The exit went well and soon I had the the mainsail up on a beam reach. The mainsail was noticeably easier to raise with the new ball bearing $122 Schaefer block for turning the mainsail halyard at the base of the mast. (There is one for the jib halyard too.) After that we rolled out the jib and we were on our way. Our destination was Aleck Bay at the southern end of Lopez Island, about as short a run from Port Townsend to the San Juans as possible. The idea was to start off slowly, do the easy ones, and build up our confidence. Brenda had not sailed on Pachuca since Tahiti and I did not have the "feel" of the area with its big tides, strong currents, and rocks everywhere. (Bertram, in a nearby slip, told us this week "if you go out you hit rocks". He should know: he plowed into a rock at 7 kt and tore a chunk out of the forefoot of his beautiful wooden boat that he built himself. And I also read in on of our cruising guides something along the lines of 'There are two kinds of sailors: those who have run aground and those who will run aground.')
We sailed about half of the distance, scooting along at about 4.5 kt carried by a strong current through Admiralty Inlet. However, past the inlet and along the western side of Whidbey Island we started the engine because the breeze had died down and we were making only 2.5 kt. We were only 10 nm from Aleck Bay but wanted to avoid the flood tide in the late afternoon. We rounded the east side of Smith Island then laid a course directly for Aleck Bay. The approach reminded me a bit of that of the Fremantle Sailing Club. We could bear left to Aleck Bay, go straight to Hughes Bay, or bear right to McArdle Bay. We motored into Aleck Bay and dropped anchor in 10 meters of water at 48N25.6 and 122W51.4, about 500 meters from the three sides of the end of the bay. The wind was at 7 kt from SSE, from just over the western arm of the bay. The water was very calm.
There were several private houses around the bay, which meant that we were not allowed to visit the beach because of the insanely stupid Washington state law that gives private title not just the beach but the low water mark of the beach. The first house to our left had a sea plane parked in front of it with some sort of ramp to get it out of the water if required. Not far from it was a sail boat on a mooring. Perhaps some of these expensive houses with their exotic trappings explains what happens to the failed bankers, CEO's, and MBA's who got rewarded for failure with millions of dollars in bonuses and severance pay. (Some but not all because I'm sure becauae I'm sure that many of them worked hard and very productively for what they got.) Otherwise Pachuca had the bay to itself. Some experienced locals have bad mouthed the San Juans because of the housing, crowds, and boring terrain compared to the spectacular fjords in the Strait of Georgia north of Vancouver. However, we have found this first bay interesting with its rugged rock fringe, wooded hills, and sparse housing. Brenda has seen a golden eagle, lots of pigeon guillemots and a seal or sea lion with a pup. It almost makes up for her missing out on seeing a family of raccoons walking into the boatyard that I saw this morning.
By 6 PM the wind had died down to 3.5 kt and Pachuca was very quiet and still.
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