The Long Winter
December 2018 - May 2019 🍒
Wow, it is hard to believe that today is June 1st. I have not written anything for our blog all winter (and spring). The biggest reason is that we didn’t take many boat trips in the past few months. Cerise kept us busy year-round. Tracy was able to go on a couple trips over the winter and spring and I had a couple business trips as well. In early December, she met her cousin in New York City to see winter in New York. She had a great time, and I was able to spend a couple nights aboard Cerise in the slip. That gave me time to do a few little simple projects and just enjoy the boat.
Two of Tracy’s nieces from Taiwan came to visit in December. During their stay, we found a day with decent weather to take them on a short day trip to Hope Island. They loved it. We took a simple lunch, drank some wine and told them about boating in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and had a great afternoon.
In March, Tracy went to Taiwan to visit her family. While she was gone, Cerise had to go to the factory for a few warrantee projects that required her to be out of the water for a couple weeks.
The easiest way to do this was to meet Kevin from RT in Everett so she can go on a trailer. I used this time to give my sister Lynda Wagner, and her friends, Doug and Barb Anderson a boat ride from La Conner to Everett. We picked a beautiful day, and Lynda was able to find a few Gray Whales to entertain us on the way.
Lunch at Scuttlebutt Brewing in Everett and Dinner at Amigos in Stanwood rewarded us for all of the car shuffling we needed to do. A couple weeks later, I got the boat back and needed to move her back to La Conner. Dale Wagner couldn’t make the trip down, so he and Doug were my guests on the trip back north. We also saw several Gray Whales on this trip, the difference being, we had no schedule this time. We were able to take some time to watch them.
Another big thing that was done this spring was the annual maintenance. This includes oil changes in both the engine and transmission. Air and Fuel filter changes, and a few other little items. I tend to do this kind of thing myself and I am no stranger to working on mechanical stuff but this was my first time to work on a diesel boat. So, I did a lot of studying and reading and attacked it. I got it all done and learned a lot along the way. It will be easier next year.
Now we are looking forward to a great summer boating season. We have some big plans. Tracy wants to boat into Wescott Shellfish on San Juan Island for fresh oysters. We are planning a two-week trip to Desolation Sound, BC in July. In September is another RT Rendezvous in Roche Harbor that we plan to attend. It will be a busy summer!!