september adventure: anacortes and skagit bay
Date: Septembe 17, 2020
Time Start: 10:45 a.m
Time Finish: 2:30 p.m.
Cruise From: Ewing Cove, Sucia
Cruise To: Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes
Engine Hours Start: 1230
Engine Hours Finish: 1233
Weather/sea conditions: Hazy with smoke, poor visibility, gray day
It's another day just like the ones before! Smoke haze! The sun? A dot in the sky, if at all. For a brief moment, we have enough clearing for one final view of Ewing Cove before heading to Anacortes and a reserved slip at Cap Sante Marina.
Time Start: 10:45 a.m
Time Finish: 2:30 p.m.
Cruise From: Ewing Cove, Sucia
Cruise To: Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes
Engine Hours Start: 1230
Engine Hours Finish: 1233
Weather/sea conditions: Hazy with smoke, poor visibility, gray day
It's another day just like the ones before! Smoke haze! The sun? A dot in the sky, if at all. For a brief moment, we have enough clearing for one final view of Ewing Cove before heading to Anacortes and a reserved slip at Cap Sante Marina.
Cruising through the heavy skies, the island of Matia rises out of the gloom like a ghost ship.
Any boats or land forms are just faint shadows on the horizon - what horizon??! We are using our radar, and our eyes are constantly scanning for other boats. Visibility is maybe a quarter mile at best. The water is flat calm. There is no sun, no shadows. It is a blank world. Our radar points out and even identifies any boats that are near us. Electronics are such a help! And we keep our speed low.
It feels good to be on the docks of Cap Sante! The skies are clearer, with spells of haze blowing through. We are ready for some shore walks and the chance to refresh our groceries, do laundry, and have a nice hot shore shower.
Date: September 18, 2020
Cap Sante layover day
Weather: Air still hazy but better at times, mid 60's.
Cap Sante layover day
Weather: Air still hazy but better at times, mid 60's.
We treat ourselves to fresh cinnamon rolls and lattes from Calico Cupboard before picking up our groceries. The colors of the pumpkins piled outside the store are irresistible! We are reminded that our world really is full of wonderful color!
Back at the marina, all is pretty quiet. Very few boats are venturing out. Fishing boats are lined along the docks, there is no wind for sailing, and the sales teams for the For Sale boats are seeing little action.
Once again dinner is in the cabin. We have fresh fish to saute along with lots of fresh veggies! And some hot from the oven bread! Life is good inside our Ranger Tug!
Date: September 19, 2020
Time Start: 11:35 a.m.
Time Finish: 2:05 p.m.
Cruise From: Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes
Cruise To: Hope Island, Skagit Bay
Engine Hours Start: 1233
Engine Hours Finish: 1236
Weather/sea conditions: NO SMOKE!!! Clouds, some actual sun! Mid 60's, NW winds
Time Start: 11:35 a.m.
Time Finish: 2:05 p.m.
Cruise From: Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes
Cruise To: Hope Island, Skagit Bay
Engine Hours Start: 1233
Engine Hours Finish: 1236
Weather/sea conditions: NO SMOKE!!! Clouds, some actual sun! Mid 60's, NW winds
Real skies overhead! Lots of clouds, but NO SMOKE! We'll take it! Sadly, flags are flying at half staff today, in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice, who passed away yesterday. Her shoes will be hard to fill, a big loss for our country.
We're ready to cruise south, no radar needed today. Oops, someone missed reading a sign and didn't pay attention to their depth finder. Hope they can float away at high tide with no damage to their hull.
We take the Swinomish Channel to Skagit Bay where the Seal Rocks are well inhabited today.
The buoys are full at Hope Island, so we drop our anchor nearby. Deciding we are too shallow (memory of a grounded sail boat firmly in our heads!), we move to a buoy when it is vacated. The buoy has a floating milk jug attached to it. Well, the buoy starts sinking as the tide comes in! No wonder someone tied the milk jug to it! We move back to anchoring, but can't find enough swing room. The anchor is pulled once more as we move NORTH STAR to the south side of the island. We drop anchor for a final time in 20 feet with 150 feet of rode out. There are no buoys on this side of the island, where the shoreline consists of rock faces rising high above the water. We note cormorants on the rock faces in one spot and plan to take a closer look tomorrow.
Day ends beautifully, sunset colors! And with our Fusion stereo, we catch the first concert of the new season of the Seattle Symphony, performed COVID style with musicians all distanced and no live audience, as we watch the moon rise over Skagit Bay.