There's been a distinct change in the weather. After weeks of watching the barometer bounce back and forth between 1020 and 1000 millibars and bringing heaving winds along with it, it's now sitting steady at 1017 and the weather has settled so we've been able to accomplish a lot of work – sanding, varnishing, and reinforcing the side solar panel mounting straps. But not having a marina berth has turned out to be a bigger inconvenience than I originally thought it would be and is interfering with the amount of progress we're able to make. For five dollars, the marina allows you to tie up in a berth for four hours, which is wonderful because it gives us a working platform and electricity for tools, but isn't enough time to accomplish much of anything. And, with this beautiful weather, we're wasting precious hours fiddling around – upping-anchor, motoring in, tying up, plugging in, pulling out tools, and the reverse process at the end of the day. But we're getting there. Slowly. But surely.
Our first night at anchor in more than six months was fantastic! Although we're only 200 metres or so away from our former berth, it's so much quieter out here – no battery charger whirling away, no people walking past, and no fishing trawler for a neighbor. The only downside is that the weather is still fairly cold and unsettled, but the holding in the bay is excellent (mud) and the central heating system keeps the boat nice and warm.
This morning, we took the dinghy in to shore and drove to the ferry terminal on Bainbridge Island where we met Jeff and Karry. The four of us went over to Seattle for a Mariners' game against the Texas Rangers. My brother's a big fan of ballparks, so I wanted to take a look at Safeco Field because I had heard it's among the top three parks in the country (with Fenway in the number one spot, of course). The day was overcast with a chance of rain, so they had the roof closed which is probably the main reason Safeco stands out from the rest. Other than that, it was quite ordinary as was the game – the Mariners lost 1-3 in extra innings. It didn't really matter though. We always have a good time with the Bices, and the best part of the afternoon came when we stopped in one of the pubs for a few drinks and a lot of laughs on the way back to the terminal. By the time we got back to Poulsbo, it was close to 11 pm and raining making for a very cold and wet trip back to the boat (one of the few downsides to living at anchor), so we tucked in and called it a night hoping the weather clears soon so we can get to work.
After a grueling 18 hours on I-5 (David was flipped the bird 3 times in the last three hours of the drive), we got back to Poulsbo yesterday afternoon around 4 o'clock. We were both really tired and ready for a good night's sleep so we had a quick bite to eat, popped in a DVD and went to bed leaving the unpacking and organizing for today.
The third solar panel (to be mounted on top of the radar arch) and MPPT controller arrived yesterday, so we went down to the office to pick them up – the forward cabin is now their temporary home along with the hundreds of piles of other junk. While there, we learned that the marina berth we were promised for the next month doesn't exist, so we'll be dropping our lines tomorrow and going out to anchor. It's going to be a little inconvenient when it comes to completing the work we need to get done but, on the bright side, it'll be a nice change and a good way to shake down the systems on the boat.
David and John finished the deck this afternoon and it looks amazing! Working with straight lines and on a somewhat-even surface was a nice change for David, but the project still took longer than expected with breaks for trips to Home Depot to pick up forgotten items or for recharging the batteries (literally) – not quite on par with a boat job, but close! While the guys toiled away, I amused myself with morning walks to Balboa Park with Sally, a trip to the dog beach in Coronado, my first decent haircut since November, and watching entirely too much television – never running short of things to do in San Diego, one of my favourite cities.
That's not to say it was all work and no play for the guys. I managed to pull them away from laying joists and decking long enough to go to the zoo the other morning and for a walk on the beach one evening. Both David and I were happy to see the Pacific Ocean again – the smell of the sand and the sea, dolphins playing in the surf, and the endless western horizon – a big change from what we've grown accustomed to over the past two years. It was easy to let our imaginations run wild and wonder where the wind would take Cambria if she were one of the few sailboats out on the water – Hawaii? The Marquesas? Fanning Island? – but those are dreams for another day. For now, we're both happy to be in the Pacific Northwest enjoying exploring the hundreds of inlets and islands in her protected waters.
Unfortunately, it's time for another good-bye and none of us want to leave, including Sally who seems to have formed a truce with Jake, John's lovely (but big) Rottweiller-mix. (It's hard not to feel like we're leaving John and Craig holding the bag while we go off to have fun on the water.) But we have to be back in Poulsbo by the first of May to move the boat out of temporary moorage, so we'll be leaving tonight around 8 o'clock in order to miss all the traffic in L.A. (and the rest of California for that matter). Should be fun.
McKayla & Alyssa
Our time in Las Vegas was short, but sweet. Going from the sea to the desert is always difficult for us and we become slaves to air conditioning and fizzy drinks to keep our throats coated but managed to make the transition from wearing layers of clothes to shorts without too many problems.
McKayla's into crafts now, so we spent A LOT of time making things (finger puppets out of toilet paper rolls, pet rocks, a ring toss game, and more) which was a real blast. And Alyssa is running around like crazy wreaking havoc where ever she goes – I think she takes after the Gardiner side of the family (or at least her grandpa).
Sunday night we took a drive over to Summerlin, our old neighbourhood, to see our dear friends from Alaska, Paul and Julia Cossman, who just happened to be into town for a few days. It'd been three years since we were all together and we spent the evening in a frenzy of conversation and excitement catching up and, although I hadn't been officially Cossman'd (left feeling like you'd been trampled by an elephant from drinking copious amounts of alcohol), I felt their presence the following morning. David, being the designated driver, wunharmed. We got together for dinner on Monday and said our good-byes until we're able to meet again which will hopefully be in October when they drive south from Anchorage to Newport, California to finish prepping Sabina for her third South Pacific adventure.
On Tuesday, I met up with Elizabeth Campbell and her son, Daniel, for dinner leaving David at home to spend some quality time with Chris. Elizabeth and I taught at Swainston all those years ago and have managed to keep in touch through the internet and the occasional visit to Las Vegas. As always, it was great to see them again and I was left realizing how much I miss hanging out with Elizabeth in the halls and after school.
By this morning, it was time to pack up the truck and move on to San Diego where David had a surprise waiting for him. – the opportunity to build a deck with his son. Come to find out, John's been wanting to put a deck in his backyard since he moved in and, with time off from work and Dad in town, was ready to start the project.
Paul & Julia Cossman from Anchorage, Alaska and S.V. Sabina.
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| The 2010 winter-moorage gang in Poulsbo. |
David and his cake.
Yesterday was a great day and a bit of a surprise for David. Before embarking on a 1200-mile drive to Las Vegas to spend some time with Chris, Stacia, and the girls, we had a farewell potluck dinner at the marina. My contribution to the meal was a chocolate birthday cake which was delivered blazing in candle light to David as everybody sang Happy Birthday completely taking him by surprise. It was a wonderful evening full of good food, great music, excellent company and a brilliant way to say “see you later” before all the winter live-aboards go their separate ways – Les on You've Got Mail is headed to Mexico, Jan on Tortue will stick around until June before setting sail for San Francisco, Al and Becca onHalona are headed north to the Broughtons (where we hope to see them again), Sandy and Ray on Pure Joy will be spending some time shaking down their boat in the San Juan Islands before sailing south to Mexico and warmer climates, and Jonathan on Judy II hopes to spends some time up in the San Juans as well.
By 10 o'clock the party was over, the boat was locked up the boat, and we were on our way to Vegas. The drive was grueling at times, especially at night, but clearly made easier by our excitement to see everyone again and we arrived just in time to take David out for a birthday meal with his family.
Happy Birthday, d.!
Two views of the starboard side solar panel. The 3rd on will mount on the radar arch.
Two of the solar panels for our new array arrived last week and have been sitting in their boxes up in the forward cabin patiently waiting for the weather to settle down so they could be mounted which is exactly what happened on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, the local high schools had a sailing regatta (dinghies) in the bay and flooded the end of the pier with adolescent chatter causing David to manoeuvre around backpacks and bodies, but he managed the job brilliantly. He'll have to go back and reinforce the strapping to make the panels more secure, but that's a job for another day now that the weather has taken a turn for the worse.
Like every other project on a boat, this one's difficult and tedious taking huge amounts of prep-work and time (I'm still having nightmares about the endless conversations regarding which panels to buy, who to buy them from, where to mount them, and the like leaving me knowing more than I'd ever wanted to about solar panels – in the end, we chose 3 Kyocera 135w panels which are 60 x 26 inches and weigh approximately 30 pounds). But, on average, they should put about 120 amps into the house batteries daily which is only 30 amps shy of our usual energy consumption making the whole endeavor worthwhile. What that means is we'll no longer have to rely on our generator (which is still out of commission) or the engine to regenerate power while at anchor making us more independent, economical, and environmentally friendly!
Five years ago today, we stood on top of a hill overlooking the Hauraki Gulf and exchanged wedding vows in a simple, but beautiful, ceremony making the 9th of April one of our favourite days. I can't tell you what finally prompted the decision to make our relationship“official”; but I like to joke that within weeks of my finally agreeing to give up my maiden name, we were married.
Most people wonder how we manage to live in such a small space twenty-four hours a day with no real escape. It's true that we live under a microscope where annoying little habits can be magnified, but there are times that our lives are in each other's hands and there's just no room on the boat (literally) for excess baggage. That's not to say that our lives are without difficulties. We have the same issues and blow-outs as every married couple, but animosity is a luxury we can't afford. It helps that over the years we've learned a sort of dance –a give and take – where we're able move and glide around each other without much thought or interruption and have found ways to spend time alone even when we're sitting two feet away from each other. But it all really boils down to just one thing: when you've chosen the right person, it's easy. And David makes it easy.
Happy Anniversary, d. I love you!
Our return to Poulsbo hasn't been nearly as productive as we'd hoped and it appears that our May 1st departure is no longer a possibility. The spring weather is incredibly unsettled with several days of high winds and rain with only brief periods of respite before the next system moves in making it impossible to get any of the outside work done, so we decided to do what we can over the next week and then drive down to Las Vegas and San Diego to visit David's sons.
On the bright side, it's been nice to be back amongst friends and to have met new ones in the process – Ray and Sandy on Pure Joy, Jan on Tortue,and Alvah and Dianna Simon on Roger Henry. Alvah's a contributing editor to Cruising World magazine and has written a book called North To The Night about the year he and Dianna spent in the Arctic on their boat. Because her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Dianna had to be evacuated from their winter anchorage where they were iced in and fly to New Zealand. Alvah spent the following several months alone,in the dark, and in temperatures reaching 60 below with a cat named Halifax as his only company. It's an amazing story – not your usual cruising fare – and reading it makes it difficult not to look at them without some level of awe. It's not the type of cruising that appeals to either one of us, but it's difficult not to envy parts of their experience and adventure – very, very, small parts.
Having finally run out of excuses, we left Coon Bay and our friends' dock this morning for Poulsbo where we plan to do the majority of work on Cambria before heading north in May. As usual, it was difficult to leave a place we've come to love, but exciting just the same. There's always a thrill that accompanies each departure and new destination (even if we've been there before) that stems from the sheer joy of being on the water, especially when you're gifted with beautiful weather like we were today. The passage itself was uneventful – four wonderful hours spent in the warmth of the cockpit enjoying the view of the land from the water at a leisurely 6 knots – whetting our appetites for the season to come.
