Prepping for Vacation

The anticipation is building for our annual sailing vacation. This will be the fifth August where we travel to the San Juan Islands in Rock Lobster, the third year where we continue on to the Gulf Islands and the second where we visit ports on the coast of Vancouver Island. We plan to be gone 10-11 days, rendezvousing with Trent's parents and siblings in Port Townsend on the return voyage.

Unlike a trip taken on a cruise ship, the days leading up to a sailing trip are anything but relaxing. Saturday night, I scoured the Waggoner Cruising Guide to make up a proposed itinerary (though the wind and current might have something to say about that!). Yesterday we spent six hours at Shilshole - reinstalling the jib track (which had begun to leak), scrubbing the cubbies of accumulated mildew so that we can breathe freely at night and wiring lights. I will admit that Trent did the more technical tasks, while I tackled the cleaning and kept the 25 screws straight with a screwdriver on the top of the deck while Trent screwed them in from below ("next", "ready", "next", "ready" was our constant refrain).

Trent is working today, while I have a shopping list with items like rechargeable batteries for our headlamps, empty plastic containers to fill with alcohol as fuel for the stove and ginger beer for our requisite happy hour Dark and Stormys. And of course food for the journey, keeping in mind that we'll want to explore new restaurants and cafes, as well as old favorites.

Tomorrow I'll bake breakfast muffins, make granola and maybe a quinoa or wheatberry salad. We'll load Rock Lobster with cushions (normally kept at home to avoid the inevitable mildew), the dinghy, anchor, folding bikes (our first year with them - Trent's just arrived last week) and hopefully remember passports, checks and quarters for showers and laundry.

And fingers crossed, we'll be ready bright and early Wednesday morning (Trent says that it would be best to leave no later than 3 to catch the current) to sail away.