The Wongs become sailors

My friend, Kelly, who is prone to seasickness, agreed to give sailing a try (so brave!). One of the things I have always loved about Kelly is that when she says she is going to do something … she gets it done. So Kelly and her husband, Kim, arrived late on a Thursday night from Boise. We departed with the tide on Friday morning headed for Sucia. We were happy to have some wind and were able to sail part of the way there. I love when we can sail. Kim even agreed to be a pirate with me, even though I took down the pirate flag and replaced it with Ol’ Crimson (Go Cougs!).

We got ourselves anchored and then we took the dinghy to shore. It should be noted that poor Troy has a slow leak. Therefore he needs a little inflation every few days. We got to shore and intended to go on a little hike. First we thought we would peek in on Shallow Bay (opposite of Echo Bay) and what we saw there entertained us for a really long time. A group … a very large group … of friends and family had chartered two boats from Bellingham and brought two other boats and brought many people and so much gear!!! They brought multiple battery powered coolers, multiple batteries, Starlink, 8 gallon bottles of propane (more than 1) and so many bags. It was pure chaos as they unloaded. Kids started to play and people were walking down to the beach then up to their camp and back to the beach. So many trips and so much stuff. They brough every camping game I ever heard of and bags and bags. We were enthralled with their process and watched the whole thing. This group has been doing this trip for 9 years and the size of their group has been expanding. They had a very impressive set up!

We decided to abandon the idea of a hike because we were hungry and exhausted after watching so much work being done by the happy campers. Dinner was carne asada tacos. So yummy. After dinner we played 5 Crowns in the cockpit. It was a lot of fun and just what a day on the water should be. Relaxing sail, no drama anchoring, a trip ashore, a delicious meal and a fun game with excellent company.

Saturday morning we pulled the anchor and headed to Friday Harbor. To our utter delight we had great wind. Really great wind. The sails went up and we were sailing. We believe that it was our fastest sail ever in Nootka! The cockpit instruments showed 8.2 knots. It felt great and, even better, we were sailing significantly faster than the two other boats that were going the same direction. All it takes for a sailboat race is another sailboat. We sailed in splendor … for a fairly short while because we lost the wind (and our lead in the race). Nootka is a star performer in a race with at least 20 knots of wind on the beam, but in light wind she is too much of a beefcake to keep up. Though our dominance was brief, it was glorious while it lasted and the crew arrived in high spirits at Friday Harbor. A quick note about the high spirits of the crew … the Troyers have a tradition of passing a bottle of rum after a spritely sail (ok … any sail). The sails had gone up and so the rum had gone round!

Friday Harbor was as busy as I had ever seen. There were boats, ferries and planes everywhere! We anchored and headed to town. It was a beautiful day and Friday Harbor is always lively in the summer. We visited the shops and enjoyed a nice meal. Friday Harbor highlights for me – Island Thyme (for their natural deodorant and lip balm), The Center for Whale Research, San Juan Roasters (coffee beans), all their book stores, there is an American Elm tree that is 125+ years old that is super cool and San Juan Brewery. We hit most of my favorites while we were there. I always love vibe of the small towns on the islands.

The anchorage at Friday Harbor was far too busy for us to get a good night’s sleep so we decided to move the boat to Parks Bay on Shaw Island. It is only about 30 minutes away, but a world apart. It is so calm and peaceful in there. I believe that the land ashore is private and some of it is part of a UW research project. Either way, you aren’t supposed to go ashore and there are no trails. That said, there are birds. Eagles, herons and many other birds. It is a really beautiful anchorage and was very calm Saturday night which resulted in a really great sleep.

Sunday morning dawned and was beautiful and calm. We decided that we should go for a hike and chose Jones Island as our destination. We approached Jones from the south with a plan to anchor and stern tie on the north side of the island, but as we approached we saw two empty mooring balls on the south side that were just too appealing that we decided to grab one and go ashore. The mooring balls are very exposed to passing boat wakes and a few motor boats came by very close dragging huge wakes which rocked Nootka. When that happens we jokingly (kind of) say “You motor boatin’ sons of b!thches”. By the end of our journey Kim was saying that regularly – which cracked me up. He is a real sailor now! Because we were so close to shore we decided not to bother putting the dinghy motor (Abed) on Troy so we had to row to shore. With four of us in the dinghy, two people had to row which was funny and awkward.

The baby girl was secure enough on the mooring ball that we went ashore for a hike. Jones is a really great place for hiking and we had a great time. Even when Jess went off the trail on one of his short cuts. It was truly a short cut this time and it didn’t require as much bushwhacking as most of his short cuts. The hiking trails were in great shape and the views are always gorgeous. We took a loop hike and found Nootka right where we left her bobbing on her mooring ball.

I had to dig in the bottom of the refrigerator and Jess thought it was hysterical (just explaining the photo).

Once back at the boat we decided to head for Deer Harbor to go to Island Pie for some gourmet pizza. We are getting to be anchoring pros so that happened without incident. It was a little early for dinner but we decided to head to the dock to see what the little store had to offer. I found some Orcas Island wine and coffee. I really like to support the local islanders in their food and art pursuits. Nootka is filled with coffee roasted on islands. We also visited the very small marina store where I managed not to buy anything. After a brief trip back to the boat we went right back to shore to get some dinner. Island Pie makes a mean pizza pie. We sat on the deck outside in the sun and had a very nice dinner and a very calm night at anchor.

Monday morning started with fog, which burned off fairly quickly. Sadly, it was the day that we had to head back to Semiahmoo. The journey was successful but long (just because we were far away) so that when we landed back on the dock we were all pretty hungry. The first order of business was therefore getting some food – which we did at Packers (the restaurant at the Semiahmoo Resort). After another nice meal together it was back to the boat to put her away. What a treat it was for Jess and I that Kim and Kelly didn’t have to leave until the next day, which meant that we had help putting the boat away and all the chores got done very quickly! I had so much fun over the long weekend. Thank you to Kim and Kelly for coming all the way from Boise to have a little adventure with us.