September Getaway

We decided that we needed to get away for a night on Stargazer so made a quick trip over to Poulsbo last night. I looked at some calendars on-line to see if there was a festival or fair going on near a marina but couldn't find anything. We decided since we like Poulsbo, we would just go there. As it turned out, we picked the perfect location! This was the weekend of the Classic Yacht Rendezvous and the marina was full of beautiful old wooden boats.

 

 

Most of the boats were from the 1920s through 1950s and were obviously the pride and joy of their owners. Some were works in progress but many had been completely restored. Following are a few pictures of some of our favorites. I always seem to go for the biggest ones. The first two pictures are of the Olympus, a 92' fan-tail motor yacht built by New York Launch and Engine back in 1929. It's available for charter if you are interested!

This next one is the Cle Illahee, a 45' bridge-deck cruiser built in 1929 by the Vic Franck Boat Company in Seattle.

I loved the sleekness and beautiful finish on 48' Zanzibar.  It was built in 1957 by Stephens Brothers. It's transom would make a gorgeous coffee table!

Even getting away for one night was a wonderful break. We've decided that, if possible, we are going to try to go somewhere each month for at least one night. Such a quick trip took almost no packing and we enjoyed pizza out at a great little whole-in-the-wall place. Our trips will probably be very spontaneous but that is half the fun!

Labor Day Cruise to Port Ludlow

What wonderful weather for an official last weekend of cruising! We had beautiful, sunny and warm weather  by day and the typical crisp air in the evenings that told us summer is coming to an end. We arrived in Port Ludlow about 1:00pm on Friday and were greeted by those who were coordinating the weekend. As it turns out, they were not only assisting us - they were judging us - as we radioed in, docked and tied our lines. We learned on Sunday night that Bob earned an award for "Best Docking" which entitled us to $25 in the EYC store! I almost won an award for keeping the lines neat on the dock. I even coiled each one into a nice, neat coil. What I didn't know was that they are supposed coil clockwise and I had one going the other direction!  I guess there is always more to learn.

 

As soon as we were settled, we went back out with the dinghy and dropped the crab trap. Unfortunately, we did not get any that were big enough to keep. We then left it out overnight and the next morning we did get one great big one that we later shared with friends as an appetizer before dinner. They had never eaten crab direct from the sea before so we had  a lot of fun and introduced them to the joy of a fresh catch.

 

 

One of the highlights of the weekend was Bob's class for the kids on building sailboats. He made up 12 kits and they were invited to come a build a boat. Nine kids came and since we had some extras, three adults decided to join us. They all worked diligently for a couple of hours assembling, painting, and decorating their boats. It was so much fun and they spent the rest of their weekend showing off their boats and pulling them through the water. I can guarantee that these boats will be proudly displayed back at home. It was wonderful to see the kids learning about building, using sandpaper, hammers and expressing their creativity. They all did a GREAT job!

This year the cruise coordinators decided to offer a dinghy tour to the back part of the bay. John Keyes brought a long rope with 14 short ties branching off from the main line and tied it to his dinghy.  We gathered together 14 other dinghies that tied up to it and then we filled our boats with guests that wanted to come along. The "tour" lasted about an hour-and-a-half and was a huge hit! We all floated together at about .8 knots (that is VERY slow!) but we visited with people we hadn't gotten to know and saw some beautiful scenery in an area that we hadn't been to before. Everyone was raving about it and encouraged the committee to do it again next year. A frequent comment we heard was "I felt like I was 10 again!"

 

Several christenings took place this weekend. Anytime a boat is renamed or a new member joins the club, they have an opportunity to have their boat christened at one of the EYC cruises. Our good friends, Al and Susan Smith, celebrated the christening of their Nordic Tug Sunshine. We met Al and Susan at the Nordic Tug Rendezvous in 2011 and they joined the club shortly thereafter. The christening of a boat has become a real ceremony since our fleet captain, Rob Meldrum, researched the historical aspects of a christening and implemented them for the club. In the following pictures Al is describing how the boat got its name, Susan is laying some flowers and greenery on the bow, and then the champagne bottle is broken over the bow.

We had a wonderful weekend and are looking forward to more cruising in 2013 with the EYC crew.

Family Getaway

Trying to coordinate family schedules can be tough but we finally found a weekend that Robyn and Gavin were free to go out with us on Stargazer. We left Saturday morning with Gavin as our captain and Cohen was our first mate. Gavin did all the running and docking of the boat this time to further acquaint himself with all the operations. We went to Poulsbo where we moored for the night and did some crabbing
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Bob and Gavin had to run about 5 miles to get to a recommended site to drop our crab trap. When they went back out, they found it filled with 3 large dungeness crab and two rock crab. We cooked up the dungeness for dinner and had quite a laugh when, after they were broken in half and cleaned, they moved in the sink while I was washing them. I'm sure people heard me from several slips over! I'd forgotten they could still move a little even at that point. We had a great dinner and a lot more crab than we were able to eat.

While in Poulsbo we walked through the shops, got our obligatory ice cream, and took the dinghy out to see the many seals along the side of the marina. Cohen did great on the boat and slept very well both at naptime and during the night. On our way back to Everett we saw some porpoises playing and were able to get a pretty good shot. Thanks for joining us Robyn, Gavin and Cohen! We had a wonderful time!

Just a Very Nice Day

We decided it would be a good afternoon for a short cruise so we called up Margaret and David and invited them to go out after church for a few hours of cruising. The weather did not turn out to be as nice as we hoped but it was okay. We took a short run north to Camano Island and back to Everett enjoying a simple lunch but great conversation. We went by the cabin that Bob's family owned when he was young - the place they went every summer to explore, run their boat,  meet up with local friends, and just relax. Tom and Deb recently met the new owners and they said the cabin is just like it was when they sold it back in the early 70s.

Our next stop was across the water from the cabin to McKee's Beach where Tom and Deb recently bought a cabin. They weren't there but we got a nice shot of the cabin.

We had a lot of fun with four hours to visit and with no distractions. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Thanks for joining us, Margaret and David!

Vacation Time

Our main summer vacation began with EYC's annual 4th of July cruise at Fisherman's Bay on Lopez Island. Because we have a big party at our home for the 4th, we weren't able to join up with the club until the 5th. As it turned out, we had beautiful cruising all the way there. Many told us of the stormy weather they dealt with when traveling on the 3rd. One family described it as "terrifying". Fortunately, everyone arrived safely despite some bent props and various problems with the depth and current in the marina. We had never been there before but had heard about the sand bars and the difficulties with the approach. As you can see from the first picture, it was almost impossible to see the entrance from the distance unless you were paying attention to the buoy markers.

We loved Lopez and the marina setting. It was a short walk into "town" and you would think you were in Mayberry - a few cute shops, restaurants, a farmers' market and even  "The Mall". We were told to bring any used items that we wanted to get rid of so they could be left at The Mall. It was a building adjacent to the transfer station where locals and guests could drop off  items and take anything they needed! What a great idea to reduce the waste that needed to be removed from the island. I came away with a couple of books to read. I didn't get any pictures of The Mall but we did enjoy the farmers market.

We had a great time with the EYC people and even though we missed the "Olympics" and other activities, we did get to enjoy a wonderful prime rib dinner at the Islander restaurant. Because the organized event began on Tuesday, many of the participants left by Saturday. We had planned to stay until 10:00 on Sunday but when we awoke at 5:00am, Bob was in severe pain from a fall he had taken on the 4th of July. We decided we should return to Everett and have him checked out by a doctor before we continued our vacation. We headed right out and found ourselves in very heavy fog as we approached Deception Pass. It was a little unnerving but all went well and we made it back to our marina.  We made a quick trip to the walk-in clinic and discovered he did have a broken rib from when he fell on a beam across the end of our hobie cat. His instructions were to take Aleve and give it 6 weeks to heal. We decided the best way to "take it easy" was to be on Stargazer cruising through the San Juans so we returned to the boat and headed north to LaConner for the night.

After spending the night in LaConner, we cruised up to Anacortes to meet up with our friends, Mark and Kathy Still, who were in town visiting friends and family. We enjoyed the day cruising around the islands, catching up on each other's lives, and then had a wonderful meal at the Brown Lantern (a pub that came highly recommended by the locals) in Anacortes. We were very impressed with the beautiful new marina (Cap Sante Marina), the nearby Safeway grocery store, and many great restaurants and shops.

On Tuesday, July 10, we cruised on to Roche Harbor for four nights. We had hoped to do some anchoring in coves around the San Juans but because of Bob's broken rib we decided we were better off to stick with marinas where we could tie up instead of wresting with the anchor and dinghy. We love Roche Harbor, anyway, and it is a joy to spend four nights here. It is a beautiful resort with some amazing yachts in the harbor. (To see more pictures of Roche Harbor, see my earlier posts.) When we arrived, we discovered that there were three other couples for EYC that were also here. We had appetizers with them in the evening and then went back to our boat for dinner. I guess I need to buy Bob a new set of barbecue tools, though. When he picked up our steaks off the plate to put them on the grill, the tongs did not grip and one steak fell in the water and the other on the deck of the boat. We managed to salvage one of them but it was not the nice relaxing dinner we had been looking forward to. The evening ended with the dock attendants retiring the colors. Very nice ending to the evening. Barkley did not enjoy the canon firing, however. Tomorrow night we bring him inside before the ceremony.

 

One of the fun things we discovered today was a beautiful 57'  Carver called "A Pastoral Call". We watched as four couples got off the boat and were taking pictures of the captain/owner and his wife. After talking with them, I learned that the captain is a retired general who was the Chief of Chaplains for the US Army. His "ministry after ministry", as he put it, is to take pastors and their wives out for a week long cruise around the San Juans where they can relax and be ministered to. I learned from their website that they provide these cruises, free of charge, to those who are the sole pastor for their churches of 100 members or less. Over their 4 years of service, they have taken out 125 pastors. It was heartwarming to see these pastors who give so much of themselves have an opportunity for a much needed rest and time of rejuvenation. They were so grateful and were in awe of this gift given to them by this couple. Their website is www.apastoralcall.org.

Each day we took long walks near the airport so that Barkley could run off-leash. He had so much fun rolling in the tall grass. His picture should be in the dictionary under the word "bliss". On our last day at Roche Harbor we went out in the woods to do some geocaching. We found four but our best find was a little apricot Australian shepherd puppy. She was so thin we thought she must have been missing for a long time. As it turned out, we were able to track down her owner that afternoon. The puppy had been hit by an ATV and run off. One of the dock attendants recognized her and helped us get her back home.

For our last evening at Roche Harbor, the Lord treated us to an amazing lighting storm. It was absolutely beautiful and continued for three hours. The storm knocked out all the power on the island but it was restored by morning. 

We left early Saturday morning to return home and had very thick fog going through the islands. Thank goodness for radar and good electronics. The picture below shows a ferry appearing out of the fog not far from us. Fortunately, the fog lifted by the time we reached Deception Pass and we cruised right through. Because of the strong current, we hit 19.2 knots which is a record for this little tug (so far)!