Cap Sante Boat Haven glows on a sunny, calm late September day.

After our September cruising, we stayed on board Phoenix in Anacortes Marina to finish the annual exterior maintenance of waxing and polishing, and get the boat ready to sit over the winter. This year we were lucky to have the long stretch of dry weather continue through the rest of September and into October. Quite unusual for this time of year, and we were grateful that we didn’t have to dodge wet weather for our outside projects!

The newly-waxed aft port hull of Phoenix shines in the afternoon sun.

The nice weather also helped as we moved weather-sensitive things from our boat to our storeroom. Keeping stuff in the storeroom over the winter helps protect it, reducing the risk of mold and mildew, which can develop on vulnerable things left on the boat in the cold, wet winter weather.

Rosie relaxed on the galley counter while we waxed.

We had to be back in Bend in early October. Because of the dry weather, we finished waxing sooner than we expected, leaving time for us to do a bit more socializing with other boaters and friends in the area before we had to leave. We went with friends to see a play (“My Fair Lady”) at the Mt. Baker Theatre in Bellingham and also took in an opera (“Pagliacci“) at McIntyre Hall in Mt. Vernon. Both are beautiful facilities and offer excellent venues for the performing arts. Mt. Baker Theatre is a national historic landmark and has been beautifully restored; it is clean and feels new, has great acoustics and comfortable seating. McIntyre Hall is a newer facility and offers amazing sound quality, good seating, and easy parking.

We snapped a photo of Phoenix in the morning sun before we finished loading the car for our return drive to Bend.

Before we left the boat to return to Bend for the winter, we set up a couple of space heaters on low inside the cabins to keep air circulating while the boat sits for the winter, put on extra mooring lines, and tied things down carefully. We’ll come back over the winter a few times to check the boat, and are grateful that the staff at Anacortes Marina walks the docks every day to check on the boats and notify us if they see anything unusual.

Rosie has a good vantage point in a forward starboard window to watch us while we unload things from the boat.