Going North

This year will be a first for me… The first time I’ve taken my boat to Desolation Sound. While I’ve spent a lot of time in the Canadian Gulf Islands, I’ve never made the leap across the Strait of Georgia and and ventured north to add to my cruising pedigree. I’m excited, the boat is ready, and time off from work secured.

I’ll be traveling with Briar Patch, Enough Time, Little Bear, and Wind Walker; all Desolation Sound veterans. Big Sky and Jolly Mon are first-timers. We have no real itinerary, other than a date we need to return by.

I’ll do my best to keep a log of my travels and things we do and see along the way. This post will contain several days.

Day 1: Saturday, August 10

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Briar Patch, Enough Time, and Jolly Mon departed Anacortes at about 5:30 am – just before daylight. The several mornings prior, Anacortes was socked in with fog, but this morning was the exception, so we were thrilled when we had the opportunity to leave early with clear skies. Wind Walker, the lone sailboat in the group, left the day before. Our plans were to make Nanaimo by evening.

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Ahhh, Sucia…

20130522-192300.jpgThis was one of those weekends that was on the radar for a while as a possible boating weekend. This was Victoria Day, a long weekend for Canadian friends and rumor had it a few of them were planning to head for Sucia.

I had a few occasions that required celebration before heading out on the boat.

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Weekend Cruise to Bellingham

Friday, April 19

20130422-221646.jpgThis weekend’s outing began, as many do, scanning everyone’s calendars a month or so out for any work/family/etc obligations. The ruling was, this weekend would work and fingers were crossed for decent weather.

Checking the forecast as the week progressed, things didn’t look all too great. Not terrible, just not the spring sunshine and blue skies that were hoped for. Continue reading “Weekend Cruise to Bellingham”

Early Spring Cruise

It’s finally spring. Just barely.

Friday, March 22
This weekend adventure began with finishing up a few chores at home, locking up the house and heading for the boat Friday evening.

JaCarol’sJim & Carol had just arrived at the marina- their first visit for the year. After dropping some things of on my boat, I ventured over to C Dock where I joined in sipping a cold one, already in progress. Cara (Enough Time) was there, too. It was nice to sit and catch up. JaCarol would be staying at the dock this weekend due to some commitments at home for her crew.

The consensus was we were all hungry, and after minimal deliberation, we loaded up and headed downtown for some dinner at the Rockfish Grill. Jonathan, Lori, and Thomas (Briar Patch) rolled into town and joined us at our table, as well as some other riff raff that made their way in. Overall, a nice evening, but it was nice to say goodnight and head back to the boat and find my bed.

Saturday, March 23
Up early, I readied the boat, found some breakfast, made some coffee and waited for the cue that the rest of the fleet was ready to go. After a quick stop at the fuel dock, Jolly Mon, Enough Time, and Briar Patch were under way.

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Looking Back..

I’ve gotten a bit behind on my cruising log, and for various reasons I didn’t get around to entering last summer’s cruises. Here it is February, and while I’m already making plans for this years cruising season, I’ve been fortunate to get out for a few very nice winter cruises.

But first, a quick re-cap of last summer, just so you can be convinced the boat was well-used.. Here’s a few highlights:

March:Impromptu Easter weekend overnight cruise to Obstruction Pass. Ran into JaCarol… Had some wine. Had some more wine. Afternoon cruise turns into overnight. Good times!

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