MV Dirona

No turning back

Jennifer Hamilton — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:01:10 GMT

We started living aboard early this year at Bell Harbor Marina as an experiment. We hadn't planned to live on our current boat--our initial plan was that we'd eventually live aboard on the new boat. We'd been on the waiting list for Bell Harbor for ages, and weren't expecting a slip to come available for a few more years. But we popped to the top of the list as James was taking a job in downtown Seattle. The opportunity was too good, so we had to try it.

We made one big trip from the house with the car stuffed with everything we could think we might need. And in four months, the only thing we ended up needing from the house were international adapters for a trip James made to China. We had previously spent most weekends on the boat, and had been about as close to live-aboards as you could get without actually living aboard. So the boat was reasonably well setup already, and about the only modification we made was to add a couple of towel racks in the aft stateroom.

After a couple of weeks, we were hooked. We loved the downtown lifestyle, and didn't miss the house at all. And we'd almost completely stopped driving our car. We'd been planning to buy bicycles when we got the new boat, but decided to get them right away that first week at Bell Harbor. We wanted something that would work well around town, but also that we could take on logging roads along the coast. We spent ages talking with Aaron at the excellent Velo Bike Shop in Seattle and left with two Giant FCR 2s. James rides his bike to work downtown and Jennifer rides & buses to Redmond. Parking downtown is expensive, so we kept our car at Elliott Bay Marina, and just biked over there when we needed it. ( Bell Harbor doesn't have permanent moorage through the summer, so we kept our slip at Elliott Bay Marina and have to move around a bit over the summer months. That's a minor hassle compared to the reward of living downtown.) > >

Within two months, we had spent a day interviewing real estate agents to start the process of selling the house. We chose Mary Lee and Jeff Shaffer, who did an astounding job in preparing the house for sale, creating marketing material, selling the house, and managing the offer and closing process. We recommend them without reservation. They are real professionals who made the experience efficient, successful, quick, and easy, especially given the current weak housing economy. Our house went on the market on April 16th, we accepted an offer on May 21st and the sale closed on June 23rd. Amazing.

We sold most of our furniture not required for staging on craigslist prior to going to market, and the remainder after. And last week, we sold our car, also through craigslist. So now we're down to just the current boat and a 5'-by-5' storage room that is stuffed solid. When the new boat arrives, we'll empty out the storage room, sell the current boat, and be down to just the boat and our bicycles.

	The first of the snow came while we were anchored in Cadboro Bay. We had slipped across along the southern end of the San Juan Islands from Oak Harbor following a big storm, and ended up storm-bound there for three nights. 40-knot northerly gusts boomed through the anchorage, while whitecaps churned through Haro Strait.
	We didn't see Caddy while we were there, just the 100-foot -replica in Gyro Park.
	Before stopping at Cadboro Bay, we'd fueled at Oak Bay and filled two five-gallon buckets for reserve water. But the water promptly froze solid, and didn't melt until nearly the end of the trip. So much for a reserve.
	At Genoa Bay, we followed footsteps through the snow to the top of Mount Tzouhalem for a view to snow-covered Mount Maxwell on Saltspring Island.
	Here's another view of Mount Maxwell, this time from The Brig's dinghy dock at the northwest corner of Maple Bay. We moored there for the night and watched Monday Night Football over dinner at the pub. The food is excellent and the pub deck has sweeping views across Maple Bay and Sansum Narrows.
	We visited Butchart Gardens Christmas Light Display during a blizzard. The snow added another dimension to the scene.
	Another load of snow fell while we were anchored at Preedy Harbor.
	The BC Ferries vessels always look shipshape, but they looked even better against a white backdrop.
	While anchored in Ladysmith, the temperature hit -19C (-22F), the coldest on the B.C. coast. Victoria was -7C, Vancouver was -14C, Whistler was -18C, Port Hardy was -4C, and Prince Rupert was -11C. Sea smoke drifted across the water and everything on deck was frozen over.
	Snow was piled up so high in Ganges that it felt more like Ottawa. BC Hydro had been busy working on replacing a large transformer that had caught fire. It looked a real mess and a big job to replace. In the picture on the right, they are using a crane to pull new cables through (the new cables are draped over the snow).
	These are our two favorite pictures of the trip. Both were taken at anchor off Ganges the same cold morning. The bright sun and the sea smoke makes the Tyee picture look almost like a painting.

Time(UTC)	00	23	22	21	20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12
Time(PDT)	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	09	08	07	06	05
Direction	311	324	345	356	001	017	043	078	105	121	128	130	133
Intensity	2.9	3.3	4.5	5.8	4.9	3.4	2.3	1.8	2.1	2.1	1.6	1.2	1.2

MV Dirona

No turning back

Remote Data Communication Costs

Why we cruise

Unusual Puget Sound Anchorages: Priest Point

House in place

Eagle Island Marine State Park

Out of the mold

Head of Laredo Inlet

John Deere 6068AFM75

Trawler Fest Anacortes

The next boat

Alison Sound

Three Nordhavns arrive in Seattle

Bald eagles are cowards?

Winter Cruise 2008 Highlights

Seattle Boat Show

57-knot winds in Swinomish Channel

Pirates Cove Marine Park

Mount Tzouhalem

Big Winter Storm

Butchart Gardens Christmas Light Display

Waterless hand sanitizer

Francis Point Marine Park

A new rock in Blakely Harbor?

Transmission Shift Cable Breaks While Docking

Hague Point Lagoon

Point No Point

A New US Citizen

Lake Union Boats Afloat Show

Vacuum seal canisters