Chapter 12 Sailing to the end of the 2009 Cruise...

The first image of this last series of the 2009 AQUILA Cruise is Catherine in the sunset from Jones Island Marine Park in the San Juan Islands. Moments before this photograph we stood on these bluffs overlooking the saltwaters and watched dolphins swim by. But first, lets pick up where we left off last installment...

Leaving Roche Harbor astern we set sail in a light NW breeze. Our departure was in the late afternoon following our stroll through the Westcott Bay Reserve. Our 2009 cruise was drawing to closure with only three nights remaining before hauling the boat and prepping her for the trailer haul over the Cascades. This map roughly shows our course from Roche Harbor to the first "X" where we spent the night on a buoy on Jones Island. The next "X" is where we spent the night on the dock at James Island Marine Park and the final phase of the journey routes us into the port of Anacortes.

From the comments received I know that many FIREWATER blog readers have not traveled upon, nor navigated a small boat through the islands. Nothing fancy on AQUILA. Here is a photo of her helm station, located in the cockpit, just aft of the dodger. A basic binnacle with instruments showing water depth, vessel speed, a handheld GPS with a quick mount, a microphone capable of controlling the VHF radio mounted in the navigation station below decks. Note the paper chart folded forward of the covered compass. Nothing like a good old paper chart to plot the navigation on.

When we arrived at Jones Island the norwesterly wind had shifted to NE and a wind wave pattern was rolling into the anchorage. That made all of the buoys available as it appeared no one else wanted to spend the night in the roll of the waves. No problem for us as AQUILA is a stable vessel and tends to keep her nose to the wind. We hiked across the island to the western shore and took these photos of the sun setting across the Canadian Gulf Islands. It was a fine early autumn evening and along with the sunset we checked out the dolphins, the seals, gulls and eagles.

While we knew the voyage was coming to a close, we were in no hurry for it to do so. Thus when the next day dawned chill with a light northerly breeze we motorsailed under the genoa and I let the auto-pilot do the steering as I sheltered under the dodger and alternated between navigating the islands, enjoying the scenery and reading the Ken Kesey book I had purchased at the used bookstore in Ganges. Catherine was engaged in much of the same below decks occasionally passing up warm coffee and soup to ward off the chill.
By the end of the day our sailing efforts paid off and we found the ever-popular dock of the James Island Marine Park not only available but empty. In fact a hike across the island and peek into the other anchorage showed we had the entire island park to our selves. That is rare, although with the forecast for cold & windy conditions it was apparent the weather had most certainly changed from a fair and sunny autumn to a chill and blustery one. No problem. We enjoyed our very quiet time on the island dock. Quiet that is until the westerly winds howled into the anchorage. Still AQUILA is a snug little vessel and we were enjoying a game of Scrabble and listening to an XM jazz channel on the radio.

We had initially thought to stay on James Island for two nights and we were listening to the weather every few hours on the VHF to see what the conditions for crossing Rosario Strait would be like in the morning compared to this 2nd afternoon we were on the island. The winds abated and the rain eased while we were out rowing about in our rain gear. When the late afternoon sun broke through the clouds and Catherine turned to me and said, "We should go now." That's all it took. We had spent the better part of this month together working the boat, listening to the weather, planning the tidal passages and being in tune with one another. I knew her reasoning as soon as she said it. And I readily went with her suggestion.

Here's a photograph Catherine took as I readied the boat for the crossing of Rosario Strait and the route into Anacortes. I knew due to the tide and late hour of our departure we would end up making a night run up Guemes Channel between Fildalgo & Guemes island. No problem with that either. We are both veterans of night piloting and boat handling.

Another of Catherine's photos of me at the helm and running east with a westerly storm brewing. Lopez Island is falling astern with the setting sun but Rosario Strait is flat and fairly calm. So all we had to do now is beat the tides, dodge the ferries, out maneuver the tug boats, run the buoys and do it all in the falling darkness. Cool...

I snapped this rather 'moody' image of the westerly storm cell gaining on us. There was not enough wind to sail and we had the little 18hp Yanmar diesel cranking about 2,800rpm to scoot us across the strait.

Well we made it across and into the marina in the dark of night. It was a good feeling to tie to our assigned dock space in Cap Sante Boat Haven and sleep soundly. Our plans held for the recovery of AQUILA out of the saltwaters and back onto her trailer. It took another full 24 hours, with us sleeping onboard another night in the boat yard, for the vessel to be road ready.

Seems like we started this series of blog posts out, about 12 installments ago, with one of my over-worked sayings... "It takes a lot of work to have this much fun." And that was our mantra that final day in Anacortes as we lowered the mast, stowed the gear, hauled the sails needing repair to the sail loft, returned some gear to West Marine, fixed the trailer lights, checked tire pressures, double checked hitches & chains, tied up the wide load signs, cinched down straps, and generally enjoyed working on chill, damp autumn day getting ready to haul a 30 foot sailboat over the Cascade Mountain Range. Another Catherine Brown photograph as we climb Stevens Pass.
I had initially thought that the above photo of AQUILA, now a 'trailer hulk' being hauled over the mountains would end this series but then I realized there was one missing element. The 'credits' if you will. So while the music plays and the other viewers leave the theater I invite you to one more look at the cast of characters in this story. Double click the image for a larger view and...

Enjoy...

Thanks for following along.

Foster