La Conner to Anacortes

Goodbye La Conner

On Saturday, we planned on leaving the La Conner Marina guest dock at slack tide (9:32am) to avoid the precarious currents. To our pleasant surprise the waters looked great at 7:00am so we bid La Conner an early goodbye. The passage north thru the Swinomish Channel proved somewhat peaceful with the occasional fishing boat and large tree stumps passing by. However, the bees terrorized Tessie once again and Kathy had to become the ferocious Bee Terminator (fueled by Kathy’s experience of being stung twice on our arrival).

Swing Bridge

Hat, Saddlebag, Huckleberry Islands

The Channel is well marked and keeping the red buoys to the right proved successful. Normally in U.S. waters, one keeps the red buoys to
the right when returning from sea (“red right return” is the saying). Looking at the chart one would believe we were GOING to sea since we were heading out towards the San Juan Islands, not returning. So, red right return we did – until we came to the concrete bridge of Hwy 20 when the rules changed and the red buoys lie on the left side going through Padilla Bay. Since we were then headed out to sea, the red lie on the left, the green on the right.  There was also a swing bridge that only closes when a train comes through. Of course we came to the crossing the same exact time as a commercial fishing vessel! Enough said - we made it safely across Padilla Bay to our new home, Anacortes Marina, in the clear chill of the morning, arriving at 9:15am. Our departure date proved to be the best choice as we were socked in with fog the next morning (Sunday).

Approaching Anacortes Marina

So, we’ve been here 2 ½ days and are loving it! Everyone is so nice, there’s no traffic, plenty of parking, and great restaurants. Getting our driver’s licenses today took 20 minutes tops and registering the vehicles another 30 minutes (she made a mistake and had to redo everything). There is a different office for everything but the system is very efficient. It’s a small town (18,000) but not a small-minded town. And everywhere we go Tessie gets a milk bone from every merchant (i.e. drive-thru banker).

Speaking of, we found Tessie a dog park and she has loved meeting other dogs (see video). There is also some grassy area here in the marina where she has learned to fetch. All she wants to do is run! Her Border Collie colors sure shine through! Tessie met her first harbor seal this morning at 6:00am when we walked up to use the grass. Our slip is ¾ the way down D Dock in an uncovered slip (we will be moving out to the end next month). Close to the gate is an area of covered slips (mostly charter boats). While walking towards the gate in the dim light we saw our harbor seal friend rocking back and forth on the dock between the gate and us. Tessie didn’t bark – she just kept looking at the seal and looking at me (Liz). The question became how do we get past the seal peacefully – there wasn’t room for all of us! We slowly moved toward the seal and it finally rolled back into the water in a rush. Oh, Tessie was all over that move, smelling the dock and peering into the water, her tail banging into my knees and ears jetting forward and back! What a great way to start the day… A dozen young seals spent the summer hauled out on the dock. We’ve also been told to batten down the boat in preparation for the river otters – they climb stairs!

View from our marina - Hat Island and Mt. Baker

We are hoping to get out to Cypress Island on Thursday and moor for the night. It is all weather dependent. The winds have accelerated the last two days. Kathy is itching to get her fishing line in the water and I’d like to baptize these kayaks in the San Juans. In the interim we are preparing for winter. The harbormaster is working on getting us a single slip (a dock on each side). We’re thinking it will be more secure for winter. We’ve been told the winds gust to 50 in the winter sometimes so we’ve gotten out the snubbers to take the shock off the lines. I finished caulking the windows and will begin building a box around the windlass motor. Looks like it’s time to buy a pumpkin…love to you all!