Pelican Passages

It was a beautiful day when we arrived in Roche Harbor but turned cloudy and rained a good part of yesterday. Our big adventure was a short trip to the other side of Speiden Island to drop the shrimp pot...which we watched dissappear in 400 feet of water. Oops. Went back out later in the day to see if it had surfaced...no such luck. And no fresh seafood for dinner. It was a day better suited for a nice pot of chili anyway. Several other Rangers pulled in including our dock buddies from last September's factory Rendezvous. Tom and Carolyn are a couple in their eighties who gave up a lifetime of sailing (around the world!)  to now putter around in "Toy," a 25 like ours.

After thinking about our options Captain Nick had a suggestion he thought I would deem "crazy talk." Go back to the U.S. and find guest moorage at Roche Harbor. Not at all crazy! One nice thing about arriving at R.H. on Memorial Day was that most people were leaving! We fly an earth flag. (One way to tell us apart from all the other blue Rangers.) We bought this flag years ago in Lopez Village for no good reason other than they used fly all over the island due to a radio station fund raiser. We never did anything with it but when we bought the Pelican it just seemed like the right flag for us.

Spent an awesome night on the hook in Fisherman Bay. There are pros and cons to being at a dock but one con for sure is late night partiers! We were far enough into the bay to avoid most of that nonsense. Finally into Canadian waters! We cleared customs in Bedwell Harbor (South Pender Island) at Poets Cove Marina. No problems and a really quick process. Then on to Ganges. Nice little town, however the Oystercatcher restaurant only had east coast oysters. A little disappointing, as we are convinced the best oysters in the world come from our own back yard. (Literally, in the case of the cabin!) The plan was to stay two nights in Ganges but the...ahem...you-know-what tank is about full and their pump out station is being serviced! There may also be weather coming in, so may head back to Poets Cove. We'll see. (Cuz we can do what we want!) P.S. For those of you who may know, yes, in Canada we can easily dump our waste tank off shore. (And pump out services are much less available.)...

It's not all about Bucky's San Diego style fish tacos but it is one of our favorite Lopez Island treats. This time, Bucky himself was behind the grill. It was a bit shorter cruise from La Conner to Fisherman Bay, even with a stop for the train trestle bridge coming out of the Swinomish Channel. Although we did hang out in the outer harbor for a little while, with others, waiting for the tide to come in before entering the channel into Fisherman. It was good to get into familiar territory as we picked up our usual ferry route through the San Juan Islands. I am still amazed at the low number of boaters out on a holiday weekend, in some of the best weather to be had. Captain Nick said, "What's better than this...right now?"

Captain Nick said, "This is too much fun; it should be illegal." He's right! Cruise from Edmonds to La Conner is our longest leg of the journey. A clear day with glassy water a large part of the trip. Lots of porpoise in the stretch between Whidbey and Camano. A good 100 bald eagles were hanging out on the flats of the Skagit. Haven't seen that many since Homer Ak. Planning to reach the Swinomish Channel at max slack, we also hit it at really low tide. As this boat has a 26 inch draft, we weren't too concerned.  However, motoring along (slowly!) in 5 feet of water was a bit nerve wracking for the first mate. (That's me, yes.) We really enjoy La Conner and have spent quite bit of time here, but being here in a boat is a new perspective. Like motoring under the Rainbow Bridge instead of walking or driving over it. On to fish tacos!  I mean Fisherman Bay!

O Captain! My Captain! He's not Abraham Lincoln but Captain Nick is my hero when it comes to getting the Pelican where she needs to go.  Or when I can't remember all of the buttons to push to boil water (running the inverter). This is a boat with systems. It's complicated! Day 1 was a beautiful cruising day on the Sound. Not many other boats around - except of course when we got close to Des Moines, when they miraculously all appear, vying for a place in line for the cheapest diesel in the South Sound. We had a nice walk around Edmonds and then grilled steak and veggies on the boat.

Welcome to Janine's boating blog! We've had the boat for about nine months and are excited to experience our first cruising summer. This Thursday we leave for a two week trip to the Gulf Islands. Itinerary: Edmonds La Conner Lopez Island - Fisherman Bay Salt Spring Island - Ganges Galiano Island - Montegue Harbor South Pender Island - Poets Cove Lopez Island - Spencer Spit Port Townsend Kingston We have been gearing up and provisioning over the past couple of weeks, with crab and shrimp pots and the kayak ready to go. Today we gave her a good cleaning. Can't wait! Photo above from a trip to Blake Island last October. This photo shows her all loaded up!