Shaw Island – Riveted

Indian Cove on Shaw Island

Laura Domela — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 22:15:47 +0000

This morning we worked for several hours and then finished up a couple of boat projects we started the other day. Boat projects completed are: (1) Secure LED rope lights behind valances in salon (2) fix master stateroom dimmer on LED lights (3) replace bezel on under settee cabinet with new one so Tiffani and I don't cut ourselves on it ever again (4) sand the edge of same under settee cabinet so door will open and close without sticking OMG that was so annoying for so long (5) procure new raw water impeller for Onan generator and replace the old one (which as it turns out, really needed replacing, see photo below), (6) come up with better solution for closet storage (7) install XBox, and (8) get a new lightbulb for the engine room light fixture.

Happy with our progress, and noticing that the wind had died down considerably since yesterday (which was gusting to 47 kts!), we decided to head out! We're now over at Indian Cove at the south end of Shaw Island. We anchored and then set out a couple of crab traps, and now I'm about to start prepping dinner. Tomorrow we're having an early Thanksgiving dinner at the Coho Restaurant in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. They're doing a chef's tasting menu that sounds delicious and low key and should be quite nice.

There was still some chop as we crossed Rosario Strait, but it's calmed down quite a bit now and though it's definitely chilly out, it's still so pretty.

We hope everyone has a lovely holiday weekend!

I just looked out the salon window and the moon is huge and full and yellow/orange and making the coolest reflection on the water. It's so much prettier and dramatic here in person viewing it with my eyeballs, but it's a bit surprising at all that I can get a photo of this decent from a swinging boat, floating in the water:

p.s. Here's a photo of the new raw water impeller for the generator (on the left) and the old one (and all of its pieces) on the right. Fun stuff!

Shaw Island in the Morning, Griffin Bay Tonight

Laura Domela — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 23:14:23 +0000

This morning it was rainy rainy rainy at our moorage in Blind Bay. It had not been a super calm night, so we ended up sleeping until about 10am to make up for the other non-sleeping hours…the ones when we were out on the bow in the dark with headlamps, trying to reposition our mooring lines so the buoy quit bumping up against the bow (aka, our headboard). Anyway.

After breakfast we took the dinghy over to Blind Island to explore a little.

Blind Island is part of the Cascadia Marine Trail and a Washington State Marine Park. There are four campsites on the island (along with a ton of goose poop, and this tiny spine part):

The campsites are all gorgeous though, with beautiful views toward Shaw Island and Harney Channel. Each one has a fire ring and a picnic table, and plenty of soft grassy mossy stuff for tent-pitching.

Next we headed over toward the Shaw Island ferry landing to check out the highly rated Shaw General Store, but when I looked up the hours and it said open on Saturdays, I didn't realize that they close up completely from October until sometime in the spring. Oh well. Here it is (next to the post office):

We spent a few minutes checking out the community bulletin board across the street. (Tiffani! Property's cheap on Shaw!)

The little marina next to the ferry landing:

Mirror self portrait in the garden art:

We weren't sure we wanted to stay another night there in Blind Bay, since there was not much to do, and it was a little rough. The wind is supposed to die down by tonight, but we also wanted to explore a bit more, so we headed toward either (1) Friday Harbor on San Juan (2) Fisherman Bay on Lopez, or (3) Griffin Bay at the south end of San Juan. We opted for somewhere we hadn't been before and are now anchored in Griffin Bay. We have to head home early though so I don't think we'll have time to really explore all that's here to see, so we'll need to come back. Always good to get more anchoring practice, though!

Here are some shots from the cruise over here:

It turned out to be such a beautiful day:

Mist in the hills above where we're anchored:

We're sipping a martini and snacking on some pickled herring, and I'm going to make dinner pretty soon here (zucchini noodles tossed with kale and basil pesto, with fresh garlic sauteed prawns).

And here's a quick shot I just got of the moon rising (not much detail in the moon…sorry 'bout that):

Also, tonight is our 45th night on the boat since we bought it at the end of September!!

Oh yeah, and here's today's track:

Lummi Island (Willows Inn), Shaw Island, Etc.

Laura Domela — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 22:34:23 +0000

This is going to be a mish mast post of the past two days…because, why not?

We spent Kevin's official birthday moored at Spencer Spit. We had some champagne, snacks (duck rillette, cheese, crackers, caper berries) and then a dinner of linguine con le vongole (with the clams) that turned out pretty darn yum.

Totally boring photo of cooked pasta, because the first photo was too busy next to the third photo:

Waiting for the clams to open:

I worked from this recipe from Mario Batali, and it came out great!

Coast Guard helicopter overhead on our way back into Anacortes yesterday morning (I told you it was going to be a mish mash):

We got back to the marina, packed an overnight bag, and headed (by car) north to Lummi Island.

A few weeks ago, I made a reservation for us at the Willows Inn — for the "present" part of Kevin's birthday. We tend to do events as presents more than things as presents. We arrived at the inn around 3:30pm, checked into our room, and headed out to soak in the hot tub for a little bit before getting ready for the 6:30pm dinner seating. Relaxing in the hot tub was a great way to start the evening, and dinner was once again spectacular. Here's when we were last at The Willows. It was July, and the light was much better than it is at 7pm in December, so I didn't take any food photos this time, but the photos in that other post give all the visual information you need. Trust me. It was just as good the second time. They sent us home with a little loaf of their amazing bread, too! Super nice (though it would be perfect if they also gave us a little tupperware cup of the "chicken drippings" that they serve with that bread because THAT stuff is incredible…in case they're reading this).

We also learned that they have two mooring buoys out front! It's not a very protected moorage, but hey, next time maybe we'll come by boat!

This morning we got up and did some work from our room, and then headed downstairs for a late breakfast. If you were following us when we were last on Lummi Island, at the Willows Inn, you'll know that we had a hilariously sub-par breakfast experience that we detailed here (partly just to re-live the experience from a comedy standpoint).

Well, looks like we might not have been the only ones (or…they read my post and got right on that!) because they moved the Willows Inn breakfast upstairs to the dining room (same place dinner was served, instead of downstairs at the Taproot Cafe) and the experience was 100 times better. (The breakfast was basically the same with a few minor differences…which was good because there was never any issue with the food.) Juice, coffee, a soft boiled duck egg, sauteed kale, local grains with nuts and berries, biscuits, a charcuterie plate, and some good tart jam made from…something I don't remember.

After breakfast we headed south back towards Anacortes.

Lummi Island ferry landing:

We stopped in LaConner to pick up a couple things I'd been thinking about since we were there a week ago (I'll show you in another post) and then got back to Airship with a few hours before sunset, so we decided to head over to Blind Bay at Shaw Island.

New flag pole, with flag. (You guys, there are tons of rules regarding flag stuff for boats! I got ours as close to the middle as I could…I hope it's okay!)

Ferry:

We grabbed one of the three mooring buoys out by Blind Island (in Blind Bay), and tomorrow we'll take the dinghy ashore and go check out the Shaw Island General Store, which is said to be pretty great! (We'll probably go ashore on Blind Island, too…but it's so tiny, that'll probably only take a minute or two.)

Here's our route from this afternoon: