August is the height of the cruising/tourist season in the islands. We went back to Blind Bay for a night, en route to Stuart Island. Some (most) people arrive by ferry. The landing on Shaw Island used to be run by nuns from the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. It’s a bit quieter on Stuart Island, which has no ferry service, although there is a private (grass) airstrip if you have to commute. Mount Baker Read more…
Living in Anacortes has allowed for some fun adventures close to home. We decided to explore Guemes Island, which is immediately north of Fidalgo Island which is the island Anacortes is on. We rode our bikes to the ferry terminal that serves Guemes Island and off to a new adventure! The ferry to Guemes is quite small, more like a mini floating parking lot. There were almost as many bikes as cars. When it was Read more…
We have been busy enjoying the nice weather and exploring our new surroundings in the PNW so are quite behind on our blog posts. Our routine for the last few months has settled into going camping/hiking/biking in the Cascades, going cruising on Callooh! Callay!, then fixing broken stuff on the boat and/or boat improvement projects, repeat. Our last trip to the Cascades was on the east slope in the small, 4 site campground named “mystery Read more…
We finished up enough boat projects to finally get off the dock. We joined the Anacortes Yacht Club and are excited to become involved in the community. They have been closed down due to COVID, but organized a socially distanced rendezvous in Blind Bay on the north end of Shaw Island. We spent two nights at Blind Bay, then sailed Callooh! Callay! to the Orcas Island Yacht Club to take advantage of one of the Read more…
Taking a break from boat projects, we spent some time enjoying our land based hobbies. We spent a day riding our bikes from our marina in Anacortes to a few breweries in the Skagit Valley. Riding on bike trails and country roads most of the way made for a relaxing day. Of course, a destination of beer is always rewarding. We also took off for the Cascade mountains for five days of camping. We camped Read more…
We have continued to keep a routine of exercising each day and mixing in boat projects as well. The hiking is fantastic with local hikes that overlook nice views of the water and hikes in the Cascade mountains. I really enjoy the abundant ferns and moss that covers everything. Snowy glaciers are cool too. Of course, the boat projects continue. Erik installed the new masthead anchor light. We also cleaned out the yucky gunk from Read more…
Since we have been social distancing, we have not had a chance to really be a part of the community as all the sailing clubs, breweries etc are closed. Regardless, I have been doing my best to integrate into the local society.
We have had several requests for more boat pictures and description of projects so here goes. Sorry for the delay! Callooh! Callay! like Ms. Mary Lou is a good solid boat, but the previous owner did not sail her much resulting in a lot of deferred maintenance that we are having to catch up on. Below are some pictures: It was nice of Catalina to provide these nice beautiful shelves on both port and starboard Read more…
With all the virus rules in place, we are constantly trying to find ways to stay busy and entertained. All the sailing clubs are shut down, so there is no way to participate in their activities at this point. Of course, with an old boat, there is always some kind of project to do. We are very fortunate that we have all sorts of awesome hiking opportunities within a walk or bike ride from our Read more…
Our slip at Shilshole Marina in Seattle came with one disadvantage–we didn’t have liveaboard status. Under the marina rules, we couldn’t stay on our boat in the marina for more than fifteen days each month. Given the pandemic and all the repairs we are doing, this constraint was a bit tough to follow. We had originally thought the liveaboard waiting list would be about a year, but another discussion with marina staff uncovered the truth: Read more…