Stow them Bags

It is true, Chef and I have officially “stowed our bags” (and the dried beans and the boxes and boxes of Tour related stuff). Yesterday, we went to the boat and loaded in a majority of our personal belongings (clothing, toiletries and the like). We were very excited yesterday, as we found four additional “drawers” in our cabin (it’s not a room, it is a cabin, and we don’t sleep in beds, we sleep in berths). It was a great bonus to find that extra space - I really needed one of the drawers.

Chef also loaded up the boat with all sorts of bulk and fresh foods. I’m really amazed, I couldn’t plan a menu to feed the two of us at home from more than two days running, and she’s planned three meals a day for eight of us for the next 21 days. And yesterday, she finished loading on the lion’s share of the ingredients needed to prepare each meal. She expects to add the odd fresh fish or produce item as she finds them along the way.

I also helped my boss pack up the crew quarters with boxes that we will unloaded for our kick off event. Chef and I won’t need our berths until Sunday night. See, the owners of the boat finished loading in their items last night, and headed over to Roche Harbor this morning. Tomorrow starts the annual Puget Sound Owners Association Rendezvous.

As I understand it, about 50 Grand Banks owners from the region will get together for a weekend full of boating related seminars and activities. This event, while it is a Grand Banks event, is not related to the Grand Tour. But, a good number of our tour participants will also attend the Rendezvous this weekend. Sanctuary should be moored up there now, and her owners should be enjoying a good dinner and some great conversation.

On Friday, Chef will drive up/ferry over to Roche Harbor. She’ll stay the night there, and mix and mingle on Saturday. My husband and I will drive/ferry over on Saturday morning then we hope to meet up with some of our friends who live there and to start meeting some of the tour participants.

Aaron and I are planning our own kick off dinner at an amazing restaurant on the island, Duck Soup Inn. The food is delicious! We’ve had the good fortune of dining there twice before, and it was excellent both times. The last time we ate at Duck Soup Inn, we had a pretty interesting experience. We’d joined some friends for the weekend at their cabin, located on a small island (Henry Island) just a short dinghy ride from Roche Harbor. We’d taken the dinghy over from their cabin, drove to Duck Soup and started in on a great meal. We’d had a drink or two, made it through the appetizers, and just as our main course was arriving, all the power in the restaurant went out. The staff immediately came around with candles for everyone, and as best as I could tell, they served a wonderful meal to everyone in the room. We had a leisurely finish to our meal, then paid our bill and headed out. We were all very calm about it, assuming the power had just gone out in the building.

We got in our car, and drove back to the harbor, and realized that the lights were out all over our end of the island. The biggest shock was when we looked across the water and realized that the lights were also out on Henry Island. Our friends have lights on the end of their dock to help navigate at night – without those lights, it was nearly impossible to see where we were going, and with no light coming from the buildings along the shore, there was very little to help guide us to the cabin. Our dinghy skipper is a clever man, though, and he could see lights on the various boats tied up to personal docks along the island, and he knew the general direction he wanted to go. We set out cautiously, with my husband (the perfect boy scout) holding aloft the flashlight he just happened to have in his pocket. It was so dark, and very cold. I was actually really scared. I kept thinking about tomorrows headline, “Four Found Drown When Crossing During Blackout”.

Thankfully, our friend’s neighbor, a very experienced skipper, had seen us leave. When the lights went out, he’d dug out a Coleman lantern, lighted it and set it at the edge of the dock to help guide us in. When we were about halfway across the water, we spotted that light and were so relieved! We made it in safely, and were giddy from the adventure for hours. I’m glad that this time, we’ll just have to mosey down the road a little way back to the hotel at Roche Harbor.

So, Chef and I, and our significant others, will stay in the hotel there on Saturday night. Then on Sunday morning, say goodbye to family, board Sanctuary, and cruise for two hours to Poets Cove. We cross the boarder along the way, so we have to clear customs. Then I’ll unload those boxes, and get set up to greet our guests and officially get the Tour started.