Opening Day

Friday July 13th – Sunday 15th. It was tough leaving our anchorage at Kimball Nature Reserve but onward we went through the heart of the San Juan’s to Roche Harbor at the north end of San Juan island. We have had a nice time with without Skylar aboard (Love you Skylar ) giving Ava all the kid attention for a few days has been nice for her. But, tomorrow Skylar is flying in to Roche to join us for the rest of the trip.

Radioing in for a slip assignment had us at the very end of the seaplane dock, perfect for seeing Skylar off the plane and a quiet spot in the marina. Julie readies the lines and fenders on starboard side. 10’ from the dock its evident starboard is not going to work, the slip is too small, and we have to let the bow hang over. Julie quickly flips everything to the other side. 10’ from the dock we realize we can’t get the dinghy down if we dock on that side. We motor to open water and put the dinghy down then dock the boat for real this time. Just kidding, the power doesn’t work at the dock. “We are going to have to move you to I8 at the other end of the marina” the dockhand said. Ok, flip lines and fenders to the other side, again, and off we go this time to our permanent slip for the next 3 days. Wheeeeewwwwwww….

The next day (Saturday) was the opening day of crabbing season and we were excited to get some pots down. The 3 of us dropped the pots in our usual spot off Pearl island then went on what we call “the loop hike” then went back out to pull the pots. First pot had Zero keepers, but the second pot, just 100 yards away had 7 nice size crabs!

Skylar had a nice flight in that night and got settled in to the boat before we went to dinner at the Madrona Grill. Sunday, brought more crabs for a total of 19! Our friends Todd and Tami arrived by boat with Todd’s brother, wife and kids onboard. They are joining us for one night in Roach before heading north at a quicker pace then us. We are going to meet up with them in Desolation later in the trip.

Having caught 19 crabs, we prepared a feast for our arriving friends. We all had dinner together on Todd’s boat, eating crab until we could fit no more. We shelled the rest of the crab and still had another 5lbs of meat! Those were some hefty crabs.