February, 2005 The big news is our impending move to Shilshole Bay Marina in Ballard in mid-March. We were on the wait list for over a year. It's a longer commute for both of us, but it means we won't have to go through the locks every time we want to cruise on Puget Sound, and parking should be better. The big difference, however, is that we will be in a slip with two 50 amp shore power supplies, so we can run the central heat and the oven at the same time. We may even be able to run the clothes dryer without powering up the generator. All the exciting possibilities....
March 2005 The 16th dawned grey, cold, wet and windy. With Dwight at the helm, Gail on the deck, Brigitte (our official "galley wench" for the day), and a dozen members of the Office Team, we set out for the locks shortly after 10:00 a.m. We were delayed at the locks, but made it through just fine. As we transited the ship canal on our way to Lake Washington, we saw an unusual amount of activity near Fremont. We learned the next day that a Harbor Patrol, assisting in the rescue of a tug that had blown loose in the high winds (about 30 mph at that point), had fallen into the water and died. We blissfully proceeded through the Montlake cut, across Lake Washington, and attempted to dock at Carillon Pointe where we had lunch reservations for 15 at the Yarrow Bay Grille. By this time the winds were gusting over 40 mph. After two unsuccessful attempts to dock, Dwight finally headed the bow straight in, perpendicular to the dock, and we were able to get a line on. Of course, at just about that time, two "courtesy" dock hands emerged for the first time to catch a line. We're sure they enjoyed the show up until then. The cruise back to Shilshole featured more wind, hail, a trip through the locks lashed to a massive tugboat, a deluge of rain, and a magnificent rainbow behind us.
April, 2005 April? Already?! In February we took an overnight trip north. We anchored in Useless Bay on the southern tip of Whidbey Island. It is sheltered on three sides, so you can guess which side the wind came in from. Yep. We decided to spend the next night in Port Ludlow, and we celebrated Valentine's Day that evening at the Harbormaster Restaurant. This was also a celebration of the anniversary of starting our refit. Sitting at a table overlooking the bay and Infinity tied at the dock certainly helped to put our year of hard work in perspective.
The move to Shilshole was reasonably uneventful. Sunday, March 13th, was a glorious, sunny day. We got through the locks without much trouble, took a side trip to Delta Marine to drop off the old tender (we got a new RIB, story later), and then headed back to our new home where docking was also uneventful. We had both 50 amp shore power supplies hooked up before nightfall. We were supposed to have moved on Wednesday, March 16th, in connection with a group outing Dwight had scheduled with part of his team from Microsoft. We're glad we didn't wait.
Our next big outing is north to the San Juan Islands the last weekend in April. Gail's folks wanted to whale watch, so we're going to give it a try. Worst case, we plan to have a quiet cruise on Friday and dinner in Roche Harbor Saturday night.We tried our hand at whale watching.
April 29-May 1. Gail's folks (Seward and Carol) met us at Shilshole on that cold, rainy, miserable Friday. We left, headed for Port Townsend to pick up Gail's sister, Wendy, and brother-in-law, Mike (of fixing the oven probe on the Thanksgiving cruise fame), who drove from Tukwila after work to join us. There was an exceptionally low tide, and we did not have sufficient depth to enter the Boat Haven Marina, so had to circle the harbor until the tide came in. After a couple of passes, the guys guarding the Navy vessel got a little nervous; all right, we did. We finally docked, and Gail went up top to grill dinner. In the pouring rain. Mike and Wendy arrived later, and we spent the night inside and dry.
Saturday dawned cloudy, but not raining, and we headed north toward the San Juan Islands; our final destination was Roche Harbor. With very little idea what we were in for, we all just hoped for a nice day of cruising. Except Carol, who would settle for nothing less than seeing whales. A few seals and dolphins later, the pressure was off only a little. We followed a boat that appeared to be a whale watching charter around the eastern end of San Juan Island, past some wonderful scenery, Friday Harbor, and then out to Puget Sound. Since we had not yet seen any whales, and we felt we had ample time to get to the marina before the Harbormaster's office closed, we continued south.
As we went south along the coast of San Juan Island, we noticed a cluster of boats ahead. As we made our way in their direction, we were greeted by an unusually large number of dolphins jumping out of the water. A short time later, we were treated to the sight of orcas playing very near the island's shore. They were, indeed, awesome. Our mission accomplished, we headed for port. After alerting the Harbormaster to the size of our boat, we were directed to a slip that would most definitely not accommodate our nearly 20' beam. We were quickly directed to an end-tie. We had a wonderful dinner at the restaurant at the marina, celebrating Carol's 60th birthday and the success of our trip.
Dwight and Gail arose very early Sunday morning to ready Infinity for the return trip to Seattle via Pt. Townsend. We took the northern exit from Roche Harbor to Puget Sound, and headed south. The weather was clear and sunny -- not a cloud in the sky and no wind. The seas were, literally, glass calm. We proceeded at a responsible rate of 7 knots down the coast until we became mindful of the fact that Wendy & Mike needed to be back in Pt. Townsend by noon. We had not seen any whales or dolphins in nearly an hour and believed they must still be asleep. Dwight gradually accelerated to a speed of 9.6 knots when, out of nowhere, the water started popping with dolphins and porpoises in our bow wake! Well-warned to keep our distance from these wonderful creatures, Dwight immediately slowed down. When we were back down around 7 knots, the dolphins appeared to lose interest.
After cruising along at this speed for a while, we once again realized that we needed to go faster to make it back to Pt. Townsend by noon. Dwight once again started to accelerate and, just as before, the dolphins and porpoises returned. We admired them for only a brief time when, behind Gail, there was a high-pitched shriek and a loud "thud." Gail's mom had slipped on the deck and was lying on her back in obvious pain. Dwight, driving from the inside helm station knew only that, all of a sudden, he couldn't see anyone on the deck below.
Gail's prior career as a Health & Safety Specialist with the American Red Cross was about to pay off. Gail got a temporary blanket splint on Carol's injured left leg, and she and Mike did a fore-and-aft carry to get her back into the house to keep her warm. Even though done very quickly, the air temperature was cool, and signs of shock were showing before we got her inside. After Gail got the leg and ankle stabilized, wrapped and iced, confirmed there was adequate circulation to her foot, and that color was returning to her cheeks, we deferred to Carol's request to take her to a hospital in Seattle. A deal was struck: If she was still stable by Pt. Townsend, we'd try to get her back to Seattle.
Carol is quite a trooper: she made it all the way to Seattle. Once there, however, we noted that it was a minus-2’ low tide at Shilshole Marina. The dock ramp was at least 45° and we didn't want to wait for an ambulance, so we padded a dock cart, loaded Carol in, and Dwight and Gail pulled the cart up the ramp -- grateful Carol only weighs ~100 pounds and regretting that we didn't think to take pictures! Once at Swedish Hospital in Ballard, the medical staff whisked her off to x-ray. A mere 45 minutes later they called us back and showed us her x-rays -- her left tibia (shin bone) had come completely forward out of the ankle joint, and there were a few associated small fractures. After a partial closed reduction (yes, Dad had to leave the room, but we stayed), they packaged her up for the trip to home to Longview, WA. She had surgery the next day; Gail visited her in the hospital prior to surgery, and was amazed that everyone who was told she was hurt on our boat recounted how excited Carol had been to see the dolphins playing in our bow wake. Carol was discharged from the hospital just in time to celebrate her 60th birthday and is recovering well.
June 8, 2005 We headed for Trawler Fest in Poulsbo, WA. Isabelle is recovering well from the second (and hopefully last) surgery to her knees. She will be with us in Poulsbo, so those of you who have admired her page can meet her in person. We're hoping her celebrity will not go to her head. Dwight is home cleaning the boat, and we are hoping the weather cooperates long enough to get four coats of varnish on the aft cap rail that we spent all weekend prepping. We are looking forward to the trawler crawl, seeing people we met last year (and Dwight before that), and showing off all the changes to Infinity.
Summer 2005 (from the perspective of September) The summer really did get away from us: Carol's injury on May 1, TrawlerFest, Sarah's graduation from college, another MSFT cruise in June, 4th of July on Lake Union, vacation in British Columbia, and a LeGros cruise in late August. Bumbershoot has always served as Gail's waypoint into autumn, and this year Dwight was sporting enough to go along. It has also been a busy summer for guests aboard, even when we stayed at dock -- one of the great joys of living aboard is entertaining guests with front row seats to fresh air, the occasional harbor seal, and sunsets that never disappoint.
The high point of our summer was our vacation to British Columbia in August. We left Shilshole at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 4th. We decided to take advantage of the tides, plotted the course north and took off. Gail took the first watch from 10:00-midnight, Dwight from 12:00-2:00 a.m. Things started getting a little rough as we approached Admiralty Inlet just after 1:00 a.m. Shortly after taking over at 2:00 a.m., Gail started feeling a bit "rough" herself. Dwight admitted to not feeling 100% and he took over while Gail went below for the scopolamine patches. For Gail, it was too late; after puking four times, she collapsed on the main cabin floor where she could listen to the sound of glassware flying around in the cupboards. Had Isabelle not been cowering in her customary refuge under the sofa, we're sure she would have kept Gail company. Whether credit is given to the medication or to Dwight's iron resolve, he was able to remain at the wheel while Gail succumbed to seasickness. Lesson #1: Night passages + zero visibility + rough water = patches.
As soon as it was daylight, Gail was able to take a watch again, and we cruised into Victoria, B.C. at about 7:30 a.m. We cleared customs, moored at Ship's Point Dock, picked up the tandem sea kayak we had reserved, restocked groceries, inspected damage from the rough water the night before (we lost a whopping two glasses that were on the lazy susan without non-skid shelf liner) and got some much-needed rest. Our plan was to head for Barkley Sound the following morning, August 6th. After checking weather forecasts, however, we learned that there were gale warnings in effect and opted for Plan B. Lesson #2: It's easier to revert to Plan B if you've made one ahead of time. We decided to head for Montague Harbour on Galiano Island, east of Vancouver Island.
We spent two days in Montague Harbour; Gail lounging in the sun reading books and Dwight playing X-Box games. We set a crab-pot one day and trapped one legal Dungeness, but Dwight must have had a fit of conscience and humanely released it into the wild just as Gail was planning the crab cocktail before dinner. Lesson #3: Don't draw the butter until the crab is in the pot.
From Montague Harbour, we decided to head north to Nanaimo, B.C. We elected to take the inside (western) route, through Dobbs Narrows. "Narrows" is too polite a term. The cruising guide was helpful, but perhaps a bit too polite. The boat that went through in front of us nearly turned sideways in the cross-current, and we suddenly realized what was ahead of us. We nonetheless arrived safely in Nanaimo, and took Isabelle for her first walk ashore since Victoria. She had no trouble regaining her land legs and happily greeted everyone she met along the waterfront.
The next morning we headed south, with a greater respect for the tide changes at Dobbs Narrows. We made the passage with no trouble and headed south to Pender Island. We anchored in Bedwell Harbour for two nights. The first night we stayed aboard, but got up the next morning, set a crab pot and went to check out Poet's Cove Resort. While it appeared to be a lovely place to stay, we were not tempted to leave our accommodations aboard Infinity.
We checked our crab pot mid-day, and were greeted by undersized crabs and a HUGE starfish. We moved the pot further into the channel, and planned a late afternoon return. We then headed north and had a relaxing lunch in the pub at Port Browning Marina, soaking in the local color. We returned to pull the crab pot that afternoon and, after sorting out the rock crab and undersized Dungeness, we had two legal crabs - dinner! After unsuccessfully trying to bring a pot of water to a boil on the upper deck barbeque for over an hour (while Gail watched a helicopter taking on water to fight a fire on S. Pender Island), she reconciled herself to having a fishy smell in the house, and moved the pot of water downstairs. But not before spending quality time with Huey and Louie (i.e., dinner).
The next morning we returned to Victoria, mooring at the Government Floating dock to return the tandem sea kayak. We also had dinner at Hugo's and took Isabelle for another well-deserved walk. Victoria was bustling, as the Dragon Boat Festival was underway, and was fun to watch. We left Victoria the next morning (Sat., August 13th) for Seattle.
After leaving Victoria, which was bright, sunny and clear, we entered a fog bank before we even entered U.S. territory. The fog remained thick and visibility less than 1/8th of a mile until we passed south of Admiralty Inlet. Meantime, trying our best to follow the new Homeland Security rules, as soon as we entered U.S. territory and had cell phone service, we initiated communications with U.S. Customs to receive instructions for clearing Customs in Seattle (will they come to us, or will we go to them?). For reasons I still do not understand, they got surly with us, and told us they'd meet us at the Shilshole fuel dock. When Gail realized that the ETA Dwight had estimated (8:00 p.m.) was a later than we would arrive (closer to 4:00 p.m.), she called Customs again. While the woman was a bit nicer, she didn't get the joke about firing the crewmember who had calculated the original, much later ETA.
We arrived at the Shilshole fuel dock with the worst winds of the day, docked and awaited the arrival of Customs inspectors. A bare five minutes before the arrival of U.S. Customs, Gail was overwhelmed by abdominal cramps (the revenge of Huey and Louie?). When the nice Customs Inspector arrived, she had to board the boat to match Gail's passport photo to a real live face, which meant visiting Gail in the day head. We're sure the story made its rounds at Homeland Security. No lessons here, just know that the world is a safer place due to the vigilance of our various government agencies.
December 2005 December, and we haven’t updated this site since September. Not because of lack of activity, but because of a lack of time, changing computers, defective CD burner, and a high level of patience on the part of those of you who visit regularly (thanks, Sarah!). Although our last posting promised a treatise on the joys of living through construction at Shilshole, the Christmas spirit must have crashed down upon Gail, who now declines to do so (reserving, of course, the right to do so at a later date). For now, an update on the last couple of months:
The last weekend in October 2005, Sarah, Nate, Brigitte and Brian were our guests for our second whale watching trip to the San Juan Islands. Dwight and Gail left Shilshole early on October 28th for Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham, WA, to pick up the others (who had to work that day). Although the weather was calm when we left, the winds had reached 45 mph by the time we reached Bellingham Bay. We were happily assigned a face dock at Squalicum Harbor that was perpendicular to the wind – Dwight got the boat parallel to the dock, and the wind blew us in. Probably the most painless docking we’ve ever done. Our guests arrived at the marina as the storm was reaching its peak with high wind and horizontal rain.
The weather calmed overnight, and we left the marina early Saturday morning passing Lummi Island and then along the northern coast of Orcas Island. We reached the west coast of San Juan Island around noon, making our way down the coastline, enjoying the lighthouse and diverse architecture of the homes on the island. Although we had not encountered any orca or dolphins, we started to evaluate our options for moorage that night, especially since there was a storm quickly approaching from the west. Against the backdrop of the storm, which had turned an incredible, deep blue, we saw a sailboat making its way north with dolphins jumping around it. As we came closer, we were joined by what appeared to be dolphins and juvenile orcas that refused to pose for portraits. We got some photos, outran the storm and made it to our first choice of moorage for the night: Rosario Resort. Brian (assisted by Brigitte) cooked Dwight’s birthday dinner, we played a game of team Scrabble (Sarah and Nate won, but just barely), and enjoyed a quiet evening.
The next morning, Brigitte and Brian awoke to the sound of our hull coming into contact with the rock jetty. Or it could have been the propeller. We were reminded why we like our steel hull. Gail restarted the stalled port engine while Dwight revisited the original plan for leaving the dock. After a successful second try and checking for propeller shaft vibration, we returned our guests to Squalicum Harbor. We docked uneventfully at the NOAA dock just long enough to drop off our guests. We then started our return trip to Seattle through wind, waves and rain. As we can report a successful trip through Deception Pass, let us just say that 20 minutes past the ideal time to pass under the bridge is too late. With Gail driving, we entered Deception Pass going 6.5 knots against a growing 4.5 knot tide. We passed under the bridge at a net speed of 1.9 knots over land. For those of you who need help converting nautical speed to miles per hour, let's just say that’s really, really slow.
We arrived at the pump-out at Shilshole in driving rain and wind, making it to our slip sometime after midnight. Despite the wet and cold, we may have to consider this our most satisfying trip yet, but going to work the next morning was a bit of a challenge….
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