Notes about this page:  I had hoped I could mix text and pictures in this narrative, but my ineptitude with this site builder left me with separating the two elements.  So if you just want to look at the pictures, scroll down to the photo album at the bottom of the page.  And about those photos - in my efforts to utilize all of the storage while packing for this trip I forgot where I packed the digital camera and didn't locate it until half way through the trip.  That left us with our little 35mm camera which always took great pictures until David dropped it in the river while fly-fishing one day.  So the quality of these photos leaves a bit to be desired.

That being said -

After a grueling  (yeah, right) season of sailing every weekend, mid-April
to September we loaded Prozac on her trailer and
headed north.  We were traveling with our mentors, Heidi & Laura & their boat "Sacred Space." 
We launched the boats at Cap Sante Boat Haven in Anacortes and spent the rest of day raising masts, adding provisions and enjoying Anacortes.  On Monday, September 19th we left at noon for our first salt water sail.  And what a treat it was.  We had good wind and weather as we sailed west through Guemes Channel and across Rosario  Strait.  Turns out we both love being on a boat that's rocking up & down while it's leaned sideways! 

Our first anchorage was on the west side of James Island, which lies off the east coast of Decatur Island.  It's a beautiful little island that is part of Washington's State Marine Park System.  We rafted up on the mooring and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset.

The next day we arose to more beautiful weather.  We moved the boats to the small dock and packed our breakfast stuff the short distance to the sunny side of the island.  We headed out in the afternoon to our next anchorage - Hunter Bay on the east side of Lopez Island.  The wind was light, but we tried to sail a little anyways.  The anchorage was nice as was the sunset.

The next day we were off to Blind Bay on the north side of Shaw Island.  We had some good wind and a GREAT sail.  We were having such a good time we kind of ignored the navigation thing.  Fortunately our ever-vigilant mentors were watching out for us.  We got a call on the walkie-talkie:
Heidi:  Where ya goin'?
Pam:  We're heading toward Harney Channel.
Heidi:  No, we're headed toward Harney Channel, you're headed up the east sound of Orcas.
Pam:  Oh REAL-LY....

A tip of the tiller & we were back on course.  And thank goodness because Blind Bay was also gorgeous.  And guess what?  Another beautiful sunset.

The next morning we motored down to Fisherman's Bay on the west side of Lopez Island.  We tied up at Islands Marine Center and walked  up to Lopez Village.  Heidi  & Laura nosed around until they found Bucky's, where they had eaten before and we all had the Black & Bleu burgers and ales.  And I might say the burgers lived up to the reports we had heard.  I still dream about them.  We were able to do utilities - shower, top off water tanks, dump garbage & refresh ice.  We enjoyed Fisherman's Bay and would have stayed longer, but their porta-potti dump was out of commission.   It was time to move on.

So on Friday we negotiated our way back out of the zigzag entry to the bay and were enjoying a lovely sail in San Juan Channel.  However when the wind slowed, we realized we were losing ground and Fisherman's Bay was not too far behind our wake.  So we dropped the iron genny & beat feet to Friday Harbor.  As we approached the marina a bald eagle flew over our mast.  Always a good sign.  We got settled in, took care of utilities, and fixed a great dinner of steamed lobster and grilled pizzas with Laura's home made dough.
Since this was our first two week vacation in our 21 years together, we decided to kick back a bit and spend the weekend.  Heidi & Laura took on Laura's niece, Dani, and they took off for an overnighter to Jones Island.  Dave & I launched a reseach project to determine the best fish & chips and beer on the island.   
On Monday we decided to head back to Anacortes.  Not that we wanted to, mind you.  But we wanted to be sure we didn't get into any time crunches.  We sailed & motored our way back as far as Spencer Spit and grabbed a mooring.  It was a beautiful evening that we didn't want to see end.  The stars were out and we played with the phosphorescence in the water. 
The next morning we awoke to the first real overcast skies of the trip.  There was no wind, so we motored back to Anacortes.  Might have been kind of a bummer, except that as we were crossing Rosario Strait Heidi & Laura hailed us and pointed up the channel.  A pod of orcas was swimming our way.  We cut the motors and watched as a pod of 12 - 15 whales crossed in front of our bow. 
Wow.
What a way to wrap up our first cruise.