Jen and Joseph, friends from San Francisco, joined us for a weekend trip on the boat. Our goal was to show them just how fantastic boating in the Northwest is. That, and relax and have a nice time. I think we were successful.
We headed for the locks early on Friday morning. It was a beautiful day. Clear and calm. As we approached the locks, we could see fog spilling over the locks into Salmon Bay.
We just finished two weeks in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. We’ve been going there for a number of years. We try to visit old favorites and make some new discoveries each time we visit. This year, the weather was fantastic. Some years are sunny, some are wet, some a combination (this is most common). We had sun, warm, and flat seas almost the entire time. It clouded up one afternoon, rained in the evening and through the night, and was clear and sunny the next morning. Perfect!
This is what boating is about.
We slipped out of the Poulsbo marina this morning at 5:30 under cover of darkness and wound our way through the anchored boats in Liberty Bay. Surprisingly, only about half the anchored boats seemed to be sporting the required anchor light. We could see the boats on radar, but occasionally had a hard time finding them visually. Once past the anchored boats, it was smooth sailing.
We left Point Hudson early this morning and headed south through the bay, past Indian Island, and through the Port Townsend Canal. Here we are approaching the canal. The bridge links Indian Island to the mainland.
Cindy and Noe are friends from southern California. Not much experience with the Northwest and none with boats. They came up for a visit this past weekend and we took them out on the Sound for the day Saturday.
Fortunately for all, Seattle brought out some great weather for the weekend. The first sunshine in a long time. Sometimes we get lucky.
A beautiful start to the day
We left the slip on Lake Union headed for the locks shortly after 8:00 on Saturday morning. No other boats in sight. As we approached the locks, we could see the gates were closed. We prepared to tie up at the small lock waiting area. Just then the gates started to open and we got the green light. In we went. We were the only boat around so the gates were closing as we finished tying off. That’s service!
