2019 Summary

We had an excellent summer cruising season this year, once again in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, I was unwilling and/or unable to publish periodic updates, as is my normal habit, for our adoring readers. Below is the detailed, daily description of the entire campaign. No doubt, this will be a bit of a slog for most of you to digest at one go. So, first I will provide a brief summary, which will allow you to skip ahead to interesting bits, without having to plow through the entire Nordic saga.  

This year was much different from last year’s adventure in two significant ways. First, we had a series of guests - 4 different groups - scattered throughout the summer. We have only had a few guests during our first 6 years of cruising, so this was a very pleasant change. The only downside is that guests, at least in all of these instances, meant that we had to be somewhere kinda specific to embark and debark our guests. This leads to a schedule, which I have frequently opined is the most dangerous thing on a boat. Having said that, it all worked out well and we had a great time with all our guests and hope for repeat visits from them all. Second, the boat has reached an age where it is starting to show; I’m not talking cosmetically - she still looks great and we get lots of compliments. But, some of the various components are requiring more and more of my time (or the time of professionals - i.e., $$$$$), as you will see in the details. Cruising is defined as “the opportunity to perform maintenance and repairs in exotic locations”, but I had rather more of it than I like during the 2019 cruising season.

Our departure from Houston was delayed a few days due to family issues, but we then had a lovely drive from Houston to Anacortes during the period 15 - 25 May. The boat was prepped and we finally departed Anacortes on 1 June. We spent most of June roaming around Puget Sound, where we had never visited, at least by boat, incidentally to accommodate a nice visit from the Admiral’s brother and his lovely wife, Luke and Tessie. Early July was spent between Vancouver and the southern Gulf Islands (Canadian side of the San Juan Islands) to accommodate a long visit from our dear friends, Robin and Jim. Later in July, Luke and Tessie’s son Jake spent a few days with us; this kept us within a few miles of places from which he could have easy access to and from Vancouver. Finally, our daughter Ashley joined us on 30 July for a 9-day visit.  

Throughout the cruise, we travelled a fair portion of the time in company with our very good friends, John and Laurie, from Vancouver, on boat their boat “Massilia”. The cruise ended on 6 Sep with our return to Anacortes. We spent a week cleaning out the boat and getting it ready for major repairs and the winter storage season. On 13 Sep, we departed Anacortes to begin the long drive home to Houston, finally arriving there on 20 Sep.

This year we never got farther north than Pendrell Sound at the northern end of the Desolation Sound area. So, aside from the schedule restraints to accommodate guests, it was our lowest mileage cruising season since we started. The travel part was nice and relaxing and very low-stress. This was heavily balanced by the expense and time associated with the many repairs and maintenance issues that plagues us this year. If it ain’t one thing, it’s another. Having said all that, we are still having fun and have no plans to swallow the anchor. The only caveat here is the strong pull that our nearly 2-year-old grandson Henry (not to mention his soon-to-arrive sibling) is exerting on us; four months away from this bundle of joy, this Texas Tornado, is hard. We are trying to convince his parents to let him spend summers on the boat with the grandparents; time will tell.

12-14 May 19

Just when you thought is was safe to get back in the water….

Before we left Houston, we celebrated the first birthday of our grandson, Henry Cormac Wells. He is a charmer and walking already, sort of.  

During the birthday party, which my brother Gary attended, we found out that Gary is on dialysis, having suffered total kidney failure. So, put the brakes on departure; I signed up to be a kidney donor and we delayed our departure to start the requisite testing to see if I am a suitable donor candidate.  

We were originally planning on starting NW in the car on 12 May 19, headed for Anacortes, WA via Frisco, TX, Amarillo, TX, Canyon de Chelly, AZ, Salt Lake City, UT, Crater Lake, OR, Astoria, OR and Port Townsend, WA…. 2800 miles in 13 days. That would put us in Anacortes, WA on 25 May, in time to do a few days work on the boat before launching on 28 May. Now…….., watch this space.

15 May 19

Well, I attended the first day’s orientation and testing for kidney recipients with my brother all day yesterday. At the end of the day, they asked if he had a living donor lined up - that would be me. The doctor asked me a few questions about my health and when she found out I had had melanoma in 2005, she said “we can’t accept your kidney; full stop”. We were both stunned and left the hospital in shock. When I got home, I sent a MAYDAY out to all our extended family and decided there was nothing else to be done from here and that we may as well get on the road to Anacortes. I spent the evening trying to salvage some of our trip plans and hotel reservations.

So, we got up early this morning, loaded up the car and headed off to Frisco, where we spent the night with the Admiral’s brother and sister-in-law. We had a lovely evening, although my brother-in-law tried to kill me by forcing multiple G&T’s down my throat, and damn near succeeded.