The Day in Pictures

We thank our friend Samantha for loaning us a vehicle!  We drove with her to her house last evening where we wined, dined on her fresh-made salsa, and gazed at the view of Port Angeles across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, then drove home her pick-up.

Today we were off the boat even before the sun peeked over the ridge!  Why so early?  We were going to Roche Harbor for donuts!

 On the way, we stopped to say Good Morning to Mona

After a snuffle and a pat......

She went back to her frosty breakfast

Driving on, Cow and Pig encourage us to vote

 There is a lot of sculpture art in, around, and near Roche harbor.  This heron may have been in the blog once before, and I still like his silhouette.

The sun spotlights the flag at the hotel

After our own breakfast, and leisurely reading the Seattle Times and USA Today, we make our way to the McMillan family mausoleum.  Al says he has not been here before, but I remember coming on a previous chartered sailboat trip.

The family is arranged as though at a dinner party

We drove back to the marina, standing on the dock for a long while, watching an eagle soaring in the sun.  Then we made it back to the boat, where I worked for an hour, and Al used zillow.com to check out a couple of houses we saw on our drive through town.

Then we packed up celery sticks, cheese, apples and cold chicken from Thursday night's potluck at the Power Squadron meeting, and headed to the Lime Kiln State Park, stopping at the lighthouse for sunset.

The building was closed, so Al had to peek in all the windows.  He learned bits about recent whale sightings.  This is a favorite point to observe the Orcas in J Pod.  I MAY have seen a spout, but no dorsal fins, so it could just as likely have been the wind on the waves.

After the sun set and we prepared to leave, the house was 'lit'.

Cost to Cruise - January

Here they are, costs for January.  Overall  we did a bit better, as there are some 'extra' costs that we will not get each month:

1. Rental car for our trip to Portland during the Holidays in the Transportation row.
2. Licences (FCC) and Licences (Washington State) are in the Misc column.  FCC is good for 10 years, Washington State - only one

(If table is cut off, click on it  to open just it and see the whole table)

Maintenance is a bit higher as I completed the installation of the aft Hydronic heating loop, and purchased some items to try out adding a separate power cord for electric heat.  This might come in handy if we winter over in places with fixed utilities.

Speaking of heating.  When we take off next week we will go to Anacortes and fuel up, but it is looking like we may have used upwards of 80 gallons / month of Diesel to run the  Dickinson stove.  Though we love the Dickinson one of its limitations is it is on 7/24.  Even though we have it turned down just about as low as it will go the diesel adds up.  (Hence looking into an extra 30A shore power cord).  Will know more when we top off the tanks.

On the positive side:  we managed to stay away from the Seattle Boat show!  (MUCH worst than being in the City, but did miss not seeing friends there).  And with heading out next week we will see a dropping of the moorage.  In fact, we will get a lot of our deposit refunded!

Royal Canadian Navy

There was a show last night while we were having dinner......The Royal Canadian Navy's training ship, Orca, pulled up across the breakwater from us.  They were still here this morning, so I took a couple of photos, and Al got busy doing research.

This boat IS the Orca, first of 8 ships in the Orca class.  Here is the Wikipedia link, if you care to look at more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orca_class_patrol_vessel

This morning's view to port

At 33 meters (108+ feet), the Orca makes Viking Star look quite small across the breakwater

This is what flags look like in 50-knot winds (57.539 mph)

Walkabout in the Snow

I just couldn't stand it.

I wanted to get out and walk around, take some pictures, and yes, reward myself with a latte and a sit at a local bookstore, if they were open.  They were not.  Only the 'major' stores braved the weather.  Perhaps with a larger employee base, they were more likely to have someone 'in town' come to work.

Here's some of what I saw:

In areas that are a little more sheltered, it appears to me that we have gotten 4-6 inches

The pond is choked with snow

Yeah, right.  Not today.

icicles!

I did find some sun...

What are you looking at?!  Don't make me move!

My View of the World This Morning

I think I'll just stay tucked inside the boat today.  I have plenty of coffee and tea and the internet, so I will be okay.  Even if Friday Harbor loses power, which will cancel out that internet option, I have a shelf full of books, and we can be self-reliant for heat and lighting.  Plus there is a big pot of fresh chili Al made yesterday, simmering away on the Diesel Stove.

bliz·zard  (blzrd)

n.

1.

a. A violent snowstorm with winds blowing at a minimum speed of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour and visibility of less than one-quarter mile (400 meters) for three hours.

b. A very heavy snowstorm with high winds.

So far, we have not reached the requirements for the first definition of a blizzard, as the wind speed has not yet kicked up to forecast speeds, though it is getting closer at 30 at the moment.

To the port, into the harbor.  See how the snow is drifting around the barrier?

Looking forward

To the starboard, towards the Port office.

To the aft.  

26 degrees

We had been told to watch for this flag.

Friday Harbor has been having snow showers off and on since Sunday morning.  It has been beautiful.  Mostly there has not been much accumulation, and it has remained slushy, thawing off in the afternoon sunshine.  However, as soon as that sun dips below the hills, the wetness freezes once again and becomes treacherous.

We had heard that the Port listens to the forecast for Victoria BC, and when that forecast calls for an extended time of below 28 degrees F, they would raise the flag that indicates water would be shut off on the docks.  Today the flag went up!

We had filled our tank yesterday, even though we still were half full, not wanting to get surprised.  And when Al first turned the valve, water only trickled to start with -- it was partially frozen already.  So we are glad we topped off when we did!

It's a Small World!

Last summer we introduced ourselves to Hira by knocking on her boat Shatoosh and announcing 'We follow your blog!"  She invited us aboard and she told us stories of her FBR's as she calls them -- Faceless Blog Readers.

We suspect that we have a few too -- people who check out our blog, occasionally OR regularly, without going through the rigamarole of signing up to be an official Follower.

Well, today, we had OUR first knock on the boat with the words, 'I found your blog!'  It was Amy and her dog out for a morning walk.  She had seen our boat name, and looked us up.  I turned to Al and said 'I'll have to let Hira know we have our first FBR's!'  Amy didn't recognize when I said that we followed 'The Adventures of Shatoosh and Pashmina'.  http://shatooshandpashmina.blogspot.com

She and her husband had brought their  boat over last night to see 'The Muppets', held over at the Palace Movie Theater here in Friday Harbor.  They live on Orcas Island, on the other side of Mt. Constitution.  Turns out, their boat is an Albin, just the kind that Hira skippers.  She told us that they meet at Roche Harbor the second weekend in September, and we said that Shatoosh had been there last summer!  She asked again what Hira's name was, and then said 'Well, I know Hira!'

This reminded me of last Sunday at church.  I had talked to Samantha one other time, when she told of a Compassionate Friends memorial that was taking place that evening.  So, last Sunday, she stopped Al and I as we were preparing to leave, and we are glad that she did!  She is a lady sailor! And Al began picking her brain for her favorite places to go.

And she said ' I should put you in touch with a friend of mine who is off cruising now, He and his wife used to live in Silverton OR'  and I laughed and asked 'Is that the Yoders Afloat?!'  http://yodersafloat.blogspot.com .  Al has been following their blog, officially, for quite a while now, and I read it on occasion also.  Another 'small world' experience.  Samantha is long time friends with Steve, I think from high school, and gets his blog sent directly by email.

So Steve and Lulu, here is a picture of me, Kristi from Viking Star, with your friend Samantha at Friday Harbor!