First Docking, Anacortes, WA

We had to return our rental car in Fairhaven, which is 5 miles south of Bellingham. Early morning rain gave us an excuse for, and allowed for, a breakfalt diversion, which was at a Greek restaurant where we met Yanoula. Chris was at home talking Greek to her. Then we drove to Fairhaven (what a town!), left the car, and began our run back. We ran on a beautiful seashore path back to the marina, taking pictures along the way. A little rain off and on, but we were heading to Cinnamon Girl for our first real trip.

We departed this beautiful city of Bellingham and maneuvered back to the docks checking everything out, and it seemed almost too easy. Then it was off. Anacortes, our destination, is a city connected to the mainland by a small spit of land, and is the site of our only other trip....last June Chris and I chartered here for a week cruising the San Juans with Jan and Greg Brown, Katie and Greg Sparks, and Carmela Lizzo and Joe . This was only a 30 mile or so trip, but it was exciting to be underway and on our own. Fiddling with the electronics, the chart plotter, the radar, and the route programmer was much fun. We called ahead and were asigned slip C 58 which worked out perfect. Chris handled the lines, while I did the docking this time. Chris will be at the helm tomorrow much more. We took pictures of the first dockage, and headed off to the SafeWay for fresh seafood. Chris cooked our shrimp, potatoes, and salad, and I bought the best coconut cake ever tasted.Tonight we are in heaven. Tomorrow, we are thinking about going "outside" to get to Townsend, where we will have to cross the more exposed Juan de Fuca inlet. We'll see...I'll upload some pictures when I have a faster connection. So far, this has been incredible. Docking in your "ol' home port" has a great feeling to it. We'll start out in the AM for another port without knowing where it is yet....



So far, everything on the boat is working properly. We can't yet figure out how to get the Sat TV into the bedroom, but so what. Also, after we were cleaning up, I noticed suds in the ocean around us.....uh-oh...gotta figure this one out.