying for position and 15 boats close together, being pushed around by the current. We got through and had my friends Micheal and Agneta and there children Christian and Megan awaiting us at Bobs dock. They have just returned from Sweden,  where Agneta was representing the USCG at the International Maritime College in Stockholm.

She is now a Commander and they have been in Seattle two weeks and haven’t gotten their furniture yet. We went out and cruised lake Washington, had dinner and view downtown Seattle. Today we hang in Seattle and have dinner on the boat with my partner Dan Callan. Tomorrow we head north. Todays agenda is to get more Ram onto my Computer, the navigation program is bogging it down.

We’re getting ready for a July 31st departure. The plan is to circumnavigate Vancouver Island. Hoping that the strange summer weather, pushes the summer into September.