Jess and Eric come to town

For our next trip - our pre-Jessi's-parents-trip - Jessi's best friend Jess (confusing, I know) and her boyfriend Eric (at least his name's not Tom) came up to visit from California.


Eric and Jess

The plan was to head north to the San Juans and cruise around for 3 days before coming back. It was wonderful! No boat issues, and the crossing was very smooth. We caught the tides right (a must, going from Seattle to SJIs). The only rough patch we hit was near Foulweather Bluff where Hood Canal dumps into Puget Sound. The boat would rock fairly violently when taking seas to beam... but it didn't last too long. I had the helm most of the way but I did have some help from time to time.


Help! I'm lost!

Actually, he's on my lap because my lap and Jessi's lap are about the only places he's somewhat happy when the boat is rocking. He's a better "port dog" than he is a "sea dog," but overall he did just fine.

Friday Harbor was the first stop. We got a slip on the inside of the breakwater, which was nice, but it involved parallel parking... not as nice. I almost bumped into the boat behind me while pulling in, but escaped with inches to spare! We had fun in Friday Harbor getting some mexican food and walking the downtown area.


Duncan guards the boat while we go have fun.

Next we cruised up north of Orcas island to Sucia Island. It's a small secluded island accessible only by boat or float plane, and it's shaped kind of like a hand. The little fingers are islands that make awesome places to anchor and chill. We were originally gonna go and swim and hike, but ran low on time. Eric did manage to jump in for a quick dip, but the frigid water prevented real relaxation. It's a gorgeous area and I'd love to go back and spend some time there.


Who wouldn't want to come back?!?


The fingers of Sucia Island.

As I said, we were running low on time so we just continued on south around Orcas, through Obstruction Pass and into the mouth of Orcas Island to Rosario Resort. When you get moorage at Rosario, you are considered a resort guest and get to use the hot tub and pool, and you can lounge at the outdoor bar! Very nice, and not bad for 75 bucks for 4 people!


Ahhh, boat life!

The next morning we started heading home. We decided to break the trip back into two legs so we cruised south to Port Townsed to spend the night there. That's a fun town, a bit of a walk from the marina into downtown, but well worth it. It was Sunday and lots of the shops were closing, so we just grabbed some grub and walked back to the boat.

Monday morning, and the rest of the return to Seattle leg, was a windy one! Pt Townsend marina does not have a lot of maneuvering room, and on departure morning, waking up to 10-15 knot winds made me very very very nervous. AND to add to the stress there was a Coast Guard vessel there running some drills for training, so I had an audience too! But through some very tense button pushing, lever pulling, and a little bit of "TOM, YOU ARE GETTING CLOSE!" we managed to get out of the marina without a scratch!


Duncan: "I'm just gonna hide up here for the trip home!"

A few hours later, and a countless number of games of Boggle later we arrived back in Seattle. All in all another very successful trip!

-Tom