May 30, 2011 - Kiket Island/Similk Bay

This is the first time Kathy and the kids have spent the night on the boat.  I have already spent 15 nights onboard (two 5-day trips to CA to work on it, and 5 days coming up the coast).  In some regards the boat is similar to our Bayliner 45, but in other ways it is very different.  I can't tell you how many times all of us have left the pilothouse and headed to the salon only to have to turn around and go back to the pilothouse and then down forward to the stateroom or the heads.  In our last boat, we would get to the staterooms and heads by going down to the salon first, then on down.  In this boat you can only get there from the pilothouse. 

We decided on a short and close to home trip for the first time.  We are going just a few miles to Kiket Island which is now part of Deception Pass State Park:

http://fidalgoweather.blogspot.com/2011/06/kiket-island.html

We motor over and drop the anchor in about 15'-20' of water.  It's a good mud bottom with great holding.  We've been here many times before in our Bayliner 45, and we are always amazed at the lack of people/boats here.  We don't really understand why this is off the beaten path, when it is in plain sight of that path.  It's a nice bay offering lots of privacy.  it is close to home.  The bottom is flat and has good holding power.  It is within sight of Deception Pass which makes it a strategic launch pad for an early morning passage through the sometimes dangerous pass.  Oh well, maybe this is our little secret?

We are spreading the word with my old boss Dave and his wife Lorainne.  They are heading over here to join us for a night in their beautiful Tolly 44'.  Dave was my first manager at Microsoft, and Ihe's one of the best bosses I ever had.  I guess that's why I want to stay in touch with him and get together from time to time.  I don't do that with any of my other bosses!



Daves first sight of "Therapy".  Soon to be "Adagio".  That's us in the dinghy.

We spend some time out playing in the dinghy, giving the kids each a turn to drive and gain some confidence on the water.  We also go check out the sunken sailboat that has been here for years now.  It's getting more and more beat up as the seas try to crush her with every storm.

Kevin making a nice wake :-)  He loves to drive the dinghy.

What NOT to do with your boat.  What a bummer.

We spend quite a bit of time onboard playing games and simply getting familiar with our new boat.  It's actually quite a project to take someone else's boat and make it 'feel' like your own.  Kathy and I spent many hours just looking at things and talking about what to do to make it 'our' boat.

Cindy and Kevin playing UNO on the pilot berth.

Zappa settled in right away.  What a great kitty!

We are enjoying the layout of the boat.  The pilothouse is a nice place to eat meals with it's U-shaped settee.  It's also a great place to play games.

Our first dinner onboard "Adagio"

This is a quiet boat.  It is also a lot more stable at anchor.  I guess weighing twice as much as the Bayliner plays a big part in the improved stability.  It is somewhat breezy here yet the boat doesn't move around nearly as much as we are used to.

Dave and Lorainne come over and visit for a few hours.  It's great to see them again and we will be seeing them again at Fisherman Bay over the 4th of July weekend.  They will be there again this year.

Kevin and Cindy playing on the ladder.

On Sunday we spend some more time in the dinghy.  We swap dinghies; the boat came with an older Avon with a tiller steer Suzuki 15hp 2-stroke.  I don't even know if the motor works.  Our nice dinghy is a pretty awkward to get onto the mounts on the boat deck.  I will have to rework  them to make it better for our dinghy.  Projects.  Everywhere I look I see projects!

So far we are liking our new boat.  We are still getting used to her, and we don't have much of our stuff onboard yet.  It was a little "rough" this time out, but it will get better soon.  We just need some more time to get supplies and stuff onboard, as well as starting to customize the boat to meet our needs.