Wrapping up week 2 of our adventure!

Boy does time fly when you are having fun! Day 13 on the boat and it hardly feels like we have been on the boat for 2 weeks! We have had so many experiences in such a short amount of time! I am so grateful to have this opportunity as it really is an amazing experience. Not all of it has been fun, but if you look past the bad the good outweighs it!

Our first day of sailing 4/15 (my birthday), I thought would be a fabulous experience as we had planned to head to Friday Harbor to celebrate my 35th birthday. I was wrong! My dad decided to break out the military sailing instruction. With no training, tons of yelling, tears falling, and me thinking I have totally lost my mind...we eventually made it to Friday Harbor. Clearly the military style did not work!!! I would have thought that he knew it didn't work from my experience with him in Alaska on his fishing boat, but I guess he was having a good time watching the three of us try to sail a boat with no training! I was so happy when we made it to Friday Harbor!

The next morning my mom's roller skating friend Louise and her husband John invited us over to their house for breakfast. We had a fabulous breakfast with wonderful conversation! After breakfast, mom and I went shopping while the boys had beers at the 'Rumor Mill'. We got supplies and finished the night off with a few drinks at the American Legion. That was a good time! The bartender clearly noted our good time by stating "Sometimes driving is safer than walking" as we headed out the door. We all made it safely back to the boat, and woke up the next morning to head out once again!

There was less yelling this time, but it was clear that the three of us (mom, Nick, & myself) needed training! When someone is yelling sailing terms and you have NO idea what they mean it is really hard to react! We made it safely to Jones Island, and totally embarrassed my dad when we pulled up to the dock as none of us could tie off the boat correctly. That was when he finally clued in that we need training! We needed to know what things are called, how to tie knots, how to tie on the fenders, how to raise the sails, how to take down the sails, etc... We didn't know anything! We spent the remainder of the day learning how to tie up the boat, tie the fenders, tie knots, and general boat terminology. We stayed a couple of nights at Jones Island as the weather was beautiful and the island was a ton of fun.

After the second night we decided to venture out again and try to sail. Things were definitely better as we had somewhat of an idea what things were called, and how to put the sails up. The nightmare on this trip was trying to tie up to a mooring buoy. Nick and I had no training and my mom had a little bit of training. After missing the buoy the first time, we all clued into the fact that we had better get this right on the first time as it would make the experience so much more pleasant. Once we were all tied up and the anxiety was fading. My dad decided that he didn't like the spot and wanted us to move to another buoy! What???? So, we did it again and were successful on the first attempt! We spent two nights moored at Sucia Island.

After two nights in Sucia we attempted our fourth day of sailing to Stuart Island. The weather was beautiful, we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves...only one problem! No wind! A must on a sailboat! We drifted around for a bit and finally decided to motor the remainder of the way into Reid Harbor. No dock space meant tying up to a buoy! The anxiety started up again, but we were able to tie off successfully! We arrived to the Island a little earlier in the day so Nick and I decided to discover the island. We ended up going on an 4 mile hike to get to the other side of the island to see a lighthouse. We were so disappointed when we arrived as the Coast Guard had taken over the old fashioned lighthouse and turned it into a large pole with 8 huge camera's on it. So, we trekked the 4 miles back and were surprised with a crab dinner! It made our night after the disappointing walk to the lighthouse.

After one night at Reid Harbor we decided to move the boat over to the other side of the island. We were so excited to see that there was a space on the dock and we could practice our knots! We did pretty good tying up the boat! That night we ended up running out of water and had to break into our emergency water. So, we knew that would be our last night out and we would have to return to Orcas Island to fuel up, water up, food up, and shower up before heading out again.

The next morning we got up and started our trip back a little early due to the tides. We had a beautiful, but really cold sail back to Orcas. We stopped at Deer Harbor to gas up and get some lunch. I was thoroughly impressed with our docking skills as we managed to get the boat tied up with less critique!:) After getting gas we motored from Deer Harbor to our permanent mooring and have been in Orcas for the past couple of days.

Everyday things get a little easier, and I realize more and more how blessed we are to have this opportunity. It's not easy to learn how to sail, live on a 44ft boat with 4 people & 2 dogs, go days without a real shower (only baby wipe showers), and have very little alone time. Once you look past all of that, we have had some incredible experiences while we have been on this trip. We have had more blue skies than I think I've seen in the past 6 months, seen so many different types of wildlife, explored different islands, and laughed and laughed and laughed. I am so thankful for this opportunity!

I will post some photo's on the next blog as it looks like we will be on Orcas for a few more days getting ready for our next sailing adventure.