Departure of the Crew

Day 104 – August 22
Southward to Dockton via a quick stop in near Hope Island

The sun was out this morning, and the water flat.

From reading Tom’s blog we were the smart ones to start heading south sooner. We’ve had very nice water from Lund all the way south. We left Hunter Bay this morning headed to drop our guests off inside of Hope Island before we continue down to Dockton, Vashon Island for tonight. Glen’s folks have their motorhome parked at an RV park near Hope Island. The plan is to drop anchor and dinghy them to shore. Nothing like dropping your parents off on a beach Glen.

We have about a 9 hour run today so we left early. We left under a sunny sky and on lovely ‘Liz water’.

Oh I almost forgot some of the highlights of our Hunter Bay gathering. We had a lovely gathering on the Reflections; and reflected on our adventures of skiing at Snoqualmie Pass over the years. Mom talked about years ago when she went up with the ladies of the neighborhood after buying ½ price tickets at Ernest Hardware. Nat and Linda told of their early years skiing, but Marian topped them all by relating her adventures at the Pass. Years ago she used to ride the train up to what was then called the Milwaukie Ski Bowl, skiing all morning and returning to the train to eat their sack lunches, and then skiing all afternoon, then taking the train back town. I believe she said that was about 1949. Things have changed a bit over the years.

During all this discussion Glen and Doug had a silent ‘competition’ to see who could eat more Hobinaro stuffed green olives. They both tried to say they were not at all hot. Do you believe them?

Doug - Incoming!

Doug post swallow; that was yummy!

Glen - Down the hatch.

Wow, I swear it's not hot.

No, really it's not hot! Remember don't touch the eyes!

Yes, those are tears in Glen’s eyes and running down his cheeks. I think Glen won for the most but Doug for the least reaction to the heat. Linda had two but ‘cooled’ hers down by soaking them in Vodka.

Linda - You guys are nuts! But those olives are the best!

10:15 am – just went thru Deception Pass. Deception Pass was much nicer going south than our trip north back in May.

Deception Pass - May 11th headed north. 6 Ft standing waves = Not Fun!

Deception Pass - Southbound August 22 Yippee skippee smooth water!

Mom, Dad, Glen, and Marian on the beach.

Okay, I was there too.

12:45pm We are cruising past Camano Island and Glen is all excited. He’s on his phone right now ordering a new dinghy. These demo models went by us, one right after the other, with one on each side of us. He says one has a bit more protection for Alaskan waters but with the other we could get to Skagway much faster, and with seating for 5. Neither put up much of a wake. Which one do you think he wants?

Option #1

Or

Option #2

Not bad for a dinghy! Skagway, here we come!

There she goes!

We met Nicole at Edmonds about 3:30pm. She had done a Costco run for us, as well as bringing us a much needed box of supplies from home for the upcoming week. You know stuff that they limit at the border. She was waiting at the dock so we were in and out in about 15 minutes.

We have filled our fuel and water tanks in Des Moines and are now in Dockton, Vashon Island with Gary and Shirley Cummings on Off Piste. Gary and Shirley are both Ski Patrol and Yacht Club buddies. The cruise down today was sunny and we had good ‘Liz water’ all the way. The Seattle waterfront and skyline look about the same as we left. . Mt Rainier is still there and beautiful. Both Mt Baker and Mt Rainier appear to have new snow on them. Either that or there has been little melt this summer.

We will be cruising for this next week in South Sound and will join our yacht club buddies for a Wagon Wheel in Longbranch over Laborday weekend. Actually we will be arriving in Longbranch on Thursday as Glen has just been asked to be the Wheel Master, which basically means that he is in charge of getting all the boats anchored into the wheel and then back out of the wheel at the end of the weekend. This can be tricky sometimes and it takes someone with some experience to accomplish it with minimal confusion and hopefully no bumped boats.