The Original Plan April 2007:
The first step was to haul out at Ala Wai Marine to have the bottom cleaned and fresh anti-fouling paint applied. We installed some new equipment, changed through-hull fittings and sea cocks and had Lealea surveyed.
After provisioning we would sail for Puget Sound and the annual Pacific Northwest VEGAtarian Rendezvous at Fisherman’s Bay, Lopez Island, WA the last weekend of June. The voyage will take approximately four weeks. We plan to spend time with friends and family in Victoria, Vancouver, Gig Harbor and Seattle and cruising the San Juan islands before heading South, down the coast, stopping occasionally along the way, to San Diego where we will join the Baja Ha-Ha cruising rally and race to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in October. From Cabo we intend to make for French Polynesia to explore the Marquesas, Tahiti, Moorea etc. By then we will have extended, modified or abandoned our original plan. Eventually, we will make our way to New England and our farm in Vermont. At this point, we expect that to take two or three years.
We'll post any changes to The Plan here.
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How is That Working For Us?
Everything went fine, according to plan that is, until we reached the outer channel marker buoy departing Ala Wai Boat Harbor when the engine quit. I expected to get seasick; I always do, but I never imagined that I would remain so for twenty one days (A new personal record). Nor did I anticipate that it would ultimately take us fifty five days to reach Cape Flattery. You can watch it all in our video logs on our YouTube channel.
We missed the Rendezvous by three weeks and arrived with a damaged boat that we thought would require two or three weeks to repair. In fact, we spent five months in Port Townsend refitting the boat
All this means that the original plan to head South before Winter after cruising the San Juans for two months is completely blown. Laura went to work for West Marine. First in Port Townsend, then in Friday Harbor, Seattle and most recently in San Carlos on the San Francisco Bay. This has given us the opportunity to take our time cruising this beautiful area and give it the attention it deserves. After all, we are not in a hurry. That's why they call it "Cruising". We departed San Francisco in May 2011 with the idea that we would follow the winds to Hawaii, then Alaska; but who knows? Certainly not us. Everything depends on the weather.
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We enjoyed the warm sunshine tempered by trade winds and tropical showers blowing off the mountains in Hawaii for a full year. Now we are cruising SE Alaska. Take a look at The Logbook to learn the latest.
Until The Plan requires further revision in response to events and changing circumstances...
