May 2018

May 30, 2018June 1, 2018

Boating Over Memorial Day Weekend 2018

Memorial Day Weekend 2018

Scott and I went boating with our friend Randy this past Memorial Day Weekend in Seattle. Hard to believe that an entire year has gone by! It was just a year ago that we spent our first big weekend with friends. But let’s back up to what we did on Saturday morning before leaving for the boat.

We have been toying with the idea of upgrading our boat to a 38′-42′ boat to get accustomed to a larger boat. Scott found a few he liked on-line and called our broker Eddie. Saturday morning he met us at the marina and we toured a 2001 38′ SeaRay with an aft cabin. This boat was in perfect condition and had plenty of comfortable living spaces.

After thinking about it over the weekend, we ultimately decided it was not the best decision. Our neighbor Jules, who lives on her 70′ yacht told us we don’t need a transition boat and that we will be able to move from a 32′ to a 55′ with no problem at all. She said that the larger boat will be easier for us to handle than our current boat. Since Scott and I have put so much money into Kokomo this year getting it ready for boating season, it only makes sense to enjoy it for another year.

Let the Weekend Begin!

Unlike last year, the weather was cool and partly sunny on Saturday. That certainly made unpacking and making the bed more comfortable! Our friend Randy came down mid-afternoon and we headed out to Port Madison. I was bummed that it started to get cloudy on our way there, but the sound was as calm as can be.

The last time Randy was on our boat was when we were struggling to get the boat going (we later learned we had a broken prop). This time, the boat took off and planed instantly!

Porpoises were everywhere!

When we were about two-thirds of the way there, I thought I saw a bunch of logs. Instead of logs, there were over a hundred porpoises! It was really a cool thing to watch. I only wish they had been closer.

Since the wind was expected to pick up significantly, we didn’t stay long at Port Madison. Our original plan was to practice anchoring, but decided there was too much traffic and the weather was getting colder. So we hung out for a bit and headed back to Seattle. As we came back into port, we passed one of the huge cruise ships on our way and this wasn’t the largest one in the sound.

We grilled up some steaks and I made one of my favorite potato recipes (Roasted Mediterranean Potatoes Recipe) along with a salad. Even with the cooler weather, it was still awesome to be on the boat again! Of course the sunset didn’t disappoint either.

Boat Chores & “Dinghying” Around

We woke up Sunday to a gorgeous warm day! Scott wanted to replace the stereo on the boat, so we headed out shopping. First stop was Car Toys, but the systems sounded terrible and the service wasn’t great. We then headed to West Marine and as usual, they were extremely helpful. Plus we found a system that sounded great! This system has blue tooth – keep in mind, our current system didn’t have that, so we were running a long cable from the stereo to Scott’s I-Phone. Not safe. LOL

We spent the afternoon cleaning the boat and then we decided to take a dinghy ride through the marina. Believe it or not, this was only the second time I have been in the dinghy. Scott was struggling to start it, when he decided to lift off the cap only to find the spark plug wasn’t connected. That will make a difference!

Be sure to watch our our full YouTube episode for the footage of our tour, including some of the mega yachts! After touring the marina, we decided to grab some appetizers and a cocktail at Maggie Bluffs. I was hoping for their famous shrimp cocktail, but apparently they aren’t in season yet?

We finished the day, sitting on the bow enjoying cocktails and soaking up the sun. It was such a relaxing day!

Earlier in the day, we stopped by our favorite fish market, Wild Salmon Fish Market and picked up some fresh salmon. Honestly, unless you catch it yourself, you won’t find salmon this fresh! I used to drive from Renton once a month to get our fish!

memorial day boating — Yes, that’s wayyyyy too much pasta for that plate! LOL

A beautiful sunset for a great weekend!

After dinner, we walked over to “N” Dock to check out our new yacht neighbor
M/Y Calypso. This 200′ beauty is stunning! Be sure to check out her photos in the link. She comes with an outdoor theatre and disco! The moon was rising over Seattle and it was the perfect ending to a great evening. Just another reason why we love Elliott Bay Marina! It’s so beautiful! Not to mention the facilities are top notch and the staff is awesome!

Scott and I have a bit of a busy travel schedule this summer, but plan on visiting some local ports around Puget Sound this summer. We probably won’t have along trip like the San Juan Islands from last year, but you never know!

Watch Episode #12 on our YouTube Channel for full coverage of our weekend below (subscribe to get notifications when it’s live).

Be sure to subscribe to stay updated and check out our Patreon Site too! Thank you for following us and for sharing too!

Cheers,

Scott and Ally on Kokomo

#BoatingJourney #KokomoSeattle

May 21, 2018June 1, 2018

Anacortes Boat Show 2018

Attending The Anacortes Boat Show 2018

Every year, Scott and I attend the Anacortes Boat Show with our good friends, Nick and Michelle. It used to be held in the Fall and recently was moved to the Spring. Last year, we had already looked at our boat, Kokomo before the show, but thought we should still check out a few more options. Turns out, Kokomo was still the favorite and we made a offer while we were in Anacortes.

Everyone has been asking us if we are in the market for another boat now. Our answer is that boat owners are always in the market for something bigger. For us, it’s a strategic reason. The reason we sold our house and moved into an apartment, is so we can make sure we like living in small living quarters as we plan on moving onto a live-aboard in a year. (Well, that’s the plan at least). Scott and I hope to find a boat that is about 50′-55′ for our live-aboard, which is nearly twice the length of what we have now (31′).

We would like to find a transition boat around 38′ – 42′ that we can still moor at Elliott Bay Marina. The issue now is, inventory is low because it’s peak season and the marina is also starting to fill up. So our take on the situation is if we find the right boat, great. If not, we still have our fantastic boat that’s ready for boating season!

Fidalgo Island

Did you know that Anacortes is actually on Fidalgo Island? You cross a very small body of water, so it doesn’t really seem like an island. We love Downtown Anacortes as it is small and quaint.

The food is great and the drinks are always flowing. Our favorite pub is the Brown Lantern Tavern. We had a special treat this year with an acapella group performance! Be sure to check out our full episode on our YouTube channel at the end of this post.

This year we stayed at the Sunrise Inn Villas & Suites and I have to say this was one of our favorites for the price. In the past we have stayed at motels, because they accept pets and we always had Mac. While there is the Majestic Inn, we didn’t want to spend $250/night knowing that we wouldn’t be in our room much. The great thing about the Sunrise Inn is that it was walking distance to both the show at Cap Sante Marina and downtown Anacortes.

For breakfast, our favorite place is the Calico Cupboard Old Town Café and if you love donuts, be sure to check out the Donut House. They are open 24 hours and no matter the time, we always make a stop there.

The First Annual Anacortes Boat Show

Okay, I know you are wondering why it says “first annual” if we have been coming for years? Well, this year the show was organized by the Seattle Boat Show and they charged for attending the show (in the past it was free). In the past, they had a small vendor tent and mostly used trawlers & sailboats to view.

This year, they had many more vendor booths in the tent and they had brought in a lot of brand new boats up from Lake Union. Our friends, Nick and Michelle have been smitten with a Catalina sail boat and in fact, found a fantastic one at the show! We hope they buy it and moor it next to us at Elliott Bay Marina!

Looking for a new boat

Scott and I were on the hunt for the elusive 38′ – 42′ cruiser, but to no avail. We did tour two brand new boats from Prestige and Four Winns. But at $500k, they are out of our price range. But it was fun to check them out and see all of their awesome features and upgrades. The funny thing is our own broker, Eddie has three 38′ SeaRays listed and we are going to try and have him show them to us. So stay tuned.

We really lucked out with the weather this year as it was warm and sunny. At 4pm they opened the Wine & Beer Garden and each attendee received a free drink! Anacortes Brewing was pouring their beers and they were fantastic. Cheers to that!

When we toured the Seattle Boat Show, we visited with the vendors at the beginning of the show. Since I didn’t want to walk around all day carrying stuff, I didn’t buy anything from the vendors. One of the vendors there was Nauti Girl and I really wanted their t-shirt. Luckily for me, they were at Anacortes and I got two awesome shirts finally!

Anacortes is only about two hours north of Seattle and we were back home on Sunday by 12pm. It’s definitely a fun show to attend that gets you in the mood for boating season.

Watch our full tour on our YouTube Channel below:

Stay tuned for our next blog as we spend the Memorial Day weekend on the boat! PS Can you believe it was a year ago this weekend that we took possession of Kokomo? How time flies!

Thank you for following us and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube! You can also check out our Patreon Site HERE.

Cheers,

Scott & Ally

#BoatingJourney #KokomoSeattle

May 10, 2018August 15, 2018

Getting Ready for Boating Season

Time to get Kokomo ready for boating season

Scott and I spent four days unpacking and we also needed to get our boat Kokomo, ready for boating season. While we have done all of the exterior and mechanical work on our boat, it still wasn’t ready because nothing was on it. In preparation for winter, we removed things like bedding, carpet, coolers, cushions, etc and moved them into our storage unit.

On Sunday, we headed down to Public Storage on the waterfront and loaded up all of the boat supplies.

It took us three carts and two trips to bring everything back to the boat. Remember, we’re located at the end of the dock, which is about 1/4 mile walk. What’s really cool this year, is we have new neighbors and they are all really friendly and outgoing.

Quick run on Elliott Bay

It was so beautiful on Sunday, that we decided to take the boat out for a quick run on Elliott Bay. Our gas gauge doesn’t work great and we haven’t filled up the tank yet, so we didn’t go too far. But being out on the water and enjoying the Seattle skyline, just brought back all of the reasons we want to be on the water.

spring boating — This tanker has been anchored outside the marina for weeks.

Check out Episode #10 on our YouTube Channel

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Thanks for all of your support & for following us! Be sure to also check out our new Patreon site, which allows our followers to join us & support us too.

Stay tuned for our next blog as we visit the Anacortes Boat Show. Thank you for following us. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook & Twitter!

Cheers, Scott & Ally

#BoatingJourney #KokomoSeattle

May 8, 2018May 8, 2018

We moved into our apartment!

It’s official, we are apartment dwellers

Last Wednesday Scott and I finally moved out of our house and into our Downtown Seattle apartment. What a whirlwind week it has been! On top of packing everything up and keeping the house clean, I was also interviewing for a job.

The first thing we had to do, was get rid of all of our furniture except our couch and bedroom set. We were fortunate that my family wanted most of the furniture and our good friends took the wine cellar.

We hired Super Friends Moving and they did a great job! I highly recommend them. They were friendly, efficient and affordable. The move began on Wednesday around 8:30am and they finished around 3pm. We live on the 8th floor of the Leeward Apartments overlooking Lake Union. Moving from a four bedroom / three bath home into a two bedroom / two bath apartment requires some major downsizing. Luckily, our unit is actually fairly large compared to most in Seattle.

After three garage sales, five trips to Goodwill and our visit from 1-800-Got-Junk we still had over 100 boxes to move. By the time they movers were done, we could barely move in the apartment!

Getting Organized in our Two Bedroom Apartment

If you know me well, you know I can’t stand clutter or a mess. As the movers brought in boxes, I was immediately unpacking them. Scott and I worked hard until about 7pm that Wednesday. Finally, we knew we needed to take a break, shower and enjoy some bubbly on the roof. The only problem was I couldn’t find any of my clothes or toiletries. After about 20 minutes of searching, we got showered and headed up to the rooftop.

The following day, we continued unpacking, trying to find the floor. This required many trips to the recycling bin in the garage, but thanks to our new Collapsible Folding Wagon we bought from Amazon, it was pretty easy!

We made pretty good progress the second day around!

By the end of the day, I think the living room looked pretty good. Scott and I had decided to wait on buying any of our new furniture (tv, book shelf, dining set, etc) until we had a good feeling of the space. We should have everything done in the next week or so.

While we have a killer rooftop deck to enjoy, we also love our balcony. It may not be our deck at home, but we love the view!

We have two patio chairs and a Adjustable Folding Patio Balcony Serving Table that we bought from Amazon. It works great!

On our third day in the apartment, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise. We are used to sunsets, but this was amazing too.

The day finished with a really awesome rainbow over the entire city of Seattle!

Check out this week’s YouTube Episode

Living your dream

As many of our friends and family have said this week, we are living our dream once again! I’ve always stayed true to my goals and I make sure we stay on track. Without a dream or a plan, it’s hard to get anywhere.

While Scott and I missed out on opening day of boating season because we were unpacking, we did get to enjoy a great day on the water later. Stay tuned for our next update!

Thank you for following us along on our journey. Cheers! Scott and Ally

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#BoatingJourney #KokomoSeattle

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