Big Boat Trip 2019 – The End

Wednesday August 28th 2019 – We left Seattle and headed for Blake Island to catch one more night out in nature before heading home. Luckily there was space for us at the dock. Needing some beach time, we all jumped in the dinghy for a wet ride (it was quite choppy) to the southwest side of the island where we beached the dinghy. Julie and Ava basked in the sun while Skylar and I did some fly fishing off the shore.

Somehow the dinghy lost its anchor hold and floated off the beach. In a panicked serious voice, I told Ava it was her responsibility and she needed to go swim and get it. Her response was a serious tone back “is that supposed to be a joke”. Unsuccessful in delegating the task I pumped myself up and jumped in the freezing water to retrieve our ride home.

Back at the boat Julie had the idea to pick up garbage along the breakwater and document it for a service project Ava would need to do when school starts in a couple days. We all chipped in and filled a couple garbage bags. One of the other boaters was impressed and gave Ava some honey from his bees.

The wind calmed and it ended up a beautiful calm night with delicious cedar plank salmon for dinner.

Thursday August 29th –We left Blake Island and slowly cruised south down Colvos passage headed for Tacoma. While cruising along at 8 knots we all cleaned the boat and prepped it for offloading all our stuff. Skylar actually had a good attitude and was very helpful. After 18 years he had an epiphany and told Julie and I, “wow, it’s actually a lot easier to get stuff done when I have a good attitude”. Finally!

After 2 months living on the boat, we were almost back home. What a crazy summer. I can honestly say this was by far the most eventful boat trip ever. We had sickness, wild weather, lots of rain, huge waterfalls, Julie’s mom passed away, and a serious accident that sent Skylar to the hospital. It was kind of an exhausting trip but certainly memorable and the bonding we had as a family, stuck on a boat together,  will last a lifetime.