Seattle to Ketchikan Day 3

Friday May 6th.

Last year when we ran the boat south we stopped in Friday Harbor and thoroughly enjoyed it.  So much so that we wanted to stay there a little longer on our north bound trip.  Also, last year when we were in Friday Harbor there was a very bad wind storm which essentially cancelled the Saturday farmer's market.  So this year we wanted to be in Friday Harbor on a Saturday, and were hopeful that another wind storm would not develop to mess up the Saturday market.

Anacortes to Friday Harbor

This map snippet shows the route for the day.  It's not very far from Anacortes to Friday Harbor, only about 20 miles.  But you do have to cross Rosario Strait, which at times can be very unpleasant.

We pulled out of Anacortes Cap Sante Marie marina at about 9:30 AM in sunny weather with light breezes.

One of the things I had done on the boat over the winter was to install a new stereo system on the flybridge.  I also had a new VHF radio installed on the flybridge.  On this leg of the voyage I discovered a minor problem with the wiring on these 2 devices.  Whenever I keyed the mic on the VHF radio to make a call, the new stereo miraculously turned itself on!  At first I didn't believe it, so I had to repeat it a few times to convince myself it was really happening.  More on this later.

We arrived safely in Friday Harbor at about 1 PM.
Total trip mileage to this point was 90.4 nm.

It was late August when we were here last year and the guest floats were very full.
Since it was so early in the cruising season this year there were hardly any boats at the guest floats.
I called the harbor authority on my hand held VHF and was told to take any slip on the guest float - there were lots of them available.

Last year we had to clear US Customs in Friday Harbor because we were entering the US after being in Canadian waters.  This year we were still within US waters, so no Customs clearance required.

We did get fuel here before going into our slip.

We were here 3 nights so I will include them all in this posting, but will spare you the blow by blow details.

Friday Harbor is just a neat place to spend some time.
The main part of town is an easy walk just up from the boat harbor.

Here are some photos from our stay in Friday Harbor.

At the slip on the guest float

Kinda lonely on the guest float.

Ranger Tug

I enjoy looking at all boats, of any kind.  I really like these Ranger Tugs.  Some of them seem to have all kinds of stuff on them, like solar panels, barbecues, storage bins, rafts, thrusters, etc. etc.  I really don't know how they cram all that functionality into such a small space.

I think it's obligatory to show this photo whenever one is posting a blog about a visit to Friday Harbor.

Check out the name of this boat, "Pumpty Dumpty."
I'll bet you can guess what it's function is in the harbor.

The above 4 shots are of PopEye the seal, a harbor favorite.
We learned this year that PopEye is a female, and has a litter of pups just about every year.
She hangs out all around the harbor, but especially likes to hang out near the sea food shack that is right down on the dock.  If patrons don't take proper notice of her she slaps the water very hard to let them know that she is there and that she wants some treats.
The sea food shack sells baggies of scrap fish for $5 for feeding PopEye, which of course Lisa had to try.

PopEye is so beloved around the harbor that there is a statue (sculpture?) of her up by the marina office.

View from the harbor

Marina office

Washington State ferries come and go at all hours

Beautiful flowers abound around the harbor

We did go to the farmer's market on Saturday morning and got some great fruits and vegetables.

We also got a steelhead fillet at the sea food shack, which was absolutely delicious.

I called Dunato's and asked about the wiring problem with the VHF radio and the stereo.
They gave me enough information so that I was able to rectify the wiring problem and get both devices working properly.