Twistedspinster

Wednesday night, and all's well...

Ah, after Monday's excitement, it was good to just sit on dry ground and wait for the boat to be repaired. The operative word is "wait". The problem turned out to be a broken shaft on a water pump, and the replacement had to be flown in from Seattle. And the only planes that fly in to Roche Harbor, Washington are the ones that can land on the water in the harbor. So Tuesday was spent hiking around Roche Harbor, touring the Sculpture Garden that's in a 12-acre pasture (that's not a typo!), and getting a king-size sinus attack from the newly mown grass.

Amazingly, though, once the replacement pump arrived, the boat was repaired by noon (Wednesday)! I was just kicking back up by the Lime Kiln Cafe (for those who might ever go, it has my highest recommendation!)... the cell phone rang, and the Roketman said to hurry on down, we're ready to take off! Wow, wish all mechanics were that good and fast.

Skipper Terry was already on board, they'd already tested the engine and set a course, so I skedaddled on down, snapping a few last pictures as I went. We traversed San Juan Island, going out into Haro Strait, and actually got to see some orcas by Deadman Bay! I have gazillions of pictures, of mostly water with 4-6 pixels worth of fin.

Then, it was down past Lime Kiln Lighthouse and Cattle Point Lighthouse (RM really likes his lighthouses), and on around the island back to Friday Harbor. RM and Skipper Terry practiced more mooring drills while I went up to the marina for a much-needed shower. Did I mention that showers cost 25 cents a minute? And you better load in those extra minutes before the water stops, or it's another 5 quarters off the bat.

After my two dollar shower (remind me to describe why I didn't want to shower on board-- suffice it to say that there isn't a whole lotta room for these big hips), I find the boat again. Which was a bit of an adventure, because they changed slips on me and I didn't have cell coverage to find out this needed bit of information. Luckily, it was only a couple slips away from where our original slip was. Did I mention that it's a heckuva walk from the marina out to Pier G, slip 36? (yup, Pier A slip 1 is closest. And that's where the Mayor ties up.)

We'd only had PBJs for lunch, since I was totally blindsided by the mechanic's super speed and thus not prepared with any other food. So we went to Vinny's, an expensive but very good local restaurant with a wonderful view of the harbor.

The sun is just now setting at 9pm, but we probably have another 30 minutes of light. I like this about the PNW this time of year.

More thoughts tomorrow, if I have the gumption...

posted by Ruth S. @ 8:37 PM