Sailing

I'm completely sold, I have to get a sailboat someday.  We left College place Thursday afternoon and headed up to Mount Vernon, by the next afternoon we were on the water sailing away.  You can check out some of the pictures HERE.  Since Nicole is having to deal with day sickness (opposed to morning sickness) she opted to stay at the house.  Even when she is feeling fine, she gets sea sick rather easily.  She had a great time, with nothing to worry about, working on her scrapbook and just relaxing.

 

The weather was perfect for sailing, nice good breeze, but not too gusty.  We clipped along at 5 knots, all the way out to Sucia Island about as far North as you can go on the US side of the San Juans.  You can take a look at the route here:

We came out of Bellingham bay on the right, and up the channel between Lummi island and the mainland.  Once we got into the bay on the east side of the island, it was very calm, and pristine, at first there were only two other boats in the bay, which is great considering it was 4^th of July weekend. 

Mickelwaits just got this boat this year, a 31’ Erickson (I believe) which was a nice upgrade from their 27’ Ode (I think) they had before.  The nice addition in this boat was a diesel stove which included an oven.  We enjoyed great cooking and baking from Pam all weekend, I think I gained another few pounds.

Savannah really had fun, she got to play with all of us in close quarters all the time, she was especially attached to Elizabeth, but happy with whoever gave her attention.  On Sabbath afternoon we attempted to head out for a walk on the island.  I made it about a half mile before Savannah crashed on me, so we stopped, and I let her sleep for a bit while Joel, and Semmes continued on.  We did make it around the bay and find about 30 or so boats there, and realized how fortunate we were to get the spot we did.  The other treat we got Sabbath was this little seal pup that played around out boat, every time we would go out in the dingy, he would be around greeting us and allowing us to pet him.  He did go ashore a couple times and we got some shots of him there, check out the gallery.

Sunday morning we left early because Nicole was planning on going to wedding in College Place, so at 6AM Joel was sailing home.  Savannah and I just played lazy and stayed below in bed for awhile, until we were both sick.  There is something about being in the cabin while that boat is moving that will make you green.

Anyway it was a great weekend, can’t wait to do it again.