Our First Few Weeks On The Island

Sailing to Friday Harbor from Oak Harbor

I had planned on crafting and presenting a detailed account of our heroic journey aboard our new ship to her new home ... but obviously "island life" got the best of me.  I'm sure the tale will be spun sometime in the near future ... but for now I think we will all settle for a quick little update!

Chelsea and I have been living in Friday Harbor aboard our new 29' Ranger for the past few weeks.  In mid April we sailed her from Oak Harbor, through the infamous Deception Pass, and up into the San Juan Islands on a two day journey.  It was a beautiful trip ... and I swear I'll write about it soon (as well as put together a video)!  But the important thing is -- we made it here safe and sound!

I can't describe the complete sense of peace that living up here has brought us.  But I'll try anyway.  After the first few days, the intense enthusiasm that one feels at the start of a journey or vacation was long gone.  What has remained is a sense of contentment that I'm not sure I have ever experienced before.  It's as if everything that should be stressful just isn't.  Work is enjoyable for both of us.  Chelsea is loving her new job and the people she works with.  The whole island feels like one familiar family.  They already know our names at the local market and everywhere we go has a sense of familiarity to it that we never feel out of place.

The nature and scenery is absolutely breathtaking.  Every day we find new things that make us giddy. The other day we spent a good 40 minutes walking a small portion of the dock at low tide ... looking at crabs.  The other dock-goers glanced at us like we were lunatics as we crouched over the water pointing with excitement at the crawling things a few feet below us.

"You'd think they'd never seen a crab before ..."

Well you know what?  I haven't.  Ok?!  At least not one that is just crawling around right outside my front door and getting in fights with other little crabs over a discarded fish head.  It was fascinating and I have no shame that I, as a 32 year old man, sat and watched them like a six year old watching 90's Saturday morning cartoons...

Here's a video of a crab for you ...

But anyways ... every single day has held little gems.  Wether its a day hike out to the southern tip of the island to climb among the tide pools or just simply walking into town to go see a movie at the little local theater (without horrendous prices) ... we simply love it here.  The people we meet are friendly and amazing.  Randy and Donna (our neighbors) have been so welcoming and we have already enjoyed a few BBQ's and drinks -- or "sundowners" as they are known -- over the past few weeks.

And then there is the sailing ... the reason I've been wanting to live up here for the majority of my life.  The sea is everything I could have hoped for.  Chelsea and I are planning our first overnight trip soon.  We plan on sailing across the islands to the east side of Orcas Island to grab a mooring buoy next to Doe Bay Resort.  The other night we made a practice run on a little island just a few miles away from our home port.  It was our first time catching a mooring buoy and we were quite proud!

Shortly after this video was taken, the wake from that ferry hit us and River (the cat) threw up all over the cockpit.  It was great ... (ugh).  Hopefully she gets her sea legs soon.  She definitely feels at ease on the boat while it is at the dock.  She has claimed the top of the dodger as her domain and lays up there in the evening watching ... whatever cats watch.

Sorry for the sickening shameless selfie.  Anyways ... much much more to come in the next few weeks (stories, not selfies).  And I promise I will write a post about our sailing trip to the islands shortly.

 Maybe.  If I don't spend all my time sailing ...

Fair winds and calm seas,
Adam & Chelsea

Our Journey Begins

Anyone who has ever known me knows what my dream is.  I want to sail around the world.  

But that dream has been elusive as dreams normally tend to be.  Life gets in the way and has the tendency to make other things seem more important than following that voice that tells us to do very irrational and seemingly irresponsible things.

So if someone had asked me six weeks ago where I'd be now, "On the tiller of a 29ft sailboat crossing over the Rosario Strait bound for the San Juan Islands," probably would not have been an answer I would have even considered. 

But apparently ... a lot can happen in six weeks.

It all started with an innocuous trip to the islands in late February.  Chelsea and I went up there for a “scouting mission” as we had made it our New Year’s Resolution to move up north by the end of the year.  As anyone who has ever known me is well aware, I’ve always planned on living up in the San Juan Islands as a first step to achieving my dream of sailing around the world.  The San Juan islands present the perfect training grounds for such a journey—but I had yet to obtain that dream in my 32 years so far on this planet.

So on February 26th Chelsea and I started our journey, both physically and spiritually, with a weekend stay in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  Before we had even reached the island, I could feel the change.  We had barely boarded the ferry before the magic of the islands started its relentless consumption of our souls.  The evening sun was setting and the islands looked like something out of a fantasy book shrouded in a light mist and the grays and purples of a dying day.

As we sat there looking out at the islands passing by and fading into twilight, we knew in the deepest parts of our hearts that something was beginning. For me, it is the beginning of a journey that my soul has been craving since the moment I arrived on this planet.  For Chelsea, the islands represent an opportunity to feed her wanderlust and explore her newfound connection to the water in ways she had never thought possible.  Even though we had never visited the islands before,  it didn’t feel like we were visiting a place for the first time…

… it felt like we were finally coming home.

~Adam

Waiting at the Ferry Terminal at Friday Harbor at the end of our first visit.