Saturday, October 18
As I write this on Saturday evening in Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island in the San Juans, the storm that was predicted yesterday is swaying Braesail from side to side and swinging her around her anchor, the rigging is thumping, the anchor chain is rattling as it drags itself over itself at the muddy bottom of the harbor 30 feet below us, and winds swhoooooshshshing through the rigging at speeds up to a little over 30 mph are flinging fistfuls of rain at the few boats in the spacious harbor. We are warm and cozy here in Braesail’s comfortable saloon (the main cabin), and are very grateful for the boat’s excellent heating system!
Our night in Winter Cove had turned wintry, and we awoke to gray drizzle. We’d tentatively planned to stay in the cove until Sunday, but given the direction and speed of the wind that was forecast, and the fact that it was relatively calm and simply sprinkly by late morning, we decided to motor through the light rain and increasing mist for about an hour and a half to Prevost Harbor, which would provide better protection from the inclement weather than Winter Cove would afford.
This we did, clearing US Customs by phone with no difficulties when we crossed the border, and anchoring in Prevost Harbor at about 1:30 pm. As soon as the anchor had been safely set and we’d clambered down into Braesail’s saloon, the rain increased and the wind was soon rising as well (good timing!). As we were anchoring (as Walt lets out the chain via a cockpit control, I stand in the bow and call off the 50-ft. marks made with zip ties so that he knows how much chain has been laid down), I noticed that this anchorage contains linear moorage similar to that in Reid Harbor on the other side of the island, where, when we were there in mid-September, seagulls were perched on the floats on the mooring line like feathered beads on a necklace. Here, glossy black cormorants were decorating the line, and I photographed them for this blog-post: a white “necklace” in Reid Harbor and a black one here!
German exercises, email, article-reading, naps, supper, and a Zoom visit with my brother and his wife in Springfield, IL (StarLink worked quite well for facilitating our visit, but was unhappy when the boat swung around in the wind, and Zoom kept zooming away . . .), occupied the rest of my day. Weather conditions will determine our Sunday activities; we might stay here or we might return to Deer Harbor to take care of some projects on the boat before we take the Prius, containing us and all our perishable food and our gear, back to Anacortes via ferry. We shall see!
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 