November 2
We are getting tired of the hassles of being at the marina in Portage Bay. It is a beautiful spot but we have had our car broken into, a window on the boat broken, a homeless person living on the beach, etc. After looking around, Dave reached out to BananaBelt Boats in Anacortes to see if they would be interested in storing our boat on the hard for the winter. Indeed, they are expanding and are happy to store the boat.
This is a great option because the boat is more secure, cannot sink, gets checked on every Monday, is way cheaper and is in the middle of super good boat services. They will even fill the boat with fuel that is cheaper than on the water and way more convenient. So, we signed the contract and made plans to fly Dave up to Seattle to move Sea Star 7.
November 4
Dave arrives on the boat. Does some provisioning the next day for departure on Monday. Our tent buddy seems to have abandoned his abode.
November 6
Jim and Margaret came aboard to help Dave take SS7 through the locks. When arriving at the locks, they discovered that only the small locks were running because they were doing maintenance on the large locks. Then they discovered that the small locks had failed and nobody was going anywhere. So they tied up and waited. Seven hours later, they got it going and SS7 locked through. The delay spoiled any thought of going further, so they tied up at Shilshole for the night. Dinner was Jim’s famous burgers.
November 7
Margaret had left the night before leaving the boys to take the boat up north. With the delay, Jim’s schedule is tight as they are leaving for Napa mid-week so making Anacortes is not in the cards. The winds are forecasted to be fairly strong on the way but they head out for Oak Harbor in glassy waters around 0700.
The winds did pick up as they rounded Whidbey Island. They saw 30 knot gusts on the nose sending spray clean over the pilothouse on occasion. Arrival at Oak Harbor was a little tricky in the wind but they got her tied down around 1400. Margaret drove up and picked up Jim. It was windy at the dock.
November 8
Dave departed Oak Harbor solo around 0930. The wind was perfect and blew him neatly off the dock. There were white caps again but not as windy as the day before. That was good because there were zillions of crab traps in the water requiring course deviations every minute or so. Seeing them in the waves the day before would have been super difficult. Headed up the Swinomish on a rising tide which always makes Dave feel better in those shallow waters. He arrived at BananaBelt’s dock around 1400 which turned out to be super narrow. It required three guys with fenders to help the boat in. It is so narrow that you cannot put out fenders on both sides.
November 10
Getting ready to depart, Dave does laundry. He discovered the dryer had died. It probably is another casualty of the generator runaway this spring. So, the bridge turns into a drying room for the day.
November 13
Dave flew home a couple days before. The boatyard moves and hauls the boat, putting her in her winter home. She will be there until June when we return from Italy.
