Long, but satisfying

Yesterday was a looong day. We hoisted anchor in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island at 06:15 and headed out. We got started this early for two reasons:

• Based on our past experience, we wanted to reach slack water when we were at Partridge Bank. We needed an ebb tide to give us a ride out of the San Juan Islands, but we needed a flood tide for the ride down Admiralty Inlet and into Puget Sound.
• It was a long trip - we needed the time to make it. Our plan/hope was to go all the way into Eagle Harbor, on Bainbridge Island - a trip of 67 miles.

We motored out of the harbor, and caught a nice breeze that carried us about half way out of the Islands. Then it faded, we had to start the motor. We drove most of the way to Smith Island, where the breeze filled in from the West, rising to 10-15 (NOAA forecast: East, 10-15). We sailed basically from there all the way to Eagle Harbor. There were two other short stretches where we needed to start the engine. It was a long day - we dropped anchor at 19:55, after nearly 14 hours.

It was a very clear day - we were able to see Mount Rainier from the San Juan Islands, and when we got into Admiralty Inlet, the Seattle skyline appeared. Looks pretty insignificant, doesn't it?

Long, but satisfying