Ghostsailor's Monthly Update

Pictures from January 2008: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v299/sailormomma/January%202008/

In 2007 we really wanted to spend Christmas aboard Ghost in a small harbor in the San Juans or Puget Sound, but with Scott flying so much we weren't able to.  So, we decided to head out the first chance we got.  Luckily Scott had some days off the 1st part of January, so we headed to Blake Island. 

We had our boat all set, just needed to head to the potty pump out and then we were off.  It felt so good to pull away from the dock.  We pulled up to the pump out with no problems and then realized we were missing one of our crew mates.  Ashes, not liking the motor, jumped off the boat when we started and we got so busy, we forgot to check for her.  So, we headed back into our slip.  Scott and I searched the boats we know she gets treats from, and there she was.  With a little convincing, we got her back aboard and once again pulled away from the dock.

We had some good wind and even had to put up storm sails.  Ellie fell asleep in a sail bag:

Is that what boat kids do?  It was so cute.  And Zak, Scott, and I were on the lookout for Orcas.  We had one come up right alongside us and saw many more in the distance.  It was as if they were escorting us to our destination.  It was Zak's first Orca sighting, which was so cool:

We pulled into the marina at Blake Island with about 7 boats already there.  I figured it would be pretty quiet there.  Of course, they all left within a couple hours of our arrival and we had the whole island to ourselves, except the Park Rangers, but we didn't see much of them.

The next morning we woke up and decided to take the dinghy around the entire island and end up on our favorite beachcombing beach on the west side.  We bundled up and headed out.  It was a nice ride and fun seeing the island from the water.  We saw a racoon, otter, and some seals.  The beachcombing was good, but we didnt' time the tides right.  We were there at high tide, but still got some cool beach glass.  There were quite a few rock slides around the island and some trees I don't think I would want to lean on if I were up on land.

We got back to Ghost, had some hot chocolate, played some board games, had a great dinner, and headed to bed early.  It was great! 

The next morning Scott woke up to this:

They were in a tree right outside the boat.  We were wondering if they had their eyes on Ashes.  Zak and Scott took off to do some more beachcombing and exploring and Ellie and I relaxed onboard Ghost.  In this picture Scott set up the camera to take a picture of him and Zak, but didn't realize a ferry or tug had passed earlier:

Let's just say, Zak and Daddy came back to the boat pretty soaked. 

A little later Scott and the kids started a fire in one of the covered areas and tried to make smores.  Unfortunately we didn't have any sticks to put the marshmellows on, but the kids had fun anyway.

The next morning we decided to walk along the beach and take some garbage bags to clean up.  There were quite a few bottles and other trash along the beach and we wanted to help:

We headed back to the boat for some more hot chocolate and naps, but decided to check the weather first.  After looking at the weather, we decided it would probably be wise to head back home a day early.  A big storm was on it's way in from California and we didn't want to get caught.  So, so much for the naps.  We readied the boat and headed out.  Both kids took turns at the helm:

The wind started picking up right before West Point, so the kids were sent below until we were in a little calmer water.  We made it home pretty quickly and it was good to be back at the dock with the storm predicted in a couple hours.  We are already planning our next week long trip aboard Ghost.  I guess it's in our blood.  It sure felt good to get Ghost out, though.  This was a good start to 2008.