Feb 5, 2012 - Kiket Island

On Thursday afternoon I went to change the transmission fluid on the transmissions (which I'd never done on this boat) and ended up breaking a pipe fitting spilling transmission fluid into the bilge.  If I couldn't fix this we couldn't go boating.  I did get it fixed in about 3 hours time.  I had to have a new hydraulic hose fabricated and I had to track down several somewhat obscure hydraulic fittings.  But I got it done and put back together the same day, so we could go boating for the weekend.  On Friday I went to the big boat show in Seattle for the entire day.  I sat through 5 hours of very informative seminars all related to long-distance cruising.  I spent another few hours looking at sailboats and long distance power boats taking pictures of cool things I might be able to build into our boat as I slowly set her up for our planned year-long trip to Mexico.  I spent another few hours talking to vendors and also business contacts for my work.

It's been quite a long time since our last trip on the boat due to bad weather, winter break, Christmas, New Years, a Florida/Bahamas vacation, and snow skiing.  The weather shaped up to be excellent for boating so we changed our weekend plans and headed out Saturday morning after Kevin's basketball game.

Kevin's basketball team; kindergarten and first grade.

Saturday morning we motored an hour or so to our favorite close-in destination; Kiket Island in Similk Bay.  We usually have the entire bay to ourselves, even in the peak of summer.  This weekend was no exception.  We anchored in 18 feet of water and immediately put the dinghy downr so we could head over to our kids favorite sand beach (Ala Spit on Whidbey Island).  It's a spectacular afternoon in the sun.  It's actually pretty warm, for February.

Kevin takes us over to Ala Spit.  He loves to drive.  Perfect weather.

The beautiful ladies!

A perfect day to be beachcombing.

As usual our kids find a place to jump from.  For some reason this is one of their favorite things to do when on a sandy beach.  They are certainly getting creative and expressive during their short flights.

Ninja Cindy catches some air.  Mt. Baker in the background.

Kevin doing the splits.  WOW, I don't think I could ever do that.

Our children will get in the water no matter how cold it is.  This water is only 45 degrees...   It wouldn't surprise me to see an iceburg float by :-)

Playing in the water.  This is early February.  Brrrr....

Beam me up Scotty.  Interesting lighting from the afternoon sun.

We motor back to the boat after spending several fun hours in the sun and sand.  Back at the boat we play some games, have dinner, and play more games.  After getting the kids to bed, Kathy and I settle down to watch "Castaway" with Tom Hanks on DVD but fall asleep half way through the movie.  We wake up at midnight and head off to bed.  About 4:00AM the wind kicks up and I (Steve) find myself up surveying the situation for a few hours.  Not a good night's sleep.  On Sunday we have a very relaxing day on the boat playing several different games, doing some reading, watching the kids play with Legos, talking about our upcoming Mexico boat trip, and simply hanging out together.



Playing the game "Sequence".  Our furnace is great; note the short sleeves.

We stay in Similk Bay as long as we can before pulling anchor so we can return just before sundown.  We tie up in our slip just as the sun sets.  Another PERFECT weekend out on the boat.

Kathy washes the mud off the anchor and chain.

Heading back home.  Perfect winter boating.

I'm happy to report that our furnace performed flawlessly this trip.  So did the new inverter.  Everything that uses AC power works better with this inverter.  The new digital tachometers also worked great.  The bad transmission leak is gone.  And the new mufflers were noticably quieter.  The boat is performing very well these days, and is slowly being transformed into the well equipped and capable vessel we will need to carry us safely to Mexico in a few short years.  We find ourselves talking about our Mexico trip all the time now and are both working very hard on several fronts to ensure that this trip becomes reality.

hasta próximo tiempo