Debra arrived as scheduled, and I picked her up from the airport without incident. I brought her to the boat, and we began our stay at Eagle Harbor Marina together after about six weeks apart, our longest separation since we first met at Muriel Sharp's housewarming party in June of 2008. Debra quickly adopted to life aboard, and it was back to our annual life aboard in the Pacific Northwest. One of my concerns has been the depth of the anchorage where Lion's Paw was docked. With the coming of king tides later in the month (lowest lows and highest highs), I was continually monitoring the depth below our keel, and I was confident that we would have about 6" of clearance even at the lowest low. However, it became apparent that getting in and out of our dock at these extreme tides could be a serious problem since the water shallowed as we pulled out. We decided that discretion would be the better part of valor, so we moved to another slip in the marina where the depth was not going to be a problem, although it was somewhat less convenient than our original spot.

We met with the architect and finalized the last details necessary for plans to be submitted for approval with the City of Bainbridge Island planning department. We also spent time at our lot with our builder, Bill Corbin, to go over details for the site preparation which can start as soon as the plans are submitted for approval. Plans have now been finalized, and they are to be submitted tomorrow afternoon.

After settling in, we spent a couple of nights in Kirkland with our friends, Jeff and Melody. While back aboard, I set up Debra's electric bike, and she was able to learn to ride it. It has proved perfect for her where she can ride with little to no effort including uphill, at times going faster than me. She definitely has the weight advantage which the electric motor greatly appreciates. We also hooked up with our landlords-to-be, spending an evening going through our Bainbridge residence-to-be from October through April so that we can be around as construction of our new home takes place.

Debra had noticed that some of our interior woodwork, the frames of the windows in the salon, were fading and getting in need of some varnish work, so we contact our friend, Cassie, who does that kind of work each summer to pay for her surfing life in the winters in Hawaii. She was working in Elliott Bay Marina, about three miles across from Eagle Harbor, and we spent a morning crossing the bay to have her evaluate what work needed to be done. We have scheduled her to do the work the week that we will be returning to Colorado at the end of September to pack up what we will need for a winter here in the Pacific NW.

It was finally time to leave our slip in Eagle Harbor a few days ago as we headed north to Port Townsend on Thursday for the annual crabfest for our yacht club. We had a very pleasant journey, and we even were able to have a couple of hours of sailing along the way. We arrived at Point Hudson Marina at mid-day and tied up at the slip which had been reserved for us. We were the first to arrive, but we were quickly joined by Barb and Rod, the cruise captains for the event, who docked directly adjacent to us. We were free for the remainder of the day, just relaxing aboard Lion's Paw, and we then had Barb and Rod join us for dinner at our favorite restaurant, the Fountain Café, where we all had a wonderful time with delicious meals.

Friday was also an open day for us, so we launched the electric bikes and spent some time exploring Port Townsend. We visited Fort Wilson State Park which was the site of an army station starting in WWI, protecting the entrance to Puget Sound. By that time, our friends, Candy and Jeff, had arrived in their sailboat, and we had a dinner with them at the Doc's Grill right in the marina. Saturday was the official crabfest event which was a dinner with the theme of Gilligan's Island. I had created a costume for Gilligan (red, long sleeve jersey shirt with a white collar, boot cut jeans (I could not find bell bottoms at the consignment store), boat shoes, and a brimmed cloth hat. Debra came as Marianne with red capri pants, white shirt tied at the waist, white tennis shoes, and pig tails with ribbons in her hair. I won the male contest, but the female contest went to a woman dressed to the hilt at Lovey with a pearl necklace and wide brimmed hat. The evening was completed with a wine tasting, trivia contest, and dancing, so we had a very nice time meeting many of the yacht club members as well as reuniting with some whom we had met last year at the Edmonds event.

We awoke this morning to beautiful, clear blue skies with which we had been blessed since leaving Eagle Harbor on Thursday. After a nice breakfast at the Point Hudson Café, we were off to our next destination, Decatur Island, our first stop as we head back into Canadian waters. The island is to become the site for a summer home for our friends, Jeff and Melody. They purchased a lot overlooking Rosario Strait. We had a pleasant cruise, all under motor, arriving at the anchorage around mid-day. Jeff and Melody came out in their dinghy, and we launched our dinghy to go ashore to see their property. We spent the afternoon checking out the site which includes a common area with fruit trees, a vegetable garden and a cabin that can be used by visitors. We spent the late afternoon lying on mats under a large shade tree while Jeff and Melody took care of some yard work before returning to Lion's Paw for a nice dinner and view of a beautiful sunset (the lead photo of this blog).

Tomorrow we continue moving north, planning on one additional stop in the U.S. before once again entering Canadian waters where we plan on cruising until mid-August or so.