boat show seminars

We love the Seattle Boat Show. We went this year about 5 different days. Every time we go we're always interested in what seminars they offer. The seminars are usually fun, sometimes informative but always designed to part you and your boat bucks. They usually offer up a docket like so:

• 8:00 - 9:00 Living the Dream - You Too Can Own A Boat!


• 9:00 - 10:00 Choosing The Right Blue Blazer For YOUR Yacht Club


• 10:00 - 11:00 Wines, How To Select Them For Your Vessel


• 11:00 - 12:00 You Need A Bigger Boat


• 1:00 - 2:00 Mai Tai Recipes

After our short life aboard, we'd like to offer up boat show seminars that would be well and truly useful to those who are going to live aboard.

• 7:00 - 8:00 Leatherman: Useful Multi-Tool or Satan's Purveyor of Blood Blisters?


• 8:00 - 9:00 Replace Your Own Batteries I: How To Treat The Ensuing Hernia


• 9:00 - 10:00 Replace Your Own Batteries II: Turn A Metal Wrench Into Magical Fireworks!


• 10:00 - 11:00 Boat Project Complexity


• 11:00 - 12:00 What To Do When The Turd Won't Go Down The Bowl


• 1:00 - 2:00 Seasickness Medications Taken Orally: A Writer's Treatise on Irony


• 2:00 - 3:00 Avoiding PTSD At The Pumpout Dock


• 3:00 - 4:00 Easily Repair Your Inverter by Stephen Hawking

oh, canada

We have arrived in Canada, checked into Sidney and happily anchored. Will update y'all tomorrow on our voyages to date.

By the way, if you're ever wandering the country in need of internet access: Safeway. Who knew?

obstruction island

Our friend Alison has been telling me for years about her place on Obstruction Island, just south of Orcas Island. As luck would have it, she was going to be out there this weekend so we arranged to meet up at her island (it's not all hers but I like to think it should be). So we motored back through the interior of the San Juans enroute to Obstruction Island. We grabbed a mooring bouy that belongs to all the property owners on Obstruction Island as there is no great place to anchor.

Obstruction Island has but one road but generally no vehicles. There's no scheduled ferry service, no stores, no services, no Chinese food. It's just woods, ridiculous views, and around 25 to 30 houses. Alison's place sits on a cliff on the western edge of the island looking out over Rosario Strait and directly into the sunset. She has poured a ton of effort into her cabin and it's a stunning place to be. It's remote, quiet and beautiful. She did most of the interior work herself.

Christy and I hung out for the day with Alison and her friend Audrey, mostly soaking in the sun on the balcony. We also availed ourselves of her shower facilities, thankfully. After a great dinner and fresh baked cookies, we walked around the island and back to the boat. While walking down the dock, we watched a family of otters playing in the eddie. Then a seal hanging out in the current. And to top it off, a bald eagle swooped right over our heads and landed in a tree on shore. I cannot get enough of this wildlife. It just never seems to get old.


Hello World lying to a mooring bouy on the south end of Obstruction Island.


Alison's incredible cabin.


The three of us hanging out on the bluff on the edge of Alison's property.

48°35.36'N 122°49.1'W

stuart island

On our docket for the day was possibly picking up our wayward SSB radio (or as our friend, Alison likes to call it: the whoseywhatsit). Apparently, we had some corrosion in our antenna tuner that travelled the length of our antenna lead wire from the backstay to the tuner. Expensive electronics + water = more expense. So we sent the whoseywhatsit and whoseywhatsit tuner back to the manufacturer. Rather than wait at Shilshole for the radio to show up, we took off and had them send the radio general delivery to the post office in Roche Harbor on San Juan Island.

We hopped off the mooring ball early and picked our way through the interior of the San Juan Islands. We motored pretty much the entire way as the wind, currents, and narrow passes were not inclined to help us out. We reached Roche Harbor in the afternoon and landed at their generously sized guest dock (free for a couple hours). We made our way up to the store which was holding our package as the post office closes at 1:30. We stowed the radio back on board and spent an hour or two wandering the interesting little hamlet of Roche Harbor. The most notable find in our wanderings was an immaculate bocce court. We are used to playing bocce amongst downed logs and deer turds, so this impecable court came as a bit of a suprise.

After leaving Roche Harbor, we chose to anchor at Stuart Island. Reid Harbor is well protected from wind in pretty much any direction and it's beautiful inside. The shore is pretty much all tree lined with the exception of some docks to the west. We dropped our big Rocna anchor for the first time and promptly picked it right back up again. Turns out, neither of us measure distance well and we ended up altogether too close to some other boats. So we picked up the anchor and in the process of doing so, killed our starter battery. I suspected it was in its death throes anyways as it never seems to hold a charge well. Since our starter battery powers our windlass and our windlass is what picks up the 330 pounds of anchor chain and 72 pounds of anchor so I don't have to, I think we'll be looking into a new starter battery.

Nature watch for the day: loads and loads of seals/sea lions (we can't differentiate well) and a few porpoises up close and personal.



The bocce courts in Roche Harbor.


The Catholic church in Roche Harbor is one of the few privately owned Catholic churches in the US.


Roche Harbor marina. Where the rich folk keep boats.

48°40'11.1"N 123°11'25.4"W

james island state park

(note: we're catching up on blog posts and pictures so this is a little out of order, best to pay attention to the date on the blog entry)

Very cool little island just east of Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands that's entirely a state park. We picked up a mooring ball as the coves on either side are pretty open. We also understand why no other boat spent the night on the west side of the island. About 10 minutes after a ferry would pass (you can hear their propellers from miles aways inside the boat), our boat would roll in their wake like we were under attack.

We took a hike around the island and checked out a great marine trail campsite. Only human powered boats were allowed to camp at that spot. Christy spent what seemed like hours examining a black slug. Once back at the boat, we watched a bald eagle land on the tree and hang out with us. After 10 minutes, I decided to go grab a camera and that was enough to make him leave. But trust us, he was there.


Leaving Port Townsend at the buttcrack of dawn to catch a northbound current.


Sighting the San Juan Islands across the Strait.


Christy doing some driving.


Hello World's busy transom.


Christy rowing me to shore.


Hello World tucked into the east cove of James Island.

48° 30.77'N 122°46.4'W