April 25, 2010 - Hunter Bay and Lopez Pass

We manged to get out early on a Friday afternoon for a change.  We pulled Cindy out of school an hour early and we are underway before she would have been getting on the bus to come home.  The weather forecast isn't great with a rainy and somewhat windy day for Saturday.  We head out Deception Pass and over to Lopez Pass to check out a small anchorage we've been curious about for years.  The water isn't bad at all in Rosario Strait and we have an easy crossing; much better than a few weeks ago.  The winds are supposed to be from the SE so we want an anchorage with good protection from SE winds.

It's rough duty running the boat....  Deception Pass coming up

We get to a promising new anchorage at low tide and do a little checking and decide that since we don't know the location we aren't comfortable with a depth of only 3' below the boat.  If there is just one rock we aren't aware of it could spell big trouble for us later.  So, we pull the anchor and head over to Hunter Bay.  There are no boats there, and in fact we haven't really seen any boats today.   At Hunter Bay we drop the anchor and it doesn't get a good bite, in fact it is just dragging across the bottom.  Kathy suggests this would be a good time to try the other anchor.  I agree.  I haul the new anchor to the foredeck and swap them.

Swapping Anchors.

Guess how the new anchor works????  !!!!

This new (used, but new to us) anchor grabs instantly as we back down on it, and pulls the bow of the boat around.  The anchor chain is stretched out in front of us like never before.  This is a good sign, and on the very first time we use it.  A few minutes later the wind shifts and we spin around 180 degrees.  Kathy suggests that maybe we should test the anchor to make sure it will set in the other direction, since some anchor styles don't do well when you shift the pull 180 degrees.  We try backing down in it and once again it is a huge sucess.  The anchor stops us and the chain pulls out straight in front of us.  Yippee!

Now it's time to relax.  The kids are playing with legos and then Kevin starts sorting the UNO deck of cards.  He's learning everything so fast these days, children are amazing. 

Kevin gets the UNO deck sorted out in the galley.

It was a very quiet Friday night.  There is virtually no wind in here, although it is blowing 15-20 knots at Smith Island just a few miles south of us.  We are in a good location.  It is a VERY quiet evening with no wind all night.  It's a little rainy so we just stay inside and play games, color, putter on projects, and Kathy and the kids work on some flamingo decorations for next weekends opening day boat parade.  The theme is "get your flamingo on".   After noon we take a dinghy ride over to the place we wanted to go yesterday and it is a fantastic beach.  It has a little of everything to offer.  There is sand, some skipping rocks, lots of driftwood, and hiking trails.  There is a strong breeze which is making it a little chili.  We hike out to the lighted nav aid and there we find a little geocache canister with goodies from other people.  There are notes, toys, pens and paper.  We hike back over to the beach and walk around the driftwood for a while.  We pick up garbage and make a pile that we will bring back to the boat.  There isn't much garbage/debris here, but there is almost none by the time we are through.

Our "new" little beach.  This is quite a find, and it's close to home!

Picking up garbage on the beach

We head back to the boat for dinner, and to celebrate my birthday.  It's actually tomorrow but Kathy made a cake and wants to start eating it before it starts to go bad.  So, Cindy lights the candles and they all sing me happy brithday.  

Steve is another year older....

It is pretty breezy still, but not at the boat since we have nice protection from the large hill we are anchored near.  By bedtime the wind is basically gone.  No wind all night again which is a welcome relief from the past few trips with windy/wavy nights.  We wake up and decide to go try out that other anchorage with the nice beach, so we pull the anchor before breakfast and move over.  The anchor is quiet hard to get off the bottom and the windlass struggles more than it ever has with the old anchor.  Another good sign that this is a superior anchor (at least in a mud bottom).  The new anchor is a 55 pound Delta anchor.  The old anchor is a 65 pound Furfjord Safety Anchor.....

We motor over while Kathy cooks breakfast and then drop the hook a little further out  Again, a very reasuring grip from the anchor.  After breakfast I take a dinghy ride around Center Island and Trump Island.  I also explore Decatur Island's shoreline a bit.  About 20 years ago my roommate and I were contemplating buying property on either Decatur or Center Island's, and I have often wished we had.  This is one of the best places to have a beach cabin in the San Juans.

After my dinghy ride we all head over to the beach and we take our cat Zappa with us.  We bring the sand toys, and a garbage bag to collect our junk from yesterday.  Zappa enjoys playing in the driftwood, and even heads up into the surrounding trees. 

Surf's Up.  Hey Bro, is that board made of Koa wood?

Playing with the sand toys

We take a hike around the nature preserve.  Zappa follows and sometimes leads the way.  This kitty knows how to follow a trail, and us.

Headed around the west side

A beautiful spring day in the San Juans

After our hike we take a dinghy ride over by Paul Allen's estate which is about a mile from here.  There must be at least 5 houses that are each a minimum of 10,000sq ft.  It is impressive.  Mt. Baker is very clear today and the water is very smooth.  Before heading back to the boat and going home we take a quick ride around Center Island.  A nice peaceful day to be on the water.....

Cindy wrestles with a large bull kelp

Sunday marks the end of week 16 (in the official ISO 8601 calendar that numbers the weeks).  This is the 8th weekend on the boat this year, so we are averaging using our boat every other weekend.  I have it as one of our oals for 2010 to maintain this average throughout the year.  We came up a few weeks short last year due to a long stretch of bad weather in November and December, but are several weeks ahead of last years pace.  Wouldn't that be something to average using your boat every other weekend for a whole year (not just during the summer), in Puget Sound? 

Scenic Mt. Baker.  It looks SO close...