Wednesday, September 14. Anacortes Marina
It was another sunny, beautiful morning and definitely time to get out on the water!
We grabbed coffee and did a quick shop at the market. We were happy to see that Gretel II had a Magma bbq rigged on the stern. Grilling in the cockpit was easy and relaxing on Neil’s Dream in the British Virgin Islands so we knew it would be the ticket in the San Juans as well. Our fresh water supply on Gretel II would be very limited so doing dinner dishes was out of the question. Woo Hoo! A sure sign you are on vaycay!
Bass wired the navigation station with laptops and maps and made sure we would have tunes. We stowed food, books, guides and clothes and headed out of the marina. The next day we were due in Bellingham to meet up with our friends D and A in their lovely craft Finch, a 25 ft Pacific Seacraft. Sailing to Bellingham was going to take at least 4 hours so we chose Cypress Head on Cypress Island for our first night out.
There were three mooring balls in the northern bay at Cypress Head, with only one occupied. We grabbed a mooring ball and noted our view over a thin sandy spit linking Cypress Island with Cypress Head. A group of sea kayakers had arrived earlier and had their tents set in the trees. On the beach were their brightly colored kayaks. A few fire pits and picnic tables completed the picture. It was going to be a great place to spend the night.
The Waggoner’s Cruising Guide mentioned the great hiking trails on Cypress. We packed our camelbacks and dry shoes and rowed the dinghy to shore. The trail system led all over this mostly private island and ultimately up to an airstrip. The walking felt great after being in a car for two days [Bass: and slightly stressed in Anacortes]. We followed the trail through a dense undergrowth of maple and beautiful evergreen trees which are really cedar, not cypress. The fragrance in the air was cedar mixed with salt water, completely relaxing and wonderful.
[Bass: With a pleasant stretch of our legs behind us, we rowed back out to Gretel II, enjoyed a relaxing barbecue dinner and slept a very sound night’s sleep in our protected little bay.]
Google Earth Tour:
Click the link below to download a Google Earth .kmz file that will take you on a fly-by tour of our motor from Anacortes to Cypress Head:
2) Double click to open in Google Earth
3) Expand the “Anacortes_Cypress_Head.kmz” tree down and double click “Double Click to View Tour”:
Pictures:
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