We ended up in Sandpoint Idaho last week and had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner over there a few days early with Kathy's parents and Steve's Mom and Sister. That freed up our Thanksgiving weekend to allow for a longer boat trip. It snowed in western WA a few days before Thanksgiving which caused all sorts of driving problems for people. A boat is relatively immune to such issues, so we decided to escape the mess on the roads and seek out some peace and quiet on the boat.
 |
| Leaving snowy La Conner on Thanksgiving morning. |
The wind forecast for Thanksgiving evening is not good with 30-40 knot winds coming. We really feel like we want to spend Thanksgiving night on a dock, so we can sleep easy if the winds do kick up. We are going to try the Orcas Island Yacht Club reciprocal dock in Westsound. Since we belong to the Swinomish Yacht Club there is no cost to use the dock. We arrive after a nice easy trip to the islands and find the dock empty. Nice!
 |
| Thanksgiving. Synergy at the Orcas Island Yacht Club dock in Westsound. |
We have a very nice, but non-traditional, Thanksgiving dinner; pizza! It was unique and it was great! After dinner we play games and enjoy being tied to the dock when the winds do indeed kick up a little. For once though we get a good nights sleep despite being in 30 knot gusts. In the morning I take a little exploratory walk in hopes that a nearby bed and breakfast's restaurant is open for breakfast. But, it's closed for the season. We have breakfast on our boat instead and then depart Westsound thankful for the nice solid dock we were tied to last night.
We are now headed to Jones Island where we spent New Years Eve this year. It's a great island, but we have not been back since. We've heard they are rebuilding the dock so we don't expect to find any dock space there this time. We are also worried that we might not find an empty buoy too as this is a popular island (at least in the summer). As we enter the north bay we find it completely empty so we grab a buoy. After lunch we row over to the dock (under construction, and a TOTAL mess) to go for a long hike. We bring our cat along, which we do when there aren't other people (or dogs) around. We are gone for about 2 hours and have a great time getting some exercise on this cold but beautiful fall day.
 |
| Talking a walk on Jones Island with our cat Zappa. |
 |
| Zappa isn't your typical kitty cat.... He's really more like a dog in many ways. |
Our friends the Dalton's are coming later today to join us at Jones Island and we hope the buoys remain open all day. Nobody else arrives and the Dalton's grab the buoy next to us. Perfect!
 |
| Our two boats alone in the north bay of Jones Island. |
They row over for a visit shortly after arriving. It is really nice to have such great friends to meet up with out here. We have seen almost no other boats despite the great weather, which makes this island experience even more special as we know that no one else is enjoying this wonderful place. We have it all to ourselves.
On Saturday morning we meet the Dalton's at shore to go for a hike. They have never been here before and the kids immediately start exploring. We all hike around the island which has a wonderful trail circling it.
 |
| Cindy, Grace, and Kevin peeling bark from a Madrona. |
 |
| Jenn, Aidan, Grace, and Mark. What a nice day! |
 |
| Kevin, Grace (holding Zappa) and Cindy. |
 |
| Picnic time. Hot chocolate with whipped cream for the kids. |
 |
| Kevin says "Shhhh.... don't tell Mom where I'm hiding!" |
 |
| Kathy and Jenn go for a row, and some alone time. |
It's a very nice day filled with activity and fun in the sun. Saturday night, after we all eat dinner together on our boat, we witness 3 major lighting flashes to the north, probably north of Sucia and Patos. Everything is calm where we are with clear skies, but it's pretty ominous looking to the north. A bit later we all row to shore for a beach fire and some left over fireworks from the 4th of July. The weather is very calm, for a while. The wind starts to whip up a bit, and it starts to rain despite the clear skies overhead.
 |
| Beach fire and marshmallows with our friends. |
After some fun fireworks we pack up our stuff and head for the dinghies. They are bouncing around like corks on the waves, and it looks pretty spooky in our flashlights. This is going to be an adventure. Then I notice that one of our ours is missing. Great; now we can't even row back. Fortunately Jenn is willing and able to row her family back to our boat and then come back for us to get us to our boat, with our one-oared rowboat in tow. Thanks Jenn! The Dalton's pile into thier dinghy and row back to their boat. As I pull our dinghy back onto the swimstep to secure it, the remaining oar slips over the side and into the cold waves. We watch helplessly as it disappears from view in our fading flashlight beam. "Oh, well, I think they sell them in pairs anyway." It's a rough night with some pretty big waves pounding us. It starts to calm down around 3:00AM I guess. And this was supposed to be a night with NO wind?
Sunday it was calm again but us adults were pretty tired because of the waves and wind. It never seems to fail, a few nice days/nights followed by a rough and tumble night. It wasn't forecast at all, but that's not unusual for our neck of the woods. It was probably totally calm last night just 5 miles away. Mark goes out in his dinghy looking for our missing oars and finds one on shore, and the second under teh new dock. They appear undamaged. Phew! I know now that I need some sort of tether on these oars to keep them attached to the boat. We row to shore after breakfast to hike around the other side of the island, which is just as nice as the side we hiked yesterday. After lunch it's time to leave, and Grace gets on our boat to play to with Cindy on the ride back to Shelter Bay. Another fantastic weekend on the water, with our great friends.
 |
| Spectacular rainbow on our way home. So that's what the pot of gold looks like! |
 |
| Just a few more minutes before we are home. Bummer!!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment