Where Did The Summer Go?!

September 2nd. Where did the summer go? It is time to start heading back north. Hopefully the islands will be less crowded now that summer is ending. Also, we have visitors coming in two weeks! We set off from Olympia at 3pm, got into Hope Island at 4:45 and went for a hike. We discovered a really tame doe and fawn that followed us to an old home stead where there were apple trees. We picked a couple apples and smashed them on the ground for the deer to eat. They seemed to be expecting that. On the way back to the dinghy we saw a Pileated Woodpecker too!

September 3rd we set off for Jarrell Cove on Harstine Island and had perfect sailing weather with a 10 to 12 knot breeze for 3 hours. It was sunny and warm, perfect! We started pulling in the sails as we approached Jarrell Cove and went to start the motor. It did not start. It just made a clicking sound. The same sound your car makes when the battery is dead. Oh boy! I turned back down wind with the current. The breeze was very light now but it gave Sacagawea enough power that I could maintain steerage and control. There was a bridge about 2 miles down the way which is too short for us. At this speed we would be there in 45 min. Bill went below to see what he could do. He jiggled all the wires while I watched the bridge slowly coming into view. Still no juice to the starter. Bill said, “Well, I don’t know what else to do. Try it again,” and he turned the battery selector switch to “All”, which means the house bank would also be used to help start the motor. I turned the key and our good old Yanmar roared to life. Thank goodness! I turned around immediately to put as much distance as possible between us and the bridge just in case. We turned into Jarrell Cove and it was bank to bank mooring balls. It looked like there was about 100 feet between balls which is not enough space for us to anchor between them. We are technically too big to use the park balls (45 foot limit) but after that engine trouble, we weren’t about to go looking for another anchorage so we grabbed a ball. The night was calm and it was no trouble. The cove was really pretty and we even went ashore to the State Park and had a nice jog.

We decided to return to Gig Harbor for the Labor Day weekend. It was forecast to be warm and sunny. We held our breath as we turned the key. No problem! It started completely normally. Hmmmm. As we headed for the Tacoma Narrows bridge we saw Joel on Jade and we had fun taking pictures of each other going under the bridge. We made arrangements to meet up at Gig Harbor in the evening. He was going to check out Tacoma and we were concerned there might be crowds in Gig so we continued on. The harbor really wasn’t crowded at all! The weather was perfect! We went for a kayak and a jog. We had fun exploring the town COVID style. We had a fabulous weekend with all boat systems operating well!

September 6 we left Gig Harbor in heavy fog and motored to Port Townsend. We had the radar on with all the other navigational instruments, and ran our foghorn through our VHF radio hailer. We noticed the batteries were drawing down even though the engine was running. We got out our electrical text book from our marine electric class and read about how to test the alternator. It appeared that it was not making electricity. But why? We decided to run the diesel generator as our alternator. Both the engine and the generator use the main through hull for water cooling. We were concerned that using both at the same time might cause reduced water flow and overheating. So, we ran the engine at lower RPMs than usual. In addition to that constant concern, we had pea soup thick fog. We could hear fog horns all around us, some sounded quite large and close but we could not see any other ships. Once in a while a small motor skiff would come whizzing by at full speed. Crazy F***ers! We couldn’t see those boats either until they were 50 feet away. This all made for quite the stressful day. We made it to Port Townsend and collapsed with a glass of wine. Sheesh!

The next day, after further studying of the alternator, we tried to tighten the belt. That is the only really repairable part on the alternator. It did not help. It still was not producing electricity. At least we have our “back up alternator” our Nextgen diesel generator creating 5500 watts keeping all of our batteries at full charge. FYI: the alternator creates 100 watts so, being 55 times more than we need, the generator is ridiculously large to use as an alternator. It will do in a pinch! We called North Harbor Diesel and made an appointment. I guess we will head back to Cap Sante Marina again (sigh).
We continued our course north across the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 20 knot winds and 3 to 4 foot choppy waves. Water came crashing over the bow and even hit the dodger (windshield) making me flinch and duck down to miss the cold water which couldn’t make it to me anyway. I tried to get some photos. We ran the generator on and off to keep the batteries charged. We anchored in Reid Harbor on Decatur Island still with quite the breeze. We made sure to set the anchor really well and waited out the storm. Things started to quiet down in the evening and we were treated to an amazing sunset.

Back in Anacortes again! Josh from North Harbor Diesel came and ran some diagnostics on the alternator. Our 2 year old alternator is dead and needs replaced. I feel kind of proud that we had come to the same conclusion on our own, not happy but proud. We might have helped in its demise with the solar power. The alternator we had did not have an external regulator so the solar panels have to be off when the engine is started or the electric back feeds into the alternator and “blows out the diodes” We were aware of this and after we started the motor once with the solar on we made a sign and stuck it next to the ignition key so as not to forget. The new alternator will have an external regulator which means we can make that mistake and not do terminal damage. We will still have the solar off though when we run the motor. We decided on a new alternator and got that ordered. It will take about a week to get it. We made sure it was OK to be running our diesel generator as our backup alternator and he said no problem at all so we made plans to get back out there! Experienced sailors have told us time and time again that you will always be traveling with something broken. As a matter of fact many people never leave the dock because they can’t get everything working perfectly. Not us! We took a nice jog up to the headland overlooking Fidalgo Bay and caught the end of a regatta.

There were great winds Sept 10 so we sailed to Sucia Island and met our friends at Shallow Bay. This tiny beautiful (and yes shallow) bay is on the Northwest side of Sucia Island. Sucia is a very interesting island composed of separate fingers of rocky fins. We rafted up with our friends attaching our boat to theirs with some dock lines. The sunset was fantastic again- all the smoke in the air from the forest fires had at least that for a silver lining…

The winds piped up overnight and just before sunrise we discovered we were dragging anchor and heading for the rocks. We all got up and motored, still attached to each other by the dock lines to get away from the rocks. We then released our lines and made plans to move around to the other side of the island in Echo Bay. With such wonderful wind we thought, let’s take our motor trawler friends out for a sail! We got them on board and comfortable. Out we went………no wind. Zero! Mama Nature can be cruel. Ah well, maybe another day. We enjoyed dinner and cards together.

The fog and wild fire smoke together were creating just absolutely crazy thick fog. We slowly and carefully motored over to Deer Harbor on Orcas Island the next day. We could not see any land as we made way. We used our GPS, compass, AIS, and radar to electronically feel our way along. Looking out over the side of the boat, it was impossible to even tell if we were moving at all. At one point an oncoming catamaran in a narrow pass through the Wasp Islands would not respond to our radio hailing, and as they appeared out of the fog and slipped by we saw the boat name had been changed. They were still using the old VHF radio with the previous boat owner’s info and so likely did not recognize the name we were hailing….if they were even monitoring the radio!

The next day made a short hop to Spencer Spit. It is so eerie to see ghost outlines of other sailboats only 300 feet away. Our electronic chart shows 7 boats in the anchorage but we can only see two.

We were notified that our new alternator was in so on the morning of Sept 15 we motored over to Cap Sante in Anacortes and got that replaced. It seems so quiet to motor with only one diesel motor going at once! This was very good timing as our friends were due to arrive on Sept 17. We stayed in Cap Sante and topped off water tanks, emptied the holding tank, provisioned with food and libations. We were ready! Coho Salmon fishing season was open this weekend and we wanted to give it a try. West Marine is two blocks from the marina and has all the gear needed and a very enthusiastic fisherman at the counter to help us get outfitted. We had heard that a good place to go is along Cypress Island. We made a plan. Day 1: Rosario Resort for some history and fancy food. Day 2: Eagle harbor for fishing in the morning and a hike up to the cliffs in the evening Day 3: back to Anacortes to head to the airport the following morning. Surprisingly the plan went off smoothly! We had a change in weather which pushed out the fog and smoke. The bar at the resort was actually open which had not been the case earlier in COVID, we got our hook wet though without success, and we even got a few hours of good wind and sailing! Plus the bioluminescence was incredible!!

Bill’s brother came for a visit the next week. We made arrangements to go fishing with our Bellingham friends who grew up together fishing and crabbing in the San Juan Islands. We went out to Watmough Bay on Lopez Island which is about 45 min from the fishing hole to spend the night. I took my fishing gear over and didn’t quite get laughed at but close. I did not have a deep 6, a flasher, or a squid but I had the correct line and the pole and reel looked good I was told. We set our crab traps. There were only 2 days of the season left and all we had managed to catch so far were female crabs. Early in the morning they pulled their beautiful motor trawler, Ocean Breeze, up beside Sacagawea and we climbed aboard. As we turned the corner around the Island we saw a full dance floor of hundreds of boats slowly trolling. We set our lines and began the same. It was exciting to see someone nearby shriek and pull in a big fish. We caught 3 nice sized Coho and called it a day. One fish on each of the 3 rigs! As we motored back to Watmough we pulled up the crab traps and had a bucket load! All males and legal size! We had a feast that night and played card games until the wee hours. In the morning we waved our good-byes and proceeded to take Bill’s brother around the islands to our favorite places: Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island with a hike to Turn Point, Rosario Resort on Orcas Island, and Pelican Beach on Cypress Island with a hike to Eagle Cliff. We got Bill’s brother back to Cap Sante and his car on October 2.

This is the end of our 2020 cruise. We saw a lot and covered a few thousand miles. We have learned so much about our boat, the systems on her, and we have gained confidence in our abilities. We are going to Florida to experience our friend’s Catamaran, Wind Therapy, and try a couple of overnight crossings to the Dry Tortugas from St Petersburg, FL and back. They will be our first overnight crossings! After that we have planned a road trip across the country to visit friends and family, though COVID has altered those plans quite a bit. For the remainder of the winter we will stay at Cap Sante Marina and in the early spring we’ve arranged to be rock boaters again to repair a few things, get Sacagawea polished, and her bottom painted. We look forward to sharing more adventures in 2021!