This morning's check of the crab traps revealed two good sized keepers, which we added to the one from Cadboro Bay. While we were out retrieving the traps, Erin was preparing a breakfast of scrambled eggs with ham and cheese in tortilla roll-ups, and handed a couple to Trav as he dropped me off from our retrieval run, We decided on a 9:30 cruise time, ample time for our breakfast and whatever other morning chores needed to be done.
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The wind had picked up early in the morning, and the straps on our canvas began their vibrations around 5:30 or so in the morning. We decided to venture out anyway, thinking that perhaps the wind would be at our backs. While that was the case at first, by the time we were crossing San Juan Channel heading towards Orcas Island, the wind was head on and the chop was developing enough for white caps and salt spray coming up on the windshield.
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Our course took us past Jones Island and Deer Harbor towards Pole Pass, where we'd squeeze between Orcas and Crane Islands. The wind had gotten stronger by then, and I knew we'd be headed directly into it for another hour and a half or so to Hunter Bay, so after a quick radio check we decided to head into Deer Harbor for refuge. We were assigned slips on either side of our dock, and were secured in fairly short order.
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A few slips away from us is a mid-50's Chris Craft Corsair, a design similar to our Conqueror, but shorter at 45 feet. It has one hatch instead of two on the front deck, and one instead of two staterooms aft. We chatted with the owner and heard how his brother had rescued it from somewhere in California and shipped it up to Seattle for restoration. It's now his boat and his job to keep it in good shape. From our perspective, looks like he's doing it very well. I'm not sure we'd enjoy long cruises in it, though - it's powered by twin 454 gas engines, and he burns about 20 gallons per hour at 13 knots. He said it also went through 20 gallons per hour at 11 knots as well.
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I cleaned our three crab and we cooked those up for future use. We already had plans for "beefalo" burgers for this evening's dinner. Trav and Barb came over and we grilled burgers up on the bridge. By now the wind had subsided, and with a few of the windows in it was a pleasant place for us to dine, providing a good view of the goings on at the marina.
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Tomorrow we'll head to La Conner. Erin has already made reservations at he dock for both of us, so hopefully we won't encounter any severe weather problems. I've plotted an alternate course out through Obstruction Pass and over the top of Cypress and Guemes Islands thinking that will provide a shorter and more protected crossing of Rosario Strait in the event of more wind. We'll see.
In the meantime, we are enjoying our stay here at Deer Harbor. There's no town here, just a small store at the dock, so what you see is literally what you get. But, the dock facilities were upgraded a few years ago, and are very nice.
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