A night at Blakely Harbor

Brigadoon at Blakely, looking east towards
Seattle.

It was our first outing on the Sound since August of last year.  We have since purchased a new anchor, and a new set of sails for Brigadoon.

The plan was to get under two drawbridges and the locks early Saturday morning, make it out on to the sound with forecasts of very light and variable winds.

We didn't forget how to lock-through and were soon headed out of the channel into the Sound.  The forecast was right.  The winds were light to non-existent.  However, we raised sails anyway and made a go of it.  I didn't buy a sailboat to motor everywhere.

Sure, we only saw 1.2 to 2 knots on the GPS and a baby can crawl that fast but, we were sailing along, headed southwest towards Blakely Rock and the entrance to Blakely Harbor, sitting in the sun, quietly enjoying the Sound.

It took all day but, we made it and, when we arrived, my friend Kim offered his mooring ball and dinner.  We didn't get to use our new anchor *again*, but we did have an evening of great company, conversation and an awesome dinner; not to mention the Blakely Harbor water taxi, courtesy of Kim.

Feliz the harbor seal (apparently they are all called Felix) visited the boat frequently, stopping by the peek at us from time to time.

Blakely Harbor is an amazing place. It's very protected, very quiet peaceful.  That's a big change from it's past as the largest lumber processing facility in the world.

We even got to use the new yacht lamp our friends Greg and Sarah gifted us with a few months ago.

It's warm glow illuminated our cabin as we bobbed quietly on the mooring ball in the middle of the harbor.  At the dock we have almost constant little waves and rocking from the passing boats.  Here, it's like sleeping on a still cloud; quiet, serene and beautiful.  We awoke to grey skies and a typical light drizzle.

We motored back home, taking the opportunity to practice our radar and nav skills.

We'll be returning to Blakely as often as we can.