We started off the day at Jones Island where we anchored and stern tied the day before.
Shane had islands north of where we were at he wanted to paddle, so his day started at 5am. I waited in bed when he left as rain started to fall. It was a light rain and was over before the day began.
He paddled Flat Top Island, Gull Rock, White Rocks, and Danger Rock circling around each of them on his SUP.
We’ve had a mix bag of weather this week. It’s been filled with sweatshirts and pants, with the odd warm air and sunshine moments here and there. At times rain gear. I’m ready for another truly sunny day. It looks like we have a week of 70 degree weather coming up with sunshine.
This morning I got some pizza dough going for bread sticks for the boys’ lunch. Shane and I had a delicious pizza! It was an almond and coconut flour crust with vegan pesto sauce. I sprinkled on pine nuts, canned mushrooms and sardines, and some nutritional yeast. We all ate well!
After lunch the boys and I went to land to walk a different trail. We had been to Jones Island a couple weeks ago. Wyatt and I hiked the east side. This time we’d walk the west shore, avoiding the difficult portion of the trail on the north side.
We paddled over, with Kelly riding shotgun on my board. The trail was easy with incredible views. I love the changing landscape of Jones Island. We went from a wooded area to one with brush and dry coastal plants.
We spent plenty of time on the beaches as we went. The tide was up and there weren’t many tidal pools to check out. We found a few small crabs, but they were all dead.
After time off the boat we went back to get things tidied up and ready to head out. When Shane was done working he put away the paddle boards and got to work lifting anchor.
As we head out the boys worked in their grammar. Wyatt worked on spelling, using his Minecraft workbook and Kelly worked on his vocabulary, doing two lessons. Earlier in the day they had finished their letter writing. I’ve been working with Wyatt on sounding out words to guess their spelling. His teacher encouraged him to practice writing down words whether they were spelled correctly or not. Kelly had a similar desire to always get the words right. Kelly finished his book by Jocko Willink, Way of the Warrior Kid. He said he liked it. I spotted him reading it without being prompted to a few times this week.
The rest of the two hours went by quickly. I made dinner, Wyatt listened to music, Kelly watched a show, and Shane was at the helm. We motor-sailed for a bit off the west coast of Orcas.
Our plan was to try to grab a spot at Matias Island, third times a charm right?
No, it wasn’t. We’ve tried three times now at different points of the day. I bet the fourth time will do the trick! It’s a popular island with not a whole lot of room for anchoring, docking, or mooring ball spots.
We ended up anchoring at Echo Bay again at Sucia Island.
Dinner was well received, despite it being rice, beans, and canned vegetables. I roasted the chickpeas with some dried herbs and nutritional yeast, telling the boys they were Dorito chickpeas. The rice was a red rice I had bought a while ago to make sure I had some variety onboard.
For dessert I caramelized canned pears with brown sugar. Kelly watched the movie Rise on Disney+ while Wyatt colored, Shane put away the stern line neatly, and I tidied up the galley. Tomorrow I’m looking forward to dusting!