Monday: Seattle to Cornet Bay

We knew it was time to take a boat trip when, yesterday, it rained in Seattle for the first time since May. We packed our stuff and took a few trips to the boat, and after dinner a friend drove us there and dropped us off to spend the night so we could get an early start (thanks, Judy).

I apologize in advance for this first post, which will undoubtedly be about as boring as our cruise was. When we head to the San Juan Islands, the first day is typically long because we have to go so far in a slow boat, and it’s not really very scenic so there’s not usually much to talk about. Things will get better, and so will the blog.

The weather forecast was for another slightly miserable day, but turning sunnier and warmer as the week went on. We got up pretty early and left the dock at 8:00. It was windy, but not raining so we felt lucky. We were the only boat in the locks that connect Lake Washington with the salt water of Puget Sound and we got through them by 9:00, then pointed the boat north and officially started the trip. Our destination today was Cornet Bay, which is just “inside” Deception Pass. (More on that later.)

After about an hour, as we were passing Edmonds, we noticed that the clouds were descending so low that we were getting “misted” and we couldn’t see very far in front of our boat. It wasn’t like a dense fog, where you can’t see more than about fifty feet in front of you, but it was enough that we couldn’t get our bearings by sight alone. With the help of our hand-held GPS, though, we were able to steer a straight course with confidence that we were headed in the right direction. After weeks of 70 and 80 degree weather we were slightly unaccustomed to the cool mist and the need to keep adding layers to try to stay warm. Unlike many northwest boaters, we are too macho to go inside where there is a heater – we much prefer to sit up on the flybridge, uncovered, and freeze on our summer vacations. This picture of the Edmonds / Kingston ferry will give you an idea of the visibility we had in the distance.

Eventually, we emerged from the mist and could see the shoreline again, which made for much easier navigation. We chose to go a little slower than normal to ease our pain at the fuel pump, traveling most of the day at about 7 knots. We plodded along uneventfully until we arrived at Cornet Bay around 4:30, put down the anchor, and called it a day. It’s a nice state park with a small dock, but we prefer to anchor and enjoy the view off the stern of the boat.

We were cold and slightly damp, but a glass of wine and a Jimmy Buffet CD hit the spot and we started planning tomorrow’s more interesting itinerary through Deception Pass and into the San Juans.