The seasons are changing and part of me is relieved to feel the cooler nights and see the occasional leaf fall to the ground. This summer I stretched my legs more with the sailboat and did a lot more days and nights out in the San Juan islands on my own  – growing my comfort level with navigating currents, coastlines and dropping an anchor for the night.  I’ve spent the last two years living on the boat in Anacortes while being a full time student in a community college program –  but the curriculum was focused on marine mechanical and electrical systems and not on actual sailing and I didn’t get out as much as I wanted. That changed this summer. And while I didn’t sail to Alaska like I envisioned, I have been out of my slip pretty consistently since July 1st – meandering around the islands and even making it across the Canadian border, dipping my toe in the Gulf Islands.

Just when it was starting to get a bit lonely though my sister Robin came for a visit in early August and I was able to take her out into the islands for a few days and on a little road trip to Seattle by way of the Olympic Peninsula. It was fun to literally show her the ropes and share parts of my life that I had only been able to describe on the phone or with occasional pictures.

 

On the last day of her visit, we met up with Sudeep in Seattle who has been working his way west across the country visiting people along the way.  The two of them overlapped by a few hours in Seattle before Robin had to head to the airport  and we were able to explore Pike’s Place Market together – I was so glad they got a chance to meet in person.

Sudeep had a little more time to visit than Robin so we explored some more islands and did a short pack-rafting trip before I took him up to Vancouver for his flight home to Nepal. It had been almost three years since we were last able to adventure together in person – so fun.

All in all – a nice capstone to a summer.  Pictures are below. I’m writing this while anchored in a deep bay in the San Juan Islands with fall winds rocking the boat.  I am hopeful that I will post more here and am going to try to keep things short and sweet so that it doesn’t become such a mental mountain to post (or read) something.  It’s been a little over two years since my last post. I’ll do my best not to let another two slide by…

Hope everyone is well,

-Seth