We woke up to high winds and big waves today - remnants of hurricane Gustav. Therefore we have decided to postpone our departure by a day or so, in hopes of calmer seas. By doing so we'll be able to spend a little time reflecting on why we're heading out a second "Loop."The bottom line is that we love to travel by boat while experiencing the beauty and sounds of America, learning about our history while meeting new and interesting…
Could it be a conspiracy that our friends have called or talked to us about just one more going away dinner or party? I suppose they might be thinking that if they plan enough stuff we will be too busy and won't be able to leave before the snow flies. In reality we have had many tears shed while saying goodbye to our immediate family and close friends over the last few weeks.All we can say is... nice try guys.
Every year at 1:00 on Labor Day the residents of Charlevoix congregate on the bridge which spans Pine River Channel. They come together to celebrate the end of the summer season and to say goodbye to all the "Fudgies" who are leaving town across the bridge in droves.A short sing song poem is read with the crowd chanting in unison while thanking the tourists but expressing delight in reclaiming their small town. It is all done in good fun.
We squeezed in a sunset, dinghy cruise, the last of the season. For us it will have to last us until we venture home again in the summer of 2008.
Our sons Bart and Skyler graced us with some valuable face time this month. We tried to show them a good time while visiting us at differnt times recently. My (Lisa's) brother Jem and his wife Patti came up to visit us before we left. They brought Barby with them. Our friends Wade and Susie drove north all the way from North Carolina to spend a few days with us on the new Kismet.
Our friend Gary helped Jim run the lines to the TV from the Track It unit. It all went together without a hitch. Thank God!
This week I had the pleasure (I say I because Jim is out of town doing a boat show in Indiana this week) to meet many of the Loopers that are just now transiting through our homeport of Charlevoix, MI. As you can see from the photos below these are friendly people with warm hearts. I already know that we will be in good company as we head south just after Labor Day.
The last two weeks we took a few breaks from preparing for our trip to partake in two of northern Michigan's summer festivals. Charlevoix, our homeport, is a small town just south of Petoskey. The downtown overlooks a small inland lake called Round Lake. It is a popular destination spot for boaters as the harbor is well protected from the weather off Lake Michigan and the town is just a short walk up from the marina. It has an annual,…
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Tradition dictates that a christening ceremony be performed for new boats. For thousands of years, we have gone to sea. We have crafted vessels to carry us and we have called them by name. These ships will nurture and care for us through perilous seas, and so we affectionately call them "she." To them we toast, and ask to celebrate KISMET. Then everybody raises their plastic glass filled with champagne or your favorite non-alcoholic beverage and shouts, To the Sailors…
Similar to Noah’s Ark we have two of everything and often times more, but in our case no animals. In preparing for the Great Loop we’ve been stocking up on engine pencil zincs, fuel filters, oil filters, oil, belts, impellers, tools, spare anchor and rode all in preparation for departure day. We’ve found from experience that it’s good to be prepared when the need arises. Murphy’s law would dictate that we’d not be able to purchase whatever it is we…
We have only eighty days until we cast our lines and depart Charlevoix for our new two-year adventure. Even though we have a whole northern Michigan summer season yet to enjoy, departure day is just around the corner. This past week we took care of a few items in preparation for the trip.We had recently ordered our new gold AGLCA burgee since we have completed the Loop once already we are now "gold" members. After much thought and discussion as…
Summers in northern Michigan have the same number of days as anywhere else; it just seems shorter when 35˚, May evenings linger on towards Memorial Day. Couple this with how fast time seems to march on and you realize that you had better enjoy the warm days, when they come, before it is over.Summer here can be compared to a fourth of July fireworks celebration. The crowd slowly builds in preparation for the big event similar to how vacationers descend…
We have been back to our homeport of Charlevoix, Michigan for three weeks already, to us it seems like time is flying, too fast. That's how our entire five-month experience in Seattle felt, before we knew it we were heading home. While traveling east we reflected and savored our time spent in a very cosmopolitan city with diverse people, landscape and history. The icing on the cake being that we were able to watch our new boat be built.This all…
We don't want to do it, but then again we do... We are talking about leaving Washington to go home. We've had such a rewarding experience while in the Pacific Northwest making new friends, reacquainting ourselves with some of Lisa's old friends, sightseeing, watching our new boat be built, cruising the Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands and a few surrounding inland lakes. Part of us would really like to just stay - This is the "don't want to do…
After the boat was safely secured on the truck we headed back to Seattle where we were the guests, for dinner, of Walt and Margie with whom, along with friends Patti and Eric, we celebrated our last night in Seattle. We spent the night at Patti and Eric's home and squeezed in precious moments until we left early Friday morning.We feel fortunate to have been able to spend some time during our stay with such fun people.
Yesterday they took off the fly bridge to prepare it for shipping. Today we got up early drove the boat over to the lift where it was lifted out of the water and onto the truck for the long ride east.
Today is our last day, touring the islands. We left Friday Harbor this morning to head to Hunter Bay, off Lopez Island. This is quite a large bay located on the southeast side of the island. We made our way into the crook of the bay and found only one other trawler and an old fishing boat already anchored close by. We settled in to…
Friday morning finds us leaving Fisherman Bay and Lopez Island at high tide and cruising the short distance back to Friday Harbor. We found more liveliness in this harbor this trip since the weekend is approaching and there are more boat and people activity.The weather cooperated with a warm afternoon for us to sit on the fly bridge to watch the comings and goings of all the boats, float planes and ferries. The sunset was amazing as it cast a…
Thursday morning we rose to a gentle rainfall. We took time with our showers and preparations to leave not wanting to vacate the peace and quiet of Reid Harbor. We find that most days include rain of some sort accompanied by ever changing skies, which open and close to expose the blue sky and rays of sun on and off all day long. We have noticed that the skies here are often dark and menacing looking, but quite harmless unless…
One thing you can't help but notice out here in Puget Sound, and surrounding waters, is the continually changing character of the water. With the rise and fall of the water, which constantly and rhythmically comes in and out on a predetermined schedule, Mother Nature is right in your face reminding you of forces greater than yourself.While out whale watching, in Haro Straits we thought the 900 foot depth water seemed more alive with an amazing rush of disturbed water…
Today’s destination was Stuart Island's Reid Harbor and a secluded, well-protected anchorage within three miles of Canada's Vancouver Island.It was optimistic but, our mission today was to try to spot a rare (this time of year) whale sighting in the 800-foot water of Haro Straits on the Canadian / United States border. We had no such luck, however, we did see dolphins, sea lions and some of the most turbulent and large whirlpools, we had ever seen, as the currents…
We left our protected dockage in Anacortes for a five-day tour of the San Juan Islands, which is located in the northwest corner of Washington State. First stop was Friday Harbor - this is one of those boating towns we've all heard of. Most wonder where it is and even fewer, east of the great Pacific Northwest, have ever been there.It is little known that the San Juan Islands enjoy an average of 247 days with sunshine a year and about…
What can we say? How about... a photo is worth a thousand words.
Our son Ross and girlfriend Brooklyn came from Portland, by train, to Anacortes for a short, but very sweet, two day visit. They came to visit with us one more time before we head back to Michigan. We packed a lot in during the short visit. We had really wanted to cruise over to Friday Harbor but weather prevented us from leaving the dock. We had lots of fun though being together, which is the best part of family anyway.We visited…
Today we went through Deception Pass. This pass was discovered and named by Vancouver's exploration team a couple hundred years ago and is revered today, as it was then, as one of North America's most treacherous passes, with currents that can run as fast as 8 knots. It is recommended that you run the pass at slack tide to reduce your exposure to the whirlpools created by the narrow passage and to have more control of your vessel.We left from…
Again the weather provided us with a calm partly sunny day to cruise north toward the San Juan Islands. We lowered the hook, just before Deception Pass, at Kiket Bay for the night. Quiet, peaceful with lots of birds and little jumping fish at sunset.
We moved the short distance from Elliot Bay Marina to Bell Harbor Marina right downtown Seattle. Just one night here, our last night on the boat in Seattle. See Mount Rainer on the right only it looks a lot smaller in the photo.We spent the day walking around town. We visited the Pike Place Market one last time. It was busy on this warm, beautiful day lots of people were out taking advantage of the spring weather.Below: This is BUBBLE…
Whenever we arrive or depart Elliot Bay Marina we have been greeted by these cute seals.
The welcoming "First Sight" of familiar smiling faces from home. Our friends and boating buddies, Gary and Jean flew into Seattle to spend some time with us. Even though the weather could have been better, we still had lots of fun touring downtown, eating, drinking wine and playing games.The time went by so quickly but I guess it always does when you're having fun and sharing good times with friends and making memories.On Sunday, we had a mostly dry day…
Time to get the two hundred and fifty feet of chain wet. We didn’t need it all but we wanted to try out our new boat at anchorage so we headed out during a one-day weather window. We went through the Hiram Chittenden Lock to the eighteen-mile long Lake Washington. We toured over to Bellevue, around Mercer Island and buzzed by Bill Gates estate before we settled into Cozy Cove, on the east side of the lake for a quiet…
We came to Seattle to watch our future boat be built and little did we know when this plan was formed that the most important experience we will take away from our time in Seattle will unquestionably be all the new friendships we made and a couple of old ones that were renewed.When I (Lisa) moved away from Seattle some thirty years ago I left four very good friends, Patti and Eric of Seattle and Judy and David from Lopez…
Although we've been living on our boat for two weeks already enjoying ourselves while getting the new Kismet commissioned to our satisfaction, we felt that it was time for a short trip to get a better feel for the boat.We choose Poulsbo because it was recommended by a number of people as a must stop, so we headed out across Puget Sound on a mostly clear day with calm silky waters. The boat handled well as we maneuvered over the…
Time for guests and a little celebrating. Our son Ross and his girlfriend Brooklynn came up from Portland, OR for the weekend and we did some sightseeing around town and went for a cruise in the Sound on Sunday morning.We also had our friends Patti and Eric, Margee and Walt aboard for a late afternoon cruise on Wednesday and a couple of our friends from the B&B, Tom and Jacques, over for dinner on Saturday.
Finally settled on the boat and looking forward to some anchoring out and a little cruising time.We spent a couple of days carting leather chairs to the boat to see if they would fit in the salon. The third one worked and we are happy with the result. We decided on a chair and ottoman instead of two chairs. This will give us a little more breathing room since there is already plenty of places to sit in the salon…
With everything up and running we left Yacht Masters for Elliott Bay Marina, our new home for the month of March. It had been beautiful all week up until about an hour before we left the Yacht Master's dock when it started to rain and the wind picked up considerably. None-the-less we made our way out of Lake Union, through the lock and around the point to the 1,400 slipped Elliott Bay Marina.Our new Fathom handled the 2 to 3…
As in those technicians who install all things electrical that help boaters navigate the waterways. Tim, and sometimes Kent, at Yacht Masters on Lake Union spent four-and-a-half days installing our new 2-station GPS Chart-plotters, radar, auto pilot, VHF radio, integrating all to work together in harmony. On Friday afternoon we went out for a test cruise with Tim to make sure everything was up and running correctly. This is where the "Wizard" part comes in... after four days of exhaustive wire…
We have been fascinated by the houseboats in Seattle. I guess they just appeal to us because we consider our boat our home and it is on the water. Only difference is that our home is moveable. There are many little Houseboat communities around Lake Union. They add a lot of color to the lake along with a great deal of character.
After one night at Shilshole Bay Marina we left dock and headed for the Hiram M. Chttenden Locks. We locked through in the small lock with many spectators lined up above us. Had a nice chat with one of the friendly Lockmasters while going up in the lock.We are on our way to YachtMasters today to have all of the electronics installed on the boat. Until we have this final installation completed we are not quite ready to roll. They…
We were fortunate that the streak of good weather held on for one more day while we made our trek south down the Sound to Seattle. As you can see from the photos, it was a warm, sunny day with clear blue skies. There wasn't much wind to speak of and there were snow-capped mountains everywhere. WOW! What a ride and, guess what... it is only FEBRUARY.
