Travel to Anacortes

May 20, 2011

Today we leave Des Moines.  We considered going by water to Anacortes, but the logistics of getting the truck and trailer there could not be worked out.  So we prepared to have the boat loaded on the trailer.  The marina has a sling lift for that purpose.  Kenny arrives from the plant with my trailer and to assist me in loading it for the first time.

While we are working, Willie catches a great shot of a Mallard that dive bombs me.  I guess I was in his way as he wanted to  be in slip adjacent to us.  Jake does not even protect me, seems that he has lost his natural bird dog properties.

After prepping Willie's Tug for travel, we motor over to the lift.  We have to drive the tug into the slings and stay centered until the operator brings us up high enough for us to step off.

Piece of cake as this is how we have putting our previous tug into its slip at home.  Except on a smaller scale.

The operator carries us over to the trailer and gently sets us down on it. We strap her down and off we go to Anacortes, working our way through the Seattle traffic.  Since the trailer sets a little down in the front, we take it easy until we can get a higher draw bar for our hitch.  The truck pulls it effortlessly, looks like we made a good choice.

We arrive in Anacortes without incident and try to unload at the marina.  But they decline to unload it without bunk cutouts for their straps.  Andrew tells me later that they did several 27s at the trawler fest.  They sent us over to Cap Sante Marine who did a fine job of getting us off the trailer and into the water.  We motor up the small channel and into Cap Sante Boat Haven, which will be our base of operation for the next 4 months.

Now we have to do a bit of walking to move the truck and trailer over to the temporary parking until we can find home for the trailer.

We have just enough time to get home in the slip and secure everything down before happy hour.  We prepare for Capt. Mac, who will come tomorrow for a day on the water provided by the plant.  We have heard many good things about his sessions.

Walldog, Willie and Jake.

Des Moines Day 2

These next couple posts are out of order, but I wanted to catch up on our taking delivery of the boat.

Thursday May 19, 2011

Today is on our own as we continue to put things in their place.  After a bit this, we decide it is too pretty to sit at the dock.  So we head out into the sound to explore and get used to the larger boat.  We cruise Southeast from Des Moines following the coast line down to Tacoma.  We stay clear of the traffic lanes.  Yesterday we found how fast some of large commercial ships move.  We do the breakin routine that Andrew recommended, 5 minutes at 2000 rpms, 5 at 3000, and 5 at 4000.  After all that we find that we really like traveling about 1800 or so.  But it is nice to have the power when you want or need it.

Jake finds his place on the floor between Willie and me.

Heading back toward Des Moines, we cruise along side of Vashon and Maury Islands.  Maury Island appears to be actually attached to Vashon.  At Robinson Point, we move close enough for Willie to photograph the light house.

We thread our way back into the narrow channel into Des Moines Marina and get a little more practice backing into a slip.

Another great day on the water here in the Pacific Northwest.

Walldog, Willie and Jake.

Guemes Island

We have been slip bound for the past 4 days getting some service work done to correct a couple of minor problems on the new "Willie's Tug".  While down, we continued to make our nest, finding a place for the necessities of life while living abound a 27 foot boat.

This afternoon, we plotted a course around Guemes Island.  Guemes Island is across the Guemes Channel from our slip at Cap Sante in Anacortes.

There was quite a bit of traffic as we left the marina and entered the channel.  A tanker anchored and a Tug with a tow.  We never see this on the Intercoastal Waterway in Texas.  It is a bit unnerving to see a barge following a tug.  As you can see from the picture, the tug is on the left side of the picture and the barge is on the right side.  Notice the cables attaching the two.

We head West in the Guemes Channel and then turn North to follow the Bellingham Channel along the West side of Guemes.  We turn back East going around Clark's Point on the North end of the Island.  Then Southerly following the East side of Guemes going between Saddleback and Huckleberry Islands back to our starting point.  A total of about 19 NM.

We back into our slip, although it does take me two tries.  I guess I was a little cocky from the first two perfect landings.  But we slide in the second time and at least we did not hit anyone or anything.  As we used to say in my airplane driving days...any landing you can walk away from is a good one.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Taking Delivery of Willie's Tug

May 17, 2011

We arrive in Kent, Washington about 3:30 PM and go to the factory.  We meet with Andrew and Jeff.  Horrors, our boat is not there.  Andrew tells us that it is in the water waiting for us at the Des Moines marina nearby.  It was not hard to find.

If we thought packing the truck was hard, putting everything from the truck into the boat is impossible.

We throw a few necessities into the boat and settle down for happy hour.  After 7 days and 3000 miles, we are in our new home for the summer.

Andrew will arrive in the morning for our orientation.  In the meantime, I look for power cords and water hoses to hook up our power and water.  It is a good thing we are experienced motor homers, so we know what to do.  It will get a little cool after the sun goes down, but we have brought some Texas weather with us to share with our friends here in Seattle.

After spending the morning going over all the systems on the boat, we take her out for the first time.  New boat, new waters.  Very scary and exciting.  We spend about 4 hours motoring around Puget Sound  between Seattle and Tacoma.  Then we take her back to the slip at Des Moines.  Wonder of wonders, we slide her back into the slip and did not hit anything.

I do believe Jake enjoyed the ride. He is finding his place to sleep.  He does not care where is, just that he is.  An attitude from which many of us could learn.

We get back from our shakedown cruise, and Andrew calls for Kenny to bring us a part to replace on the Air conditioner/Heat Pump.  After replacing it , we enjoy a beer together.

A great group of folks with which to do business.  They really care about putting out a quality product and their customer service is rivaled by no one.

Our first full day on the boat is good one.  New friends, great service from the plant, and all this sunshine we brought from Texas.

Walldog, Willie and Jake.

Summer 2011 Day 1

May 10, 2011 Port Isabel to Houston

Well we are finally packed and on our way.  I never believed we could get everything that was in the motor home into this Dodge truck.  But it seems like we did.

We are in Houston for a couple of days before heading West Northwest to Seattle to pick up the new "Willie's Tug".

A link to the online album of our adventures is located here.  You can check back from time to time as we will be adding pictures daily.

Jake has a comfortable spot to ride and is quite content.  He is just glad to be going.

We hope you will enjoy riding along with us.

Walldog, Willie and Jake