Shane's paddle aspirations landed him here at San Juan Island, anchored at Roche Harbor on a Saturday morning before 4th of July. We had a quiet morning, sleeping in a bit and relaxing in the sunshine of our pilot house. The air was chilly, compared to the previous days here. The plan was for him to leave at 10:30 when the current was, in theory, pushing him south towards Cattle Pass[...]
Day two of anchoring out in the busy 4th of July harbor found me with a mess on my hands. I had tried my new tray for sprouting and was less than pleased with the results. It was day six, and looked about time to place the trays in the sunlight to let photosynthesis do its thing. I purchased stainless steel trays, trying to get alway from glass mason jars and avoiding plastic. Trou[...]
Good morning Roche Harbor Marina! After a restful night with all of our gadgets plugged in, I awoke hours after Shane had already left to paddle. He had a few islands left to paddle around northern San Juan Island. Spieden Island, Centinel Island, Centinel Rock, Pearl Island, Barren Island and Cactus Islands were crossed off his list that morning. Shane circumnavigates each island, giv[...]
Roche Harbor Marina was on the agenda for the day, so we left Stuart Island early in the morning after Shane finished paddling around the island (that was a very early wakeup call for him). We motored for approximately one hour through strong currents passing Spieden Island and it's channel to Roche Harbor. The boys and I had driven to Roche Harbor over the winter when we moored at Fr[...]
While yesterday was sunny and almost too hot for comfort, today is not. It’s just weather, but was still able to alter the mood a bit onboard Coco Mar. After a quiet, overcast morning off Stuart Island, the kids got to work helping me take inventory of our "pantry" items. They had started yesterday, continuing with the lockers behind our salon seats. I also began creating labels for[...]
Sunrise cruise from Sucia to Stuart Island. Another early morning departure, leaving Sucia Island for Stuart Island. Work, paddling, fun, exploring a new area, and hiking was the plan once we reached our new destination. Finding out more about our destination. Thanks to careful planning we cruised through the current to our new location. Unfortunately, the weather forecast had c[...]
Sunday, fun day! We slept in a bit as the sun came over the other side of the land, giving us a little extra shade. There was a nice breeze going. It didn’t take Shane long to jump in the dinghy and go sailing. After spending what felt like most of my day in the galley on Saturday, I had vowed to not make any meals on Sunday. Spoiler alert, my cooking and dish washing ended up to be[...]
We’re not on vacation. This is our normal life, but on a boat, in new locations. I love having rhythm in our days, weeks, and seasons. Saturdays are a good day for getting things ready for the week ahead. Sundays are for resting, being with family, and reflection. Grammy and Grampy left after breakfast. We had so much fun having another boat to chat and explore with. Shane went out s[...]
With our 4:30am departure time, Shane saw a couple of the planets lined up next to the moon. If you woke up early enough you could see five planets lined up with the moon. How cool! By the time I got outside only one planet was still lit up. Nevertheless, a beautiful sight. Early morning moon off our port side. The gorgeous sunrise kept getting better as we went on. There was no win[...]
We had a day to get it all done! Showers, mail, picking up some odds and ends, groceries, and preparing the boat. I’m writing this the next morning, trying to fend off distraction. We left the dock at 5am today and it is just beautiful out! Gorgeous. We were trying to leave last night and now I’m grateful we didn’t. The morning was spent doing some math and planning out wh[...]