So, I asked Joan...

"What do you want to do with your day off?"

She said, "I'd like to go for a boat ride.  Nowhere particular, let's just go out and cruise around."

I am on boats when I'm working, she is in the office... a boat ride it is.

It doesn't take long to get Wild Blue ready to roll.  On the way out, we stopped by the pump-out station; sure don't want to have to wait in line for that over the holiday.  We had the radio set for the Port of Friday Harbor's frequency... LOTS of calls coming in, people wanting a slip.  I was surprised that anyone would think they could get a slip in a busy marina around a holiday... but, the people handling slips were working hard to accommodate folks... and letting them know where they are on the waiting list.

I recall a time when we first picked up Wild Blue that we were #13 on the waiting list, and they managed to find us a place... no power available, but we were able to get a night on the dock, hit the grocery store, and have a nice meal out, after being at anchor for a few days.  That was our first experience with Friday Harbor, in 2006.

It was another beautiful day in the San Juans - our view looking south as we came out of Friday Harbor...

I asked Joan where she wanted to go.  She said, "Where haven't you been lately?"

"How about around Shaw Island, check out some of Orcas Island, then come back down San Juan Channel back home?"  She agreed.  I changed frequencies to listen to the whale watch boats - they said where the whales are, and I asked Joan if she wanted to go see them.

"No, let's just take a relaxing ride."

"That works for me!"

She used the binoculars to look around us...

"Is that fog to the south?"

"Yes, but quite a ways south of the pass.  I was planning to turn northeast here."

We kicked the speed up; the bottom can use some motion to wear off the slime.  Not a lot of traffic this morning; a nice pace.  I timed things to stay out of the way of a ferry behind us and one crossing our path ahead.  It was nice to be out, without an agenda...

Pretty views every direction we looked.  From the north side of Shaw, we turned to go through Pole Pass...

Joan asked me the names of the islands along the way - I surprised myself, being able to name most of them.  There are 172 islands in the San Juans - no, I can't name them all.  But, this job has taken me by most of them at one time or another.

We passed between the Wasp Islands, past Yellow Island, and back into San Juan Channel.  The traffic had picked up a bunch, and the channel was sloppy due to all the wake and an increasing breeze.  Even with the nice breeze, we saw only one sailboat sailing... oh, there were plenty of sailboats out there, almost all of them motoring.  With the radio set for Channel 16, we heard plenty of, "Thanks for the wake, Dickhead!" comments (not directed at us).  Yep, it's getting close to the holiday.  ;-)

One particularly large pleasure vessel turned and passed much closer to us than was necessary.  I totally get those comments above.  Fortunately, we know to travel with everything secured.  I guess some people leave their manners at home.

On our way back into Friday Harbor, there were plenty of boats circling or drifting outside the marina, waiting for their place on the waiting list to come up.  It was nice to be able to pick our way through them and go right to our slip.

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It's been a while since I've posted an Interesting Boat Of The Day.  This lady with the yellow trim and accessories was my pick...

Joan and I have been talking about what's next after this summer.  Wild Blue has been a great traveling conveyance - I've often said she is the ideal boat for a couple who wants to cruise and trailer.  She has taken us coast to coast to coast, many times; done all we have asked of her, and done it with style.  We may be approaching the time when we're ready to be done trailering... it's in the discussion stage.  There is plenty to talk about and lots of time to make some decisions.