Seattle to Port Ludlow

Well, so far so good!  We successfully went through the locks and drawbridge, wended our way up Puget Sound and are set in the Anchorage at Port Ludlow.

I don't think I truly realized how much water has to come through these channels each day to fill and empty all the way down to Seattle, but I got a good feel for it as we were bucking the tidal current coming south as we were going north.  our speed over ground dropped to just a bit over 1 knot despite our normal cruising speed of over 5 knots.

There are parts of Quijote's operation that I still remember and parts I don't recall.  Light switches are easy.  Just keep finding them and flipping them until the light I want is on.  Making sure the plumbing valves are correct, not so easy.  I might have, accidentally, been sending pee through the wrong pipes, unfortunately.

Sleeping last night was easy.  I always sleep well on a boat, especially when I have no worries about the next day.  As I said before, Quijote is impeccably maintained.  Sure, something can go wrong.  It's a boat, after all, but it's not because something was neglected.

Aboard we have the owner (Rod) and Tina, his long time girlfriend (long time as in they've been together for as long as I've known them).  We originally were going to have more, but emergencies knocked it down to we three, and Tina is only aboard to Nanaimo.  After that it will just be Rod and myself up to Campbell River and then back to Seattle.

It will be mostly motoring.  That's just a fact here in the Pacific Northwest where the winds hibernate in the summer.  We're not averse to sailing, but there has to be decent wind for that, otherwise we motor along.  This follows on the heels of a month of motoring the previous delivery sailboat.  One of these days I'll be on a boat with sails up again!

It was a beautifully clear day here - bright sunshine.  The day was warm, but with the breeze, it was cool enough that we were all wearing light jackets or fleeces on and off, depending on whether we were sheltering behind the dodger or standing out in the wind - a wind strong enough to bring white caps to the winds at times.

Dinner was a fabulous stew that Rod normally makes in an Instapot.  We don't have the power to run an instapot, but it adapted marvelously to a pressure cooker over the propane stove.  Dessert was a slice of Marionberry Pie.  Tomorrow we raise anchor and head northwards some more, though we'll spend the night still in the U.S.  Meanwhile more familiarization with the housekeeping routine on Quijote since it's been 4-ish years since I was actually aboard her, maybe more.