Monday, July 23: Spencer Spit, Lopez Island, to Jones Island

Happy Birthday Kristine!  Although we celebrated yesterday, it's still a happy day!

I’m about to tell an embarrassing story.  Fortunately, as I get older I expect to embarrass myself more than when I was younger and it doesn’t bother me so much to do so.  However, it’s still embarrassing.  Don’t tell anyone.

We had a good night’s sleep, but were awakened early by a sizeable wind blowing.  It wasn’t too uncomfortable since we were at anchor and thus naturally pointed into the wind, so instead of rocking side to side (not fun) we were gently pitching to and fro (not bad).  We got up and figured we could put up with the wind, because at least it wasn’t raining.  After breakfast and reading for a few hours, we decided to go ashore for a walk before heading off to our next destination.  Kristine wisely thought to suggest we bring our rain pants because the wind was still strong enough that we were likely to get some water over the sides of the dinghy as we made our way through the waves to shore.

The wind was blowing toward shore, so actually the ride wasn’t too bad.  We bounced up and down, got a little wet, sang “over the bounding main,” and made it to shore relatively unscathed.  After a nice walk through Spencer Spit state park, it was time to return to the Elsa and get on our way.

Now for the embarrassing part.  Because the wind was blowing toward us, and the waves were rolling toward us, getting off the shore proved to be much more difficult than we expected.  We smugly thought we were prepared when we took off our shoes and socks and put our rainpants on over our jeans.  We got the dinghy into the water and used an oar to push us out deep enough to put the outboard down, but in that short amount of time the waves turned us sideways, rushed over the sidewall, and pushed us right back on to shore.  This clearly wasn’t going to work.  We must have looked like the two stooges.  What to do?

I could only come up with one idea:  I needed to stay in the water, pushing the boat back far enough that I could put down the outboard, steady it while Kristine pulled the cord to start it, and then jump back in the boat.  One problem was that I only have one pair of long pants on this trip (it’s summer, remember) and I really didn’t want to get them soaked.  I knew I’d be at least up to my waist in water.  So, off with the pants.  Don’t worry, I discretely took them off and put my rain pants back on, so it wasn’t quite as bad as you might imagine.  I rolled up my shoes and pants and gave them to Kristine to tuck under her jacket.  She sat in the boat and I started pushing.  Water in the San Juans is COLD.  Kristine pulled the cord, and the outboard started on the first try!  Yay!  But then, because our tiny outboard has no “neutral,” only “forward,” the dinghy bravely started plying the waves and heading out to deeper water.  Waves were coming over its bow and I was quickly realizing that I needed to jump aboard pronto.  With a deep breath and a big leap, I heaved myself over the transom and into the boat.  Kristine was laughing hysterically.  All the rest of my clothes were wet (it got deeper faster than I planned), but at least my pants stayed dry.  We took more water over the bow as we headed back out to the Elsa, but eventually made it safely, pulled the anchor, and headed off.

Thankfully there are no photos to show you of this event.

We had a couple of destinations picked out for today, depending on how crowded the first one was, but when we pulled into the north cove of Jones Island we saw there was plenty of room so we settled in.  This is another small island park that’s a real gem.  We’d bring the kids here when they were little and it was known for the tame deer that would eat out of your hand.  Now, of course, that is not PC but there are still deer roaming around – you just have to look a little harder for them.  They’ve reverted to being afraid of people. 

We put down the anchor, ran a stern line ashore to prevent us from swinging around (it’s a small bay), and the sun actually came out!  This is a day earlier than forecast, but we are ready.  Here's the Elsa at rest.  Note the wet clothes hanging from the rails up above, drying in the sun: