Mike and Beth's Adventures

August was a short cruising month for Amy Marie.  She was treated to a spa treatment at CSR South Boat Yard in Des Moines while we attended family events.  Beth headed to San Diego and Santa Rosa California and I headed to Colorado.  We reunited with Amy Marie in mid-August.  During her "spa" visit she had damaged gel coat areas repaired, heat exchangers serviced and a full exterior buff and polish.  She looked quite jaunty and proud of herself when we returned! As we planned to attend the annual PNW Ranger Tug Rendezvous in Roche Harbor in early September, we started meandering that direction.  This gave us an opportunity to re-visit some favorite destinations as well as explore some new ports of call. Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island Our first stop was Eagle Harbor.  Why?  It has a great grocery store and it is fun to walk and explore.  Town and Country Market is very close to the public dock, so a good location to perform a major resupply....

  We found an old apple orchard on our hike.  Someone must be looking after it. This is the view from the eastern side of the island. Sucia is one of my favorite anchorages in the San Juan Islands.  From Echo Bay, Mount Baker dominates the skyline to the east.  Even in August, its upper slopes were still covered in snow.  We were meeting friends who anchored in Fossil Bay, so that was our destination.   Fossil Bay is much smaller that Echo Bay which limits the number of boats you’ll have as neighbors.   Additionally, there are two docks, which makes it easy to take a dinghy to shore.    Echo Bay has no dinghy docks.   Adjacent to each dock are improved camping spots with tables and in some cases, shelters.   The park service pit toilets are composting.   There is also fresh potable water on the island.   With a container, you could take water back to your boat and replenish your water supply. It was fun to spen...