Allison, Author at Boating Journey

June 13, 2021June 13, 2021

Fort Christiansvaern & Sailing to Buck Island

With five days on St. Croix, our group had plenty of time to explore Fort Christiansvaern and get in some sailing around Buck Island. After we grabbed lunch in Christiansted, we headed over to Fort Christiansvaern to check it out.

This fort is part of a national historical site, founded in 1952 in order to preserve the history and story of the Danish heritage and culture. It is made up of numerous buildings including Fort Christiansvaern (1738), the Danish West India & Guinea Company Warehouse (1749), the Steeple Building (1753), Danish Custom House (1844), and the Scale House (1856).

St Croix has done a great job of adding legends for each of the buildings and telling the story of what happened in the 17th & 18th centuries at Fort Christiansvaern.

Fort Christiansvaern

It was really hot and humid the day we toured the Fort, so it was nice to get out of the sun for a bit. There is a visitor’s center as you approach the Fort, then you are free to roam the grounds.

The first thing you come upon, are the prison cells. Perhaps these were temporary holding cells, as there were more in the dungeon, but I wouldn’t want to be in one. These prison cells can’t be taller than four feet! Could you imagine?

The Officers’ Quarters were rather nice and they certainly couldn’t beat the view they had!

The Arsenal was right around the corner from the officer quarters.

The view from the upper deck was gorgeous and with the trade winds, you stayed nice and cool.

The four of us decided to explore the dungeon and I can’t believe how cruel and horrific this must have been for the slaves and prisoners! Not only was it pitch dark with no light, but again it was only four feet tall.

As you come around the other side of the Fort, you enter into the latrines and the officers sleeping quarters.

In the visitor’s center, you can stamp your passport with the official National Park stamp, which we did! It was a very cool tour and really put perspective into how things were back then. For more detailed information, be sure to visit their website.

What was interesting, is these two sail boats remain under water and abandoned in the port. You would think this would be a hazard to the marine life.

Time to go sailing to Buck Island!

I had booked our snorkeling excursion before we left Seattle. With a little research on Tripadvisor.com, I felt confident with Caribbean Sea Adventures. Somehow, I didn’t realize how small the boat actually was, until the night before when we saw it at the boardwalk!

Our excursion was the full day 9am to 4pm sailing trip for about 12 people. We checked in 15 minutes early and waited for the rest of the guests to arrive.

Our captain Kendall and his first mate Bethany were fantastic and you couldn’t have asked for a better crew. We had light winds at about 8 knots, so we raised the sails and headed to Buck Island.

The sail took about 40 minutes. We had squalls all around us and Kendall was trying to avoid them. When you arrive to the island, it’s important to stay inside the reef. Once inside, we headed to the underwater trail for some snorkeling.

The underwater trail is pretty cool and very well marked. I’m a “struggling snorkeler” and it takes me a bit to get calm. Once my mask felt good, I followed our group along the trail.

As you go around the trail, you come upon a sign that says “Enter Grotto Here” on your left. We didn’t go into the grotto, but instead headed towards the boat. The current is pretty fast on the far east of the island, so they recommend that you stay clear of there. Be sure to check out our YouTube episode for all of the footage from our DJI Action. As I was following a beautiful blue fish, a lemon shark decided to surprise me and swim by. Not expecting him, I freaked out and swam to the surface screaming “SHARK!!”. LOL

Exploring Buck Island

The group snorkeled for about an hour and then we headed over to the beach for some fun in the sun. There the sand is so white and the surf is crystal clear; it’s magical.

The island is part of the National Park and there are many rules you must follow when visiting the island. Overnight anchoring is not allowed inside the lagoon, you must pack out all of your trash and you cannot take anything from the island off (shells, sand, etc). For all of the rules, visit here. In addition, their turtles were laying eggs near the shrubbery, so we were told that the trails were off-limits. Instead, the four of us walked along the sandy beach exploring.

Along our walk we came upon trees that had shells in them. Not sure why, so if you know, please leave your comment down below.

There are restrooms which are “out-houses” on the island. We didn’t use them, so we don’t know what condition they were in.

As you approach the northwest corner of the island, it’s solid rock and is a bit dangerous if you are in the surf.

Time to head back

Scott and I jumped back onboard to sit down with Captain Kendall and get some insight from him on sailing here in the USVI and how he got here. Be sure to watch our interview on our channel for all of the scoop. This was not a party cruise, but they did offer rum punches. There were no snacks, so bring your own if you want any.

We had squalls all around us, we were ready to head back (we had no Bimini top, so if it rained, we would be soaked!) And yes, it rained on us!

A big thank you to the crew of Caribbean Sea Adventures, Kendall and Bethany for an awesome day sailing around Buck Island! We had such a great time and you guys made it all worth it.

Another day in paradise

We had just enough time to rinse off and relax before getting ready for dinner when we got back. On our end of the resort, our beach was a bit rocky and had lots of sea urchins, so you have to be very careful!

Not to mention our scaly four legged friends that roamed the property!

Make sure if you are visiting St. Croix that you make dinner reservations in advance, as they fill up fast. The four of us were lucky enough to get into Too Chez! The food, service and wine were amazing and I highly recommend them for dinner. They don’t have a website, but they do have a Facebook Page.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and our channel for future stories. You can follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Tune in next week, as we explore the island a bit more and take a sunset sailing cruise!

Cheers, Scott and Ally

June 6, 2021June 6, 2021

Arriving on St. Croix

In our last blog we took a flight on Seabourne Air from St Thomas to St Croix. This was not a large float plane and if you have followed our blog for awhile, you know how I hate seaplanes. (See my first trip to Roche Harbor).

One thing to note about seaplanes is weight (of your bags) determines if they make it or not. Once the plane reaches its maximum weight (bags and passengers), then it’s done taking on any more luggage (and yes, they ask you for your weight!). So our group checked in at the airport, two hours early, to ensure we got our bags on. They did weigh more than they allowed, so we had to pay an extra $60 for the two bags. Keep that in mind if you are flying on Seaborne Air. The airport is literally one hallway with a few benches.

Since we had a few hours to kill, we walked next door to the Petite Pump Room Bar and Restaurant for some bloody mary’s before our flight.

Flying over turquoise waters

While I was extremely nervous, our pilot was very friendly and our flight only took about 15 minutes. Remember, St. Croix is about 42 nautical miles south of St. Thomas, so it’s a quick trip. I kept looking for boats cruising below us, but I didn’t see any. You are required to wear your mask during the flight.

Interestingly enough, we only flew at about 2500 ft. This seemed to make the flight to St. Croix a little better for me (less of a distance to fall into the water!)

Within a few minutes, I spotted St. Croix and before you knew it, we taxi’d into the port! I couldn’t believe how clear the water was below us!

Arriving in St. Croix

The airport in St. Croix, is basically a small metal building. We called for a taxi and waited for it’s arrival, as we needed a ride to the Int’l Airport to pick up our Hertz Rental Car.

What we didn’t know at the time, is the boardwalk that is next to the airport, continues into the heart of Christiansted!

Why that is ironic is because we ended up back at the Christiansted boardwalk after picking up our car, which was located on the other side of the island at the main airport. In hindsight, we would have rented a car closer to the Seaplane base.

Ben rented a Jeep Wrangler and it turns out there are a lot of them on St. Croix! I still can’t get over how well he drove around the islands on the left side of the road AND had the steering on the left side of the vehicle.

Staying at the Buccaneer Resort

The four us went back and forth, as to where to stay on St. Croix. At the top of the list was the Buccaneer and the Fred which was located in Frederiksted. Turns out we picked the right location, as most of the “action” was happening in Christiansted, not Frederiksted. We were just 10 minutes from town and we stopped at the local grocery store to grab a few things on our way to the hotel.

The Buccaneer Resort is gorgeous and very welcoming. The resort also has a large golf course with beautiful ocean views and an old sugar mill on the property.

The golf course was toally brown when we arrived, but after a few days of rain, it turned green!

Everything in the lobby was open air, including the restaurant we ate breakfast in each day.

Getting settled into our room on St Croix

If you recall from the beginning of this trip, our room on St Thomas was not very nice. We were pleasantly surprised at The Buccaneer to get upgraded to a larger suite with a view. I will say, however, that upon close inspection, the room was pretty run down. For the price we paid ($407/night), it should have been in better shape.

Our veranda was awesome and so was the view. Unfortunately, we didn’t really use it.

Checking out Christiansted

After getting unpacked, we headed back into Christiansted to grab a bite to eat, as we were all starving. We parked at Fort Christiansvaern (you can park there from 8:30am to 4:30pm for free) and walked along the boardwalk to find food. There, we also stumbled upon our Caribbean Sea Adventure catamaran we had scheduled for later that week. You will find lots of cute shops and great restaurants along the boardwalk.

You’ll also find plenty of chickens running around here too!

The town is very cute with lots of historical buildings and legends to guide you along the way.

We did check out Fort Christiansvaern which we’ll cover in our next blog as it was a pretty cool tour! Scott and I wish we had visited a few more during our trip, as we love this kind of history!

Long day of travel to St. Croix

Scott and I finished the day, by enjoying an amazing sunset with a cocktail and took in the views.

Since we had all been traveling all day, we had decided to stay at the resort for dinner and we ate at their beach side restaurant called the Mermaid. If we had to do it again, we would have passed on this. While they did have a fire dancer, the atmosphere was a bit bright and the food and service were mediocre for the price.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel (video below) for the full tour and to our blog for other updates. Next week, we’ll take you on a tour of the Fort and a few other sites! As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to follow us on social @BoatingJourney and use #boatingjourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

May 28, 2021May 29, 2021

Saddened By So Much Trash at Coki Beach

Scott and I had one full day left to relax and enjoy St. Thomas and our group decided to check out Coki Beach, which was a 5 minute walk from our hotel. We headed out early in the morning around 9am and already the sun was heating up and we were breaking a sweat. Along the beach in front of the hotel, workers were working hard to remove a seasonal algae called Sargassum. From the air, we could see miles of the algae, which is a major nuisance to Caribbean beaches and is threatening tourism.

Located on the other side of the peninsula, Coki Beach is well known for snorkeling. It is generally considered the best shore snorkel on the island, so we couldn’t wait to check it out.

As you approach the Coki Beach entrance, you’ll find a cemetery and many wild chickens running around. At first, I wasn’t sure if we had entered at the right location, but there was a very large sign at the entrance.

What made me question this? To be honest, it was a dirt lot and trash was everywhere.

Is this really the famous beach?

As Maria and I walked towards the beach, we passed so much garbage plus some extremely gross items that I can’t even mention publicly. We were both horrified to say the least. The blue water caught my eye immediately, but then so did all of the trash along the beach. The beach was filthy and unsafe. With bottle caps, broken bottles and other sharp objects, this was not a place to hang out for the day.

The four of us looked pretty defeated and sad, as this was not what we expected at all. We made the decision to head back to the hotel and spend the day there.

I’ve thought about that day a lot, because it wasn’t the only place we came upon so much trash. There was garbage on all three islands we visited.

I have to ask, what is the answer and how can we help? Being 6000 miles away, we can’t jump in our car and do a beach clean-up. However, there has to be something we CAN do. If you have suggestions or know of ways, please leave your comments for us. We know there are organizations like 4ocean and ocean conservancy who are working hard every day to help clean our planet, but is there a specific organization that is concentrating on the Virgin Islands? I found a Facebook Clean up page, but there was not much action on it. Please let us know – we want to help!

What a beautiful spot to relax

Our friends were staying on the opposite end of the resort, next to the hilltop infinity pool. After our trek back from Coki Beach, we headed up that way to spend the day by the pool. Instead of taking the golf cart, we opted to climb over 200 steps to get to the pool! Be sure to watch the video of Scott climbing!

The pool overlooked Water Bay and Thatch Cay (pronounced “key”) island. From the pool deck, the views of Water Bay are gorgeous and in the distance you can see Thatch Cay, which is an uninhabited 230 acre private island that is actually for sale. For information, click here.

Due to covid, you still had to wear your mask when you ordered drinks from the patio side, but if you swam up to the bar, you didn’t need to wear one. Needless to say, we spent a huge amount of our time in the water. Even with plenty of sunscreen, I got a bit sunburned, so don’t let being in the water fool you.

Staying in for dinner

Since we were flying out the next morning, we opted to hang around the hotel for dinner and take it easy. The hotel has one bar/restaurant, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville which sits right on the beach. The food was good and the drinks were perfect. Our only complaint was everything shut down at 9pm, including the bar. Strange. So we called it an early night and headed back to our rooms to pack.

Be sure to tune in to our next blog and episode, as we take a sea plane to St. Croix, which is about 42 nautical miles south of St. Thomas.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Please be sure to subscribe to our blog and our YouTube channel, and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney

Cheers, Scott and Ally

May 23, 2021May 23, 2021

Exploring St Thomas

Our group stayed at the Wyndham Margaritaville Vacation Club on the east end of St Thomas, near Red Hook. There isn’t much around where we stayed, so the four of us headed into Charlotte Amalie (the capital) to check things out and do a bit of shopping.

Before I get too detailed about touring St Thomas, I do want to address some comments we have gotten on YouTube and social media. Some people have asked us “what does a trip to St. Thomas have to do with boating?” Great question! Our channel and blog were created so that Scott and I could document our journey on how we learned to boat, buy a boat and eventually liveaboard a boat in the Caribbean.

With the pandemic and high demand for boats, it is near impossible to find a liveaboard right now. We have to be patient and wait for the market to settle down. In the meantime, we’re doing everything we can to spend our time on the water. For this trip, remember it was supposed to be a bareboat charter that got transformed to land due to the pandemic. Hopefully that answers everyone’s questions.

Once you arrive in Charlotte Amalie, you’ll notice that parking is very limited. We finally found a parking lot with a 2 hour limit, which was free. In hind site, I wish we would have researched Charlotte Amalie a bit more, as we completely missed out on a tour of Fort Christian!

Jewelry stores galore

Walking down Dronningens Gade we came upon jewelry store after jewelry store. It was Saturday around 10:30am and some stores were not open yet or at all. Everyone was practicing safe covid protocols and they were very friendly. One jewelry shop owner, also owned the Belgium Chocolate store!

The morning we headed out, I realized I could not find my watch anywhere. Now I was on the hunt for a new one, but really did not want to spend money on one. (Luckily, I found it a few days later).

Surprisingly, there were chickens running around loose everywhere in the USVI.

Heading up to the Mountain Top – Literally

When we were done shopping, we headed up to the world famous lookout spot The Mountain Top. This is not a road to take lightly! Google navigated us, while Ben stayed “Left” and got us to the top safely!

This infamous souvenir store is HUGE and also sells the world famous banana daquiri! You can read the history here. This has to be one of the largest gift shops we have ever visited. Be sure to watch the YouTube episode for the full tour!

Scott and I shared a banana daiquiri and headed out to the lookout patio and the views were absolutely stunning of Magens Bay Beach.

It was wild to see Jost Van Dyke and Tortola and be so close (yet far away). At least now, we have some perspective on the distance for our charter next February.

I was surprised to see so many fruit trees growing everywhere too. At the top of the mountain there was a mango tree right in front of our car.

Relaxing on St. Thomas

We had only been on St. Thomas less than a day, yet we had already done so much. After traveling 16 hours to get there, I needed some time to relax and soak up some sun. Our resort had two pools, one of which had great views of Water Bay.

The four of us wrapped up the day on St Thomas with a delicious meal at XO Bistro in Red Hook. I highly recommend this restaurant, but be sure to make reservations.

The next day, we head to Cokie Beach for a fun day. Tune in next week for a tour of the beach! As always, thank you for following our journey. You can follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #boatingjourney and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for future episodes. (video link below)

Cheers, Scott and Ally

May 16, 2021May 18, 2021

We’re finally headed to the USVI!

Our channel wouldn’t be called Boating Journey if we didn’t always have a journey to get to our destination and this trip to the USVI was no exception. After postponing our bareboat charter to February 2022, we opted to keep our flights and visit all three islands in the USVI. The entry requirements seemed fairly straightforward so what could go wrong? We should know not to ask that question!

USVI Travel Portal

Before you’re allowed to enter the USVI, you must fill out the travel portal, upload your negative covid test and be approved to enter. According to the site, we needed a negative covid molecular (e.g., RT-PCR, viral or nucleic acid amplification) or an antigen (rapid) taken 5 days prior to arrival to the territory. Our friends, Ben and Maria were traveling two days before us and all of us were on a red-eye flight. Their airline stated they needed the test taken 5 days prior to departure, but when they uploaded it, it was rejected as it was actually 6 days prior to arrival.

Lots of travelers we know recommended we go to Walgreens for our test, so we made an appointment at the Tukwila location for Monday (5 days from our arrival date). When we arrived, we found out that they DO NOT do the test we needed AND the results would be ready in 7 days! Yikes. The pharmacist recommended we drive to the Burien Walgreens and when we arrived there, we were informed they don’t take same day appointments. Great!

Trying not to panic, I jumped online and immediately booked an appointment for 11am (it was now 10:25am) at Rite Aid and Scott did the same. The test was easy, as you simply pull up to the drive thru window, swap your nose and give the vial back to the tech.

After we handed our tests back, we were informed we would have our results in 7 days! OMG, this can’t be happening!

Trying not to panic now

If you search the web for rapid covid tests, there are many sites that will give you your results in a few hours for a large fee $200 to $350. Scott and I were so desperate, that we were about to sign up for one of these. Then I remembered seeing another rapid test site, called GS Labs. Before I tried booking it, I first made sure that they were CLIA approved by the USVI portal. Thank God they were! The closest lab to us, was back in Downtown Seattle, so I made an appointment for 11:30am. As we drove, I used Scott’s phone to book the appointments and in the process, I managed to book 4 appointments for myself and none for him! Luckily, they took care of everything and after about 40 min, we were all done.

Ironically as I got ready to drive away, one of the workers shouted out my name. Turns out an old high school classmate owns the business and not only that, but he’s close friends with Ben! Now remember, Ben and Maria still at this point hadn’t gotten their results and were scheduled to fly out the next day. So I called them and told them to go get another test at GS Labs (which billed our insurance, so we were not out of pocket). Two hours later, we all had our results and we were good to go! Talk about a journey.

Are we there yet?

This trip has been planned for over two years and we couldn’t wait to finally get on the plane! We flew out on Thursday night around 11:15pm and arrived in Miami the following morning.

The flight to Miami was about 6 hours and we had about a 2 hour layover before our 2 hour flight to St. Thomas.

Finally we arrived around 1:30pm (11 hours later) to St Thomas! Ben and Maria had rented a Jeep, so they picked us up. We stopped by the local Publix grocery store for some drinks and snacks, before heading to the resort.

Though the USVI are a US Territory, they drive on the left with American cars and the roads on St. Thomas are very rough and steep!

Ben took the route that Google gave us. During the rest of our trip, our drivers took a few other different ways, all of which were still pretty steep!

What you don’t see well in the route above were the hairpin switchbacks! Talk about white knuckle drive – on the left side of the road!

We were really impressed with Ben’s driving skills!

Welcome to Margaritaville!

If you do have a car, parking can be limited near the hotel. But they do have golf carts that will take you to your room.

Ben and Maria had a fabulous room up on the hill, overlooking the bay.

Unfortunately, we were not so lucky. We were in the last building and our view was of a tree. Oh well, we were still in paradise!

The rooms were great, as they were kitchenettes that came with blenders! These rooms are actually condos and so we didn’t get housekeeping service. If you want extra coffee or towels, you have to go to the front desk and ask for them.

Time for some food and drinks

After checking in, the four of us headed to 5’Oclock Somewhere for a cocktail and enjoy the view and a few appetizers. Traveling to the Caribbean from the West Coast is exhausting, but worth it in the end.

That night, we took a taxi into Red Hook and grabbed some pizza at the Island Time Pub, which was fantastic! I highly recommend it and I don’t eat pizza! Overlooking the bay at Red Hook, the view is also fantastic!

For the next 10 days, we had a lot on the itinerary and we’ll share that journey with you over the next few weeks! Be sure to subscribe to both our blog and YouTube channel for the upcoming tour!

As always, thank you for following our journey! You can also follow us on social media @BoatingJourney and use the hashtag #boatingjourney. Cheers, Scott and Ally

May 9, 2021May 11, 2021

1909 MV Lotus Edwardian Cruising Houseboat

Last month, Scott and I had the pleasure of touring a 1909 Edwardian Cruising Houseboat on Lake Union, the MV Lotus thanks to our tour guide and volunteer Scott. This vessel was originally built by Mosquito Fleet builder (see our blog about the Mosquito fleet here). At 92′ long, MV Lotus was commissioned by wealthy Seattle lawyer Maurice McMicken in 1909. She remained in the McMicken family until shortly after World War II.

During the period leading up to the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle, she was used as a floating lodge on Lake Union for visitors. Subsequently, she was again operated as a private yacht by the Gruye family, cruising back and forth to Alaska. She now belongs to a non-profit foundation dedicated to maintaining and sharing her history, and is once again operating as a floating lodge in Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. (per MV Lotus organization).

It was the largest private yacht on the West Coast when she was built, and was constructed with all the latest amenities of the time: electric lighting, a state-of-the-art intercom system, and a gas distillate engine. Currently the boat is maintained by the MV Lotus Foundation and is available for overnight stays. It does not currently leave the dock, but it has in recent years.

The Tour Begins

Upon entering the vessel, you are taken back in time and into a lavish salon. The custom fireplace still works and the furnishings are almost all original or similar to the original. The original china for MV Lotus is still kept in the china cabinet, along with many old photographs and books.

The fixtures are all custom made and many are from Tiffany’s.

Maurice McMicken was not only an avid hunter, but he was a bit eccentric when it came to obtaining things he wanted. For example, he had a beautiful custom desk built, featuring a beaver on the lid. This piece of wood, actually came from the HBC Str Beaver 1836 after it wrecked. The Beaver was a steamship originally owned and operated by the Hudson’s Bay Company and served the remote parts of the West Coast and Canada. McMicken also had a painting of the steamship in the salon.

Sleeping quarters

There are three sleeping quarters, including the master stateroom. Each room has a sink that hot water can be poured into. When not in use, it’s tethered to the wall in some rooms.

The guest rooms, have a shared bathroom that has been updated with a shower.

Moving down the hall, you will find the master stateroom. Even for 1909, this room was very large and lavish. Notice the claw foot tub – on a boat!! Can you imagine filling that with hot water?

The MV Lotus was outfitted with an intercom system throughout the vessel. This was very high tech back in 1909.

Upstairs to the bridge and entertainment deck

From the master stateroom, you head upstairs and enter the bridge. Keep in mind, this boat traveled regularly up to Alaska and then through the San Juan Islands and around Puget Sound. Imagine having no electronics or GPS? All they had were paper charts, a compass and wheel.

Outside of the wheelhouse, you can see the original “brand” in the doorway threshold.

Remodeling the Upper Deck

Currently, the MV Lotus is under construction as they make repairs and minor changes to the upper deck. Normally, this is the place to hang out, enjoy the vistas and a cocktail or two.

Notice in the photo below, where the yellow arrow is pointing. This “base” is actually the soffit down the salon, allowing light in. Now that’s pretty creative!

When the MV Lotus is rented, the upper deck is used for dining and outdoor parties.

Check out the Galley

The volunteers on the boat, do provide some food and beverage service to customers. Typically a small breakfast, coffee and tea are provided to overnight guests. The galley still has the original stovetop plus they have added a newer model. Notice all of the cups are pointed in the same direction inward hanging from the ceiling. We were told that this keeps all of the good luck inside the boat and prevents anything from going overboard.

Best view on the lake

While the MV Lotus no longer cruises, it still offers the best view on Lake Union. As a venue or a weekend getaway, this is the perfect destination. Be sure to check out their website and come down and take a tour. The tours are free, however, the boat is supported by a staff of volunteers and a non-profit organization. Any donations, are surely welcomed.

As always, thank you for following our blog and YouTube channel. See the full tour in the YouTube link below. Be sure to follow us on social @BoatingJourney and use the hashtag #boatingjourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

April 18, 2021April 18, 2021

What stays on a boat when you are selling it?

Friends of ours, have listed their boat for sale and Maria was curious as to what they should and should not leave on the boat. Since I’m (Ally) in the boat business, I thought I would answer her question here in this week’s blog.

Should you stage your boat?

Take time to clean the boat and get it ready for a showing. Maria did ask me if it should be “staged”? Great question! Depending on the size and type of the boat, determines if staging in necessary. When we sold our Bayliner 3055, we did stage it for photos, but not tours.

When we sold our Bayliner 4087, we did stage a few extra things like wine for photos, but we did make sure all of the towels and pillows were set up properly. At the end of the day, it’s up to you and how you want your boat to look.

There are two rules when it comes to selling your boat.

Remember that selling your boat, is not much different than selling your home. Do not leave any personal belongings on the boat. This includes valuables, personal photos and clothing. Potential buyers are going to be opening lockers and drawers, so unless you want to share your stuff with them, take it home.
If it’s on the boat when you list it, it’s FAIR GAME. That means, the potential buyer assumes, that the price includes everything that is on it. Back to the first rule – if it’s personal or meaningful to you, remove it.

So what do you leave on the boat?

This brings us back to Maria’s original question, which was “Should we leave all of the galley ware on the boat?” Really, it’s up to you. When Scott and I sold both boats, we left everything on (except a few items). We left dishes, silverware, cups, glasses, utensils, towels and cutting boards. Why? A few reasons.

Link to this set can be found in our shop.

One, we wanted to make the boat turn-key for the new buyers. Second, we didn’t know how much space or what the set up might be on our next boat. Example, maybe your dishes are too wide for the drawer or cabinet of your new boat? Maybe the utensils are too long? You get the idea. We would rather buy these again for our next boat.

Things we did take home were our personal PFDs, custom pillows and our sleeping pillows. No one wants to use those.

Other items

We also left all of the linens, towels, cleaning supplies, safety gear, charts and spare boat parts on the boat. If we didn’t want to store it or have any use for it, we left it on. Our last boat came with all kinds of spare parts and we bought a lot too. All that stayed on board.

Original Boat Accessories

The other thing we made sure to put back on the boat (we stored it in the aft cabin), were the original boat linens and pillows. Our broker had told us not to remove anything permanently as it lowers the value. Instead, we vacuum sealed everything and stored it tightly.

The other thing we recommend, is remove any clutter or old cleaning supplies. For some reason, both owners we bought our boats from, left over 20 solvents on each of our boats and no one wants that.

So in the end, what stays on the boat is really up to you, as to what you keep on the boat and what you take home. Just remember, if it’s on the boat while it’s being shown, it’s included with the boat!

We hope this was informative. Watch our quick video that goes a bit more into detail below!

As always, thank you for following our boating journey! Scott and I have some great blogs and vlogs coming up, so please be sure to subscribe to get notifications. Follow us on social at @boatingjourney too!

(video below)

Cheers, Scott and Ally

April 10, 2021April 10, 2021

What I’m Reading During Our Caribbean Vacation

It has been two years since Scott and I have been to the Caribbean and we are so excited about our upcoming vacation. We are headed to the US Virgin Islands in a week and this trip has had many revisions thanks to covid-19. Originally we were flying into St. Thomas to get to the British Virgin Islands LAST April 2020. Sadly, our charter was the first to be cancelled thanks to the pandemic. So we moved the trip to February 2021, in hopes we would be able to get there. Then in December, we knew February was not looking good, so we moved it again to April 2021.

Unfortunately, the quarantine rules were too restrictive for a 7 day vacation, so we moved the trip once AGAIN to February 2022 and kept our flight to St. Thomas. None of us have ever been to the US Virgin Islands, so this will be a new trip for us!

Island Hopping in the Caribbean

Scott and I are traveling with our friends Ben and Maria, who we have the charter booked with. They will arrive a few days before us and leave before us. We’ll be visiting St Thomas first, staying on the Redhook (east) end of the island. After a couple of days, we’re headed to St. Croix and then we’ll finish our trip on St. John. We’re flying to St. Croix on a puddle jumper and we’re taking the ferry to get to St. John.

Snorkeling & Relaxing by the Pool

I’ve booked a few sailing & snorkeling trips for us during our stay. We’re also planning on doing some more off the beaten path explorations of the three islands, so be sure to tune in to those episodes and blogs. Since we haven’t been on a Caribbean vacation (or any vacation for that matter) in two years, we do plan on spending a few days relaxing by the pool. My favorite thing to do while sitting by the pool, is reading books about getting off the grid. We know it will happen some day! I have three new books that I’m excited to read during our trip.

Escape from the Ordinary

Written by Julie Bradley, Escape from the Ordinary is about a couple that retires early, sells everything and sail around the world. Looking at their route, they visited Europe, Africa, Caribbean, Eastern US, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the Maldives (just to name a few! The preface also mentions their battle with raging storms (which is my biggest fear), so I’m excited to dig into this book.

French Silk on Water

Written by Patrick Hill, French Silk on Water is a story about a couple from British Columbia, who decided one day that “Life is Short – Do it Soon – Do it Now”. So they rented their home, bought a sailboat in the Great Lakes and made their way to the Bahamas. Boating down the Great Loop is a bucket list of mine. I’ve already started this book and one thing that jumped out at me, was they joined a yacht club, so they could use sister yacht club moorings. For the most part, that plan has worked, with a few exceptions. This is an easy ready and it has been fun to read about this journey on the Great Loop.

Off the Grid

Written by Captain Mark J. Reinhardt, Off the Grid is a story about how he quit the rat race and now lives for free aboard a sailboat. I wonder what will be our trigger to finally do the same? People often ask us why we don’t and the answer is, we need to be debt free before we can do that. Baby steps. The summary mentions that he was tired of the endless work hours and never-ending debt, so he decided to live rent free off the coast of Key West. I’ll be curious to find out what he did about his debt, because it never goes away. Maybe he’ll have some tips for us?

The Countdown is On!

With only twelve days until we leave, you can bet we are counting not only the days, but the hours! Scott and I have always wanted to live in the US Virgin Islands, so we are excited to see if it is what we imagined. Be sure to follow our journey on social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) @BoatingJourney for an inside peek to our trip.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch for our upcoming episodes touring the USVI. Until next time!

Cheers,
Scott and Ally

April 4, 2021April 4, 2021

How Dogs & Boats Brought Us Together

Last weekend, Scott and I traveled to Whidbey Island to spend the day with our new “God Dog” Soleil. Ironically, it was dogs and boats that brought us together with Soleil’s parents. For the second week in a row, we took the ferry and this time we were in the very front. The trip from Mukilteo to Clinton only takes about 15 minutes.

Mac didn’t like boating

When Scott and I bought our first boat Kokomo in 2017, we assumed our golden Mac would LOVE boating with us. Unfortunately, it was not his favorite past time. Probably because it was a very long walk to the boat and at 14 years old, he wasn’t into it.

Once on the boat, he did great, mostly slept or begged for food. Mac always wanted to be by our side, so he didn’t venture far. We tried to keep his life jacket on him all the time, because he fell into the water twice. But during the summer, he was just too hot wearing it.

Sadly, we said goodbye to Mac in January 2018 and we still are “dogless”. It broke our hearts and we’re still not completely over the loss.

Could Mac be channeling his spirit?

I have had four goldens during my lifetime and they have a special place in my heart. Though I grew up with black labs, there’s something about a golden that makes you smile. Fast forward to 2019, when I was working at our Roche Harbor Rendezvous for work. It was a hot summer day and I was busy on the docks. Imagine my surprise, when a Sea Ray pulled up with a golden on the bow. I dropped everything and ran over to greet them.

I immediately fell in love with Tiller and she kept looking for me the entire weekend. Something about Tiller, reminded me so much of Mac. Her mannerisms and personality, were a clone of Mac. It was as if he was channeling his spirit through Tiller. Her owners, Marshall and Lauren agreed with me, as she would do things they hadn’t seen before (i.e. paw at me). After that weekend, I kept in touch with them and followed Tiller’s adventures on Whidbey Island and boating around Puget Sound.

Last summer, during our trip to Blaine to tour a Navigator, Lauren and Marshall, took a quick detour so I could see Tiller. What a special treat that was! It made my day! I was glad that Scott got to meet her too and see how much she acted like Mac.

The bond between dogs and boaters

There’s something unique about boat dogs and boaters. We have a bond, that others don’t understand. Perhaps it’s the challenges of dealing with a dog on the dock, or watching them take in the salty air as you cruise? Whatever it is, I love that boating introduced me to the Corson family and Tiller.

Sadly, she left for the Rainbow Bridge early this year due to cancer. I’m sure Mac was waiting to say hi and romp around. When you lose an animal, especially your heart dog, it’s devastating. I’ve always said, that new animals, don’t replace the ones that left us. They are instead, an addition to our family.

Meet Soleil

Having such a strong love for goldens, Lauren and Marshall welcomed a new golden puppy named Soleil. Scott and I were so honored to be asked to be her “God dog” parents and we headed over to Whidbey Island for a day at the beach.

I bought her a dental chew toy and Mac’s favorite woobie, a hedgehog. I think she approved.

In memory of Tiller, I had a blanket made with her on it. My niece and nephew did the same thing for me and I knew I had to do one for Lauren & Marshall. (You can make your own at Shutterfly).

Exploring Langley for the first time

First we grabbed lunch at Mukilteo Coffee Roasters and I have to say, it was one of the best sandwiches and burgers we’ve ever had. Plus, they are dog friendly! Scott and I took turns babysitting Soleil at the table.

From there, we checked out the Langley Marina. I had tried making reservations for our Bayliner 4087 a couple of years ago, but they were full. After seeing the marina and how tight it is, perhaps that turned out to be okay!

The four of us, then headed into Langley to explore a bit. Right as we pulled in, it began to pour down rain. Still, with pup in hand, we ran into Callahan’s Firehouse Gallery to check things out.

The store features all kinds of hand blown glass art pieces and gifts. We ended up buying two wishing stones – hopefully our wish comes true!

Dogs & boats, the perfect blend

Unfortunately the rain continued and it was getting too wet for all of us, including Soleil, so we called it a day when we left the gallery. Thanks to Facebook, we’re able to stay connected with Lauren and watch Soleil grow. I love that dogs and boating brought us together. Lauren and I discovered a few other small world ironies that involve goldens, bonding us even more.

Now they see Tiller channeling her spirit through Soleil. As I said earlier, a new member never replaces the ones lost, they simply are an addition to the family & the story. Thank you to Lauren & Marshall for sharing Soleil with us. It was truly a special weekend.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel (video below) and follow us on social @BoatingJourney. We leave for the USVI in three weeks and we’re so excited to share that journey with you. Cheers, Scott and Ally

March 25, 2021March 25, 2021

Weekend Getaway to Snug Harbor

While Scott and I might be boatless right now, that didn’t stop us from visiting Snug Harbor Resort on San Juan Island. If we learned anything during the pandemic, it would be how much we appreciate and relish being able to travel. The PNW is one of the most beautiful destinations in the country and the San Juan Islands is top on our list.

Another thing we have learned from the pandemic, is the value of friendships. While our circle of friends is not wide, we cherish those friendships that we have. That includes our friends, Ben and Maria, who we have traveled with the most. It’s not often that you find another couple that makes traveling fun and memorable, so we are thankful to them for their friendship.

We miss cruising Puget Sound

Scott and I haven’t been out on the sound since last September during our San Juan Island charter. We really miss being “on the water”, so last weekend, we took the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor.

The weather was beautiful, although it was very chilly crossing the Rosario Straits.

The ferry ride was about an hour and half long, because we had one stop at Lopez Island. Note in the photo below, those cars are actually loading onto the ferry backwards.

Arriving in Friday Harbor, we walked around town and grabbed some lunch at Herb’s Tavern, the oldest tavern in Friday Harbor. After lunch, Maria and I headed to the Trading Post to buy myself some gloves and a hat. Turns out, I failed to read the email from the whale watching company, that we needed to “bundle up” for the trip and I wasn’t prepared. From there, we drove across the island to Snug Harbor Resort & Marina, which is about 15 minutes from Friday Harbor.

Snug Harbor Resort and Marina

Snug Harbor Resort is a small compound made up of 18 cabins with a small marina. If you want to get away and escape it all, this is the place for you. While they do have Wi-Fi, it is not a place to work remotely. In fact, the cabins don’t even have telephones. This is where you go to unwind, reflect and take in the scenery.

We rented a one bedroom waterfront cabin and it came with everything you need. It had a grill, oven, microwave, fridge, galleyware and cleaning supplies. The cabins do have coffee, sugars, salt & pepper and a lighter for the grill. The freezer does have ice trays, but due to the pandemic, they were empty, so we bought ice from the gift shop. One thing to note, is if you are bringing your own food, be sure to bring Tupperware or Ziplock bags to store your food. Luckily, we were able to buy some at the gift shop. Ben and Maria’s cabin was just three cabins away, so it was easy to get together.

The “fireplace” is controlled by the thermostat and it really gives the cabin a cozy feeling.

Amenities at Snug Harbor Resort & Marina

There is a small coffee shop and a very nice gift shop. The gift shop has some very unique items, plus they offer all kinds of snacks, frozen foods, pre-made sandwiches and beverages, including wine and beer. Another note, the office is only open 9am to 4pm, so plan accordingly if you think you will want to buy anything. Snug Harbor Resort has kayaks you can use to explore Mitchell Bay. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time on this trip.

The Snug Harbor Marina, has brand new docks and is home to a number of permanent boats. There are some transient slips available, however, you must rent a cabin in order to dock your boat AND you may not stay on your boat. Unfortunately, they are also not pet-friendly. It is a fantastic place to get away from life and simply unwind for the weekend.

Lime Kiln State Park

Having arrived about 1:30pm, our cabins were not yet ready, so the four of us headed south to explore Lime Kiln State Park. Set on a rocky bluff at the west end of San Juan Island, Lime Kiln Point is considered one of the best whale-watching spots on earth. Here you can watch porpoise, orca and gray whales enjoying Puget Sound.

This 41 acre park, includes a 1919 vintage light house, a lime kiln and an interpretive center (which is open from May thru September). You do need to purchase a Discovery Park pass to visit the park.

Our first night, the four us grilled up some steaks, celebrated birthdays and finished the night sharing stories around the fire pit. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Exploring Roche Harbor

The next day, I had scheduled a whale watching tour at 1:30pm, so we had time in the morning to do a little bit of exploring. The four us grabbed a quick breakfast at the Lime Kiln Cafe at Roche Harbor, which is about 9 miles away. We then took Ben and Maria up to the McMillan Mausoleum, as they have never seen it. Funny thing about that Mausoleum, is that I have now been there five times in the last 20 months.

Whale Watching on Maya’s Legacy

Maya’s Legacy whale watching tours depart from Snug Harbor Resort and also Friday Harbor. This inflatable boat is a NAIAD design from New Zealand, built by Armstrong Boats in Port Angeles. She has three 250 Yamaha motors and holds approximately 24 people. Captain Jeff and his first mate April did a fantastic job during the tour.

Leaving Snug Harbor we set a course north to begin our search. First, we stopped by Henry Island to watch for the Peregrine Falcon, but we didn’t see her. As we headed north to Speiden Island, we spotted a number of porpoise. See our route below.

Spieden Island

From Henry Island, we headed north towards the southwest side of Spieden Island. This is a uninhabited privately owned island that is 516 acres. Due to the topography of the island, the southwest side is mostly baron with grass and the north side is heavily wooded. The island has a very interesting history. In the 1960’s two brothers who were taxidermists, purchased the island to create a hunting game reserve for exotic non-native game animals such as Mouflon sheep from Corsica, Fallow deer from Europe, and Sika deer from Asia – along with approximately 2,000 exotic birds such as African guinea fowl.

This outraged locals due to the cruelty to animals and the danger to nearby residents on San Juan Island. Walter Cronkite made it his mission to put the brothers out of business. The island became a marine conservationist center in the 1990’s.

The deer and sheep continue to live on the island, which is still uninhabited.

Now the island is owned by James Jannard, the founder of Oakley sunglasses and RED Digital Cinema. He purchased the island in 1997 for $22 million dollars. We were told that he has it for sale for $40 million dollars.

Lambing season in in full swing with such cute newborns following their moms everywhere. Harbor seals were basking in the sun, mouflon rams were grazing and fallow deer were doing some of both.

Steller sea lions made sure itches were scratched before getting back to their naps, while bald eagles had found lunch around the point on the north side of Speiden.

Over on Flattop Island we found a pair of bald eagles near their nests and black turnstones were foraging in the surf.

Stuart Island

Continuing our search through the islands took us west to Turn Point on Stuart Island (the Northwestern most spot in the Continental US). Here you will find Turn Point Lighthouse, which is active to aid navigation for ships. If you stay in Prevost or Reid Harbor, you can hike to the lighthouse. Be sure to check out our blog about Stuart Island here.

This area can be a busy place for whales so we scanned the waters while taking in the point and Mount Baker. Unfortunately, it was not to be our day with whales on this trip.

We turned south from there to scan further and made a stop at Henry Island to scan for our peregrine falcon. Sure enough, she was in a lower branch of a near by Douglas fir checking on her nesting area. Peregrine Falcons are the largest falcon over most of the continent, with long, pointed wings and a long tail. They can dive up to 240mph to capture their prey.

The whale watching trip was about three hours long. It did get very chilly and I highly recommend bringing lots of layers and your best camera. They do allow food and beverages, but our hands were too cold to try and eat! A few other tips about the tour to keep in mind are: they prefer cash or check for payment and if they do a great job, please remember to tip the crew. Crews on excursions work very hard and the tips go directly to them. After the trip, April sent us some photos and descriptions, which we have included in this blog.

Our trip to Snug Harbor comes to an end

It was a quick 48 hour trip, but we enjoyed every minute of it. When we got back from our tour, we relaxed with a great bottle of Champagne and headed off to dinner at Roche Harbor. Not wanting to drink and drive, we arranged for a taxi with San Juan Taxi Service to take us to Roche. Don’t expect a fancy town car and your van might be a bit smoky. However, our driver Larry was very nice and got us safely home.

The four of us lucked out on the whale watching trip, as the next day the weather forecast called for 40mph across the Rosario Straights. Let’s just say it was a very bumpy ride home on the ferry!

Snug Harbor Resort is a great place to get away and reset. In fact, we would return in a heart beat! Thank you to the entire staff for your hospitality and wonderful time, we’ll definitely be back!

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to watch the full tour below and subscribe to our channel. Follow us on social media @BoatingJourney and be sure to use the hashtag #boatingjourney Cheers, Scott and Ally