Where have we been? Our first year of adventure onboard Coco Mar
We’ve been sailing the Salish Sea for coming up on a year, onboard Coco Mar, our 41 foot ketch. This is a running timeline of what we’ve been up to.
August 13th, 2021 Closed on the boat while in Santa Barbara, CA
August 16th, 2021 Got the keys and made our first boat purchase – lightbulbs!
August 19th, 2021 Moved onto the boat in Bellingham’s Squallicum Harbor
August 20th, 2021 Captain’s Sign-off for insurance, still two more weeks waiting for insurance to finalize.
September 4th, 2021 first overnight stay on a mooring ball at Clark Island
School starts! We do a back and forth from the boat, staying off the boat for a few days a week while the boys attend an in person program.
September 11th, 2021 first time anchoring at Lummi Island, sailed to Vendovi Island for the day
September 17th, 2021 Mooring ball on Cypress Island’s Bridge Rock Cove
September 24th, 2021 Sucia Island, using the linear moorage at Echo Bay
October 1st, 2021 scored dock space at James Island
October 2nd, 2021 made it to Port Townsend’s Point Hudson Marina for our winter moorage, six month liveaboard slip lease.
Check out my Top 10 Port Townsend Attractions for Cruisers
October 16th, 2021 Visited Sequim and Port Angeles by car.
Alternative ferry schedules begin, developing our disdain for Washington State ferries.
October 21, 2021 Visited Fort Casey and Coupeville on Whidbey Island by car.
November 13th, 2021 Mooring ball off of Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island.
November 21st, 2021 Sailed to Port Hadlock
November 25th, 2021 Hosted my parents and Shane’s mom for Thanksgiving and a quick sail to Mystery Bay.
December 11th, 2021 Drove to Bowman Bay next to Deception Pass for Shane’s SUP race
December 23rd-December 28th, 2021 Had a for Grammy and Grampy’s Christmas gift to the family – Disney World!!
Snow on the boat! We returned to Port Townsend in the snow.
January 16th, 2022 Crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca and stayed five days at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.
January 22nd, 2022 Anchored at Mackaye Harbor on Lopez Island.
February 12th, 2022 A day sail that turned to overnight moorage and a four course Beauty and the Beast dinner off of Fort Worden.
March 4th, 2022 Drove to the Olympic National Forest, staying at Kallaloch Lodge for two nights.
March 6th, 2022 Drove to Ocean Shores.
March 19th, 2022 Moved the boat to Shilshole Marina in Ballard for a three month slip sublease.
Shane works with an electrician to upgrade our batteries. The project takes about a month to complete.
March 24th, 2022 Sailed to Blake Island for three nights
Flag Football begins every Sunday.
April 14th, 2022 Back at Blake Island for a jumping off point.
April 15th, 2022 Sailed down Colvos Passage to Dock Street Marina down Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma. Saw family!
April 20th, 2022 Motored to Everett Marina to spend spend time with family. Stayed two nights.
April 22nd, 2022 Anchored off Kingston near ferry landing.
April 29th, 2022 Sailed to Port Madison Bay, anchoring off of Suquamish.
May 12th, 2022 Blake Island for two nights.
May 20th, 2022 Shane and Kelly motored to Everett Marina by themselves for haul out. Haul out lasted just over a week.
May 28th, 2022 Stayed overnight in Everett. Kelly and Shane motored back to Shilshole the next day.
June 3rd, 2022 We went on a field trip to Port Townsend for a tour of rigging and sails shops there.
The boys’ in person program and activities are done!
June 10th, 2022 Sailed to Kingston, anchoring to watch Seventy48 racers pass us.
June 11th, 2022 Motored to Boat Haven Marina in Port Townsend for two nights. Cheered on my brother and picked up our new dinghy.
June 13th, 2022 Anchored off of Port Townsend for two nights.
June 15th, 2022 Crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca and anchored in Griffin Bay off of San Juan Island for two nights.
June 17th, 2022 Motored to Friday Harbor early in the morning for a night stay in the marina.
June 18th, 2022 Sailed to Jones Island for the day, then sailed to anchor off Waldron Island.
June 19th, 2022 Motored to Sucia Island to stay for two nights on linear mooring in Echo Bay with my parents on their boat too.
June 21st, 2022 motor sailed to Blaine in the evening, to our waitlist spot in the Blaine Marina.
June 24th, 2022 Motored in the early morning to Sucia Island, grabbing a mooring ball in Fox Cove. stayed for three nights.
June 27th, 2022 Another early morning move to Stuart Island’s Reid Harbor.
June 29th, 2022 One night stay at Roche Harbor Marina.
June 30th, 2022 Anchored out in Roche Harbor for five days.
July 5th, 2022 One night stay at Deer Harbor Marina on Orcas Island.
July 6th, 2022 Two night stay anchored off Jones Island, stern tying for first time.
July 8th, 2022 Back at Sucia Island, anchored in Echo Bay for two nights.
July 10th, 2022 Motor sailing and some sailing back to Blaine.
We haven’t even scratched the surface on exploring the PNW waters. However, what we’ve seen has been incredible. The people we’ve met have been kind and helpful. The winter was hard, but we learned a lot by sticking with it even while waiting out the stacked storms we were dealt.
Winter lasted until mid-May, giving us a month and a half of spring, with true summer starting after fourth of July. Typical of the northwest. I’m so grateful to have some sunshine and dry days to be out on the boat appreciating the brilliant colors of our area.
I’m updating the rest of where we were for our first year aboard Coco Mar, now that we’re heading into our first fall storm of the season! I know I mentioned in my last update that we didn’t have true spring or summer until July 5th. Well, we had summer until October 20th. Seventy degree days and plenty of wildfire smoke for the past month and a half. It was an epic summer of being on the go. Here is how the rest of it went —
July 15th We started on our California road trip to celebrate my grandpa’s 80th birthday! The trip moved last minute from Yosemite to Santa Barbara due to a wildfire. We all still had a blast! Our family stopped in Ashland on the way down, we stayed at Villa Verano in Santa Barbara, then Casa Del Mar, stopped at my brother’s house on the way north, and with one final stop in Eugene to pickup Shane’s new paddleboard.
July 23rd Back in Blaine to provision for our next outing!
July 25th Rough passage to Sucia Island – anchored in Echo Bay.
July 28th Mooring ball on Turn Island and then motored to Fisherman’s Bay off Lopez Island at high tide – celebrated Kelly’s 12th birthday!
July 30th Left Fisherman’s Bay at high tide for Spencer’s Spit in the evening.
August 1st A sleepless night anchored off of Doe Island.
August 2nd Grabbed a mooring ball early in the morning off Cypress Island for the day. Motored to Bellingham’s Squallicum Harbor in the evening.
August 4th Motored over to anchor off Lummi Island for the day before having a great sail back to Blaine.
August 5th Drove back to Duvall to celebrate Shane’s mom’s 70th birthday with family!
August 6th Kelly did a belated birthday celebration at the Mariner’s game before we went back to Blaine.
August 11th Sucia Island – the gateway to our summer adventures!
August 13th Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes – celebrated 1 year with Coco Mar! My parents stopped by to say hi and have dinner with us.
August 14th Anchored off Kimball Preserve
August 16th Our water pump died and the spare didn’t work out, so off to Friday Harbor.
August 17th Anchored in Doe Bay.
August 18th An unplanned stop at Squallicum Harbor to grab the right water pump.
August 19th Anchored in Pleasant Bay.
August 20th Rosario Resort
Technically, this marks one year on Coco Mar! However, let’s just finish off what we did up until Ocotber 1st – the first season of true cruising onboard!
August 22nd Anchored in Blind Bay off Shaw Island
August 24th Grabbed a mooring ball on the east side of James Island.
August 25th In the morning we anchored off Alice Bight on Burrows Island and in the evening crossed over again to Lopez enjoyed a mooring ball in Watmough Bay.
August 28th Our first time anchoring in Friday Harbor! It’s a busy place!
August 30th Friday Harbor Marina to meet up with my parents on their boat. Plus, my brother and his family were in town for my dad’s 60th birthday.
August 31st The best party for my dad, anchored and stern tied off Jones Island.
September 1st Back at Friday Harbor Marina to say goodbye to my brother and his family.
September 3rd We went on a rescue mission back to Watmough Bay and ended up staying. My parents experienced an issue with their engine, leaving them stranded in Watmough on their way back to Everett. We were able to buy what they needed and tie up with them while my dad worked on a short term solution to get them home
September 5th Anchored off Orcas Island’s Eastsound.
September 7th A night anchored in Westsound – in Massacre Bay off of Skull Island to be exact. Sounds gnarly, right?
September 8th Mooring ball off of Ewing Cove.
September 10th Back to Blaine. The smoke from a nearby wildfire caught up with us.
September 15th We went to Duvall to visit family and consolidate our storage.
September 20th Finishing up our season in Blaine.
September 25th Entered our gateway – Sucia! Grabbed a mooring ball in Echo Bay. The summer crowds have thinned considerably.
September 27th Wow, a mooring ball in Fossil Bay off of Sucia. We’re in the shoulder season for sure now!
September 28th Deer Harbor Marina for a battery juice up and water – and to run the dehumidifier. We’re officially in fall now and it’s getting damp.
September 29th Jones Island mooring ball for the first time.
October 1st We had a beautiful sail over to Roche Harbor, anchoring closer to the marina this time.
October 2nd We sailed over to Friday Harbor, where our first true cruising season onboard Coco Mar has come to a close.
