Opening Day - Day 4

All good things must come to an end so Sunday morning we left at 7:00am to try to beat the rush to the locks. As it turned out, we were right at the front of the next group waiting to go through so we ended up in the front where we could watch the water level change and the gates open. Part of the fun of going through the locks is talking with the people on each side of us. We met some very nice people who had also just enjoyed their first Opening Day.

Opening Day - Day 3

What a fun day we had! The festivities began around 10:00am with the 25th Annual Windermere Cup crew races. I must add that the U of W Husky men's and women's squads took first place beating out talented teams from Cambridge, Oklahoma and Stanford.

After the crew races, the Seattle Yacht Club's Opening Day Boat Parade began with the traditional cannon firing to signal the opening of the Montlake Cut Bridge. The parade route was filled with all sizes of boats, classics, motor and sail, decorated and commercial, yacht clubs, and youth.  The following picture is of our Edmonds Yacht Club officers, the Husky marching band, and then the EYC decorated boat.

Just as the parade was ending Robyn, Gavin and Cohen arrived to spend the afternoon with us.

The day ended with a potluck barbecue with the eight boats from Edmonds Yacht Club. We had a wonderful time getting to know other club members better and watching the activity on the water. It was truly an outstanding day!

Opening Day - Day 2

Today we enjoyed seeing the arrival of seven other boats from the Edmonds Yacht Club and having them join us on the log boom.  This was our first opportunity to really spend some time with other members and get to know them. We had a wonderful time visiting and touring each others boats. This evening most of us took our dinghies and traveled about a mile to a great Mexican restaurant. In spite of the heavy rain and wind, we had a lot of fun.  Someone said that there is no such thing as bad weather - only bad clothing! Fortunately, I was able to borrow some rain pants from one of the women and have now added them to my "must have" list.

Opening Day - Day 1

We are finally on our first official "cruise" - Opening Day of Boating Season on Lake Washington. We left Everett this morning and experienced our first trip through the Hiram Chittenden Locks in Seattle. Although the thought of going through the locks was a little intimidating before we arrived, the actual process was quite smooth and a lot of fun. We ended up between two larger boats with very nice and helpful crews.

After going through the locks, we continued on through the ship canal and over to Lake Washington. We found our place on the log boom where 6 more boats from the Edmonds Yacht Club will be joining us tomorrow. Of course, the wind picked up and it began to rain just as we arrived and Bob had to get us anchored. Eventually the anchor and lines were secure and we settled in for the evening.

Glorious Day!

We finally got some sunshine this year and have the boat back in the water. After months of rain, it was just too beautiful of a day not to do some boating. We called friends, Sharon and Al, to join us for a short cruise and then have dinner.

We only got as far as the south end of Hat Island and Bob yelled there were whales! We could see the whale tour boat just ahead and many small boats surrounding the area. We drifted for about 1-1/2 hours and watched whales the entire time. We even saw the well-known whale Patch that has been on the local news. Patch was first sighted in 1991 and is believed to be about 25 years old.

The whales seemed to be playing with us. They repeatedly surfaced and we could even hear them blow. The most exciting times were when they came straight up out of the water head first or raised their tails in the air.

It was a wonderful day and we were overwhelmed by the beauty and size of these Puget Sound whales. Thanks for joining us, Sharon and Al. Not bad for your first trip out!

Stargazer Goes For a Ride

We ran Stargazer to Edmonds today to have her hauled out for some fresh bottom paint and to get her ready for summer. It was quite scary watching our boat swing from two straps and be carried across the road. I was very glad when they had her sitting on solid ground. We should have her back by the end of the week and ready to go.

Everything looked great when we got her out and we even discovered why our depth sounder wasn't working right! The transducer was covered with mussels. No wonder there were no fish in the Sound!

Whales, whales....where?

Finally the weather got a little better and we got the heater fixed in the boat so decided to do some boating this past week. On Saturday, we took out Robyn, Gavin and Cohen and Alley & Mihai. We had a lot of fun in some pretty rough water when we started out. One wave came over the bow of the boat and hit Gavin in the face back at the stern!  We headed up north to Camano Island State Park but did not find any whales. The waters calmed down and were quite smooth on our way back in. Cohen had a great time and even helped Grandpa run the boat.

We went out the next day with friends, Holly and Jerry, trying again to find some whales. We went further north this time and finally saw the spout of one whale about 1/2 mile away. We were not able to get close enough for any pictures and did not see it again.

Today we tried again and took out my nephew, Jonathan and his girlfriend, Hallie. This would be the day we'd see whales!  It was a beautiful, sunny day to be out on the water so we had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, we did not see one whale anywhere. We've decided we need to tag along with the local whale watching tour boat and see if we can figure out how they have achieved 97% success when they go out.