Our 2010 cruising season began when we departed Portland, OR, on April 20th. We were eager to get away from the dock and get underway for the summer. We took our time getting down the Columbia River since the ocean wasn’t cooperating enough to let us get over the Columbia River bar, north on the Pacific Ocean, and onto the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In fact, we spent 17 days waiting for a weather window. Of course, that doesn’t mean we just sat and waited, with nothing to do. No. Go back and check out some of my blogs. We met fun people on the river and had a rousing good time.

We geared our cruising for the summer to slow, easy, and less fuel consumption. That was fine with me. I wanted to stay everywhere we went. “Why don’t we just stay here – or here – or here?” I guess our cruising caught up with me this year. I wanted to sit somewhere and be part of someplace. Go to the same coffee shop on a regular basis, check out the same book store when I got a coffee, go to the same grocery…just hang out and be in a place. But we didn’t do that, we went and went and hung out in a lot of places. I did get my latte, and my book fixes, so I can’t complain about that.   My favorite place, this summer, was Chemainus.  In fact, I wrote two blogs, I liked it so much.  (Click on the highlighted words to see each blog.)  The weather was idyllic, my garden was flourished, and we spent several days there just enjoying.  I look forward to going back one day.

The most asked question of us, having come from the San Juan Islands to Paradise Village is, “How long did it take?”  For a non-boater it seems a simple question.  “X” number of days, yes?   But voyaging isn’t about days.  We wait for days and days just to go.   It’s easier to talk in main engine hours – the actual hours we were underway, on the ocean, to get here. It took three months from the departure in Port Angeles – which is where we mark our start to voyaging, to arrival in Paradise Village.  This time includes the unexpected 12 days in Mazatlan.

Summary of voyage to Mexico

• 311 Main Engine Hours (165 USA hours, 147 MX hours)
• 2476 Nautical Miles (1305 USA NM, 1171 MX NM)
• 36 hours – Longest Voyage – Ensenada to Turtle Bay

Summary of 2011

• 82 moves

• 18 new places
  • Walker Island CRYC Dock
  • Rainier, OR Public Dock
  • Mayo Cove, Puget Sound, WA,
  • East Sound, Orcas Island, WA
  • Lady Smith Harbor, Vancouver Island, BC
  • Chemainus Marina, Vancouver Island, BC
  • Kendrick Island, BC, in Gabriola Passage
  • Fulford Harbor, Salt Spring Is, BC
  • Cole Bay, Saanich Inlet, Vancouver Is, BC
  • Filucy Bay, Puget Sound, WA
  • Oro Bay, Anderson Island, Puget Sound, WA
  • Hunter Bay, Lopez Island, WA
  • Oceanside Yacht Club, California
  • Asuncion, Baja Peninsula, MX
  • Abreojos, Baja Peninsula, MX
  • San Juanico, Baja Peninsula, MX
  • Marina Mazatlan, MX
  • Isla Isabella, MX

• 495 Main Engine Hours

• 8.1 Average Nautical Miles per Hour

• 663 Generator Hours

• 4013 Miles

• Most northerly destination – Vancouver, British Columbia, CA

• Most southerly destination – Paradise Village Resort, Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, MX

• To date – 19,800 nautical miles on DESERT VENTURE

This year I’m adding a new section to the annual summary – My Blog Stats. I’ll post the official blog summary I received from WordPress following this post. I am thrilled to see how many of you have continued to follow along with us. Thank you so much for your interest and your continued encouragement and support in our lifestyle. Feel free to share our blog with others.  Blogging has been fun for me, but it also became a necessity, because of our wonderful followers! Everyone wants to know where DESERT VENTURE is, and what her crew is up to. Well, the blog tells “most” of the story. So, though I have failed in my mission of posting more often in 2011 – it isn’t too late to start – I do plan to post more often. Keep your fingers crossed and feel free to nag.

Our year was much like your year.  We had ups and downs. Meeting new people and making new friends that we will cherish forever is at the top of the list of ups.   Our top “down” would be Bruce’s battle with bilateral pneumonia, which will become a faint memory in the future.  Over all, DESERT VENTURE stood the task of getting us where we wanted – and needed – to go.  We did everything we knew to do to keep her running smoothly and us safe.   We are very fortunate.

Meanwhile, we are doing well. Bruce is recovering – the hours in the engine room grow daily,  and we are already planning – you guessed it – Cruising in 2011!