October 17, 2010 - MacKaye Harbor

It seems as though we haven't been out on the boat in a long time.  It's been 3 weeks, but for us that seems like an eternity.  We've had some bad weather on the weekends since we went out last, and Kathy was out of town with her girlfriends for a concert, so we really have not been able to go until this weekend.  The weather is fantastic with clear skies and no wind.  The summer heat is gone with overnight temps in the 30's and the daytime highs in the low to mid 50's.

Kevin had a soccer game Friday night which makes leaving Friday almost impossible unless we are willing to run in the dark, which isn't very wise as there is a lot of tribal crabbing going on and running over one of their floats after dark would be very easy to.  Wrapping 100' of line around my props is not something I want to deal with in the dark.  So, after soccer we went home and had dinner, then walked down to the boat for the evening.

We slept in until 8:00 and then got underway.  Kathy wanted to pull the boat out of the slip, and she did a great job.  She drove the boat out of Shelter Bay where we could see a little fog hanging on the water.  We were concerned about fog on the way over to Lopez but it never materialized.


Kathy at the helm leaving Shelter Bay.  Light fog on the water.

It is a very easy ride across Rosario Straight to the south end of Lopez Island.  We are headed to a place where we've had a few bad experiences due to strong winds causing us to rock and roll severely all night.  The forecast is calling for NO wind, and we hope that holds true.  We anchor in the bay along with one other power boat about our size.  The other boats in the bay are always there, so we are sharing this place with just one other boater.  This time of year is great as there just aren't many people out so we sometimes have places to ourselves that during the summer are packed with boats.  I really don't understand why more people aren't out on days like this?

After lunch we hop into the dinghy for a short ride to Iceburg Point where we beach the boat and start our hiking.  This is a great place with lots of trails along several miles of shoreline.  It is very rugged with glacier polished rocks and upturned striated rock formations that are very unique.

The kids check out navigational marker #2

Checking out the cool rocks.  Notice the glacier polished one behind.



Rugged Lopez coastline.  Sunny and cool fall cruising.

 We spend nearly 4 hours hiking around Iceburg point and stop for a picnic about 1/2 way through our day.  There is a lot to see here.  We have found yet another great place to go with the kids.  This one is better in cool weather when they don't want to be in the water because there really is no beach to play at here, but it is definitely beautiful.



Returning to the main trail after taking a nice side trip to the water.

 

HUGE driftwood on the south side of Lopez Island.



Iceburg point provides a lot of photo opportunities.

Rock climbing in Iceburg Point State Park.

It was a wonderful day with lots of hiking.  We head back to the boat and turn on the furnace because it is getting cold again tonight.  After a very calm evening at anchor we awake to a beautiful morning of sun and light fog blowing through the bay.  It is very picturesque.

Sunday morning.  A nice day ahead of us.

Lovely autumn morning; sun and fog.  Clear and cold.

After breakfast we play some games.  Then we take the kids out on the dinghy to have them practice driving and docking the dinghy.  We spend some time with them each trying to drive the dinghy up to a fender we've tossed in the water.  Then it's over to a dock to let them practice the real thing.  They both did a GREAT job!!!



Kevin practices docking the dinghy.



Cindy gets her "driving lesson."

Another fine weekend on the boat.  Summer is definitely gone, but so are the crowds.  In many ways this is our favorite time to go boating!

Update: We have been out on the boat 23 weekends this year with a goal of getting out at least 26 weekends. Oct 17 marked the end of week #41 in the ISO week number calendar. There are 52 weeks in a year, so there are 11 weeks left in this year. I think we can get out at least 3 more times during the remaining 11 weeks. This would allow us to meet my goal of "using our boat every other weekend" in 2010. I think we can do it!!!!