Cruising is boring

Click here to see a map of our travels.

So before this season’s adventure began, a friend of mine said, “Why do you want to go cruising? You will get bored.” Ha! I am neither bored nor tired of living on a sailboat and cruising! What a life! We make day-to-day travel decisions based on the weather, which is always exciting. And given we travel on a sailboat, we strive to move with the wind to save on fuel and to reduce our carbon footprint.

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Magical Matia and finding balance

On Matia Island with Mt. Baker in the background

What a weekend! On Friday, we sailed almost the whole way from Anacortes, Wash., to Matia Island on the northeast side of the San Juan Islands. Today we retuned back under sail most of the way. Friday’s sail dealt us a little excitement when the wind did a 180-degree shift when we hit a little squall, but we managed (or I should say Clay did, as I was below decks indisposed…I managed to keep my balance!). Today’s return “home” was perfect. The sun was out. The wind was blowing on our nose steadily between 13 and 17 knots, Sundown’s sweet spot for sure.

While moored in Rolf Cove, we enjoyed the antics of a seal, some river otters and many birds. Hiking around the island proved to be a fungus fanatic’s mecca. We couldn’t identify the mushrooms we found as fast as we saw them. Therefore, we didn’t eat any of the shrooms, either. Better safe than off on some wild trip of the psychedelic kind.

But the best part about the weekend was it gave us time away from the dock. Last year this time, we were exclusively sailing or motoring, and anchoring in hidey holes protected from the forecasted winds. We were constantly on the move, unsettled. It felt…well, unsettled and scary and perhaps a little too disconnected. This year, we have a home base in Anacortes Marina. We’re really liking this community and becoming known in small ways, but I think we also need to leave as often as the weather permits, to enjoy the serenity of island time and nature, as well as to keep up our skills. So we’re hitting a balance now I felt we lacked till now. Either way, we’re living aboard and feel blessed.

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White beaches and white pants: The realities of cruising to Alaska

Clay scantily clad on the beach?

When we’re not sailing, you probably imagine we’re strolling on white sand beaches at sunset, dipping our toes in the surf. Actually, we’ve only walked on two sand beaches in our journey so far and we had our Bog boots on. One of the beaches was about 100 yards long by 50 feet wide until the flood tide when it shrunk to about 100 feet long and 10 feet wide, but there was sand, nonetheless. The other was during gale force winds (34-47 knots knots) with rain coming down in sheets. It was marvelous! We HAD to get off the boat that day after being cooped up for a couple previously, so we dressed in our foul weather gear and dinghied to the Hakai Institute landing in Pruth Bay to hike to the west side of Calvert Island where we could check out the Pacific Ocean. Then we hiked to the island’s northern shore—just because we could.

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Just fishing, sailing and bushwhacking

When Kim and I aren’t moving from one anchorage to another, I stay busy doing important stuff like maintaining the engine and fishing. I won’t do the math, but it has been an expensive hobby so far. I started with a rod and reel, a couple dozen big lures, a crab trap and a prawn (shrimp) pot. I’m down to the crab trap and about five lures…and I haven’t lost my rod and reel yet, either. Nor have I come home entirely empty handed, so perhaps I’m close to breaking even.

During our recent journeys, we’ve enjoyed some amazing sailing days and were blessed to have a traveling companion, Chris on Puget Escape, to capture some great Sundown moments for us.

When we’ve been able to go ashore and bushwhack around, we taken photos of lots of different plants, mushrooms and animals of the Pacific Northwest, and have seen signs of the First Nation People in the form of petroglyphs.

Life is good!

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Likes, dislikes, missed and more…because you asked

We often hear from friends and everyone seems to want to know the same things. What do we like most? What do we like least? What do we miss the most? What don’t we miss? So, because inquiring minds want to know…

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A wet Willy and flippin’ dinghy. Adventures continue.

Editor’s Note: This blog is longer than we prefer, but so much has happened since our last post. If you don’t want to read every word, we hope you enjoy all the photos we’ve included and get the gist of what we’ve been up to.

Turn Point, Stuart Island

Winter in the San Juan Islands tends to be windy. We listen to the weather forecast everyday on the VHF and monitor the conditions on nifty apps like Wind Alert, because the weather is so critical to our travel plans. Should we stay or should we go?  Either way, it’s prudent to know what we’re getting ourselves into.

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Boat Sweet Boat – How to make a boat a home

As we settle into Sundown, she’s becoming quite comfy. Sure, there are daily projects in the mission-critical, boat building category that must happen for her to be safe and sea worthy. That’s what Clay very good at; I help as much as possible and am learning a lot as we go along. What I contribute, however, is a keen sense of ship-shape organization (to those who know me, I hear you laughing!) and homey touches.

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A poetic take on life afloat

Sunset on Sundown

Our new life continues to provide an abundance of things to do every day.

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Chillin’, knittin’ and TV time

It’s winter time in the Rocky Mountains. A Siberian cold front has settled over Colorado and temperatures have been cold! That hasn’t stopped Clay from working inside our sailboat, Sundown, however. With a propane heater blasting, he’s been rebuilding the former icebox compartment, making it more accessible with a hinged top. We plan to add a refrigeration system to it, too. Check out the photos of his handiwork  I added to the Photo Gallery.

I’ve been busy knitting Christmas gifts, but I can’t display them publicly yet. Doing so would ruin some surprises. I also have been working a lot, including shooting a fun TV show about how to maintain healthy habits throughout the holidays. It was taped on location at The Cupboard, a wonderful kitchen and foodie store in Old Town Fort Collins. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed hosting it.

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Rocky mountain high – a different kind of sailing

Needing a break from the daily grind, Clay and I took off for the hills with Seren, our Golden Retriever. With backpacks loaded, we “sailed” up the West Branch Trail in the Rawahs

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