Long trip to Roche Harbor

Today we wanted to accomplish several things. First, Christy wanted to "really" operate the boat in a marina, do 180's, dock, backup....with other boats all around. Then we wanted to travel the 60 miles or so to our favorite spot of last summer...Roche Harbor.

Mike had installed the displays and they look so good. The flybridge is up, and so we left town. Leaving the marina, Chris did her work...great experience as she gains confidence in maneuvering a 30,000 lb boat in such close quarters. Then it was off, north for the first time, in the Swinomish canal. It was going great until nearing the outlet, the railroad bridge was closed. The books said that it was only closed at 4:00 pm! This was 10:00 AM. We turned around in the narrow passage, against the wind, but with the current, and Chris started calling every number we had to see what to do. About that time, the bridge began to open, and we rushed through. I'm still not sure what to do, since they didn't answer on any of the VHF frequencies.

Then we were off to the north-west, but we did not know if we could make it to Roche Harbor. The route was through several extremely narrow passages, with beautiful homes, a few airstrips, and other destinations that we noted for future trips. Chris photographed a buoy with two Sealions sunning.... We were making good time, so we continued, and at 3:00 we got there. What a site! Last summer we entered the easy way, but today we chose a much narrower and shallower passage to dock at "number 2" right up front.

The town is terrific, with English gardens from the hotel to the marina. We took these several pictures. Our plan now is to return east tomorrow (Thursday) and overnight somewhere, yet to be determined, and then get to Bellingham on Friday afternoon to return Cinnamon Girl. Saturday morning, we will run to Fairhaven to get a rental car to drive back to actually get our boat.