3/4-Sep-2005: Our Power Squadron class is canceled so we spend the weekend tied to the dock. We stay overnight and discover the serenity of sleeping in a gently rocking boat. Inga fixes us a bowl of soup for dinner and an eggs and sausage breakfast in the morning. We read instructional books and owner’s manuals, listen to the Coast Guard and weather channels, and watch sailboats come and go. Very nice.

10/11-Sep-2005: Once again, we’re finding the marine environment of Puget Sound to be rather daunting. At the dock where our boat is moored, the tide goes up and down 12 feet twice a day and a five knot current kicks in at our dock when the conditions are right. There are shoals and obstructions to avoid, wind to deal with, navigation buoys to mind, dredged channels to follow, big commercial vessels to dodge and then all the recreational boats to contend with. It’s more akin to flying a plane. (This sure isn’t Fishtrap Lake where I spent my carefree summers in Wisconsin tooling around in a rowboat with a small outboard motor!) Anyway, once we can safely pilot our way out of the long inlet we are docked in, 5.5 nautical miles in length, we’ll emerge into the Sound itself and there are a zillion quiet places to explore and hang out in. To sum it up, we’re still safely moored in the marina. We are showing little interest in banging around our wonderful boat and in learning the hard way but we are thoroughly enjoying the camping out aspects of boating. Inga’s got the boat ship shape and superbly organized.

Meanwhile, while we’ve been driving two hours round trip to Olympia each weekend, we’ve been listening to a book on tape about the Wilkes’ expedition in the 1830s. Now that we are hanging out in the South Sound and learning about its numerous inlets, islands and channels, we delight in matching up the names of these places to members of the expedition.

13-Sep-2005: Our Power Squadron class starts! We are taking a multi-week course at the Seattle Sail and Power Squadron at a yacht club on Lake Union in downtown Seattle. We’ve been studying so much during the past 30 days or so that it’s all familiar ground. Nevertheless, we take good notes, do all the homework and take the practice quizzes. The instructor lets us out early the first night saying that he wants to start us out slowly seeing how we’ve all come straight here from our day jobs. I come close to blurting out that I want to stay put and learn more right now! I’ve got an awesome boat moored to the dock until I know what I’m doing! But then the word “patience” floats into my brain. Oh yeah. Right. — Scott Bruce Duncan */:-)