AquaticRV Day 6: Port Ludlow to Shelter Bay

The Macks camping at Pine Acres Resort in 1972.  Known today as Gold Country Campground Resort.

Growing up, vacations were car or camper trips, we never flew.  In fact, I was twenty-five before I took a trip on a plane, and that occurred when HP sent me to Comdex in Las Vegas.  Camping had evolved from our Sears tent, to include a crew cab model Caveman camper made in Grants Pass, Oregon.  When we didn't bring the tent along, the cab-over portion of the camper easily slept three (my mom and my two sisters), and the dinette made into a double for my dad and me.  The camper had no bathroom.  Although primitive by today's RV standards, we were happy, felt blessed to have what we had, and saw a lot of interesting places as a family.

Faster future to my marriage, and Laura and I started out with tent camping, moved up to a Coleman Tent Trailer, and graduated to thirty-five-foot Safari Sahara class-A diesel pusher motorhome.  Along the way, we also branched off into to boating.  Cruising the Catalina 22 was akin to the tent-trailer minus the room, and cruising the Bayliner 38 motor yacht was definitely on par with our current motorhome, but with more room along with two staterooms and two heads.

Laura and I have owned both powerboats and sailboats, and I can say that compared to land vehicles, boat travel is both about the journey and the destination simply because of the slower pace.  Just as those car and camper trips allowed my family to absorb the journey in a manner missed by air travel, boat travel gives you the opportunity to notice how beautiful the mundane is when it isn't whizzing by.

Monday, August 6, 2018 - Port Ludlow to Shelter Bay

The fog of the preceding days was missing as we prepared to get underway at 7 am.  The return route back to our car would take us south through Admiralty Inlet, east across the southern end of Whidbey Island, and then north along the eastern side of Whidbey Island to Swinomish Channel and then to Shelter Bay.  Total distance to be traveled was forecasted to be 50.8 nautical miles and take roughly 7.25 hours.   Once at Shelter Bay, Bob and I would drop off the girls and then get underway for Cap Sante, 10.7 nautical miles away and 1.53 hours on the clock. The journey would also represent a complete circumnavigation of Whidbey Island.

Tala Point as Forever More heads to Admiralty Inlet.

Ten years earlier, Laura and I transited Admiralty Inlet in horrible conditions aboard our Bayliner 38.  The boat was bashing through the confused seas as we were heading to Everett.  At one point, Laura retired to the master stateroom bed in the bow of the boat.  Much to her dismay, she was being launched into the air and then falling back to the bed as the fought its way around the southern end of Whidbey Island.  Our experience on this passage could not have been more different because the seas were nearly flat, the wind calm, and the temperature borderline balmy.

Heading to the southern end of Whidbey Island

Laura enjoying the calm passage. 

Homes on the southern end of Whidbey Island.

The following video gives a sense of the comfortable mode aboard Forever More after crossing the south end of Whidbey Island and turning north to follow the eastern shore.

Ferries between Clinton, Whidbey Island, and Mukilteo, near Everett.

Forever More underway.

Homes on Sea Mist Lane, Camano Island with beach access😃

The following video shows Forever More in the Swinomish Channel between Fidalgo Island and McGlinn Island.

After returning to the Shelter Bay dock where we began our adventure, we transferred Laura's and my gear to our Honda Fit, and then Samantha (Sam) and Laura headed off to Anacortes.  Bob and I got underway to head north up the Swinomish Channel, and take the boat to Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes.  Sam and Bob would depart from Cap Sante in a couple of days to visit Fisherman's Bay on Lopez Island.

The Catalina 42 Elara of Mary and Dave Latimer and the Catalina 445 Forever More.  The dock belongs to the Latimers.

Heading toward LaConner.

LaConner on the Swinomish Channel.

Leaving Twin Bridges behind on the Swinomish Channel.

On the east side of March Point in the Swinomish Channel. 

Approaching Cap Sante Marina.

We'd been underway for over nine hours when we pulled into the slip at Cap Sante Marina. Aside from worrying about how much clearance we'd have at Twin Bridges, the trip had been uneventful.

Sam and Bob Dubay had been exceptional hosts, and the boat could not have been more comfortable. The cruise had exceeded our expectations.  Further underscoring how special the trip had been was the lack of smoke.  In the weeks leading up to the rendezvous and in the weeks that immediately followed, visibility sometimes dropped to below two miles as the air became heavy with the smoke from forest fires in British Columbia and Washington.  It had been a journey blessed with much good fortune.

Live well, Laugh often, Love much