Every year up here in the Pacific Northwest there is an event known as “Trawlerfest” where trawler styled powerboats gather up to cruise, bullshit, attend seminars, and generally hang out together for the weekend.  Since Jason and I really like the trawler type yachts we (ok, mostly Jason…) have always wanted to go, but it’s always been a couple hours drive north of us and just generally inconvenient to attend.  Until this year when it’s literally across the water in Bremerton.  That’s great and all, but we had already planned on leaving on Friday to finally take our boat, Salacia, up to the San Juan Islands as her first cruise after being fully repaired after last year’s engine room fire.  Maybe next year! Either way, packing took twice as long as is reasonable, like it does every time we pack, but eventually we had all of our crap stashed in every nook and cranny in the boat and were ready to go! We left just after lunch to catch the outgoing tide that would hopefully carry us all the way up to the islands.  Along the way we went underneath the Agate Pass bridge that spans the distance between the peninsula and Bainbridge Island.  I always love seeing the old bridges and they’re always way more interesting from below at 8 knots than they are from above hurdling across them at 55mph in a car.

Since this was her first post-fire trip I was pretty antsy the entire time.  Every odd noise needed to be investigated and as we approached Port Townsend where we broke last year I was just sitting there essentially waiting for the other shoe to drop… but it never did and Salacia kept right on trucking along on her merry little way north.  She’s a 1972 and made of wood so she’s just going to make weird noises.. maybe eventually I’ll get used to it!  Nothing to report as we crossed into the open water of the straits as it was a fairly calm day with not a lot going on.  I also may have taken a nap for some/most/all of the crossing itself.  Our destination for the night was Watmough Bay for no other reason than Jason had seen it online and wanted to go, which is good enough for me!  There were a few sailboats already moored when we arrived, but we snagged a nice little spot further down the bay and mom made spaghetti for dinner before we all settled in for the night.

Day 1 – Mission Accomplished!