We Love Lopez

After my "do over" birthday at Friday Harbor we moved Traveler over to Fisherman Bay on Lopez, waiting until late afternoon so as to arrive on a rising tide but before the highest water.  After the groundings we decided it is ALWAYS prudent to transit shallow waters on an incoming tide so if we do run aground we'd float off pretty quickly.  After some discussion, post grounding, we decided it was time to put some good luck in the bank by trying to anticipate problems, being proactive about route planning and boat maintenance, and taking things slowly and carefully.

Staff dinner at Vita's

We stayed four days on Lopez, three at anchor and one at the reciprocal dock. Thursday was open mic night at the Islander so we joined the fun there.  On Friday we carted Connie's equipment to Vita's Wildly Delicious and she played for a wine tasting.  It was a wonderful evening.  Our Mexico cruising friends Shane and Tina were there and we had a good time hanging out with them.  The music went well.  The tip jar was full.  We had a late dinner with the owner Bruce and his staff at Vita's, capping off a fun evening with a great meal and an abundance of wonderful wine.

Tina and Shane from S/V Vagrant

On Saturday Connie toted her ukulele to the Lopez Farmer's Market and did some busking to an appreciative and friendly audience.  We met so many nice people on Lopez.  Everyone seems so relaxed and happy.  Of course, we want to move there now. What a musical couple of days we had!

CB busking with friend Jane looking on

Crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca was a little boring with no wind to start then some wind later on to scoot us on our way.  Half way across we were hailed on the VHF radio by Bob and Pam on Emerald Lady and we crossed within two miles of each other as she traveled westward on the way to Barclay Sound on the outside of Vancouver Island.  Hello!

Now that we'd run aground a few times all to recently, we both are a little hesitant to navigate in shallow waters.  The entrance to Sequim Bay, with only twelve feet of depth made us a little nervous.  There was no reciprocal available, as usual, at John Wayne Marina so we found the Washington State marine park float and stayed for three days while relaxing with our friends Keith, Lisa, and Karen.  We had dropped a couple of crab traps just outside of the bay when we came in so I made the long run in the dinghy back out there to pick them up the next morning. Both traps were crammed full of big fat crabs, most of them male, most of them keepers.  We caught our limit and had a crab feast at the Dekker's house that evening and spent the night at their house, our first night off the boat in six months.  Neither of us slept well, most likely because the house didn't rock back and forth like the boat does.

From Sequim, we retraced our path around the corner to Port Townsend and lucked out with free reciprocal moorage at Boat Haven. The next day we motored south and found reciprocal at Kingston for two nights where Connie played music at d'Vine Wines there.  I just love it when we have zero costs for moorage and Connie is bringing in cash from her gigs.  We sometimes have a positive cash flow! 

Open mic night at the Islander

Yes we are working our way south every day, planning on being in Olympia by August 26th.  We'll meet with Rick and Ada on Clara June to talk about us taking over their charter business Mystic Journeys next year and to arrange for Connie and I to ride along on a few charters this summer/fall to see how they operate.  Traveler is now legal for taking out paying customers so there is a possibility that we'll be teaming up with Clara June for charters of six to twelve people.  More on that later.  For now... we slowly head south, toward friends, work, and what's shaping up to be a golden September.