Anacortes to Prevost Harbor

Chug "splashed down" at the North Harbor Diesel (NHD) docks in Anacortes on Friday and the weekend was a scramble to get the boat ready for departure on Monday morning.  Somehow we got most of the necessities on board (and plenty that wasn't necessary) forgetting only a few items that we will be fine without!  By Sunday night, we had loaded McDuff (the Cat) and the last of the gear. NHD was kind enough to loan us their Courtesy Car allowing us to leave our car in our own driveway -- so we left the cat aboard and made one final round trip.

All was quiet on the docks Sunday night and we woke up to beautiful weather and calm seas.  By 6 am we were off and spent the rest of the day meandering through the San Juans testing the systems and getting comfortable with the boat.  There was a fair bit of head scratching as we tried to remember how everything worked.  We worked our way north along Blakley Island and then through Obstruction Pass before crossing below Shaw Island and working our way north along San Juan Island with a drive-by at Friday Harbor (our original plan was to stop here and drop of guests but illness intervened at the last moment and we departed without our company -- next year?).  From Friday Harbor we continued north around the south shore of Spieden Island and the west end of Stuart Island before stopping for the night at Prevost Harbor.   (Almost exactly 14 years ago, we scattered my mom's ashes on the south side of Spieden Island and I always like to linger there remembering her incredible spirit.)

We entered Prevost Harbor on a minus tide making it easy to spot the various shoals.  We anchored in a small cove south of Satellite Island and then watched the tide come up 10 feet.  We deployed the dinghy with the idea of going to shore for a walk -- this is a wonderful island to explore with a school and a lighthouse in easy walking distance.  The dinghy motor started then stopped then started then stopped.  It certainly wasn't running smoothly and we decided that we would enjoy the evening and worry about it tomorrow.  We napped and read and enjoyed dinner aboard.  All in all, a bit of bumpy start but we are off on an adventure and will iron out the kinks as we go.