Aug 27^th our final day of the trip – Time to head home!  7:25am we left Seattle bound for our boathouse at Tacoma Yacht Club.  We had a great 20.80nm passage with the sun shining and calm seas.  Traveling on autopilot at about 7 knots gave us time to get everything packed up and for the family to talk about the incredible adventure we had over the last 30 days.

We have done trips like this (to varying lengths) over the last 13 years and its always amazing what it does for the family dynamic and how close we become.  That’s not to say it’s easy – there are times we all want to kill each other.  You’re all stuck on a small boat – no escape.  However it forces you to live in the moment.  Cell and Internet service is limited, and most everything you do you do together.  It’s a challenge, an adventure – on a boat its all up to you – navigating, dealing with weather, currents, tides, anchoring, repairs and most of all keeping everyone safe in an environment where a lot could go wrong.  It’s an extremely rewarding experience.

As we pull into the boathouse it feels good to be home.  Its exciting thinking about seeing all the people you missed, going back to work and school for the kids.   Getting back to real life will be fun but something pulls you back to life on a boat – Its almost hard to leave and the minute you walk away you just want to come back for more.  10:35am Wednesday August 27^th we were finally home!

Trip Summary –

Total miles traveled = 404.55 nautical miles – 465.54 regular miles

Engine hours = 65 hours 50 minutes

TYC – Oro Bay, 13.73nm
Oro Bay – Fair Harbor, 16.69nm
Fair Harbor – Pirates Cove, 2.3nm
Pirates Cove – Wollochet, 22.69nm
Wollochet – Anacortes, 81.57nm
Anacortes – Matia, 18.57nm
Matia – Patos, 5.82nm
Patos – Stewart, 10.53nm
Stewart – Sidney, 9.36nm
Sidney – Victoria, 20.43
Victoria – Victoria Yacht Club, 10.44nm
Victoria Yacht Club – Russell, 19.07nm
Russell – Genoa Bay, 9.9nm
Genoa – Thetis, 14.42nm
Thetis – Otter Bay, 19.38nm
Otter Bay – Prevost Isl, 5.49nm
Prevost – Bennett Bay, 11.2nm
Bennett – Roche Harbor, 15.8nm
Roche – Port Ludlow, 48.66nm
Ludlow – Seattle, 27.7nm
Seattle – Home TYC, 20.8nm

Monday Aug 25^th – We left Port Ludlow at 7:50am for Seattle, Bell Harbor.  Our adventure was winding down – we talked about school shopping in Seattle and all the fun we had the past few weeks.  Our plan is to spend our last 2 nights in Seattle getting the kids ready for the first day of school just a few days away.  Its hard to believe we will have been out on the boat for 30 days, it almost feels like home now.

We tied up to the Bell Harbor docks at 11:50am traveling 27.70nm from Port Ludlow.

We split up – Julie took Ava I took Skylar – and for the next 2 days we shopped like crazy getting the kids everything they needed to start school.  We had dinner the first night at our favorite Steelhead Diner, then the next night at Etta’s.  Both were fantastic!  Each night we sat on the upper deck of the boat as the sun went down.  The view is awesome at night with the water on one side and the lights of the city on the other.

We had some serious culture shock in the city.  After being out in nature for the last 30 days, coming to a big city was a little overwhelming.  After seeing a drug deal go down, multiple people smoking pot in public, people fighting, and a crazy guy on drugs or something getting picked up by an ambulance we were ready to get out of there!

Sunday Aug 24^th – Plan was to get up super early and make the run across the Strait of Juan de Fuca before the wind picked up.  6am – one last look at the weather report showed dense fog in the strait.  Back to bed for a while to wait out the fog burn off – an added benefit would be currents pushing us a little faster later in the day anyway.

9:45am – we cast off – no fog in sight as we made our way through Mosquito Pass then south down the west side of San Juan Island in Haro Strait.  Right where Haro Strait dumps into the Juan de Fuca Strait things started getting a little rough.  Taking some spray over the bow we plowed through it for 30 minutes or so until the fog bank arrived.  Seas calmed down at the fog line as one challenge turned into another – radar on, everyone watching close for other boats as we navigated out of the commercial traffic lanes.  30 minutes or so of dense fog then we could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Right as we hit the middle of the strait – in the most open water – all the fog lifted and the sun came out to reveal the sea’s largest dolphin swimming down the strait – the Orca Whale!  A whole pod of them straight off our bow – what an awesome sight.  We followed them at a distance for a while, taking pictures and studying them through he binoculars.  We didn’t want to leave but they had a different destination in mind so we parted ways.

We decided to take a short layover at Fort Warden State Park to play on the beach before continuing on to Port Ludlow on the Olympic Peninsula.  We snagged a mooring buoy just off the beach and lowered the dinghy for the ride to shore.  This is one of the best beaches in the Puget Sound area and the kids had fun running all over – digging holes in the sand and hunting for treasures while Julie and I relaxed.

Back underway it was a couple more hours to Port Ludlow.  At 4:45pm traveling 48.66nm we tied up to the docks.  We had a light dinner at the hotel then Skylar and I had fun cleaning and cooking all 11 crabs we caught in Roche Harbor.  We had a late night crab feast!  – eating as much as we could then freezing the rest for a later date.