First Voyage
And we are off! 10 years of dreaming, scheming, preparing, and saving has led us to this moment. At just after 7 am on an overcast and rainy day we cast off the lines at Edmonds Marina G Dock and headed North to Semiahmoo Marina slip D44. The captain was nervous but the crew made up for it with high levels of confidence. A harbor seal and a temporary dock neighbor named Rebekkah saw us off with a friendly wave. Of no consequence to the story, but a point of interest, is that Rebekkah was staying on her power boat – also named Rebekkah.
Out on the water for the first time since sea trials, we quickly got Nootka up to her cruising speed and set the autopilot. The knot meter doesn’t appear to be working (possibly blocked) but there are other ways to monitor our progress. Technology has come a long way since 1996. It has been raining on and off all day with an occasional, though short-lived, ray of sunshine peeking through the clouds. It has been a fairly busy day at sea (I say without a point of reference). We had to hold a few minutes for ferry traffic and we held again when we spotted orcas off the port bow! I hope that sight always takes my breath away. We watched them until they were far away and then continued on our journey.
So far we have seen quite a few fighter jets buzzing around in formations. There aren’t any other pleasure craft on the water. It is February and I am quite cold on deck as I write this. Nootka is humming along. We have had wind but no more than 10 knots and the Captain is focused on our destination for the night – which is LaConner. I too am excited to see a place I have heard much talked of (and all of it good). It will take most of the day to get there and we will have to navigate into the Swinomish Channel. The channel is a man-made passage – very protected – that is dredged out hopefully to a depth deeper than our keel. There is a marina that we can stay at and be on shore power – not that we need it.
The wind picked up right as we turned into the channel which meant that we had to crab our way in. It did seem like we were attempting an advanced maneuver that we were barely ready for, but it really isn’t that hard to keep the red buoy on the starboard side and green on the port. The Swinomish Channel is cool. There are houses right on the water and it is fairly narrow. There was a bridge called Rainbow Bridge that we easily cleared but from the boat, it looked like a near miss!
LaConner is a very cute town. We easily found the marina and a place to dock for the night as the guest docks were completely deserted. The First Mate (FM) decided that she would rather be on the helm for the first docking of the new baby which caused some distress for Captain Jess (CJ). We discussed the planned docking procedure – port tie, bow into the wind, and current – which required us to come about (something we could have practiced in the open). Nootka is a hefty girl and she doesn’t spin on a dime, but come about she did and we quickly, and I dare say expertly, landed her on the guest dock. CJ provided excellent coaching to the FM.
Once securely tied to the dock we headed to town, paying moorage at the pay station on the way. As it was a Wednesday in February the place was empty and many shops were closed. We walked the town and took it all in. One shopkeeper said that this place is mayhem when school lets out. I can picture it … but that is not the case now. We stopped in at LaConner Brewery to have a few pints and share a GF pizza. Back to the boat where CJ was asked to sort out water maker operations while the FM hosted a dance party for herself. Fortunately, Nootka has a dance hall. There was some complication with the water maker, which naturally was resolved by CJ. The takeaway was that he should have just pushed the button rather than reading the instruction manual. The crew watched a movie, had some popcorn, and retired to bed after an amazing first voyage in our new home.