Out of the boatyard - Let the cruising begin!

Location:  Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes, Washington

We finally made it out of the boatyard late Thursday afternoon, May 4th (May the 4th be with you - 😊).  We cruised from Sidney, BC to Roche Harbor, WA - about 11nm, across Haro Strait.  It was a beautiful afternoon for cruising, sunny with light winds.  As we crossed the border from Canada to the US we were greeted by a pod of Dall's porpoises cruising our bow wake.  We arrived at Roche Harbor about 5:30 p.m., pulled into our slip and settled in for a night of relaxation.

Seabiscuit at the Roche Harbor guest dock.

Dall's porpoises cruising our bow wake

It was the first weekend of the summer season at Roche Harbor and things were in full swing. During their summer season, every evening just before sunset, the harbor employees perform a colors ceremony.  The flags are lowered from the flag poles while music associated with each flag plays over the loud speakers - O Canada for the Canadian Flag and God Save the Queen for the UK flag.  Just before they lower the US flag, they fire a cannon and then they play Taps while the US flag comes down.  The boat was docked so that it was facing west and we had a great view of the colors ceremony and the sunset from the pilot house.  All of the resort restaurants are open and the marina is fully staffed for the season.  We took advantage of the resort facilities while we were there; we went to the spa for a relaxing massage, had supper on the outdoor patio at the Madrona Bar & Grill on Friday night and at McMillin's on Saturday night.  A sailboat group had a weekend meet-up on the north end of the guest dock.  They had a dinghy parade on Saturday afternoon.

Dinghy Parade - Yellow Submarine

Dinghy Parade - Octopus's Garden and Splish-Splash I was taking a bath

Dinghy Parade - Covered wagon "Roche Harbor or Bust"

We are pleased to be out of the boatyard.  We have been enjoying the new heating system, especially at night.  It's much quieter than our reverse cycle system and we don't need shore power or the generator to run it.  We are sleeping with our summer quilt on the bed instead of our winter comforter.

Kabola heating system electrical panel and control boards

Kabola diesel hydronic heating system complete installation including boiler (with the cover off),
electrical panels, conditioning tank, hydronic loops, hot water heater and insulated dry exhaust pipe

The new teak deck on the main deck level turned out really nice.  It was a complicated process to get the steel deck properly prepared before they installed the new teak.

Preparing the steel deck prior to teak installation:
Setting elevations prior to fairing 

Installing the teak.  Large sections are pre-fabricated at the Ideal Teak shop and then puzzled
together on the boat.  Trim pieces around the edges are individually laid.

A vacuum process is used to adhere the teak to the steel with a special adhesive between.

Caulking is applied at the joints.  Once dry it is sanded level with the deck.

When we were re-launched after the initial haul-out, our shaft seal was leaking.  We got re-hauled in order to replace the shaft seal.  While we were out of the water, we also inspected the sea valves and had them re-bedded.  We replaced our engine mounts and did some repairs to the engine salt water cooling lines.  After all was complete, we took the boat out for a short sea trial and all went well.  The main engine used to vibrate when running at about 900 RPMs but the new engine mounts and shaft re-alignment seem to have solved the issue.

Disconnecting the shaft from the transmission in order to replace the engine mounts.

Old engine mount removed.

Seabiscuit back out of the water for shaft seal replacement.

Location of the old shaft seal prior to cleanup before new PSS shaft seal was installed.

Sea valve removed for inspection

Sea valve re-installed.

 Since the finisher was on board to finish our new cabinets, we decided to have some of our interior varnish repaired in the pilot house and the saloon.

Varnish repair in the saloon.

New DVD cabinet under the dining bench.  Also notice the new carpet.

Dave, in a pretzel position, running the new propane line to the stove.

New propane box installed on the boat deck.

We still have a few things to finish like installing latches on the DVD and the forward cabin cabinets and our refrigerator is struggling to get cold.  Dave is working on installing a new gasket in the forward hatch cover.  We are slowly getting things stowed and cleaning up both the interior and exterior of the boat.

Dave working on the forward hatch cover.

The last four weeks of the boatyard projects, we stayed at a nearby historical inn called The Latch Inn.  We could see the boatyard from our balcony and Dave's commute every morning was a five minute walk down the hill.  We got to know the Latch owners, Jennifer and Ken, and enjoyed drinking afternoon tea with them.

Ken and Jennifer, owners of The Latch.

View of our balcony at The Latch.

I walked every afternoon and enjoyed watching the change from winter to spring.

Canadian geese near the marina at low tide.

Flowers in bloom.

Heron patiently waiting for his supper.

While walking one afternoon, I met Fran, and her dog Max, and joined
them for a walk along the marina pathway.
It turned into a routine and I walked Max every afternoon.

Yesterday, we left Roche Harbor and cruised to Anacortes, 26nm, 3.9 hours.  We cruised via Spieden Channel on the south side of Spieden Island which used to be a big game hunting destination.  We crossed the San Juan Channel and then took the north pass, south of Jones Island and north of Reef Island.    Between the northeast side of Crane Island and Orcas Island, we came through Pole Pass which is about 75-yards wide at its narrowest point.  From there we took the Harney Channel, between Shaw Island and Orcas Island, crossed Upright Channel, took Thatcher Pass between Decatur and Blakely Island, crossed Rosario Strait and entered Guemes Channel on the north side of Fidalgo Island.  Anacortes is located in the northeast corner of Fidalgo Island.  We pulled into the marina about 2:30 p.m., walked into town to do a few errands and then went to the local pizza parlor for supper.

Pole Pass between Crane Island and Orcas Island.

The Washington State Ferry, crossing from Shaw Island to Orcas Island.

View of our chart plotter as we are cruising the Guemes Channel.
Note the SOG (speed over ground) of 10.5 knots, 3 knots greater than our typical speed of 7.5 kt.
We are getting a good push from the current in the channel.

Fresh prawns being unloaded at the dock in Anacortes.
Prawn fishing season in Washington opened on Saturday.
We bought a prawn trap and a crab trap when we were in Sidney, plus fishing licenses
for British Columbia.  We'll start fishing when we go back north to BC.

Today we have been working on projects and doing errands.  Our plan for tomorrow is to get fuel and then head south towards Puget Sound.  Until next time...