The days before a boat trip are not relaxing for me. Nor are the first couple of days of
cruising. This old boat has definitely
had its share of problems over the years, and for some reason they always come
up when we are using her, never when she’s safely tucked into her slip on Lake
Union. Because of that, I toss and turn
for a few nights wondering what this trip will bring. After the first few days I begin to relax and
enjoy myself. (Until, of course, some
new problem surfaces.)
We’re heading north again, into the Canadian Gulf Islands,
to revisit some favorite places and try some new ones. The first day is always the longest, as it
takes us a full day to get from Seattle to the edge of the San Juan
Islands. After that, we usually cruise
only a few hours each day. Allison
helped with our transport from home to boat last night, so that we could sleep
on the boat and be ready for an early departure today. Since neither of us slept much, mainly due to
my worrying, it was pretty easy to get up and underway by about 7:30.
The good news was that the sun was out! We had a quick trip through the locks and
were in the salt water heading north before 9:00. The boater behind us in the locks mentioned
that it was his first time through and was looking for pointers, which I gladly
gave him. It’s a little harrowing your
first few times; I still remember mine.
Helping him know what to expect reminded Kristine and me of how many
skills we’ve developed since we bought this boat in 1994.
The cruise north is long, as I said, and pretty boring, but
on a sunny day it’s not too bad. The
salt air smells good, and the sights look familiar. We pass some small towns and residential
areas. Here’s a guy who has a nice beach
to himself. Anyone for waterfront
property?
Our destination today is Hope Island. Usually, we use this as a jumping off point
to go through Deception Pass and head across Rosario Strait to the San Juans,
but this time we’re going to take a different route. We anchor near the shore of this undeveloped
small island and congratulate ourselves and the Elsa on having a good day – no
problems yet!
After dinner, we took the dinghy out and did a relaxing
circumnavigation of the island, took about 45 minutes. Back aboard the Elsa, we enjoyed the sunset
and I looked forward to catching up on some sleep.
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