Number 4

About a week ago, I mistakenly requested a little excitement. I had mentioned that this bit of sailing through the San Juan's that we were doing was just a little too easy. I think that I had mentioned the weather was mostly benign, so we really don't have to even check the reports. I think I even went so far as to ask for someone to send up a little squall to liven things up for us. Whoever sent up the wind and the waves, I take it back. I'm sorry. It was a joke. Enough already. Maybe you could leave us some of the wind and waves but take a good solid 20 knots off the top and we'll call things great. Or better yet, if you feel like you want to leave us with the wind and the waves, just leave them for daylight hours. Take them back at night and for God Sake's, let us sleep.

Right after I had asked for that glorious little bit of excitement, we got it. There is a mysterious phenomenon that I have never understood. When out on a large body of water, waves will show up before the wind that created them. I don't get why, and if you understand the physics of it all, I would love to hear about it over a cup of coffee. I'm buying. Anyway, the night of our new found excitement started a little after midnight. We had just gone to bed when all of the sudden, our smooth and calm anchorage became a rockin and a rollin mess. My first thought was that some stupid power boater drove through the anchorage at full speed and sent a huge wake through the anchorage without even the slightest thought that all of these anchored boats with their lights out might be asleep. You ask why I might think that? Well, it happens all the time. Power boaters, if you are reading this, I am being kind when I said “some stupid power boater”. Most sailors have a slew of curse words that would make a construction worker blush when describing said power boater.

Well, the waves, they started. And shortly after the waves, the wind started. And shortly after that, we were up because there was a freight train in the rigging and it wasn't leaving any time soon. It was loud and it was bumpy. 2 things that forbid me to sleep. We waited out the night and as soon as the sun was up, we pulled up the anchor and headed for the Ham (Bellingham).

We spent 2 nights tied to the dock in the Ham. It was the first time in a long time that we have spent the night at a dock, and also, it was the first time in a long time that we have been around hustle and bustle. You might think that being tied up to a dock would be a better night sleep than when anchored out in a bay. Sometimes that's the case, but not this time. Instead of a freight train that sounded like it was in the rigging, there was an actual freight train that sounded like it was only 100 yards away from us...because it was only 100 yards away from us. And he sure liked to toot his horn...all night long. Not only was our neighbor tooting his horn all night long, but since crabbing season just opened up here, we had overzealous crabbers yipping and yapping down the dock at 4 in the morning because they were sure that if they didn't hit the water before the sun came up, all the crabs would be gone. I'm going to let you crabbers in on a little secret...crabs don't care what time you get there (and they love chicken...that was 2 secrets).

Since the dock in the Ham was too loud for us, we decided that we would move south to Fairhaven and anchor in front of the town. Fairhaven is a really cute little place with lots of charm and some fun stuff do to. They have some great restaurants, live music everywhere, really good donuts and ice cream (mmmmmmmmmm), and on Saturday nights, an outdoor movie in the park for everyone to enjoy. Pretty fun. If you are wondering what movie it was, it was Jurassic Park...I'm pretty sure it's a true story. Our good friends Brad and Lorraine even came up to visit while we were in Fairhaven. It's always great to spend some time with friends.

Unfortunately, the fun that was had during our couple of days in Fairhaven was somewhat tainted due to the fact that again, no sleep was had. We anchored fairly close to the public dinghy dock in Fairhaven. It's a great little dock. It's connected to a boardwalk that is about 20 feet above the bay and is the perfect height for a jump into some nice cool water on a hot day. It's such great dock that apparently all of the Ham's college kids like to hang out there and party into the wee hours of the morning. Just as the party was ending, guess who shows up? The crabbers, because again, if they don't get out there before the sun comes up, all of the crabs will be gone. And the crabbers don't like to meander their way out to wherever they are going to throw their pots out. Nope, they like to race right on by our floating home at full speed which of coarse sends a huge wake our way and sends us a rockin and a rollin. Gotta get those crabs!

On our 3^rd night anchored in front of Fairhaven, some more weather was predicted to come our way. We were expecting 15 to 20 knots of breeze out of the South after midnight. Not too bad, especially because we had a big wall of land in front of us that should protect us from a south breeze. At midnight, the 15 to 20 came as predicted. At about 4am, just as the college kids were packing up for the night, the 20 became 30 knots of wind and it had shifted just enough to the southwest to send some waves our way that reinforced the fact that we weren't going to sleep. As soon as the sun came up, we were on our way again.

We battled our way south through some surprisingly large waves that on numerous occasions would completely wash over the deck and send a wall of spray into the cockpit. It was a game of duck. If you had your head up above the windshield when we crashed into one of the larger waves and weren't fast enough, that wall of spray was going to be a cold shower. After my more than wanted number of showers, we made it to Pleasant Bay and dropped the anchor in what could be the best named bay we've been in to date. It is pleasant here. It's calm and peaceful. There is a tall wall of land that is nearly surrounding us that blocks out almost all of the wind and wave action that we just experienced on our way here. Every once in a while a huge gust of wind will break over the wall and hit us, but for the most part, you would never even know the wind and seas are raging just outside this pleasant little bay.

If you are doing the math like I am, we are now up to 6 nights without sleep. Sure, we get the little bits and pieces of sleep that keep us functioning, but the word functioning is loose. I have become more or less a functioning zombie. I was with it enough to get our boat here and anchored, but after that, I was useless. I was so useless that I fell into bed and did what retired people are supposed to do. I had a real live power nap. I know it's a shock, but my 4^th nap in retirement happened. It was real and it was powerful and it was great.

So please, cut the wind back just a tad. We saw gusts into the low 40's today and that is in all honesty, more than even I would like.

Beyond the wind, waves, lack of sleep, and fun had while exploring a couple of towns, we have been seeing what could be the most spectacular sunsets that I have ever seen in the past week. In our last 14 months of traveling, I have made a point of trying to watch the sunset, and again, these could be the best that have ever happened anywhere.  No photoshop here, just as we saw them.  Enjoy.