Our Maiden voyage and a beautiful trip to La Conner

Yesterday was our 2 month anniversary of living onboard.  We met an older couple a couple days ago that were very intrigued with our living situation and asked, "What's the best and worst part of how you're now living".  Imagine my surprise and delight in hearing Mike tell her that the best part was, "Purging...getting rid of all the stuff you never really need or want.  And the bad part (here he hesitates and grins at me) nothing really!  We haven't found anything yet that would make us change our minds about the boat".

The Moonspinner, patiently awaiting our return.

We have been in a little bit of a "hibernation" mode.  Maybe we just needed to be alone and sort out this new life for awhile on our own, there has been a lot of adjustment.  A big part of it has been getting the dogs adjusted - that's done now and we're confident that they, at least like, their new life (Marley LOVES it).  Two weeks ago we were able to break out of that sleepy phase of moving and have some friends over.  My friend Beth and her husband Daryl came over for drinks and appetizers and were our 1st visitors.  It's funny to see the expression people have when they see our Chris.  When they come face to face with her, there's an understanding that, no, we're not living on a "little" boat that doesn't have any accommodations that make life comfortable.  In fact, as Beth was leaving she gave me a hug and said, "I'm so relieved.  After seeing your boat I realize that you're NOT crazy".  HA!  That was a good laugh.  After the visit with Beth and Darly, we invited Felisa and Steve to come visit, and again, they were happy to see that we were living on something pretty remarkable.  Good friends worry about you and want to make sure that your basic comforts are met...they also worry that you may have lost grip with reality!  It's nice to assure them that, yes!  We're doing okay!

After our little cocktail parties it was time for a cruise.  Candace is an ex girlfriend of my son who has remained close to us.  She's just like a 2nd daughter and we wanted to have her be a part of our maiden voyage.  This was a very simple trip to Saddlebag island and up the Guemes channel.  We had some drinks and snacks and just hung out on the bow while Mike drove us around.  The weather wasn't all that great - our very hot day turned windy and stormy while we were out - but it was still wonderful. We did have some trouble parking the boat back in the slip...Mike's patience was truly tried because of the wind and current, but of course, he did it just fine! Candace decided to stay and be our first guest to try out the V-berth.  She woke feeling just fine and let us know that it was perfectly comfortable!  

Mike, Candace and Marley on our Maiden voyage

Our second trip was with another ex!  Yes, my son has very good taste in women!  They are all wonderful people.  Janelle came up on another perfect day and this time the weather held.  We headed out through the Swinomish channel to La Conner.  We had read varying opinions regarding the wisdom of navigating the channel, apparently there are hazards with depth and current, but decided that if everyone else was doing it, we could too!  We decided to go slow and just enjoy the day.  Traveling the channel was wonderful, we saw lots of seals and herons and got a different perspective of an area that we see every day.    Parking on the channel was a piece of cake and Mike was very pleased that we had no trouble.  Janelle, Mike and I spent a couple hours wandering around the town and then we headed back.  This is where the trouble began!  Mike wanted to cast off the bow line and keep the stern attached until he had gotten the bow off the dock.  A good plan, but what he didn't realize was that his rudder was turned all the way opposite of how it should have been.  I was standing on the swim step, ready to remove the stern line from its cleat, when the boat started to back up into the dock.  Our boat is loud and communication is still progressing between Mike and me and, couple that with the rudder issue, this became a problem.  No matter what he did, until he realized his mistake, the boats swim step kept bashing into the dock.  A woman ran out of her boat to help push us off the dock right at about the same time Mike realized the problem.    With shaking legs I ran out to the bow to push off the bowsprit  of the boat ahead of us that was coming perilously close to our boat, Mike gave the boat gas, and we were safe in the channel.  Whew - minimal damage to the swim step and a great lesson learned.  One small hitch in an otherwise wonderful day. 

Marley loved this trip!

Another adopted daughter, Janelle, enjoying the sun and view

Next on our agenda is anchoring!  We plan to ask one of our very nice dock mates to head out with us to a relatively shallow area to practice.  We know that this is the most economical way to head out for longer than just the day and we're itching to go further!