A better weekend I can’t imagine
Obviously we had a good time. It was full of sun, fun, fresh food, drama, adventure, rain (lots of rain) and plenty of camaraderie and beautiful scenery. We certainly hope to have many more weekends like this in the future!
It all started with our trying to plan a weekend with our great friends Marty and Deb on their Islander 37′ in the San Juans. We tried and tried to coordinate our schedules, and were able to settle on late August after months and months of trying. It was most definitely worth the wait.
The four of us started off the weekend by carpooling up to Anacortes with Marty and Deb’s kitten Lilly in tow. It was a quick drive up and I think we were all excited to spend some time on the boat. Marissa and I especially so, since Marty and Deb have spent pretty much all of their weekends exploring all that Northern Puget Sound has to offer.
We ended up spending the night on the boat in the Marina just off of downtown Anacortes and slept oh so well. What is it with the gentle rocking of a boat that allows anyone to slip off into a deep slumber?
Marissa and I are always excited to spend time on the water.
Not even a puff of breeze was to be seen on the water, so we ended up motoring to our destination
Saturday was absolutely beautiful. As soon as we made it to Spencer Spit on Lopez Island we tied off to a mooring buoy and settled in for a strenuous day of reading, eating, relaxing, drinking and napping. It is a tough life.
Shortly after, we set a crab pot at Marty’s secret spot and headed back to the boat to nap. We were all having sweet dreams of fresh crab and wine at sunset.
Is that a Bloody Mary?
The time flew by and we were back at the crab pot a few hours later where we pulled in a record haul! >11 crabs were in the pot, with one female and one undersized male being returned to the sea. Only being able to keep five, four lucky survivors were back on the bottom shortly thereafter.
You are limited to five crab per permit, which was more than enough for the four of us.
Does it get any fresher?
Those poor crabs never stood a chance!
Marissa ended up making an amazing homemade crab fettucine which may just have one best overall meal on the boat for the entire summer (so said our hosts 
.
It certainly looks like they are having a good time.
My favorite photo of the trip...
Needless to say, it was an amazing day.
Sunday promised to be a bit different. Marty checked the forecast and NOAA was saying we should expect sustained breezes of >20 knots for the sail home on Sunday, which of course meant we were all a bit excited and nervous. 20 knots can do some serious damage to any sailboat. We had plans for reefing the main, putting up the storm jib and securing everything down below in anticipation. Needless to say nothing like that ever happened.
It did rain though…
Always, and I mean always bring foul weather gear when sailing in the Northwest (event in August).
And it didn’t let up till well after we had docked once again in Anacortes. Though, while we were on our way back we did see some very hardy sailors. VERY, VERY HARDY.
You have got to be kidding me!
We had creature comforts compared to these guys. We had a heated cabin, cozy beds, lots of space and a bilge pump. I am assuming that they didn’t have any of that.
We did experience one piece of high adventure on the open seas. Remember the kitty? Well poor Lilly fell off the boat and was screaching a terrible meoh for all the San Juans to hear as she swam frantically around the boat. Thankfully, we were able to get her onboard before too long and dry her off. Most likely the experience scared the heck out of that poor cat! Though, I am sure she will be just fine.
Thanks again to Marty and Deb for allowing us to spend this great weekend with them on their amazing Islander 37. It was a weekend we will remember for quite some time.
How does your schedule look for next weekend? Do you two need crew again? How about the weekend after that?