Maiden Voyage

As part of our ongoing and ever-evolving quest for a near perfect existence since retirement 3 ½ years ago (“set no small goals”, we say!) we’ve sought to balance our various interests. During the winter we’ve adopted travel to Baja in our 21-foot 5^th wheel trailer as the ideal way to spend time. During the late spring and summers here in the Northwest we’ve enjoyed road trips like the recent one to Alaska, and staying at home on Puget Sound. Here at home we’ve kept an older 23-foot power boat which we’ve used mostly for day cruises and to take the kids wakeboarding, with an occasional overnight trip, staying at state park docks or marinas with our camping gear.

One year ago we upgraded from our 72-square-foot Chalet A-frame Trailer for Baja travel to our “giant” 160-square-foot 5^th wheel trailer. Last week we upgraded our boat from the23-foot cuddy cabin to a 27-foot pocket cruiser. This week we took the new boat out for her three-day maiden voyage. Our purpose, other than to just get out on the water, was to familiarize ourselves with the boat and figure out what we need to bring or buy to stock the boat for longer cruises.

So for our first trip, we cruised into the familiar territory of south Puget Sound. Leaving the marina near the Tacoma Narrows bridge where the boat is temporarily moored, we headed south around Fox Island, then past the south end of the Key Peninsula, and continued to the north end of Harstene Island to Jarrell Cove State Park. There we hooked on to a mooring buoy in the middle of the cove. This is the sort of thing we’ve always wanted to do, but the lack of “facilities” on the old boat always kept us tied up at a dock where we could access the park’s or marina’s facilities.

We were joined a few hours later by our friends and neighbors George and Josi, who moored just fifty yards away. We spent two nights at Jarrell Cove and took turns preparing dinner onboard our boats. During our stay we took our tender to shore so we could run on the roads, or walk in the forest, and took a day cruise on Case Inlet and Fair Harbor marina.

It was a great first trip, and the new boat lived up to all our hopes. Next week we leave for a 12-day trip to the San Juan Islands, and possibly further north into the Canadian Gulf Islands if the weather cooperates. We’re getting closer to our goal: a near perfect existence!