I know! I know! You’re all wondering where we are, and what we are doing. We’ve been moving and playing so much there’s no quiet time to sit and write to you. Our Cruising Log says we moved seven times! ( I had to look it up.) When we get into cruising routine, we have to look in the log to see where we were when. Fortunately, Bruce has a watch that gives the number of day of the month, putting that with a calendar can tell us what day in the week it is, which is good since there are days neither of us know!

We departed Port Townsend almost a month ago. Our first stop was Liberty Bay, where we anchored, to rendezvous with our friends on DUTCH TREAT. We spent a couple days together, going ashore for exercise of the body and credit card – oops no, not that, just some light retailing, cute coffee, a good book store, and lunch out. The guys were busy working an issue with the DUTCH TREAT outboard engine. The girls were busy enjoying shops ashore. We all met at The Loft for lunch. They have a menu that breaks out as light, medium, etc. Bruce and I had the tacos on the light fare – very generous, more than we had expected, and yummy. All the food was good. The restaurant has a great view of the marinas and Liberty Bay.

The weather has, up until the last week, been very unseasonably wet and chilly. The first morning in Liberty Bay was beautiful, with no whisper of a breeze. Our day had a few sprinkles, and some rain later, but didn’t prevent us from having a good time. It does seem, though, that rendezvousing with DUTCH TREAT means someone goes home in the rain after dinner.

We said our goodbyes. DUTCH TREAT was headed north and we were headed south. We went directly to Olympia, where another rendezvous was waiting. Our friends on GYPSY SOUL live on the dock close to where we tied up. I would have given anything to have had a camera in my hands on our arrival. (It is not safe practice to be preparing to step onto a dock, hands full of mooring line with a camera. It isn’t safe for me – nor the camera!) But there they were – Chuck, Wendy, and Cooper (their black lab) all waiting to take a line! Priceless!

We went on a cruise the next day with Chuck, Wendy, Cooper, and Nemo on GYPSY SOUL. The pets took it all in stride – or nap…

We did some catching up on provisioning before taking off again, with a promise of hooking up in Mayo Cove over Memorial Day.

Our next destination was Henderson Inlet. We anchored out, going ashore to visit friends. The time spent there was the most “official cruising” operations we’ve had in awhile, with daily dinghy ops. Lucky for us, we had our “beater dinghy” all ready to go. This dinghy is an inflatable – light weight, with wheels. Yes. Wheels! It is the best way to get the boat to shore during low tide. We lift up, one on each side, and pull the dinghy. Once there, the dinghy is tied up in such a manner, so that when the tide comes in it will float and be available to us when we need it. However, the tides were so extreme that sometimes it was just too far and way too muddy to drag the boat out toward the water and boat. It’s frustrating to want to go home, yet, can’t, because of the tide. So close, yet so far away.

While there we had several wonderful meals with very dear friends. We used our friend’s truck to gather the necessary items to build my summer garden. Thank you SO much! Bruce had help getting our purchases back to the boat, too. Getting down to the boat was really DOWN, and the loads were pretty awkward and heavy. Our entire time in Henderson Inlet was one of rain, showers, drizzle, gray skies about to rain, and clouds. We wore our official cruising foul weather gear, including our boots. We had to wait until mid-day to go ashore, so that low tide wasn’t too low, which still meant pulling the dingy through mud, sand, and kelp.  By the time we got home – late afternoon, the tide would be in and make getting back to the boat easier and cleaner – no mud!   What makes this anchoring out different from Liberty Bay, is that most harbors have dinghy docks that we tie to – wheels unecessary.   But this time there was no dinghy dock.  So, we did the “dinghy with wheels” method of going ashore.

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Adults don’t tend to stomp in mud and water. If you are cruiser you get to get wet and wade and splash in mud and saltwater, and THEN you get to stomp some more in fresh water. Ostensibly to clean your boots, but you can still have fun, too.  In fact, we look for clean water puddles to wash the bottoms of our shoes off, so we don’t track dirt aboard the boat.  If no puddles or hoses are available on the docks, we use the shower on the swim platform to make our own clean water stomping puddle!

We caught up with S/V GYPSY SOUL over the next weekend with great meals of barbecue and sides which are always a winner. Oh!  And homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Yum!  There was so much fun had by all, on DESERT VENTURE,  that rumor has it there was dancing in the main salon!  The same incessant showers, rain, and chilly temperatures that we were having did not dampen our spirits!

Once again, we headed north, back to Liberty Bay. This time there was no meeting. A good thing, too, since I was needing some serious rest! We both settled back and relaxed, going ashore for morning coffee and being lazy. I finally got my garden planted – when the weather eased up and it wasn’t so chilly. We have had two salads from my new salad garden. Yum! The picture is of Day One, right after the planting.  I added a much larger planter for salad this year.  I now have several varieties of lettuce and some baby spinach.  So fun! So tasty!   The hanging planter on the left has basil, thyme, rosemary, and Moroccan mint.

We are in Bremerton for a few days.  I got my “mom fix” when we met up with my younger son.  We are also doing a couple maintenance projects. We never let a shore side visit go to waste if there are services available for boat maintenance.  The main issue this time is new insulation covers for the main engine exhaust pipes.  We also had one, of our dozen, 8D Gell batteries die, so we are replacing it.  That should make our electrical system happy again.

We will head north at the end of the week, and should be in British Columbia sometime next week.

Stayed tuned for more – Places We Go!