So here we are,, getting on to our first vacation starting in Anacortes, Washington. It's just shy of the Canada border. This is the best sailing 'country' in the world. There are so many islands, and such a diverse amount of wildlife. We have decided to moor Simplicity at Cap Sante Marina. We are going to head up to Sucia Island(s). If you are looking south at the islands, it looks like a hand, hahaha. There is such beautiful places, and I cant wait to see the wildlife up there. bunkmate,,, insert your comments here Capitan Carey,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
It seems like forever ago since we first started to decide where to go, and when to go, and where to find a slip that would give us the access to all the places that have been running through our heads, and hearts. We have come to a thousand conclusions, and changed our mind a thousand more. It seems that Fate has come into our lives again. We have found not only a hobby, but a true, new lifestyle, that we keep going back to,, We keep getting called back to the sea, it's one of those things that, if you don't love it, you probably wouldn't understand............ bunkmate
So this week has been all about going over the places we want to go, and what needs to happen, in order to get there... We have chatted every night after work about how the extended week-end had gone and the way we want our first full week (10 day) vacation to happen. Our vacation starts on the 25th. We plan to head out right after work. I have the day off, so its me picking up Captain Carey at his work, around 2:30 -3:00ish. We plan to be in Anacortes in the early a.m. In the morning we are planning to go to the farmers market, take the kids to the dog park, and shoving off soon after,,,,bunkmate
So here we are getting ready to step the mast. All the preparation the Cap'n had put in this morning. He ran all the stanchions, the preparations of all the lines, the fore stay, and all the other lines that i can't remember the names of. He set everything up perfectly so that when I got up all I had to do was; first - wake-up, then second - hold the fore-stay so it doesn't rub on the deck all the way up. We got the mast stepped and tightened everything up. We had everything done early, as per the whole weekend went, well it was all done. So we went down to the dock to check the launching scene, aaand, the tide was sooooo out. The tide was a MINUS 3 FOOT tide..Cap'n Carey got a stick, and stuck it in the water, and it was only about ONE foot deep!! We had to wait forever for the tide to come in. When it finally was almost deep enough to launch, there was a like 5 boats in line, which was good because we could see how they launch. The first one was a flat bottom boat, and the rest had deeper hulls, so we just waited patiently. bunkmate
So like I said earlier about finishing ahead of schedule, we awoke early the next day to step the mast early so we could be on our way to our summer slip in Anacortes, we stepped the mast with no hitches, our Captain (of course) had every thing set up. I was still sleeping. He was so surprised when he came below to wake me, he couldn't believe i was still asleep, with him on deck creating so much noise, I explained its kinda like sleeping with a fan, you just don 't hear it after awhile. bunkmate
So while the Captain strapped her onto the trailer, I cleaned up the tarp area, and by the time I finished cleaning up, the Captain was almost ready to head out to the launch dock at Anacortes State Park(?). By the time we got there we were sooo ready to step the mast. We left Olympia around 10:45ish,and we got to Anacortes around 1:45. Captain Carey couldn't get the new motor on fast enough. He was so ready to test it out on Simplicity. The 'pre-launch' motor tested out with flying colors. His chest stuck out so proudly, he almost fell over. hahahahaha. Now to step the mast. bunkmate
Wow did those 3 days go by fast, I didn't even get a chance to up-date at all. Well we are back from our extended week-end, and everything went so smooth, we were ahead of schedule for most of the trip. We got in the sling early, we got the keel scraped, sanded, the barrier paint on, and painted way earlier than we thought. Our 'sling to trailer' appointment was set at 3:30, and we ended up moving it up to 10:30. Quite an accomplishment, for all the work we did. We slept in the boatyard that night, it was kinda kewl, cuz we were the only people in the yard. It seems like so looong ago. The next morning the Captain got up early (as usual) and finished the tip of the keel, and we were ready. bunkmate
Well it's down to just 3 days till we head out. This morning when I got up, the Captain was eager to chat about the things he done while I was sleeping. He still wasn't able to get Oak Harbor Marina to answer their phone, so he called Cap Sante Boat Haven, in the Port of Anacortes, and they had a couple of 30 ft slips available, so he reserved a slip. Our slip for the summer is F78, on the port tie. It seems we thought it was fun not knowing where we going to be, but now we are glad to not have the stress of 'not knowing', and that's one more thing we don't have to do when we get there. The Captain unstepped the mast, by himself, (aaarrg) yesterday while I was at work, so he spent the day today making sure everything is tight and not flopping for the 10 hour trip on Wednesday, again while I was at work. So I think I better get on the packing. He was saying that all we need now is the sign that says 'Anacortes or bust'. alright I'm off to do the bukmate stuff, stay tuned for more later... bunkmate
I was looking back on some of the blogs that we have written and I have said countless times 'weather window" it seems that we are always looking for it. I said something to the captain about it and he said 'sailors are always looking for a weather window, I totally see what he means by that now. See, he's so smart, I guess that's why he's the Captain. So we are chatting about putting her in at Anacortes and possibly changing the slip n stuff, we will know more when we get there. bunkmate
The captain is having a hard time finding a weather window to finally finish the last four pads but he's working it hard, it started sprinkling as he finished the epoxy, we hung plastic to keep the rain from running down the sides and mess up the hard work that has gone into the grinding, sanding, filing, epoxy, then sanding, more epoxy, sanding, and now more epoxy, and now we wait for it to set up so hopefully he can sand it down and get some protective coats on and have the paint on and dry by Wednesday when we leave for Oak Harbor. It's supposed to rain allot in the next couple of days. Come on weather window. Bunkmate
