Wednesday, August 29 - Friday Harbor

Another morning with Ray assigned to task of making hash browns.  I could get used to this!  Erin added a couple eggs over easy for the perfect breakfast again.  Erin and Mary went ashore to browse the shops that were already closed when we arrived last night while Ray and I stayed on the boat.  Our Internet connection, which was fine last night, was very poor this morning – probably because it was low tide and we were about 10 feet lower than last night.  We tried to connect to Ray’s bank so he could pay a bill, and after about a half hour of slow response or downright disconnects, gave up on that.

We pulled away from the city dock just after noon and headed north up the Swinomish Channel.  Low tide was at 10:30, so it was still pretty low but rising.  We didn’t encounter any super shallow spots, and after clearing the channel continued on north past the east side of Guemes Island rather than taking the usual route past Anacortes over to Thatcher Pass.  It was a perfect cruising day with the water flat as glass as we rounded the northern tip of Guemes and headed over towards Cypress Island.  From there we headed towards Obstruction Pass, situated between Orcas and Blakely Islands.  It’s called Obstruction Pass because in the middle is Obstruction Island.  Either side is passable; the southern side is called Peavine Pass and the northern side is Obstruction Pass.

Although Guemes and Cypress are considered part of the San Juan Islands, as is Fidalgo where Anacortes is, we always feel we’re truly in the San Juans once we enter one of the passages into the “inner sanctum” of the island group.  It was great to be back cruising the islands after last year’s hiatus with the repower project.

We had decided on Blind Bay on Shaw Island as our destination.  There are no facilities there other than a small store, but it’s a peaceful rural setting in the harbor and there’s plenty of space.  We arrived around 4:30, picked a spot and set the anchor.  It turned out to be one of our shortest anchorages ever, as the instant I turned off the port engine – the one that charges the house batteries with its alternator – the GPS went crazy and the fridge starting beeping as well, showing ‘low DC voltage’ on its display.  The inverter chimed in with its warning beeps as well.  I checked the meter and the house batteries were at 10 volts.  The house batteries are a group of 8 six volt AGM golf cart batteries, wired in series/parallel for our 12 volt supply.  As was the configuration with our previous engines, the port engine charges these batteries while the starboard engine charges the starting batteries.  I didn’t know if we had developed a bad cell or battery within the group, or if they just weren’t accepting a charge properly.  But, I did know that we needed 12 volts in the house system to hoist the anchor, so restarted the engines right away.  The house voltage returned to 12 volts and we were able to raise the anchor.  We needed some shore power while we sorted this out, so decided to head for Friday Harbor, which is on San Juan Island on the other side of Shaw.

As we cruised out of Blind Bay the GPS decided that it would shut itself down and wouldn’t turn back on.  We knew the way, but I plugged in our backup GPS, which is a hand-held Garmin.  It has an accessory cable that plugs into a cigarette lighter socket and another cable that goes to the computer.  It spent several minutes searching for satellites as we exited Blind Bay, and came on line just as we entered Wasp Passage.  But, just about that time someone flushed the toilet, which apparently took a few too many amps so that GPS shut down as well.  For whatever reason it wouldn’t turn back on, even with an alternate power source of a couple of AA batteries – so we continued on the old fashioned way, reading compass headings off the route lines that were on the computer chart.  A brief toot from our rear announced that a state ferry was coming through the pass behind us, so we went to one side to let him pass then followed his wake past the next hazard.

While this was going on Erin called the Friday Harbor Marina to see if we could reserve moorage, but they told us to call on VHF 66a as we entered the harbor, which we did about a half hour later.  I thought there would be plenty of space being mid week later in the season, but the place is packed.  They squeezed us in at the end of the breakwater dock, on the inside next to the ferry terminal. 

We’ll probably be here a couple days.  Tonight we’re just letting the engine room cool down – no point in crawling around in there now when it’ll be more comfortable in the morning.  Our space here isn’t quite as long as we are, so I positioned the boat with the bow facing the town, giving us a great view of both the ferry coming and going as well as all the activity ashore. 

As is the case when you’re boating, you are wherever you are, and this is a great location for both visiting, and if necessary, acquiring supplies.  Although, I really don’t want to buy new house batteries here in Friday Harbor!