The sailing adventures of SV Meriwether and her crew
T’was a truly angry looking wind that would be arriving from the south by Saturday morning and we had no protection from the south at Doe Bay. With land directly to our north nothing would be less comfortable than spending a night or two with heavy winds pushing us towards shore with no idea how well maintained the moorings are...
One of the few places on our list in the San Juan’s that we had not yet visited was Doe Bay. We were told months ago about the resort here, with a great restaurant and hot springs to die for. Since we had recently decided to end our 2019 sailing season the following week, we didn’t want to head further...
Patos Island is only a few miles away from our last stop. Barely enough time to raise the sails. Not that we had any wind anyway, so the decision was already made for us to motor over. At least the alternator will charge our house battery during the two hours (we cruised it, nice and slow). We even took the...
During the week long grind of life in the BVIs there were some happenings that stood out as highlights. I know. I know. The whole trip was one big highlight, but within that bigger picture there are a few memories that will stand out and I wanted to share those with greater detail.
After making it through Deception Pass with our lives intact we completed the day of sailing (of mostly motoring) to get up to Shaw Island in the center of the San Juan National Monument. Our target was Blind Bay – on the north side of Shaw Island – where we arrived just fine. We poked around looking for a spot...
Ah, how the weather has changed. Just two weeks ago the summer season was still alive and kicking. In Everett we hunkered down to avoid a big one-day storm which brought thunder and lightning. It sprinkled the entire sail up to Oak Harbor. In Oak Harbor we hunkered down to avoid a day of 30+ knot winds – which we...
After the nine hour day of sailing to get here there was only one thing left to do… nothing. Well, first Moose had to go ashore, then to the nothing. We didn’t even prepare any substantial meal, just poured a tall glass of Saki (who am I kidding, we drank the whole damn bottle) and sat out in the cockpit...
Normally Kerri and I go out of our way to avoid returning to the same place we have already been. In my experiences, a return trip is never as good as the first and – even worse – ruins the memory of the first. We make some exceptions, but by a general rule we try not to go back too...
The big sail across Juan De Fuca Strait along with the ass kicking from the wind is a thing of the past. We made it across the strait and were still alive, so all was good. And that about sums up the bar of success on a sailboat, and even the veterans agree – if you arrive without killing someone...
Another short motor – not even an hour long – would get us around Decatur Island to the tiny Marine State Park of James Island. The primary reason we dropped in was for our impending crossing of the Strait of Juan De Fuca the following day – this would shave an hour off that long trip. James is a tiny...
