Sunday, August 21, 2011

I awoke a few minutes to 6 a.m. to help get ready for our departure, sat up and saw the view above out of the porthole window in the V-birth. I did a double-take it was so beautiful—at the moment I took the glance there was the sunset and a huge ferry passing by, which would have made for an awesome photo. I managed to make it up to the pilothouse with my camera with enough time to catch the sunrise, only the ferry was long-gone.

Due to sloppy conditions in the Straits of Juan de Fuca (often referred to as the “Straits of Juan de Puka” due to the wind-driven waves), we decided to take the same course under the Deception Pass Bridge and between Whidbey and Camano Island to return to Seattle. We did a little over 85 miles today with nothing notable to speak of other than great company and wonderful scenery.

We made it to the locks at around 6:00 p.m. and were not surprised to find a line of boats waiting to get back into Lake Washington. It was the last weekend before most people’s kids went back to school, so I think many families decided to make the most of the last day of summer break and spend it on their boats. We decided to let the chaos sort itself out before we headed in, so we missed one full locking cycle. They loaded the boats, flooded the locks and sent that batch of boats into Lake Washington. Each of these cycles is about 45 minutes, so they reloaded the locks with boats, closed the lock doors and let the water out, allowing those boats to head out into the salt water. We caught the next cycle and all-told, we didn’t hit the slip at Lockhaven until 10:00 p.m.

While we were out, my cousin Brad was poaching the covered moorage with his 27’ Trophy fishing boat, so we visited with him over dinner and then packed our stuff to head home. We didn’t make it off the boat until after midnight and headed back to their home in Lake Sammamish, ending another excellent vacation.