Cruising on the MV Lillian Belle: Nov 16-18 Anacortes and Oak Harbor

Anacortes, Washington

Anacortes via Oak Harbor

November 16, 17 and 18^th

Corrections: In my last post I wrote that England’s soccer match was against Chili (as in “bowl of”) when I should have written Chile. And…it is probably obvious to you that David did not make 360 degree turns (that would be just silly) but turned the boat 180 degrees three different times. One should never try to edit one’s own writing. I will attempt to change those errors in my last post. I am sure there are plenty more.

For once we were not making our way through darkness when we left the marina this morning at 7 a.m. The waves were rolling quite a bit along the way but at least the winds had died down. Last night the winds were ripping through the marina and then around 10 p.m…all was still. With all the rolling during our cruise today, it was a feat of sheer determination to stay vertical while taking my shower.

We considered following the eastern coast of Whidbey Island on our return trip but decided that it would be better to have the island protecting us from strong Northwesterly winds. So we retraced our previous path but in the opposite direction. We observed what looked like recent mudslides along the western coast of Whidbey Island. Even saw a house which seemed to be slipping off its foundation leaning and looming over the houses below!

The homes along the coastline of the island are built very close to the water’s edge… only a very narrow strip of beach stands in their way of getting wet. A very unique sight was an old railroad car set on the coastline snuggled between two very large beach homes. It had an ornately designed gazebo built over it which was very impressive. We wondered how in the world they got that railroad car on that beach! We would love to meet the people who own it.

There hasn’t been much radio “chatter” over the last two weeks but on our cruise today there was a Coast Guard alert of a sailboat adrift and a possible man in the water in Crescent Bay just beyond Oak Harbor. About an hour later after many broadcasts of the same message, they announced a “False Alarm” regarding the possible person overboard. That was a relief. Then while docking, there was another alert of an over turned boat with the owner sitting on top of it. Help was on the way. Don’t like hearing such things over the radio waves but the system does work…we found that out years ago when are engine stopped and the Canadian Coast Guard came to our rescue while we waited for a tow. I was so impressed with how professional, calm and helpful all the radio operators were.

We decided to stay a night again at Oak Harbor. It was not going to be possible to reach Anacortes today. We topped our tanks off at the fuel dock because fuel in Canada is far more expensive, and Oak Harbor has one of the best prices if not the best in the area. We ended up docking for the night in the same spot we had nearly two weeks ago. Unfortunately, the owners of the boat next to us were not there to help us tie up as they did before. We managed but we ended up “walking” the boat forward in order to get the cleats in the right position to do us some good. We are now snug and warm and tethered for the night.

A gentleman who just came down to have a look at our boat, told David that the winds in Oak Harbor reached 65mph last night…Yikes!! Our timing was good.

While we were pulling away from the fuel dock and turning to head to our moorage, David yelled down for me to look toward the stern. There on one of the pilings was a Bald Eagle just sitting pretty as you please. I had a hold of a line in preparation for docking so could not grab my camera. It must have been just 20 feet from me…the closest I have ever come to one. Pretty cool.

We are in for the night and looking forward to catching up with laundry, reading, and sleeping. We must tackle Deception Pass tomorrow so it looks like another early departure…I thought this was a vacation!

When we woke up at 6 a.m., we debated whether or not to leave for Anacortes or stay another night because the weather report was predicting 1 to 3 foot waves with 10 to 20 mph winds. We opted to meet the challenge (we have been in far worse conditions) and were on our way at 6:45 without a hitch. The voyage was much smoother than we had anticipated but too bumpy for me to attempt a shower along the way.

I have to admit that on our 4 ½ hour cruise I was getting a bit gloomy about all the grey that was surrounding us and which has surrounded us for weeks. On the days we have had sunshine; it usually ends up with the sun surrendering to the clouds for most of the day. There are a lot of boating advantages to cruising during this time of year but the weather is not one of them. We have not been caught in a storm or rough waters while cruising, but it has been dreary most of the way. I don’t think it would have killed Mother Nature to give us just a little sampling of sunshine each day, do you?

We made it to Deception Pass about 15 minutes before slack tide so idled out amongst the crab boats. We watched one lifting his pots up with a pulley on the side of his boat. They were watching us while I was studying them through the binoculars…kinda funny that we were both curiously staring at each other at the same time.

We still ran into whirlpools through the pass even with all the planning, but David navigated skillfully through them. We are now at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes where we have docked once before. In fact, we have the very same spot as last time which was an easy end tie. When I got off on to the dock to wrap the mid-line, I thought I heard David say, “Hold up, hold up”. I thought he was going to ease further up the dock. He was actually telling me to “Tie up, tie up” and he needed me to do it quickly since our bow was drifting out. I managed just in time to get it wrapped in spite of my lousy hearing. David was still smiling…so that’s a good sign.

We have internet here so I was able to view my granddaughter’s “Four Month Old” photos from my daughter. It was driving me crazy knowing they were there for me to see but I could not get to them at Oak Harbor. Not being able to access the internet at each marina has been a frustration at times for us. When we do have it, we are able to research the areas we are visiting as well as finding the best fuel prices and guest moorages. Many of the marinas have websites, and you can make reservations on line which has worked out well for us at times. And it’s always great to receive emails from friends and family when you have been gone so long. It just surprises us that some of the fancier marinas do not offer wifi for their guests. In this day and age, it should, in my opinion, always be made available when possible. Good or bad…it has become a necessity.

We are off for a wander downtown Anacortes and lunch somewhere…

Just got back from our short tour of downtown Anacortes. I will have time on my own to explore tomorrow while David takes two conference calls. I can take my time browsing the shops David has no interest in entering. We found a pub and were totally surprised that on one of their TV screens the 49er game was on. We are in Seahawk country so the majority of folks in this packed bar were cheering on their Seattle team. The 49er game was relegated to a small room with just two tables! There was one lonely guy in there watching the game. We only sat through the first half which was disappointing enough. On the way back to the boat, for one brief shining moment, the sun actually broke through the clouds! Wishes do come true.

I tried a Moose Drool Brown Ale and although it sounds disgusting, it was really quite good. I have enjoyed trying out some new brews on this trip. You can’t go thirsty in Washington State if you like coffee or beer…they make plenty of both.