October 20, 2013 - Skagit Island

We decided to head out for an overnight trip since the weather has been quite nice this past week or two, and it looks like it will continue to be nice for another week or so.  It's really been quite a nice stretch of weather, although the sun never showed itself this weekend.  There was no wind to speak of so the anchorage was extremely calm.

We missed the slack at Deception Pass due to Kevin's soccer game Saturday morning.  I also had to work for an hour or so Saturday morning before Kevin's game.  Since we were staying close to home we decided it would be a good opportunity to try a new location.  We anchored on the east corner of Skagit Island, just south of the tip of Kiket Island.  We have seen friends of ours here before but have never tried this location.  It is very good with a great holding sticky mud bottom.  Our Rocna anchor set instantly giving us assurance that we would be fine for the night in our new location.

Playing Scrabble 

 We weren't paying much attention to what was going on outside the boat.  We had one of the window blinds down and could not see out one side.  I looked out and much to my surprise was a boat that we know.  It is our friends Andy and Cindy, with their children Sailor and Hudson.  We see them every year at Fisherman Bay for the 4th of July fireworks.  They keep their boat in Shelter Bay, which is where we keep our boat.

Our friends Andy and Cindy anchored near by

Now we are playing Yahtzee

 Andy, Cindy, and kids come over for a visit late in the afternoon.  We end up spending hours visiting and have a great time.  The kids (our kids and their kids) watched a couple of movies and also played together up in the vee berth until it was past everyone's bed time.  It was GREAT fun.

The next morning was a bit foggy and the sun never did poke through the haze.

Zappa watching some seaweed drifting by

 Andy and Cindy pulled their anchor and left mid afternoon on Sunday.  We pulled anchor a few hours later and headed back home.  We pulled into our slip about 30 minutes before dark.

Cindy and Andy, their kids are inside their boat.  We had a boat just like
this one about 6 years ago.  It is the boat we took to Alaska .

Our radar mast will be going back on the boat this week which means I can once again get our two radars installed.  I can also install our permanent navigation lights as well as our remote control spotlight.  Once these items are all up and running we will not feel the need to rush home before dark.  We are  going to start doing some night boating to get more comfortable running around in the dark.  Not many people boat at night around here, but we have had to several times during our years of boating when emergency situations have forced it.  That is not the time to find out if your boat is well setup to operate at night.  We want to be prepared for anything, and comfortable with operating our boat in all conditions.

Until next time....

October 6, 2013 - dinghy ride

We took advantage of a nice sunny afternoon to get out on our dinghy so we could get in a little beach time.  Kevin has soccer games on Saturdays, which is definitely interfering with our ability to go boating.

Kevin getting ready for another Saturday game

Kevin's team, the La Conner "Braves".   They are undefeated at home,
and have lost just one game 'on the road'.  Good job guys!

Sunday we hopped into our dinghy and headed south to our favorite "dinghy beach".  This is a place you can really only get to by boat, and surprisingly we almost always have it to ourselves.  It is less than 10 minutes from home by dinghy.

Cindy and Kevin exploring the gooey  mud

Running down the beach on the sandy side of the island

Steve end Kevin take a little beach nap in the warm sun

Interesting clouds start moving in late in the afternoon