We headed down to the Anacortes Farmers Market yesterday morning. It continues to get bigger every year, and has so much to offer. It was overcast yesterday so it wasn’t too hot, and the rain had stopped overnight. The Market is a short walk from Anacortes Marina along the waterfront. It’s a great way to start the day.
Sailboat masts at Cap Sante Marina made nice reflections in the water on a calm day in March when we were staying on our boat in Anacortes.
Can’t believe it’s been five months since we’ve posted anything on our blog! Once again, life has pulled us in a different direction than we planned. Our house projects and maintenance have turned into larger efforts than we thought, and have kept us in Bend most of the winter/spring. I haven’t been doing any posting on this blog because we haven’t been doing any boating activities in the past few months, and for that matter, we still haven’t figured out boating plans for this summer!
This is one of the few photos we have of us sailing Carina, our Valiant Esprit 37, with the spinnaker flying. Our friends caught us as we were sailing in Puget Sound in 1984 just after returning from our cruise to Mexico and Hawaii. Carina was still outfitted with the boat name on the weather cloths for better recognition at sea, and our wind vane was still mounted on the stern.
As we prepare to start the new year of 2014, we’ve been reflecting on friends and memorable events from the past. In thinking about New Years and our boating, what came to mind was the New Years we spent in Mexico 30 years ago. We had sailed Carina, our Valiant Esprit 37, down the coast from Washington State. We left Neah Bay, WA on August 9, 1983 and spent the next three-plus months sailing down the West Coast. We arrived in Cabo San Lucas on December 22, 1983.
On an early evening in mid-October, the trees along the shore of Mirror Pond in downtown Bend were stunning, and their reflections were just as spectacular.
We left our boat in Anacortes in early October, and arrived back in Central Oregon as the bright colors of autumn were at their strongest. Our first order of business (after getting unpacked and plugged in at home) was to get out on nearby hiking trails to enjoy the colors before the leaves left the trees. Central Oregon sparkles in the fall!
We had some really nice days in Anacortes before the fog set in, and on one of those days, we hiked to the top of Cap Sante. What wonderful views! This photo shows a boat on its way through the breakwater and entering Cap Sante Marina. The downtown area of Anacortes and surrounding residential areas are in the background.
We wrapped up our boating activities last week and have returned to Bend. We spent a little over a month in Anacortes working on boat maintenance and projects. We had hoped to be able to get the boat out to the islands for some late season cruising, but working on our projects took most of the time we had available to be away from home…plus we had about 10 days of really miserable weather and we had to take advantage of the good weather days to get our work done.
This is the view of the waterfront as our ferry approached Port Townsend. The entry to the marina at Point Hudson is in the center of the photo, just behind the red boat. The Wooden Boat Foundation is in the building with red and yellow trim, just to the left of Point Hudson.
We have friends on the Olympic Peninsula who we don’t get to see very often, so when we’re in Anacortes, we try to get over to their side of the water to visit. It’s easy to drive to Whidbey Island and take the ferry from Coupeville to Port Townsend as walk-on passengers, and have our friends meet us at the ferry dock in Port Townsend.
Cruising With Phoenix 