Memorial Day Week-end Anacortes

The weather is lovely but we are staying put.  There is a mass exudus from the marina and we would rather go out without the crowd.  It’s a great day to sit out in the cockpit and read.

Wednesday, May 23 Anacortes

Fred is up early to get to West Marine to order a new transom shore power outlet and a new adapter cord from 50 amp (boat) to 30 amp (shore).  The boat is actually set up to run on 50 amp power but the cord is so big and heavy we don’t use it much.  His next project is to get the Globalstar satellite phone up and running.  After taking part of the boat apart we figured out that the phone just needed a new battery.  

Tuesday, May 22 Anacortes

We were hoping to get a lot done today.  Our marine electrician, James Rovang, picked up four new batteries from West Marine and brought them to the boat.  They each weight 113 lbs!  Fred helped to get them to the cockpit but James has to find a way to get them hooked up in the engine room.  We ran some errands and took Merlin to be groomed.  It is a bit of a sacrilege, but we had his “feathers” cut off to make grooming him on our trip easier.  

As we were sitting watching a movie the ac shore power just cut off.  Fred is up and troubleshooting this problem.  The power on the dock is ok.  When he pulled out power cord out of the boat he saw corrosion that wasn’t there on Saturday.  The corrosion was also on the power source on the boat.  This is not good.  Fred found a 30 amp to 110 power adapter and we plugged an extension cord to this to run a space heater (and other small appliances as necessary).  Fred called our electrician and informed him of our new problem.  Jimmy will be out to boat tomorrow to help fix this problem.  

Monday, May 21 Anacortes

We are ready (not really) and waiting for Bob Meng to come.   He seems to have a really pleasant way of teaching (www.onthewatertraining.com)  The weather is just awful.  Wind is reaching 20 knots at our slipand pushing us off the dock.  First thing we did was to meet Bob up at the marina office, have a latte and talk.  We all agreed that taking the boat off the dock for docking and line training was not a good idea in this weather.  When we got back to Emerald Star we went down into the engine room and Bob proceeded to go over the fuel system, the engine system and the electrical panel.  A repeat for Fred but new to me.  Please don’t ask me to explain what he said. I think the most I can do is to see that things are connected and not leaking.  He will come another day for the on-the-water training. 

Sunday, May 20 Anacortes

Yup, slept like a baby.  The weather service has been threatening rain for days now.  It is finally here.  Fred has been waiting for months now to go to Randy’s Pier 61 for their Sunday brunch.  Have you figured out that this navy runs on it’s stomach??  The brunch is very extensive.  They really do a good job, especially for $15/person.  Because we can’t get the email to work from the boat we headed over to Starbucks and checked our email there.  We headed back to the boat to continue to “getting ready” procedure.  Fred is not a happy camper.  None of his projects today worked.  He can’t bring out boat router up to talk to the computer so we can use our email.  He could not get our Globalstar satellite phone to work.  He couldn’t get our TV up and running.  He is extremely frustrated.  To add to our anxiety, we have hired a Bob Meng to come aboard tomorrow, all day, to work with us on boat handling.  It seemed like a good idea when we talked to him at the Seattle Boat Show lst January.  Now we are intimidated.  To continue…

Saturday, May 19 Anacortes

Sunny  Today is a big day.  Emerald Star goes into the water.  We are being hauled off the blocks and into the water.  Fortunately the weather is beautiful and sunny with temps in the mid 60’s.  This is a nerve wracking process.  After she was in the water the moment of truth…start the engines.  Woo Hoo, they both came on line.  We then moved out to the fuel dock.  The tanks are nearly empty.  We put 75 gallons in each tank at $4.75/gallon.  This is the most painful part of cruising.   Especially since the boat holds 600 gallons of diesel.  Our guest slip is at the end of the fuel dock.  It is nice and quiet out here but it is a long walk to the parking lot.  This is our first night aboard Emerald Star.  I usually sleep like a baby. 

Thursday, May 17 Anacortes

Sunny  We went to the boat show this morning.  They have a large number of beautiful boats on the docks and two tents full of vendors.  When we found out that they wanted $15/each to go on the docks we decided to just go to the vendors.  There are several people we know or have done business with in the past.  One of the folks we need to see is the man who will “swing” our compass (correct it).  At present we have three compass’ on the boat.  The regular glass compass, the GPS and the Chart Plotter.  They all say a different number.  Thank goodness we don’t leave site of land.  Who knows where we would wind up.  After the show we went back to Emerald Star to work until 5 pm when they lock the gaits to the yard.  For those of you who remember, we got ourselves locked into the yard twice last year…We even called the plice at one point to help us.   Fred was beat to s_ _t so he wasn’t even going to have dinner.  Merlin & I went over to Bob’s Chowder House for take-out.  I was looking around the entrance for someplace to tie up Merlin while I went in and ordered.  This fellow outside said he would be happy to hold the leash.  I went in and ordered and on the way out a couple stopped me and commented on my fleece which says “Alaska” on it.  Apparently they live near Anchorage (some place I have never heard of) and were here at the TrawlerFest to look for a cruising boat.  Very nice folks.

Wednesday, May 16 Anacortes, WA

Sunny  Got up bright and early to meet the carpet cleaners at the boat.  After we let  them in we headed back to town for the TrawlerFest.  The papers said it started today but when we got to Cap Sante Marina they were still washing boats and setting up.  So we went back to the boat after a deliciious Mexican pizza at El Jinete’s.  The carpet cleaners did a very nice job.  I have no idea why someone would put cream colored carpet on a boat.  Maybe to keep the carpet cleaners busy? There is so much to do to get the boat ready for crusing.  Fred has the huge task of checking out the boat’s electrical, mechanical and plumbing before we leave for the summer.  I’m in charge of putting our clothes and supplies away, making  beds and checking our inventory of food and cleaning supplies.  We went across the street from the motel to get dinner at Bob’s Chowder house.  It is cute and funky with excellent food.  Fred had fish tacos and I had the soup of the day.  It is warm and sunny so we ate outside.  I wish we knew this before we left Merlin in the motel room. 

Tuesday, May 15 Roseburg, OR to Anacortes, WA

Sunny  Arrived in Anacortes about 4 pm.  We headed straight to the boat yard to make sure Emerald Star was of the shed and ready to be worked on in the morning.  She was there in all her glory so we went back into town and checked in at the motel.  We have stayed at the Island’s Inn a number of times.  The rooms are so-so but they welcome dogs and they have a very nice breakfast.  The inn is owned by a Dutch woman who has put a European slant on  breakfast.  Their home-made granola is wonderful but what is really different is that also provide hard and soft boiled eggs and small loaves of french bread right out of the oven.  She provides honey-cream cheese and there are little bottle of chocolate sprinkes on the table.  She says that  in Holland it is customary to put the chocolate on the honey mixture and the fresh baked bread.  It is really yummy. 

Monday, May 14 Walnut Creek to Roseburg, OR

The weather is beautiful and the car is packed to bulging.  Why do we always have so much to carry up to the boat?  We really have no idea.  We left the house at 8:30 am and got to Roseburg, OR a little after 4 pm. The Best Western Garden Villa is very nice.  Our room has a pation table and umbrella in front.  The weather is so nice we just ordered a pizza to be delivered and ate outside.

Sunday, May 13th (Mother’s Day)

What a lovely Mother’s Day.  I had cards, flowers and brunch with our kids.  We had a lovely window table at Il Pescatore in Jack London Square. We watched a grandfather type guy in a two seat kayak with a little girl about 3.  Suddenly I hear Fred saying "Oh No".  The kayak tipped over right in front of us but we couldn't get to them from our location.  The fellow got the child out on the dock, along with his cell phone and wallet.  It took two men to pull this man out of the water.  It made me realize that there are no ladders on the dock for people to use in this situation. Fortunately neither of them were injured. Then when we got home we started packing for our five month trip up north. 

Wednesday, June 6 Anacortes to Deert Harbor 2 hours 20 miles

It is very rainy but the winds are less than 10 mph.  We went for our farewell breakfast at Calico Cupboard.  We really like it there.  The breakfasts are wonderful and we have become very fond of some of the staff.  After breakfast we took the car through a car wash then out to American Heritage Storage to put our car in a storage unit with a trickle charger running.  Fred had to open up the sun roof and stand on the seats to remove the light bulb and replace it with an outlet and extension cord.  When he was ready to close the door and lock the space he couldn’t find the lock we bought.  Bad words were said and the decision to ask the managers of the place for a suggestion.  Fred went in to the office and they handed him a new lock, still in the package and refused to charge us for it.  That is the sort of thing that will keep us coming back here each year. Fred just got back to the front of the building when good old Mert from Mert’s taxi drove up.   He just loved Merlin and even invited him to sit in the front with him.  However, my baby boy had no intentions of being so far from me.  We got back to the boat around noon and made preparations to leave dock.  The wind is mild and the rain is slacking off for awhile.  The only challenge was that we were leaving Cap Sante at low tide.  Fred saw as low as 4 ½ feet under the the keel.  He was sweating bullets.  However, he stayed mid-channel and we had no trouble getting into Guemes Channel.  We encountered about 1’ chop in Rosario Straight and had a very pleasant trip to Deer Harbor on the west side of Orcas Island.  We anchored in 35’ of water about 100 yards from the marina.  It is too wet and cold to put the dinghy in the water today. 

Tuesday, June 5 Anacortes, Cap Sante Boat Haven

The cable we have been waiting for arrived today at noon.  The wind is 15-25 kts out in Rosario Straight with 2-4 foot waves.  Again we decide to wait another day to leave the dock. 

Monday, June 4 Anacortes, Cap Sante Boat Haven

We were planning on taking the car to storage and heading off the dock today.  Well, the weather is very windy and there are still projects to be completed.  Fred has been in a running dialog with Pedro (his new best friend) at Ocens about the correct way to configure our communication system to use the Globalstar phone and Ocens email.  The poor BBX (internet) email reception we get in our slip at the marina doesn’t help.  After spending what seemed like hours on the phone with Pedro, it is decided that the solution to our problem is a new $160 cable.  Pedro will over-night it to us.  We will plan on leaving tomorrow after the package arrives.

Sunday, June 3 Anacortes, Cap Sante Boat Haven

The weather is supposed to be much nicer today than yesterday.  We headed over to Lowe’s in Mt. Vernon to do some shopping.  I wanted a new sisel rug for the cockpit.  After that we went back to the Waterfront Festival.  I wandered around and bought a lovely blown glass/metal candle lantern. Fred & I sat in the sun in the cockpit and decided that we should have a nice seafood dinner at Anthony’s tonight.  This lovely restaurant is located very close to the marina office so we just walked.  They have a covered patio with a fireplace and heat lamps.  We had a nice seat and actually felt too warm…until the sun set.  The temperature dropped considerably and this is when I found out that the heat lamp we are sitting under is out of propane.  We shivered through a yummy rhubarb cobbler and then walked back to our warm boat.

Saturday, June 2 Skyline Marina to Cap Sante Boat Haven 1 hour 7 miles

It sure feels good to finally get off the dock at Skyline Marina.  We travel around the north-west end of Fidalgo Island (Anacortes) and wind up at Cap Sante Boat Haven which is walking distance from downtown.  First thing we do is stop at the fuel dock.  Fred was expecting to put at least 100 gallons of diesel on each side (two fuel tanks).  He wasn’t paying close attention and by the time the nozzle popped out on the port side we had a bit uf a fuel spill on the deck.  I ran to get absorbant cloths from the fuel fellow and Fred did a fine job of cleaning up and not draining into the bay.  The port tank only took 90 gallons.  Fredd was prepared when he filled the starboard side.  We wound up taking 177.9 gallons at $3.78/gallon.  Almost a dollar less per gallon that Skyline.  Even though we are an hour further from the San Juan Islands it was worth the trip.  We plan on staying here for the week-end and checking out the Anacortes Waterfront Festival.  It is really charming with an emphasis on children’s activities.