We had planned a short break in the San Juans after leaving Anacortes on Friday, but decided to head to Seattle instead to check out a few more options for winter moorage and boat work. The first fall storm was forecast to hit Seattle on Sunday, so we pushed on from Port Townsend to get into Seattle Saturday night.

That schedule put us outside the Ballard locks Saturday afternoon and we hit a rush of boats returning from Shilshole Bay to Lake Union. After waiting for several trains, the railroad bridge finally opened so we could pass through. We went through the locks wedged in fore and aft with a large powerboat ahead of us and a 65-foot Macgregor sailboat behind us. We stood by with fenders while we were lifted 23 feet from the salt water to the fresh water of the boat canal and we were tied up at our weekend spot at the Salmon Bay Marine Center before the first raindrop and gust of wind came at 0530 on Sunday morning.

We met with several boat riggers on Monday to discuss winter projects and will be headed back to the San Juan Islands on Tuesday. We have more photos posted in the album "The Seattle Locks".