Feb 5, 2010 - Eagle Harbor (Cypress Island)

It's still winter but the days are getting long enough that we can get out on a Friday afternoon and make it somewhere before dark. It has been a very mild winter (except for a brief period in December with temps in the teens). There's a 10-15 knot breeze today, but it is supposed to die down and be absolutely calm for the next few days. It is also supposed to be sunny this weekend - wow, and this is winter in the NW?

We motor 2 hours to Cypress Island and grab a mooring buoy. There is one other powerboat here, and that's it. There is still a fairly strong breeze so we tie a stern line to a buoy behind us so we don't end up broadside to the waves. This will keep us from rocking and rolling all night.

Synergy on a mooring buoy.

Saturday is Kathy's birthday and the kids have decided it needs to be a backwards day. We will start the morning by reading a bedtime story, followed by brushing teeth and then cake and ice cream for desert. Next comes dinner (pizza). Kathy takes a little nap after “dinner” (it is her birthday after all). Lunch is still lunch, but then dinner is really breakfast so we have French toast and hash browns.

After pizza but before lunch we take the dinghy to shore and go for a hike. We are gone almost 4 hours hiking up to the airstrip and Lake Bradberry. We bring our lunch and eat it at the lake. The lake is beautiful and it is so calm it is like a mirror!

Mirror-like Bradberry Lake

Eating lunch on Cypress Island

Trail map of all the hiking opportunities.

Cindy picks up a mooring  :-) 

After our hike we go back to the boat and the kids play some games on their Nintendo DS's. There are now 3 sailboats here, and the powerboat has left.  After "breakfast" we all play the game SORRY. The kids really like that game and it's amazing to watch them learn strategy. Wow, they are growing up on us.  Several hours after dark a sailboat comes into the bay and takes the buoy next to us.  In the dark the boat seems HUGE.  In the morning light we can see that it's maybe about 32' - not huge at all :-)

It starts raining overnight, but there is absolutely no wind. We get up in the morning and the kids play games, I cleanup the messy pilothouse, and Kathy works on her laptop and relaxes. We head back home a little earlier than usual so we can get a few things done around the house.