I am currently sitting on a adorable little coffee shop looking out over the water called "Better Living Through Coffee", and with a special treat of some live music! A whole bunch of local folks jamming on their instruments. Pretty cool stuff!
On July 1st we took off across the Straight of Juan de Fuca towards Cattle Pt. and tootled around there until we headed up in past Cattle Pt. and anchored in Fish Creek for the evening. Unfortunately, we did not get ashore that evening due to weather but still had a nice evening of games and yummy, yummy food! On the 2nd, we hauled back the anchor and sailed off the hook headed north up the San Juan Channel. We veered off into Spieden Channel and then around Stuart Island to anchor up in Provost Harbor (Stuart Island). We launched our little dingy and headed for shore to hike up to the schoolhouse on the island. Stuart Island is very neat because it is completely off-grid! People power with solar or wind (sometimes both) and have their own school system so kids don't have to go off island. Once back to the boat we all jumped in (brrrrrr, the water is only 45-50 degrees!) and had a nice hot fresh water shower to rinse the salt off. The day deserved some sort of sum up and Captain Robert put it perfectly, "life is yummy!". The night ended with a hilarious game of apples-to-apples. Just to give you a taste, here were a couple of the cards and their definitions. "Duct tape - helping you keep it all together" and "Prius - a grown up golf cart".
The following morning, we headed to shore again, this time to hike out to the lighthouse at turn point! From their you can look out over San Juan Channel and over to Canada, very beautiful. We climbed down the rocks to play in some tide pools and poke some anemones (which start to suck your finger if your not careful). We headed back to the ship and sailed off the anchor again headed for Deer Harbor on Orcas Island for some fireworks! We anchored in Deer Harbor only to find out that the firework barge had moved and we were in the line of fire. So we got to haul the anchor back and find a new spot...which was difficult considering we are quite long and were in a very crowded harbor! But we settled in, had some dinner, went ashore for some ice and then brought our sleeping bags and pillows up on deck to wait for the fireworks. Some more apples-to-apples may have happened while were waiting :). Just so you all know, fireworks are 100 times better on a boat! It is like you have your own private viewing and they happen right over you. We all promptly fell asleep on deck (another wonderful thing about Martha) staring at the stars.
On the morning of the 4th, we took off early from Deer Harbor headed for Matmough Bay. We headed out through Pole Pass, then Harney Channel, around Humphrey Head, in-between Spencer Spit and Frost Island into Lopez Sound and down through Lopez Pass. While in-between Spencer Spit and Frost island, we caught a bald eagle eating a fish on the rocky slope, which was VERY cool. Lopez island is very neat because it is almost all rural farm land still producing almost all of it's own food. It also has it's own school system that uses 80% food grown on the island, including meat! We anchored in Matmough Bay for the night and went ashore for some beach playing time and climbing on big rocks, brought me back to my childhood days! We finished the day off with some dinner and yummy cake made by Mary!
On July 1st we took off across the Straight of Juan de Fuca towards Cattle Pt. and tootled around there until we headed up in past Cattle Pt. and anchored in Fish Creek for the evening. Unfortunately, we did not get ashore that evening due to weather but still had a nice evening of games and yummy, yummy food! On the 2nd, we hauled back the anchor and sailed off the hook headed north up the San Juan Channel. We veered off into Spieden Channel and then around Stuart Island to anchor up in Provost Harbor (Stuart Island). We launched our little dingy and headed for shore to hike up to the schoolhouse on the island. Stuart Island is very neat because it is completely off-grid! People power with solar or wind (sometimes both) and have their own school system so kids don't have to go off island. Once back to the boat we all jumped in (brrrrrr, the water is only 45-50 degrees!) and had a nice hot fresh water shower to rinse the salt off. The day deserved some sort of sum up and Captain Robert put it perfectly, "life is yummy!". The night ended with a hilarious game of apples-to-apples. Just to give you a taste, here were a couple of the cards and their definitions. "Duct tape - helping you keep it all together" and "Prius - a grown up golf cart".
The following morning, we headed to shore again, this time to hike out to the lighthouse at turn point! From their you can look out over San Juan Channel and over to Canada, very beautiful. We climbed down the rocks to play in some tide pools and poke some anemones (which start to suck your finger if your not careful). We headed back to the ship and sailed off the anchor again headed for Deer Harbor on Orcas Island for some fireworks! We anchored in Deer Harbor only to find out that the firework barge had moved and we were in the line of fire. So we got to haul the anchor back and find a new spot...which was difficult considering we are quite long and were in a very crowded harbor! But we settled in, had some dinner, went ashore for some ice and then brought our sleeping bags and pillows up on deck to wait for the fireworks. Some more apples-to-apples may have happened while were waiting :). Just so you all know, fireworks are 100 times better on a boat! It is like you have your own private viewing and they happen right over you. We all promptly fell asleep on deck (another wonderful thing about Martha) staring at the stars.
On the morning of the 4th, we took off early from Deer Harbor headed for Matmough Bay. We headed out through Pole Pass, then Harney Channel, around Humphrey Head, in-between Spencer Spit and Frost Island into Lopez Sound and down through Lopez Pass. While in-between Spencer Spit and Frost island, we caught a bald eagle eating a fish on the rocky slope, which was VERY cool. Lopez island is very neat because it is almost all rural farm land still producing almost all of it's own food. It also has it's own school system that uses 80% food grown on the island, including meat! We anchored in Matmough Bay for the night and went ashore for some beach playing time and climbing on big rocks, brought me back to my childhood days! We finished the day off with some dinner and yummy cake made by Mary!
The morning of the 5th we once again rose early to hike up the side of Matmough Bay which lead to stunning views of Martha and Rosario Straight. There was an AWESOME rope swing and few stellar trees to climb. Eventually we had to make our way back to the boat to haul back the anchor and head home for Port Townsend. We had beautiful sailing weather and the crew did an excellent job with all aspects. We were sad to see them go, but it's time for the next trip and a new crew! Till next time my friends, enjoy life wherever you are, it's certainly yummy around here :)
xoxo Meryl
Beautiful pictures, and a nice summary of all you've been doing. Apples to Apples sounds like fun, and Lopez Island sounds really interesting, it would be fun to find out more about some of the farms.
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