July 4, 2011 - Fisherman Bay, Lopez Island

Details to come shortly.  Just pictures for now.

June 13, 2010 - hauling the boat out of the water

Right after our last trip out I noticed that one of the bilge pumps was running quite frequently.  I found out why.  One of the depth sounder transducers had been knock loose during the trip up the coast and was letting water into the boat.  The bilge pump is all that is keeping our boat from sinking!  I can't fix it in the water so the boat is going to have to be hauled out for the repair.

Since the decision was made to haul the boat, I have decided to take care of everything I can on the bottom side of the boat while it is out.  That means installing some new through hull fittings, replacing the bad transducer, having the props tuned up, checking the rudders and shafts, painting the bottom, etc.

I run the boat over to La Conner Maritime by myself and pull it into the boat lift. 

A view of the boat I hadn't seen before.  Waiting to be hauled out.

They get going on it right away.  Much to my surprise I see that we dragged a large piece of fishing net along with us when we brought the boat up from California.

The net that was tangled around the prop.  We were lucky it didn't damage anything.

After they pressure washed the bottom and put the boat on the stands I started checking out the bottom.  Not bad.  It definitely needs new bottom paint and the zincs should be replaced too.  I borrow a prop puller and take the props off so they can be set to a prop shop to be checked out.

The loose depth sounder transducer.  This gap let water leak into the boat.

Kathy helped me paint the bottom.  Two coats of Interlux Micron CSC.  This should hold us until just before we take off for Mexico in 2013.

Kathy applying the first of two coats.

This is a BIG boat.

After a lot of work, the boat was ready to go back into the water.  It was on "the hard" for almost 3 weeks.  What did we get done during that time:

• New bottom paint
• props tuned up and balanced
• two new thru-hull fittings (both related to the toilets)
• two new depth sounder transducers
• two new cutlass bearings
• shafts checked for straightness
• three blue underwater lights (LED) at the transom
• touched up the paint on the bootstripe (dark blue stripe at the waterline)
• buffed and waxed the bootstripe
• waxed the bos section of the hull because this is hard to do at the dock
• new teflon packing in the shaft packing glands
• new teflon packing in the rudder shaft packing glands
• new zincs
• repaired a few small osmotic blisters

Pettit Barnacle shield paint on props and shafts.  3 LED lights on transom.



Not a view you see everyday!  Those straps must be STRONG...

I motored back over to Shelter Bay and Kathy met me at the slip to help me tie up.  Now we can finally start using our new boat!  We bought it back in February and it is now the end of June and we've only been out once.  Next up is our annual 4th of July trip to Fisherman Bay for the fireworks.

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.

May 16-20, 2011 - Moving the boat from San Fran to La Conner

Sorry for the LONG delay in posting to our blog.  Life has been very hectic these past several months.  Now it's time to update our blog.....

After watching the weather closely for a month, and lining up a few professional meteorologists to consult if we saw a good weather window opening up, we waited for our chance.  About May 13 a window seemed to be opening for us.  We consulted our meteorologists who concurred that the weater looked good.  I started making phone calls to my potential crew, and after a day or so had a good crew lined up, ready to go on short notice.  I purchased one-way airfare for the 4 of us.  One of the crew had a buddy in San Fran that offered to give us a ride from the airport to the boat when we landed at 9:00PM on Sunday night.

Well this didn't really go according to plan.  We got to the airport just fine, riding a shuttle bus from La Conner to Sea Tac.  We checked in and headed to our gate.  There was some sort of medical emergency on the plane during the flight that brought it to Sea Tac and our flight was delayed a little at first.  We waited, and waited.  A person on a stretcher was wheeled out of the plane after a while.  Shortly after this they made an announcement that the plane was now delayed at least 2 hours.  Great!  We finally landed in San Fran around midnight which blew our free ride, and also our stop at the grocery store so we could get an early start in the morning.  We took a cab ($$$) instead and just went to bed.

The Crew:  Steve S, Brett H, Jeff B, and me (Steve E)

We woke up in the morning to windy conditions with rain.  Jeff called his friend who was still able to come over for a visit and take us to the grocery store.  He showed up around 9:00AM and then we all went to breakfast.  After that we hit the grocery store and loaded up with food.  Back to the boat to get everything stowed.  We finally backed out and left the dock around noon, about 5-6 hours later than I had hoped.

We motored past Alcatraz, and then passed under the Golden Gate Bridge to begin our slow march up the coast.  The wind was blowing pretty hard and with each mile the waves and sea swell grew larger.  It wasn't long before we started encountering fuel issues.  I had mounted vacuum gauges at the helm that allowed us to monitor how clogged the fuel filters were becoming.  A normal reading is between zero and about 5" of mercury.  A partially clogged filter would read between 5"-10" and a filter that needed to be changed would read 10" or more.  There is one gauge per engine and both were doing fine for about the first hour or two.  But then they both took dramatic and rapid climbs until they were up around 20".  That's definitely in the territory where the engine is being starved of fuel and will likely not be running much longer. 

I headed to the engine room to investigate.  I switched both clogged filters to the clean standby filters by flipping a valve, expecting the reading to instantly drop back down near zero.  They didn't.  In fact they didn't budge at all.  I began tapping on the fuel tank selector valves and with each tap the gauges dropped.  Something had become clogged in these valves but my tapping on them was breaking it free.  I managed to get both engines down to normal readings again.  Phew, that was lucky.

About an hour later the port engine's vacuum gauge began to climb again.  I went down again to repeat the tapping procedure.  This time it did nothing.  The gauge continued to climb to 18", then 20", then 22".  Now the engine mounted fuel pressure gauge was beginning to drop.  It should read about 70psi during at normal cruising rpm but it was now dropping to 20psi, then 15psi, now 10psi.  At this point the engine started to sound rough and the rpm's were varying.  I went back up to the pilothouse to shutoff the engine and work on a plan.  We decided that there must be a major blockage in the fuel system and that we may have to abandon the trip.  We changed course and headed for a port in Northern CA, running on just one engine, praying that this fuel blockage didn't occur on the other engine or we would be in serious trouble.

Meanwhile, the sea conditions have become almost intolerable.  We are getting beat up out here with 30+ knot winds, 10+ swell with 4' wind waves on top of that.  The boat is slogging along though taking it in stride. 

Up we go.  Nothing but sky.

And then down.  WAY down!

At his point in the trip we were headed basically straight into the waves, so the boats motion was primarily just bobbing up and down with not too much side to side roll.  The waves and swell are very interesting out here.  It is often difficult to predict what the boat is going to do.  Often you see a huge swell headed your way and you watch it get closer and closer only to have it totally flatten out just in front of you.  Other times the sea just seems to lump up right before you sending the boat skyward  immediately followed by a resounding thud as it drops off the back side and falls into the awaiting trough.  This was not pleasant and makes one wonder just how strong a boat really is.  Can it take this pounding?

All of this up/down, up/down, up/down did take it's toll on the boat and the crew.  Steve S. got violently sea-sick very early on in the trip was was completely wiped our for the first two days spending two days on the couch.  He could not eat or drink.  We were becoming concerned for his health when he suddenly and completely snapped out it.  What a relief!!!

Our anchor chain, 380' of 3/8" high-test weighing about 800 pounds, broke through the little door intended to keep it contained in the anchor locker,which allowed it to completely spill out onto v-berth cushions.  I attempted to wrestle it back into the locker but found myself floating between the bed and the ceiling, along with quite a bit of chain in my arms, when the boat dropped off the backside of one of those waves I mentioned.  I gave up the idea of dealing with the chain in these conditions, as a broken arm now could spell disaster.

The anchor chain spilling out of the chain locker.

A cabinet door in the galley popped open and let a brand new glass jar of olive oil fall out.  It unfortunately landed right on the Kenmore Elite glass electric inductive cooktop cracking the glass cooktop.  Oh well, we wanted to switch to propane anyway....  One of the window blinds in the salon broke free of it's mount and fell to the floor.  On it's way down to it's resting place it struck a wall mounted light fixture breaking off the little on/off knob.  The sliding door between the salon to the cockpit began to slide open on its own during side-to-side rolls and would slam hard against the stops.  It eventually broke one stop, and did some significant damage to the upper track and the side door jamb.  This will take major repairs to fix.  The boat picked up a "boatload" of creaks and groans during the trip.  I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time over the next year tightening every screw I can find, as well as removing many items so I can reattach them with screws AND glue.

Meanwhile, remember that fuel problem we are having, as all of this other suffering is going on?  Well, we are running on one engine, headed toward port getting beat up by the sea, with one seasick crewman, starting to wonder if we are going to make it non-stop as we had hoped.  Armed with not much more than determination to find the source of our fuel problem, Jeff B. and I head to the engine room.  Jeff is a machinist, a pilot, an adventurer (he just returned two days ago from several weeks of riding dirt bikes along the Baja Peninsula), a great mechanic, an ex-commercial fisherman, and the one person I know that I can truly call "MacGyver".  We spend about an hour taking apart various portions of the fuel system looking for the blockage.  It's hot, smelly, and noisy in the engine room, but we are are the center of roll and pitch so the motion of the boat is almost imperceptible.  Finally, we find it.  Installed just before the fuel filters is a fuel on/off valve.  It is completely plugged with debris.  You cannot see though the opening that is supposed to allow fuel to flow.  We clean it, put it back together, and fire up the engine.  No more fuel restriction, the vacuum gauge and fuel pressure reads normal and the engine is running strong!   Excellent!!!!  Thanks Jeff!!!!

We alter course and return to our original track plodding along the coast headed toward home, not to some unfamiliar port in Northern California.



Let's get this baby home!  Brett and Steve in the pilothouse.

Sleeping is interesting in these conditions.  The master stateroom has two beds, and there is a big couch in the salon.  This worked out well for our crew of four.  One person on watch, one tending to items onboard that needed attention, and two people sleeping.  The motion of the boat isn't bad down in the master stateroom.  It is possible to sleep here despite the terrible conditions and motion of the boat.  In the bow in the v-berth sleeping would be impossible.  I think that at times you would literally be tossed into the air and perhaps even reach the ceiling.  Not so in the master berth.  You do sense a little weightlessness at times, followed by your body being compressed into the mattress, but it's not bad and you can sleep through it.  I'm a big believer in mid-ship or aft staterooms in an ocean crossing boat.

At one point we burried the bow into the face of a huge wave which sent a ton of blue water flooding across the decks.  It turns out that the drains behind the pilothouse door are not very large.  Hundreds of gallons of water pooled up over these drains and flooded the area outside the pilthouse doors.  This let water rush in under the doors which flooded the floor of the pilothouse.  I was taking a nap in the master stateroom when I heard a desparate plee for towels.  That's a shocking way to wake up, let me tell you!  I rushed up to the pilothouse to find sea water sloshing back and forth on the floor.  That's a scary sight.  This happened a few more times, but we had packed towels around the base of the doors so not as much water got through.

For most of the trip the guys had a few fishing poles out.  We were in possible tuna or salmon territory and we are motoring along at about the ideal tuna fishing speed, for about 700 miles.  As a joke, Jeff and I conceive a little prank to play on Brett.  Jeff took a pair of his underwear and attached it to the hook at the end of Jeff's line.  Many hours later I come up to the pilothouse after coming back from an engine room check and say something like "I'm not much of a fisherman, but it looks to me like there's something on one of the poles".  That doesn't get much of a reaction.  But, curiosity eventually gets the better of Brett and he goes to take a look.  "Yep, there's something here" says Brett.  He grabs his pole and starts reeling; "hey, I think it might be a salmon..  But it's not putting up much of a fight; maybe it's been on there a while".  He reels in his catch:

I think it's a salmon!

No, it's the elusive blue and grey BVD...  Keeper!

We all had a good laugh over this.  We needed a little humor as it had already been a long trip and we still had a few more days to go.  Disgustingly the only thing we really did catch out there, 20-30 miles offshore was a plastic burrito wrapper!  Yuck.  What are we doing to our planet?  About this time the winds start to subside and things are getting better.  Finally a little break from the pounding.  We are treated to a nice sunset, and finally Brett is able to cook some spaghetti in the galley!  Ah, no more eating M&M's, trail mix, dried fruit, and trying not to spill our drinks (non-alcoholic or course!).  Life is returning to normal.  We can eat.  We can sleep.  We can once again walk like a sober person.

A nice evening 30 miles offshore.

Unfortunately our calm only lasted a day or so and the winds began to pick up again.  As we approached the Washington/Oregon border our calm subsided.  The winds were once again kicking up the waves and tossing my "new" boat around like a cork in a wading pool.  This time however, the winds are from the west.  This is not good as the waves are now hitting us from the side.  This is known as a "beam sea" and it is something that most boaters try to avoid.  Beam seas toss your boat from side to side which is VERY uncomfortable.

Our Hatteras is a boat that has what mariners refer to as a rounded (or soft) chine.  Where the side of the hull meets the bottom the transition is very smooth and rounded, like a sailboat.  Hard chined (or stiff) hulls have a very abrupt angle here, like a speedboat.  Most ocean crossing power boats have rounded chines because they allow the boat to roll more smoothly from side to side providing a less abrupt motion for the people.  But, they roll further than a hard chined boat.  We were seeing the boat roll 30 degrees to each side regularly.  Then 35 degress became somewhat common as the conditions worsened.  There were occasional rolls to 40 degrees and a few that reached 45 degrees.  It was less than 10 seconds from one side to the other.  I think some amusement park rides must have been designed by sea-going mariners.  Imagine your living room tipped at 45 degrees, in EACH direction for a total swing of 90 degrees.  That's what we we experiencing.  It was almost impossible to walk around.  Forget trying to cook a meal or even eat a snack.  Got to go to the bathroom?  Nope, you better just hold it for now.  We endured this beating for 2 days.  You get used to it, but it gets very tiresome and life is anything but normal.

The typical roll, around 30-35 degrees.  We saw it go to 45 degrees.

By now the noises in the boat are growing louder, and stranger.  There is one noise coming from underneath the pilothouse settee that sounds like a stack of plates falling against each other in Domino fashion.  Back and forth go these "plates".  It's loud, it's strange, and it's new.  It is REALLY loud in the master stateroom which makes sleeping in there a real challenge.  Then there is a noise that is related to the wind.  When the wind really whips up something begins to resonate and create a loud hum inside the boat.  It's a loud rumble and it is definitely tied to the wind.  I have since figured out that it is the SSB radio antenna that is causing it.  How to fix it; I don't know yet.  Creaks and groans are everywhere and they are louder now than at anytime in the trip.  Steve S. has nicknamed the boat "squeeky-teeky".  Geeze, I hope I can find all these noises and that Steve will rename the boat "silent-night".

Despite the noises, this is an impressive sea boat.  It can certainly take more than most people can.  It does roll a lot, but that is by design.  At 8 knots, having a boat with a stiff hull would be dangerous.  The motion would be so "snappy" that people would likely be tossed around which leads to injuries.  A faster boat can overcome some of this because as a boat goes faster it becomes more stable. But a faster boat couldn't carry enough fuel to make it from San Fran to La Conner non-stop.  Going fast burns a lot of fuel.  Long range boats are slow boats with their efficient speed and maximum range governed by their "hull speed".

After rocking and rolling our way up the Washington coast we finally make it to the Straight of Jan De Fuca and make our first course change since California.  We turn right and head into familiar waters.  Home is so close now.  But, at 7-8 knots it's still half a day away.  We are in the straight of Juan De Fuca all night and this is a place with a lot of commercial traffic.  Thank goodness for AIS (Automatic Identification System) that shows all of the commercial boats on our chartplotter.  It gives us their heading, their speed, their name, destination, type of ship, and more.  With this we know what is coming, both in front of us and behind us.  It is really cool, and it's a great safety item, particularly in fog or at night.

Screenshot of AIS on the chartplotter.  The white dotted lines are freighters.

I don't get cell coverage until about Victoria.  I've only had cell coverage for perhaps 50 miles out of the last 750 miles.  I am on AT&T.  The other guys have Verizon phones and they have had cell coverage at least 75% of the time.  All I can say, is if you are a boater, AT&T is NOT your best choice!

We slowly (agonizingly so) close in on Shelter Bay.  It's been a long trip and everyone is anxious to be home.  This is the type of trip though that most "hard-core" boaters wish to make.  I had quite a few potential crew members tell me that this is a trip that is on their "bucket list".  People were offering to pay their own way they wanted to do it so much.  It is the second time for me.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  There is something special about being so far offshore that you can't see land.  It is amazing to see nothing but water and horizon in all directions.  You can watch the sunset in one direction and hours later see sunrise on the other side of the boat.  It is very satisfying to take a boat long distance.  To overcome technical issues.  To figure out a routine that works.  To have time to think and ponder.  To be away from TV and the internet.

Kathy took some pictures of Adagio when we were close to La Conner, and she got us on our final approach about to dock in Shelter Bay after running for 5 non-stop days up the coast covering about 900 miles of rugged ocean.

Less than 1 mile from home.  900 miles behind us.  We are going to make it!

Oh no!  Now I have to dock this thing?

Tied up in La Conner, safe and sound.  We are all happy to be home....

April 10, 2011 - Moving the new boat from Stockton to San Francisco

I (Steve) drove down to Stockton CA on April 1 so I could spend a week working on the boat and getting her ready for the big trip up the coast in a month or two.  That move will completely depend on the weather so I can't predict when it will happen.

It was a long 14 hour drive from La Conner to Stockton.  I left at about 3:00AM with a cup of coffee in my hand.  I am a morning person so this wasn't as bad as it might sound.  It also meant that I wouldn't be driving after dark when I was tired which would have been the case if left at say 8:00AM. 

I arrived in Stockton about 5:00PM and then spent almost two hours unloading the van, which was packed FULL.

The "lowrider" van.  I loaded it down with boat stuff.

I then spent several days adding electronics, changing engine oil and filters, changing fuel filters, making repairs, exploring the boat, and finding new issues to deal with.  One of the biggest issues I discovered was that the dual fuel filter setup is broken on the port engine.  There is a lever you move so you can move from a clogged fuel filter over to a new fresh filter without ever shutting down the engine.  The lever moves but it doesn't actually change filters.  There is a plastic piece inside that had been stripped.  Apparently on these early Racor 500 duel filter assemblies this plastic piece was a poor design.  There is an "upgrade" kit to change it over to all brass parts that should last forever.  All of the newer units are not made with this plastic piece.

The Racor dual filter setup.  The gauge is broken & the selector valve does nothing.

The stipped out plastic part inside the Racor dual filter selector valve.

Another view of the valve.

After several days of work Kathy flew into Sacramento and I drove to get her.  On the way from the airport we stopped at Costco to load up with non-perishable foods for the boat trip up the coast.  After owning this boat for more than a month Kathy finally got to see it in person.  She has seen lots of pictures and video that I took, but she had never seen the boat in person.  I think she likes it?  It's pretty dirty inside, although it is in very nice condition.  It will take a lot of cleaning to make it seem "right", but that's easy stuff.

Kathy's first look at her new boat!

We got up a little before 6:00AM the next morning (Friday morning) because we are moving the boat from Stockton to Brisbane (San Francisco) today.  It almost 90 miles and with a boat that goes 8-9 knots this is going to be a long day.  The weather started out great with no clouds and no wind.  We were underway by about 6:20 when it started getting light enough to see.  Stockton is up "The Delta" from San Francisco and is on the San Joaquin River.  This boat has spent quite a few years in fresh water which is a good thing.  Stockton is an interesting town with a beautiful waterfront, but it gets pretty sketchy the further you venture away from the waterfront.

Goodbye Stockton California.  San Francisco here we come!

I spent quite a bit of time down in the engine room while Kathy drove.  I was checking for oil leaks and water leaks.  I adjusted the propeller shaft packing glands to reduce the amount of water dripping into the boat.  I checked the temperatures of various engine components and the transmissions with my infrared temp gun.  I checked fuel filters and switched from tank to tank.  This boat has 4 fuel tanks.  3 of them seemed fine, but one (the aft keel tank, 300 gallons) seems to have some VERY dirty fuel.  I am going to have to have this tank professionally cleaned, but it may be able to wait until we get the boat up here as we shouldn't need to use this tank at all on the trip north.

The "Delta" was a very interesting place to cruise, but I think once was enough for me.  It's a river and there just aren't the places to go, all the places to drop the anchor, all the places to simply get away like we have up in the San Juan's.  Sometimes I don't think we realize just how great our cruising grounds really are!

Running in light fog.

This fog was pretty dense.  We couldn't even see the bank of the river.

We started out with fantastic conditions, although it was quite chilly in the morning.  Then some light fog started to appear.  At first it was very low on the water and we could see right over it.  Then it disappeared and we thought we were through with it.  Then all of the sudden, POW.  Heavy fog that completely obscured our view of everything.  It was a good test of the radar and chartplotters.  The electronics performed great and we never did slow down (well, if you can call 9 knots fast?).   We were in the fog for over an hour and we were both quite relieved when  it started to disappear.

Not long after the fog lifted we approached the US Navy mothball fleet.  This is a place where old boat go to "rest".  Apparently these vessels are laying in wait,  in case they are ever needed again.  They haven't been discarded.  They are obsolete but not forgotten.  It was VERY interesting to see at least a hundred war ships sitting here doing nothing.  Are we not in a war or two right now?  Hmmmmmm.......

Some of the "Mothball Fleet."  What did it cost to build these ships?

The "Cape Fear" has some definite style.  Look at the radar tower.  Impressive!

Not long after making a detour to view the Mothball Fleet we finally entered San Francisco Bay.  There was much Anticipation at seeing the Golden Gate Bridge.  OK, maybe it was just me, but somehow the Golden Gate Bridge holds a certain awe, a prestige, a pedigree if you will, for boaters.  If you've made it to the Golden Gate Bridge you are definitely a serious boater.  Well. maybe for a Seattle boater like me anyway.  I don't think a San Fran boater would regard it as highly as I do.  Anyway, we saw the Golden Gate from our boat and also took a swing by Alcatraz. 

The Golden Gate Bridge, as viewed from our boat.

Alcatraz.  I can honestly say that this must have been a terrible place to be!

The boat is now moored at Brisbane Marina, just a few miles away from the San Fran airport.  As we got close we passed Candle Stick Park (now AT&T Park) on opening day.  It was a packed stadium!

Opening Day at Candle Stick Park.  Just look at all the people!

We arrived at Brisbane Marina shortly after passing Candle Stick Park.  I had a map of the marina so finding our slip was fairly easy.  I didn't count on it being such a tight slip.  I literally had less than 2 feet clearance between us and the next boat.  It was blowing about 20 knots, pushing us into the next boat when we arrived.  Despite having never docked our new boat before, I managed to get Adagio into the slip without incident.  Fortunately, there was someone there to grab a line from us which was a great help.

A tight fit.  I'm sure the guy on the left isn't going to like this.

The next day the winds were even stronger, which is what was forcasted.  I worked on the boat that day while Kathy hopped on an Amtrack train to go retrieve our van which was still back in Stockton.  It took Kathy about 6-7 to make the roundtrip. 

The next day we changed slips, at my request.  We jumped over a few slips next to a much narrower boat and also next to a Nordhavn 40', which is very coincidentally the exact make and model of boat that I helped bring up the coast 5 years ago.  Our Hatteras simply overshadows the 40' Nordhavn!

Our Hatteras next to a Nordhavn 40 MK II.  Our boat is bigger!  :-)  ha ha

Obviously I'm just kidding with my caption in the last photo.  I think Nordhavn's are the best boats out there.  If I had the money to buy one I would.  But I could buy 5 of our 48' boat for the price of one Nordhavn 40'.  Hey, we scored a bargain; what else can I say?

After a day or two of work on our new boat we packed the van and drove back home.  It was much tougher leaving at 5:00PM and drining overnight.  I think both Kathy and I experience extreme drowsiness while driving overnight.  That just didn't happen when I left at 3:00AM.  I was good all day without feeling like I needed a rest at all.  It's just not the same after being awake all day and then trying to stay awake all night too.

Anyway, we made it home fine.  A bit tired when we arrived. A bit overwhelmed.  A bit shell shocked.  A bit proud too as we have finally purchased a vessel that in some circles could be called a "ship".   This is definitely a huge step up in quality and abilities from our beloved Bayliner 45.  Bringing her up the coast is going to be an interesting trip.

More to come......