A serene early morning at Anacortes Marina—quiet and glassy calm, resulting in mirror-like reflections of the boats on C Dock.
Life can be challenging at times. Even though we wanted to take a long cruise this summer, we have had to take care of business before we can take off in the boat. We recently decided it’s time to downsize our house, and we’ve been busy for the past several months fixing things and sprucing up the house so we can sell it and move on. We have finally completed the work we needed to do before putting our house on the market, and we have come to stay on our boat while the house is on the market.
We had to figure out how to lower our mast in order to get into our new slip in the covered moorage section of Anacortes Marina.
Once we arrived in Anacortes, we started to work on exterior maintenance and getting settled. Then we discovered there was a vacancy in the covered moorage area of Anacortes Marina, and decided to see about getting our boat under cover. To prepare for that, Jim had to figure out a way to lower our mast, as it is too tall to fit under the roof. That took a few days, but once he figured that out, we were able to go ahead and move Phoenix under cover. The move wasn’t far…the covered area is on the same dock we’ve been on, just at the other end of the dock.
The first thing we’ve noticed is that it is much cooler under cover! It’s been really hot in Anacortes this summer, and our boat was really heating up in the afternoons and evenings…under cover this is not an issue! But the important reason for moving is to protect the boat. We haven’t been able to properly take care of the exterior maintenance the past two seasons, and it shows. Getting the boat under cover will protect the boat and prevent further damage to the exterior.
We’ve had some amazing sunsets and sunrises since we’ve been here. The beach at Washington Park in Anacortes is a great place to watch sunsets and we got a good one the other night! This view is to the west and overlooks Rosario Strait to the San Juan Islands
This recent colorful sunrise gave us an inspirational start to the day. Lingering smoke from wildfires in California and British Columbia drifted into Western Washington skies and added dramatic colors to sunrises and sunsets.
The annual Anacortes Arts Festival was last weekend. It’s always a fun event to visit with such great art and entertainment. It’s easy for us, as it’s just a short walk from the marina so we don’t have to hassle with crowded roads and parking lots. It’s always fun to be here for this event.
At the 2015 Anacortes Arts Festival: Many booths offered gorgeous blown glass products.
At the 2015 Anacortes Arts Festival: It always seemed busy at the jewelry booths.
At the 2015 Anacortes Arts Festival: There were several innovative musical instruments, this booth offered “thumb pianos,” a small instrument with miniature piano keys mounted in nicely finished gourds.
At the 2015 Anacortes Arts Festival: There were many displays of wall art, I call my photo of this booth, “The Road To Art,” with a comment that the festival booths are set up on top of the main street in town.
Now we’re hard at work getting fresh varnish on the cap rails, cleaning the exterior teak decks, and waxing the cabin sides and hull. Don’t know if we’ll be able to do much cruising, we’ll have to see how things go. For now, though, it feels wonderful to be back on the water!
Of course, a visit to Anacortes means we get to enjoy burgers and Mac & Jack’s African Amber at the Brown Lantern Ale House.
Cruising With Phoenix 
Sailor Lady, we downsized (big time) by selling house, cabin, condo and all the toys. It was a very “freeing” experience. We now have two small storage units and the boat, which we have lived on for the last two years in Blaine, WA. We logged 1,300 nm on the boat last year and are half way through the 1,400 planned for this year. We are enjoying it greatly while we still can, physically. I hope your plans are to keep Phoenix and cruise more. Best to you. MV Still Waters
Ed, thanks for sharing! Glad that you’re having some good times cruising, and that you are enjoying the “freedom” of living aboard! It’s a fun life, that’s for sure! We lived aboard our sailboat from time to time over the years, and, who knows, we may be living aboard again after our house sells. We might like the “freeing” experience too! And I also hope we’ll be able to do more cruising…life has definitely interfered with our ideas of cruising for the past couple of years and we are so ready to get back out there!
Alice
Good to hear you are well and making progress toward downsizing. We are adjusting to life in the Sunshine State and enjoying the weather. We built a new house just outside Sarasota in South Florida that we moved into just before Christmas.
I have been making short business trips to Seattle and Anacortes several times a year. I usually walk down to your boat but always found no one there.
Wayne Maxey
>
How nice to hear from you! Sounds like you’re enjoying life in Florida and that you’ve adjusted to the warm and sunny weather! But that must have been an easy adjustment. We think we’ll be living on our boat after our house sells and while we consider our options. We’re under cover in Adrian’s old slip, so stop by if you’re out this way and perhaps we’ll be around. Give our regards to Helen.
Alice & Jim