Favorite Boating Blogs

Thinking back on how this dream of living on a boat started, it all began when I started following other boating blogs. Business would be slow at our wine shop and the weather was miserable. Why not immerse yourself in someone’s journey? The unfortunate part of following other bloggers is that in some cases their boating journey comes to an end. I remember feeling a bit depressed, know that they had to be sad too.

Some of our favorite old blogs were found on Sail Blogs. Here you can search through the list of active blogs and read where they are in the world and what they are doing.

Our Favorite Boating Blogs Right Now:

Sailing Britican – This is a family of three on board their 56′ sailboat and they have traveled over 18,000 miles over the past three years. They share a lot of tips, lessons and advise on their blog.

Quit Your Job & Live on a Boat – Author Ed Robinson wrote his first book “Leap of Faith – Quit your job and live on a boat” which tells the story of how he and his wife left the rat race and are now living on their trawler in Florida. You can follow him on Facebook too.

Sailing Totem – This is a family of five on their 47′ sail boat, which left the Puget Sound in 2008. They are still cruising and both of them co-author many articles in 48º North and Sail Magazine.

Lahowind – This was one of my favorite blogs to follow. Jereme & Kim from Florida decide to leave the rat race for one year onboard their 37′ sailboat along with their dog Oliver. They traveled all over the Caribbean, got engaged and returned home a year later. They sold their boat, married and had a child. Now she blogs about family and raising their baby. Kim is a professional photographer and her photos & videos of the Caribbean are stunning. Check out her photos & video of the pigs in the Exumas!

Jill and Jake Adventures – This couple started sailing in February 2015 from the East Coast down the ICW onto the Caribbean. Be sure to start reading from the beginning to really feel their adventure.

Sailing La Vagabonde – This is a YouTube blog following an Australian couple as they sail on their new Catamaran across the oceans of the world.

I am always looking for new blogs to follow, so if you have any favorites, please share with us! Cheers! Scott & Ally

September 22, 2017November 7, 2017

A Summer to Remember

Pacific Northwest Summer

Pacific Northwest Summer has come to an end and it surely will be one to remember for a long time. Everyone teases us for all of the rain we get and how dreary Seattle is. So imagine their shock when we say we didn’t have any rain for almost four straight months setting an all time record! Of course, we watered our plants and yard every day, only to get a $1000 water bill this week! Finally, Autumn is here and we are looking forward to it.

The Summer of 2017 will always be the one where our boating journey began. Scott and I really lucked out having a great weather summer. Normally in Seattle our summer starts on July 5th and doesn’t last very long. Thanks to our great summer, we made sure we took advantage of our time on our boat.

Pacific Northwest Cruising Destinations

In the short four months we have been boaters, we covered a lot of water in the Pacific Northwest. When Scott and I first got the boat, we didn’t expect to make that many trips at first, but we got the cruising bug instantly. Where did we visit?

mooring balls pnw bainbridge island — Port Madison

western sunset boating seattle — Dusk at Elliott Bay

We also went through Deception Pass on our way home from the San Juan Islands. That was on our bucket list!

Labor Day in Seattle

We enjoyed the three day weekend of Labor day turning it into a four day mini vacation. We started in Gig Harbor, then Seattle and then the Ballard Locks!

One of the coolest things we did this summer that I recommend every boater do at least once, is go through the Ballard Locks! We had so much smoke from the fires in Eastern Washington that all of our photos and videos have a “burnt sienna” look to them. Check out our video below:

It was definitely a summer to remember. Seattle usually has a mild Fall season in September and October, so we are looking forward to spending some weekends on the boat coming up. Stay tuned! Cheers, Scott and Ally (and Mac too)

September 19, 2017

Boats Afloat Show 2017

Boats Afloat Show 2017 on Lake Union

Scott and I attend the Boats Afloat Show each year. Seattle has two main boat shows, one in January and the other in September. The January show is held at the convention with a floating show on Lake Union. Then in September, they do just the floating show. This is a great show, because the weather is normally nice and you get to tour some larger vessels, typically 45′ and up.

Now that we have owned our Bayliner Ciera 3055, Kokomo for five months, we feel comfortable making the next step. Remember, the main reason we bought THIS boat was to make sure we liked boating and sleeping on it. We are hoping to find a larger boat that we might be able to live on, come spring time. While at the Boats Afloat Show, we looked for boats and features that would work for us.

Check out the SeaRay 48′ Sundancer

The Sea Ray Sundancer is not set up for a liveaboard. However, we were curious to see how this “weekender” was set up in comparison to our Bayliner 3055.

The cockpit and deck is very roomy. What was really cool about this model, is the captain’s seat swivels towards the other seats on deck, so everyone can mingle.

The beam (the width of the boat) is just under 15′. To compare, our boat is about 11′.

With the extra 4′, it is much roomier inside the cabin, than on our boat (of course, this boat is also 48′ long).

Our boat for comparison:

I did love the size of the galley and all of its’ counter space. I mean, I guess you really could live on this if you wanted to. In addition, it had a two burner stove tope with a microwave / oven combo.

The main stateroom was in the V-Berth and very roomy for two people.

The main head had a separate shower stall which is nice. Having a separate shower stall keeps the rest of the head dry.

In the aft berth, the Sea Ray Sundancer has two full size beds.

Overall, this was a very nice “weekender” as we call it. It would certainly be much more comfortable than our current boat, but we didn’t pay $515,000 for our boat!

Scott and I walked the entire show. We ran into our broker, Eddie from NW Yachts and he had some recommendations for us too look at. Of course, this will have to wait until next spring! Did I mention that my job was eliminated in August and now I’m job hunting? Oh yeah, that too.

Dream Yachts

Not really seeing anything that we liked, Scott and I were about to head home when we stumbled upon M/Y Gal Sal, a 1998 NorthCoast Custom Yacht for $939k. This yacht is moored at our marina, Elliott Bay Marina on G Dock. We walk by it every time we go to the fuel dock. Now we have our chance to take a peek at what she looks like on the inside! Trust me, she did not disappoint us!

I think we could live on this boat, what do you think? It’s hard to see in the photo below, but right next to Scott is the dining room with six chairs. The opening on the left is the pass through to the galley.

The oven on this yacht is bigger than mine at home!

I got so caught up in the beauty of this yacht, that I failed to take a lot of photos. But I did manage to get one of the main head with his and hers sinks!

If you needed to do engine work, there’s plenty of room!

From the helm, there was lots of visibility for the captain.

Modern Day Yachts

For kicks and giggles, we decided to tour the 2017 Presitige 750 which was about $3 million. The decor was modern and very sleek.

Here’s a funny story about our tour of this yacht – not really! I get that there are hundreds of people looking at boats and most of them are “looky loos”. However, the broker doesn’t know who is actually in the market to buy a yacht. After I took the photo below, Scott went into the galley and opened the fridge to look in. Within seconds the broker, who was standing where I took this photo, shouts “It’s a Fridge!!”

I looked at him and said, “why are you shouting that at him?” and his reply was that they didn’t want hundreds of people opening the fridge. Are you thinking what I am at this point? If that’s the case, why don’t you put a note on the fridge that says “Please don’t open”?! He was so rude, that if we were in the market, we certainly would not buy from this guy!

Yes, this foot belongs to the rude yacht broker

The yacht was very modern and sleek. We toured this yacht with our marina neighbors, who own a 75′ yacht. In their opinion, this modern look will be outdated in a few years. (Remember the yachts of the 1980’s and the disco lighting?).

Overall, it was interesting to visit a boat show as boat owners (finally!). The big Seattle Boat Show is this January and they will have two satellite shows, one on Lake Union and the other at Bell Harbor. At that show, they will have supply vendors showcasing their products, which will be a great resource for us. Stay tuned! Scott & Ally on Kokomo

September 13, 2017September 29, 2017

Potable Water on a Boat – How do you know if it’s safe to drink?

Do we have potable water on our boat?

Our Bayliner Ciera 3055 comes with a 35 gallon water tank. Every boater we have talked to uses the water in their holding tank for everything from washing hands to drinking.

I admit, I’m a bit of a water snob and I can only drink bottled or filtered water. When we bought our boat, it had sat on the hard for over two years. This told me that the water in the tank had to have gotten stagnant. However, it never had an odor and was crystal clear. Perhaps it was bone dry?

When Scott and I took possession of the boat, our broker Eddie was cleaning it up and had filled up the water tank.

Friends of ours recommended that we add a tablespoon of bleach to the water tank each time we fill it up. In order to do that, we need to put bleach in a water bottle and then tip it down into the tank. Since the side of the boat is at an angle, this is more difficult than you realize.

We fill up our water tank using a special micro-bacterial hose Teknor Apex Zero-G Hose . We also make sure that the opening of the hoses never touch the dock and when we are done, we connect to the two ends together to keep organisms out. Be sure to drain your hose completely before storing.

When you are filling up your water tank at the fuel dock, those are typically just garden hoses. With that said, if we fill the water tank using the dock’s garden hoses, then I never put the hose directly into the tank because they are just laying on the dock. I let the water run for about 15 seconds and I hold it about 1″ from the opening.

So back to the question – is the water potable?

We do use our water for:

Washing dishes
Brushing our teeth (yet I still use bottled water for that)
Washing our hands and face
Boiling water for pasta and veggies

But I don’t use the water for anything we would consume. What does that mean exactly? Well, for coffee I boil bottled water (it’s a mental thing). When I rinse food like veggies and meat, again I only use bottled water. I don’t mind using it for boiling pasta as all of the germs would be killed and we also aren’t drinking or eating that water.

Recently, we grilled up Salmon and Veggies and I rinsed them at home before we left.

So the answer is really up to you and your comfort level. Since we use our water regularly, the water in the tank stays fresh. Keep in mind, that some marinas (especially around the San Juan Islands) don’t have “good” water and many boaters will avoid filling their water tanks. In addition, many boaters do not recommend using bleach as it can be very harsh. We have only put in about 2 tbsp total all summer long.

Our recommendation is to see if your water is clear and odor free. If it is, then you decide what you are comfortable with. If it is not, then see a boating specialist for recommendations.

Scott & Ally

This post may contain affiliate links for products I mention.

September 12, 2017November 5, 2017

New Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

Every Boater Needs Kitchen Gadgets

When you are occupying a small space on a boat, then kitchen gadgets come in handy. The first weekend Scott and I stayed on our boat Kokomo, we quickly learned that preparing food isn’t that easy.

I had bought a cutting board and a knife set, but the cutting board is either too small or it slides around. The knives got dull very fast too.

Knife Sharpener

Soon I was looking for kitchen gadgets to help solve this problem. Since I don’t mind chopping my own ingredients, I first looked for a knife sharpener. The one we have at home is electric and big – that won’t work on a boat. Then I found, this portable KitchenIQ Knife Sharpener on Amazon for only $5.99! Plus it had over 8100 great reviews! Guess what? We love it too. It’s small and fits perfect in the galley utensil draw.

However, when you are using a small cutting board, it’s difficult to chop a large quantity of ingredients as they tend to fall off and land on the floor. That’s when this awesome gadget comes into play!

Onion (and other veggies) Chopper

The Vidalia Vegetable Chopper by Müeller chops way more than just onions! It has two chopping sizes (1/4″ dice & 1/2″ dice) and it keeps all of your ingredients inside the container! It’s so easy and it works great! I ordered this on Amazon too for just $19.99

I do recommend putting round objects, like onions, tomatoes round side down on the blades for best results.

Here’s a quick video demonstration:

Order your Chopper Here!

Cheese Graters

This gadget does way more than grate cheese. It also slices and juliennes veggies. After you are done, simply store all of the graters and slicers inside the entire kit! This is one of my favorite kitchen tools for the boat!

As I continue to find items that work great on the boat, I will be sure to share them with you in our blog. A few items we have already mentioned that we use regularly is our Xpress Redi Set Go Oven (which is now called Xpress Platinum Countertop Cooker) and our Magma Grill.

Cheers! Ally

This post may contain affiliate links for products I mention.

September 9, 2017September 25, 2017

Going through the Ballard Locks for the First Time

Ballard Locks

Scott and I didn’t want to finish the season without going through the Ballard Locks for the first time. They are also known as the Hiram M. Chittenden locks. We invited my college friend Jen and my sister Susan and her husband Kurt to join us as all three have been through them before.

We decided to go through the locks the day after Labor Day, thinking that it would be less busy. Friends of ours have their boat moored inside the locks and this past summer it often took them hours to get through. The weirdest part of the trip was that everything was “orange” as Western Washington was engulfed in ash and smoke from the fires in Eastern Washington.

Before you go through the locks, you do need to have on board, two 50′ lines each with a 12″ eye on each end. These are not cheap and luckily we had our rewards from West Marine that we used to purchase them.

Entering the Locks

As we entered the locks, we immediately saw a huge yacht in front of us. We slowly followed it and what we thought was a fire boat behind it. Turns out it was their tender!

Thank God we had Jen, Kurt and Susan with us, as we had no idea what to do. There are two sets of locks. The large one holds many boats and the outside boats tie up (using your 50′ lines) to the cleats at the locks and then boats inside tie up to one another. In the small lock, you simply tie up to the wall and go through individually. As we got closer to the actual locks, we figured out we were probably heading into the large locks.

Once inside, the lock workers shouted down to us to tie off to the sail boat next to us. We used our own line on their cleats. Make sure your fenders are up high, as you will be locked in tight with the other boats!

Then a few minutes later, they had another 30′ boat tie up to us. Once we were all tied up you can see how tight we all are inside the big lock.

In this entire process, this huge M/Y Spirit, a 178′ yacht came in behind and next to us. She was coming down from Alaska for maintenance work at one of the shipyards. She sleeps 11 guests and has a crew of 13. It’s available for charter for just $270k per week during the low season.

Once all of the boats are tied up, they close the locks and they raise us up to the height of the locks, which is about thirty feet or more.

Our Lucky Day!

We really lucked out on our first trip through the locks as we literally came straight into the big locks without waiting, tied up and then waited a total of fifteen minutes before they filled up the lock. The sailboat next to us had been waiting on the wall for over an hour and a half! Overall, it took us less than an hour from the time we entered the channel to when we left the locks.

You do feel a bit weird having all of the spectators watching you. We felt like we should do the parade wave!

There is not a lot to see as you travel through the Fremont Cut. It is very industrial and there are a lot of large vessel shipyards.

We planned on having lunch at one of the restaurants at South Lake Union , but there was no transient moorage as they were setting up for the Boats Afloat Show next week. When you are at South Lake Union, you do have to be watchful to stay out of the fairway for Kenmore Air.

The crew decided to have lunch at Ivar’s Salmon House located at the north end of Lake Union. They have a nice long dock, with easy access.

Going back through the locks again

After lunch, we headed right back to where we came from. We had no idea if it would be crowded again. As we approached the locks, there was only one small sailboat in front of us. You will see a red or green light at the locks, which will tell you if you can enter or not. Within about ten minutes the green light for the small locks came on and we followed the sail boat.

The locks crew had us use our small lines to tie up to the moving wall. Again, make sure your fenders are up high, so you don’t rub on the wall. After we were tied up, they closed the small locks and the two of us went down about thirty feet and off we went.

I have to say that this journey was one of the coolest things I’ve done in awhile! Originally we were going to moor Kokomo inside the locks. Can you imagine us going through these on our first day of owning and operating a boat?! Crazy. If you have the opportunity to go through them either on your own boat or someone else’s I highly recommend it.

Cheers, Scott & Ally on Kokomo

September 7, 2017September 25, 2017

Labor Day Weekend-A Trip to Gig Harbor

Labor Day Weekend at the Gig Harbor Marina

Scott and I had no plans for Labor Day weekend, so we decided to go down for one night on Sunday on our boat Kokomo. Gig Harbor is located just southwest from Seattle.

We were able to make reservations at the Gig Harbor Marina & Boatyard about one week out. After we made our reservations, they emailed us our slip number (B24), the codes for the restrooms and a map of the marina.

The weather was warm and sunny, 85 degrees with winds NNW winds at 9mph. We went through Colvos Passage on the east side of Vashon Island as it would be quicker and ideally more calm. There were a lot of boaters in the passage, along with gobs of green floating plant life.

Unfortunately this past week, Washington state has been battling some major fires in Eastern Washington and near Mount Rainier, so as we got closer to Gig Harbor the skies got smokier.

It took us about 1 hour to get there and as soon as you exit the passage, it does get extremely windy. You have Commencement Bay to your east and the Tacoma Narrows to your south. We were trying to figure out where the entrance to Gig Harbor, as we could see it on the map, but not physically.

Getting into Gig Harbor

As you can see by the image above, the entrance is very narrow and not visible from boaters coming from the north until you start to travel west. As Scott and I approached the narrow channel to the harbor there was a lot of marine traffic – both boaters and kayakers!

The entrance to the harbor is just around the corner of the beach sticking out (hard to seer!!)

Once inside the harbor, it was very crowded with boats anchored and on mooring balls. Scott and I were not sure where to go when we first entered the harbor, as the fairways are not marked. But we had a map from the marina, so we were able to figure out which way to go. I will tell you that if it’s windy and during tide change, the current is very strong inside the harbor.

Our slip was next to the permanent moorage and all of the guest slips are single slips, which we enjoyed. You do have to be careful that you don’t hit the posts holding up the roof though.

After a quick lunch on the boat, we decided to check out this cute town. The marina is literally in the heart of the town with lots of shops and restaurants within walking distance. Much different than our trip from the San Juan Islands, when we visited Oak Harbor!

Scott and I decided to try and find 7 Seas Brewing and on our way, we stumbled upon the Skansie Brother’s Netshed. The netshed was built in 1910 just after Andrew Skansie built his home in 1908. He immigrated from Croatia in 1907 and was one of the first settlers in Gig Harbor. This is now maintained by a non-profit organization and it was full of historical items.

This tour is free to the public, but they do rely on donations. Be sure to stop in and check out this historical place. You will also notice along your walk, that many of the buildings have historical significance and stories in regards to the early settlers of Gig Harbor.

Where is 7 Seas Brewing?

Scott and I continued walking north through Gig Harbor, looking for the brewery and we then stumbled upon Arabella’s Landing Marina. This marina was sold out, but is also very popular for guests.

Eventually, we found 7 Seas Brewing, which was not on the main drag. In fact, it appears to have been originally some sort of grocery store or shopping center. It was over 90 degrees and by now we were hot and thirsty. It was so refreshing to sit inside and cool off. The staff was super friendly and surprisingly, children are allowed. They even offer retro board games for families to play.

We each ordered a flight of four samplers for just $5!

Shopping for Gifts

Our good friends watched our golden retriever Mac this weekend, so I was on the hunt for a thank you gift. Gig Harbor is full of quaint boutique shops and so this was not a difficult task.

On the main drag, we came upon “For the Love of Spice” store. I love to cook and so do our good friends, Dave and Kathy. I knew I would find something here. We met the owner, Windy and she hand makes all of the spices herself. They also feature an olive oil and vinegar bar, artisan made pastas, rare and unique grains, flavored sugars, and infused salts. We lucked out that they happened to also be doing a wine tasting. For $5/pp, you get to try three wines out of a selection of over ten wines. Scott and I purchased a bottle, so one of our fees was waived.

If you love to cook, this is a must visit!

Wait, there’s more!

We continued our way back to the marina and came upon Heritage Distilling.

Scott and I have only been to one other distillery and Heritage was sampling everything they make! You buy the tastings in packages and we both decided to sample two 1/2 oz liquors plus one cocktail, called a Bevanda for $7.50.

The Brown Sugar Bourbon was a bit sweet. We bought a bottle and I plan on glazing our Thanksgiving turkey with it! Yum.

People were lined up along with small bar trying all kinds of spirits. The guy next to us, sampled the vodkas above including the Ghost Pepper vodka!

Now that we had covered all three beverage groups for tastings, it was time to head back to the boat and relax before heading out for dinner. I happened to find out earlier that one of my childhood friends, Ben was also in Gig Harbor on his boat with his wife Maria. They came over on their dinghy for a quick visit and it was great hearing their boating stories. Ben has been super helpful these past few months with advice and tips on boating.

Dinner in Gig Harbor

Many of our friends had told us we needed to go to the Tides Tavern for dinner. Since we were only here for one night, then this was where we were going. It was Labor Day weekend and yet we were lucky to get right in. They offer good pub grub and seafood. Our server was very friendly and funny.

After a long day of boating, walking, shopping and drinking we were ready to call it a night.

Labor Day

The marina was very calm in the morning. We made breakfast and headed out about 9:30am. It was warm & sunny with winds about 14mph NNW. The harbor was once again filled with boats and kayakers, so be careful as you exit the harbor. Considering it was Labor Day Weekend, Gig Harbor was still easy to get around and visit.

The Colvos Passage was very choppy and windy coming home, as we were heading right into the wind. Scott and I arrived back to Elliott Bay Marina about an hour after we left.

If you haven’t been to Gig Harbor, we highly recommend it. It is an easy boat trip from Seattle and a fun day for everyone. Scott & Ally on #KokomoSeattle

August 23, 2017October 18, 2017

A Quick Boat Trip to Kingston – Boating Journey

Visiting Kingston, a small quaint town just across from Edmonds & NW from Seattle

Visiting Kingston, which is in the state of Washington, not the UK. Why would I even mention that? That’s because as I was trying to find the phone number for the Port of Kingston Marina on google as we were approaching the port and the only one that kept popping up was in the UK! Luckily there’s a great app that we used all summer, DockWa that is like open table, but it’s for dock reservations! Super easy to use.

Scott and I planned a boating weekend with our close friend Randy and his girlfriend Meghann on our boat Kokomo. Originally, we were going to do a two night trip going to Edmonds first then Kingston. Unfortunately, like many marinas in the summer time, Edmonds was completely booked by a yacht club. Instead, we decided to stay Friday night at our marina, do a cocktail cruise and then have dinner in Ballard.

We spent an hour before their arrival prepping the boat, making the beds and gassing up. One thing to remember in Washington when getting gas for your vessel is to save your receipts! You pay road tax when you buy gas, but the state will reimburse you for that tax, since you are not driving on roads. Here’s the scoop on Fuel Tax Refunds.

Seattle activities

This happened to be Hempfest in Seattle this weekend, which is held at the Seattle Sculpture Park along the waterfront. This also brought out all kinds of fun people, including these rafting on large ruby ducky’s.

While we attempted to enjoy some appetizers and a cocktail overlooking Downtown Seattle, it was nearly impossible as the wakes from other boats were sloshing us all over the place. I don’t recommend trying this!

Soon we turned back to our marina and the clouds were beginning to roll in. What a cool sunset and view they created.

After we provisioned the boat, the four of us headed into Ballard for dinner.

An evening in Ballard

We made reservations at Moshi Moshi Sushi and the food was fantastic! It’s located on Ballard Avenue in the heart of all things exciting! I used to live in Ballard from 1999 to 2002. Back then, there were only a handful of restaurants on Ballard Avenue. Now there is one every fifty feet it seems.

The four of us finished the night at one of our favorite old time stomping grounds, The Conor Byrne Irish Pub. They have live music and the bar is very old. It was so fun going back and revisiting an old fav.

Off to visit Kingston!

Since we couldn’t check into Kingston until 1pm, we had decided to wait until the afternoon to leave. Meghan and Randy arrived to our doc about 2pm and we set off soon after.

Soon after this video, we thought we were having engine trouble. We stopped, checked the props, all was good. We think the issue was we were having trouble getting the boat to plane out and it was struggling a bit. After trying again, we were off and running!

The conditions were warm and sunny with winds coming from NNW at about 9mph. There were lots of sail boats taking advantage of the winds!

Turns out that Kingston is only about 12 nautical miles from Elliott Bay, so we arrived in about 30 minutes! The marina is located around the corner from the Mukilteo-Kingston Ferry Dock.

We finally arrived (after just 30 minutes!)

Our friends Cory and Stacy were already at the marina on their boat Bold Adventure, a 37′ Larson. They were in slip 16 and we were in 18. So that worked out perfect for them to meet us. It is a bit tricky entering the marina, because you don’t know at first which side of the dock to be on, but we figured it out quickly that the even numbered slips were on the inside.

As we approached our slip, we soon realized that the bow line was NOT THERE! What the?? Well, it was, but it had come loose from the railing and we obviously dragged it all the way from Seattle! That line could have gotten caught up in our prop. Luckily, it was in perfect shape, so no damage done (or so we hope!)

We were ready to relax and have a beer now with Cory and Stacy.

The marina is quiet and the staff was super friendly. After lunch, we decided to explore the town.

Visiting Kingston is an easy two block walk

Kingston is not very big. It has a few restaurants and shops along the main road, which leads to the ferry terminal. We stopped into a d’Vine wine bar and they were doing a wine tasting! Imagine that. LOL. We met with the owner and she was super friendly and it was fun to talk shop with her. The wines were from Long Cellars out of Woodinville and they were fantastic! We bought a bottle of the Faiken Red.

Just around the corner from d’Vine is Sweet Life Cakery and they specialize in cupcakes. Scott was in heaven and bought a half a dozen cupcakes, including a chocolate salted caramel cupcake. I just now realized that I should have taken a photo of the cupcakes! Instead I was too excited about the “giant chair” right outside. In fact, these chairs are all over town! Here’s the back story about them.

Summer Concerts in the Cove

All summer long, Kingston has free concerts at the marina park which are sponsored by the Kingston Chamber of Commerce. Saturday night, they had Sister Mercy a rhythm and blues band. They were fantastic! We brought a picnic dinner and sat on the lawn for a perfect evening!

Randy was generous to bring two phenomenal bottles of wine, including the Caymus Select Cab and the Five Star Cellars Merlot. Both of which, were stunning wines and a true treat!

The marina is very quiet and we couldn’t have asked for a better night to relax and catch up with good friends.

The next morning, I made another frittata in my Good Times Xpress Redi Set Go Cooker! oven. I can’t imagine not having this on the boat! If you don’t have one, go get one today! I use it regularly to make omelets, frittatas and toast bagels when we are on the boat. There are tons of recipes that come with it too!

Uh Ho, Not again!

We planned to leave Kingston soon after breakfast as we knew we had a couple of hours of cleaning to do when we returned. Unfortunately, when we started the port side engine we heard a terrible sound so we shut the engine off. Uh ho! Not again. Scott opened the engine door and we tried starting it again. Watching it, the serpentine belt was not moving. Great. This was the same engine we had to replace the power steering pump on during our trip to the San Juan Islands. Scott determined that the belt just wasn’t tight enough, so after a few adjustments we gave it another shot and Voila! We were in business once again. Whew!

We left Kingston during low tide and the channel was about 11 feet deep. However, some folks in the bay were not so lucky and were grounded until high tide came back.

Now that we know Kingston is so close to Seattle, we’ll plan a few more trips to visit Kingston.

Once back at Elliott Bay, we spent a couple of hours cleaning the inside and out. It is amazing how nice it looks when it is cleaned! As I was cleaning the back end, I had my sunglasses on my head and suddenly they fell off into the darkness of the marina below. Always an adventure when we are on #KokomoSeattle

Lessons learned on this trip:

Make sure all of your lines are secured, even after you leave the marina
Don’t wear your sunglasses on your head when working on your boat

August 17, 2017August 30, 2017

Boating with our Golden Retriever Mac – Boating Journey

Boating Dogs

Boating dogs are everywhere, but boating with a senior dog is not as easy as you think. When we bought the boat, we just assumed that our 14 year old golden retriever, Mac would love the boat as much as we do. We bought him a life vest and quickly found out on day one that he didn’t even want to get on the boat.

There are many books about sailors and their travels with their beloved fur kids. We also knew many of them had challenges traveling long distances with their pets, but that was because they couldn’t go potty on land. Come to find out, Mac just doesn’t like new environments at his age.

Mac has been healthy his entire life, but when he turned 14 in April 2017 he really began to slow down. Walks could only be on flat surfaces and this is because he has some nerve damage in his spine. Unfortunately, our boat is about a quarter of a mile from the parking lot.

Scott and I found out early on, that since the walk is so long, that the dock has become Mac’s potty area. At his age, he poops a lot (TMI) and we always have doggy bags. We know the importance of dock etiquette and we will use a bucket with water to clean up after him.

Sometimes he makes it all the way to the main land and Elliott Bay Marina is super dog friendly. They have potty stations everywhere and almost all of the dock dogs are super friendly.

On the boat, Mac makes himself at home, especially when we are docked. He socializes with everyone and of course begs for food.

And the cockpit table is just his height! Nothing gets passed Mac. There are two harbor seals that used to taunt another dock dog, Chuck. He sadly passed away in July 2017 and now they have been coming down to our dock. Maybe they are looking for Mac?

Day trips with Mac

When we do go out on the water for a day trip, Mac does not like it. Perhaps it’s the movement or the sounds of the engines. The first time, he jumped up on the cockpit cushions and I was worried he would try to jump out.

After that, we started putting him down in the cabin for his security. He finally found refuge in the aft berth. The first time we put him down there, we didn’t think he would go under there and when he did, he had climbed over the barbecue and cooler to get there! Boating dogs has a cool ring to it, but it’s not Mac that’s for sure.

The tough part for Mac is the steepness of the stairs down to the cabin. He needs help up and down. He likes to sit in the entry way while I’m prepping food in hopes, I will help him down. But as you know, our galley is so small that there is not room for both of us!

At 14 years old (April 2017) it’s difficult to resist his sweet sugar face and I usually always help him down and work around him.

When we are relaxing on the deck, he usually ends of sleeping the entire time. Notice how much hair is on the carpet! We did buy a Bissell Vacuum and it works great (I will share that info on another post), but we do bring our Dyson vacuum from home every few weeks to really clean the carpet.

As Mac gets older on the boat

Knowing that Mac doesn’t like to travel in the boat, we leave him with a sitter when we stay overnight outside of Elliott Bay. We know he doesn’t have much time left with us due to his declining health and we want to make sure that every moment he’s on the boat, he’s happy and comfortable.

Scott and I had another golden retriever, Maggie and we said goodbye to her Memorial Day weekend in 2014. We just are not ready to say goodbye to Mac quite yet, but we also will make sure that we are not selfish this time. Maggie lived about six months too long. Mac deserves nothing but love and comfort in his final months and we will make sure of that.

Cheers, Scott, Ally and Mac

July 29, 2017September 25, 2017

Our first boating trip to the San Juan Islands – Part 3 Oak Harbor back to Seattle

Our First boating trip to the San Juan Islands – Part 3

Our first boating trip to the San Juan Islands has come to an end. We started in Seattle to La Conner (Part 1) and then La Conner to the San Juan Islands (Part 2). Not knowing originally how long it would take us to get home, we planned to stop half way at Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island on our way home on Monday, Jul 24th. Now that we have done the trip, one regret we have is that we didn’t stay longer on each of the islands to allow time to explore them. It’s a long way up and expensive, to simply turn around and come home. But we had fun, non the less.

My brother Ron and his wife Patsy moved on to my sister’s boat, Semper Fi in the morning and we departed soon after. We really lucked out on the weather and the conditions of the sound. We decided to go south along Lopez Island, through Cattle Pass and then towards Deception Pass. Deception Pass is very very tricky to get through. Because of the severe currents that create whirlpools, it’s best to go in during slack tide. Given this information, we had to go through between 10:30am and 12pm.

first boating trip san juan channel — Leaving San Juan Channel towards Lopez Island

We went back and forth if we should travel north back through Thatcher’s pass, which we knew or head south through Cattle Pass, which was unfamiliar to us. But since Cattle Pass was east of Deception Pass, it made more sense.

As you come through Cattle Pass, especially at high tide, be very careful to not get too close to the end of Lopez Island. There are a number of small islands and reefs and we almost slammed straight into one.

We went through Deception Pass very quickly at about 18 knots, but it was definitely like driving on black ice!

After we got through the pass, we came upon Hope island in the channel. We weren’t sure if we should go through on the west side or east side and no other boats were around for us to see what everyone else was doing.

Well, we quickly found out that we should have gone on the western side of Hope Island, because we were suddenly in only 4 feet of water!! We carefully and slowly made our way towards Whidbey Island.

Skagit Bay was extremely windy and choppy on our way to Oak Harbor. When we arrived to the channel, the tide was super low. We stayed dead center, but even then we were only about 8′ of water. Then when we got to the Oak Harbor Marina, we weren’t sure where to go in. We tried calling the office, no luck and they didn’t have a VHF channel posted for the harbor master. But we did have our slip number, so we eventually figured it out. Luckily when we pulled in, another boat was next to us and they had to help us dock as the current was really strong.

The slips have picnic benches and there are seals that lay around on the logs surrounding the marina. This marina is a city marina, so it’s not super fancy, but it does offer the basic amenities, including free Wi-Fi. I will warn you though, it is very noisy due to the fighter jets from the air base that fly day and night!

We walked into town, about a 15 minute walk from the marina. There are lots of memorials throughout downtown in honor of the fallen service men who served our country.

Downtown is very small and there’s not a lot to see or do. They have a few small shops, a couple of taverns (which we found one….that was interesting!!) and we ended up having dinner at the Loakal Pub.

While at the Loakal, we ended up buying drinks for a jet engine mechanic who was headed to Japan for a two year tour. He has been in the Navy for over 20 years – we were truly thankful for his service and longtime commitment.

We ended the evening enjoying the sunset, but again it got hard to talk due to the loud jets flying over. Not super romantic. But we were so exhausted from the entire trip that we fell into bed early and slept in the next day.

first boating trip oak harbor marina seals

The Journey Home

We left Oak Harbor at high tide (yea!!) around 9:30am and we had placid waters all the way home!! This is so rare for the Puget Sound. Scott made the comment that if it was always like this, he would go up north regularly!!

I tried taking photos of the whales we encountered, but this is what I got every time! See the tail? Oh, yea, it’s already underwater!

The sight of Seattle and our marina, Elliott Bay Marina was a very welcome sight!

We got home around 12:30pm and gassed up (another $300). For the next three hours, Kokomo was scrubbed & cleaned from top to bottom. We took off all of the vinyl/canvas windows and scrubbed them clean. It was so nice to have a shiny boat again.

Lessons learned from this trip:

pack light! We ended up wearing the same clothes multiple days, no need for a new outfit every day.
Food – pack light! Our fridge holds A LOT of food, we were amazed! But we brought enough food to feed an army and so did my sister-in-law. We used every nook and cranny to store food.
Stay longer and explore the islands.
Fuel- if you travel between 18-22 knots, you will burn through a lot of fuel. Our fuel tank is 148 gallons and when we left Seattle, we put in 75 gallons, then in Deer Harbor we put in about 90 gallons and upon our return we put in another 90 gallons.

While we don’t have any major trips like this scheduled for the rest of the summer, we are going on a quick weekend trip with friends closer to home in August. Stay tuned for our next adventure!

Scott and Ally on KokomoSeattle