Where are we indeed! We have finished cruising for 2017 and are in our winter home, Port Townsend, Washington, "One of the coolest small towns in America". Yes that is there official tag line and it is pretty darn accurate too. :-)
Getting here was fun--we really enjoyed sailing around British Columbia for July, August, and September. The Gulf Islands, The Sunshine Coast, Desolation Sound and beyond, it was all beautiful and exciting. And the weather this summer / fall was exceptional. Warm and sunny with calm winds and waves. We might have stayed out sailing but the days were getting significantly shorter, the days were cooling down, and rain was in the forecast. And our official sanctioned time in Canada was ending! So towards the end of September we headed towards the San Juan Islands and Washington.
Funny but the San Juan Islands didn't look as interesting to us as the Gulf Islands or Desolation Sound so we didn't stick around. Instead we crossed the Juan de Fuca Straight and headed to Port Townsend. Juan de Fuca is an open body of water subject to tides, winds, waves, fog, commercial traffic, and currents. We used all that we had learned over the summer to time our crossing and got an early start to beat the predicted strong winds for the afternoon. It was rainy and we were worried about fog but as it turned out the crossing was uneventful and we had no problems. Yay!
Now that we are in Port Townsend we are tied up at a marina and can simply step on/off the boat (instead of climbing into the dinghy and motoring to shore). Town is a short walk away and there are lots of fun community activities always going on. Rob is busy working on the boat--you should see our list of things we'd like to change--and I'm focused on daily life. It's nice but cruising was better. ;-)
We will be in Port Townsend until May but will be taking some time to travel and see family and friends over the (wet) winter.
After we settle in a little we will post some of our observations and insights about cruising the summer. In the meantime, let us know if you have any questions you'd like us to answer!