The Final Leg

The final leg of our trip was finally here.  One more push form Seattle to Tacoma Yacht Club, our home port.  I woke up, went outside and decided to wash the boat at Bell Harbor before we left.  When we get back to our home slip its always a challenge to finish up cleaning the boat while the kids sit there knowing home is just a short drive away.  I washed the boat while Julie cleaned the inside.  I was hopeful our 3 hour cruise home would be free of any saltwater spray on the boat.  The wind was calm though, so I took the risk.

Leaving at 10:30am we had a smooth spry free 21.69nm cruise to Tacoma.  Once we neared Point Defiance I tried to convince Julie to stop and do some salmon fishing.  After a few tries she finally said "absolutely no way, we are going home!"  OK, fine it probably wasn't the best idea with the whole family itching to get home by now.  

One last stop at the fuel dock to fill up the tanks and see how much fuel we used on the trip.  One nice thing about this boat is the 400 gallon fuel capacity.  We filled up the tanks before we left and never had to stop and get fuel during the whole 3 week trip.  It took about 45 minutes to top off the tanks taking on 234 gallons of fuel.  

Stuck on a boat with 2 young kids for 3 weeks can be extremely trying at times.  We certainly had our moments of pulling our hair out!  However, it was all worth it.  We had so much fun and what a great experience for our kids.  At 2:20pm we pulled into our boathouse feeling great about having completed such a memorable trip. 

Trip Log - 388.82nm

Fuel used - 234 gallons

1.66 Miles per gallon

Engine Hours - 55 hours 6 minutes

Days on the water - 23

Leaving Seattle

TYC clubhouse - Home at last!

Stir-crazy

After an 11 hour day on the boat yesterday, we would have experienced mutiny from our children had we just taken off for the 3 hour trip to Seattle this morning.  The Everett Marina is actually located on the Snohomish River with Jetty Island Park located across the river from the guest docks.  This little island is almost all sand and the whole thing is a wildlife preserve.  We motored over to the public dock serving Jetty Island and tied up.  We let the kids free and like caged animals they were off and running!  We have never seen them run so much.  Up and down the sand beach, I don’t think they stopped the whole time we were there.

The island has a garbage monster that gives you a free milkshake at Wendy’s if you bring garbage off the beach back to the monster.  We collected some garbage and brought it back to feed the monster.  Now all the kids want to do is go to Wendy’s to collect their prize.

At 11:26 am we took off for downtown Seattle’s Bell Harbor.  We had a smooth 8-knot cruise all the way into Elliot Bay and tied up to our slip at 3:05pm and 28.76nm.  The boat right next to us happened to be a friend from TYC who owns a Camano 31 just like our old one.  It was nice talking with Roger and fun to see the two boats right next to each other.  We trekked up the hill to do some shopping and have dinner downtown.  We had a really nice dinner at the Palomino then headed in for an early night.  Tomorrow we will be home!

Trip Log – 367.13nm

Seattle skyline from the marina

Southward

We woke up knowing we needed to make some miles south but how far we could not decide.  Do we cross the straight?  No, wind forecast was for 30 knots in the afternoon right when we would get there.  At 9:20am we took off deciding to go through Rosario Straight then through Deception Pass.  Just through the pass is Cornet Bay with a TYC outstation we could spend the night at.  This pass is narrow with strong currents so it must be hit at or near slack water.  Checking our estimated arrival time with slack water time revealed we could hit it just perfect. 

As we entered Rosario Straight we could see up ahead a large fog bank.  We decided to take the somewhat longer route along the east side of Cypress Island.  As we motored along we noticed some mooring buoys off Pelican Beach.  We have never explored this island and it looked really cool!  There was an open buoy so we decided to take one for the night and it would be nice to stop and eat lunch anyway.

Skylar instantly started fishing and brought up a rockfish!  He was hooked on this place as he brought up fish after fish.  Then the tide changed and everything stopped.  No more fish.  As we sat there in what felt like freezing cold (this was the first 60 degree day in a couple weeks) Julie and I decided to untie and keep going.  We missed slack water at Deception Pass so we decided to take the slow but protected route through the Swinomish Channel. 

Still undecided on where to stay the night we just kept moving south.  For some dumb reason Julie and I kept talking about sunset being at about 9:30pm when calculating where we could make it before dark.  We figured Edmonds would be a stretch but we could make it.  At about 7pm with Julie and the kids down below reading, I thought to myself, wow it seems to be really getting dark for only 7pm.  To be sure I grabbed my phone and looked up the time for sunset in Seattle.  8:08pm.  What the….. how could we have been 1.5 hours off?  I guess not paying much attention to time over the last 3 weeks will do that to you.

We now had less than an hour until sunset.  The small Langley Marina was only 2nm away so we decided that was our destination.  This marina is very small though and there was a good chance it was full.  Sure enough, absolutely no dock space.  Where to now?  Everett was about 9nm away and the closest option.  I cranked up the engine to 15.5 knots burning 14.5 gallons per hour at that speed!  We felt like we were flying after going 7-10 knots most of our trip!  I have only been to the Port of Everett once before so I also had some navigating to figure out.  The marina is actually located on a river so you have to navigate some buoys to avoid the shoal.  As we rounded the entry buoy a huge barge with a tug pushing it was coming right at us!  We navigated around the barge and through the channel leading to the docks.  At 8:10pm just after sunset we were snugly tied up in our slip!  Just about 11 hours and 61.55nm is way too long on the boat especially for the restless kids.

Trip Log – 338.37nm

One of Skylars fish

The sun going down!

Tug and barge in the entrance to Everett Marina

Patos?

All 4 of us went out to pull the crab pots after leaving them in all night.  The pots were set in only about 25 feet of water making the pull much easier than the 150 feet we experienced at Oro Bay.  Skylar was able to get the up all on his own.  The first pot had 2 legal crabs and the 2^nd had 1!  Not bad for 1 pull. 

We pushed off from the Roche Harbor docks with Patos Island being our destination.  Patos is the northern most island in the San Juans and has some of the most beautiful shore line we have seen.  Its fairly small but the whole island is a state park.  With only one small bay (Active Cove) suitable for overnight moorage, the issue is finding room to anchor or tie up to one of the 3 mooring buoys available.  We’ve been in here twice before wanting an overnight stay but were not successful.  We were hoping 3^rd times the charm but unfortunately this time was no different.  The small cove had 4 boats in it and that’s about the maximum. 

We decided Shallow Bay on Sucia Island would be a great overnight anchorage.  We have been over there many times but never stayed the night so we were excited for a new experience.  As a bonus this bay has some of the best sunset views in all the islands.  We anchored in 10’ of water at low tide after 17.75nm.  Skylar took the Kayak out for a spin then all of us jumped in the dinghy to set the crab pots.  We had no idea if there were any crab here, no other pots were around but we figured we’d try and picked a spot.  The next cove over (Fox Cove) separates Sucia Island from Little Suca Island.  A nice vacant beach on Little Sucia was perfect for Julie and I to search for sea glass while the kids turned over rocks to play with the creatures.

As we motored back to Shallow Bay we noticed quite a few more crab pots around ours.  We thought we must have chosen the hot spot.  We pulled the pots to find a few females and a pesky starfish.  The other people with their pots next to ours both said they only put theirs in that spot because they thought we must know what we’re doing.  Our luck would not change with later pulls.

Skylar and I went out for some fishing with no luck.  The sunset was awesome that night as we went to bed early for a long passage tomorrow.

Trip Log – 276.82nm

Pulling up the crab pot!

Its Ava's job to throw the buoy

Patos lighthouse

The beach at Little Sucia

Back in the USA!

Leaving Sidney at 11:08am we bucked the current across the border back into the USA.  Some Orca whales were in Haro Straight but unfortunately they did not want us to get a good look at them.  All they would show us is a few fins sticking out of the water.  Still pretty cool to see though. 

When you cross the border in a boat your first stop must be a port of entry where agents check you back in.  Our port of entry today was Roche Harbor on San Juan Island.  Julie always gets super nervous dealing with the border protection agents after we had one experience where they drilled us with question after question in a tone that was just plain not very nice.  Today was a different story.  They were extremely nice and respectful although they did take our oranges.  I’m sure there are some grumpy ones but these border protection agents do a great job and I’m thankful for strict policies that help keep our country safe.

After clearing customs we were assigned a slip at the Roach Harbor Marina.  We backed into our slip at 1:15pm, 9.21nm traveled with the bow pointing west and no one in front of us.  The sunset was going to be great from here and we felt so secluded in what is always a very busy marina.

It was off to lunch at the restaurant with the bees again pestering us while we were eating.  This time though the waiter brought over a fabric softener sheet and placed it in the center of our table.  It sure worked, not another bee the rest of the meal!  After lunch we all roamed around the marina going through all the shops, taking pictures in the garden and getting goodie bags from the candy store.  The kids literarily rolled around in the grass, pushing each other down the hill and giving horsey rides. 

The kids and I went out to set the crab pots while Julie had some much needed time alone.  As it got later in the evening we were distracted by the awesome sunset and Roche Harbor “colors” display that it got too dark to pull the crab pots.  We were hopeful morning would bring an abundance given the long soak.

Trip Log – 259.07nm

The view from our boat

The kids loving room to run around!

 

Quiet time on the boat.  Sometimes whatever it
takes for peace and quiet!

The view from our boat