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| Deer Harbor Marina docks |
When last I left you we had arrived at a small island called Jones Island. This is a beautiful spot with three mooring balls (all full when we arrived). We anchored in the bay with the hopes someone would vacate a mooring the next morning and we were lucky We managed to snag mooring ball B3 right after breakfast :-) We spent two days enjoying the trails, meeting other sailors and generally relaxing. It was marvellous and we enjoyed every minute. BUT… we did have a bit of challenge develop.
There’s nothing like resounding ‘silence’ (when there should have been the grinding noise of the windlass winding in your anchor chain) to get your undivided attention; and it certainly did. Unfortunately our windlass has gone on vacation and we must now replan our cruising route keeping that in mind as well as the currents and strong south winds. Neither of us are particularly happy about physically hauling in heavy anchor chain and, of course, it’s even more dangerous in the dark and/or if the wind has kicked up or the anchor has dragged. I expect you can see my point. Our planning is now focused on locations with more than 1 or 2 mooring balls and a marina dock as back up AND also keeping in mind the moderate SE and SW winds we are experiencing and that appear to be here for several more days.
After Jones Island we took ourselves to Deer Harbor Marina in (you guessed it) Deer Harbor, Orcas Island. It’s a smallish marina but very nice. There are some walking trails and a great Pizza restaurant right across the street. We are here for two days and head out tomorrow (Tuesday the 11th) to head to, likely, Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island. This location has both mooring balls and protection from the S winds. From there, once we’re ready to leave, we can hop across the 49th and wind our way slowly home. We have decided to leave Rosario and Sucia Island for our next foray into the San Juans. We will be back. Guess that’s it for now…. Hope all is well with you.. Best, CJ
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| The view from our mooring ball at Jones Island |
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| Relaxing on the foredeck |
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| Lovely flower boxes at Deer Harbor Marina |
