This, 5/3, is the Big Day.

but this is funny... I figured i'd better give the boat a wash before i leave, since it may not have 1 for awhile. There on the windshield is big white SPLAT from some disgusting seagull! I go at it with the brush and find: it's INSIDE the glass; it's the spray from the new salad dressing i had to force open last eve!

My truck will stay at Hanna's house, related to my friend Mitch, he's arranged she'll keep it til his sister arrives in a couple weeks, at which time she'll drive it to his house, where it'll stay until my supposed return. People are so amazing, so helpful! Til she gets off work, i tread water: put the latest registration stickers on the boat. Buy a squeegee for the windshield. Stare.

We do the truck transfer and i am off.

The vision, you may recall, was me effortlessly running my powerboat thru Canadian/Alaska Wilderness Islands. That part i'm sure will be easy. The buying-the-boat and all the prep has been the nitemare.

Nitemare almost over.

Off we go.

I get SpotX into Tracking mode. Cathy follows the map it makes, updated per 5minutes.

(Here's ANOTHER map that i'll try to keep updated.)

There are several routes to Bellingham, i choose a shortcut thru long narrow Swinomish Channel.

It may'v been shorter distance, but wasnt a lot faster; much of it was "No Wake", which means go VERY slow so i don't make waves that will rock boats docked along the way. Those parts were official. Along much of the long channel also were seen less official No Wake advisories, along rip-rapped shorelines rimmed by expensive homes. (One rich guy had a huge white red-lettered 'No Wake' banner draped from his deck.) Their sentiment motivated probably by fear of their artificial shorelines washing away; or maybe motor noise. Altho' i ~complied, i didnt feel sorry for these folks, the developer destroyed the wetland, and they bot into it.

Meanwhile Cathy's reporting (we have good cell contact) that i'm not moving. Checking the SpotX, i find it's gone into 'Tracking Paused' mode for some reason. Do not buy a SpotX, i'm really disappointed in it. One problem is the buttons: they're hard to push, and you're supposed to hold them down for some# of seconds to make them activate. It can be a long time before icons show. So i am left with a feeling that i don't know what's going on. Imagine this scenario: I hold down the Track button many seconds. No icon appears. So i release & try again. Maybe in fact the icon doesnt appear until it goes thru its lengthly satellite-contact process. Completing that, it finds i've pushed th button a 2nd time, which means turn Tracking off. I dont know if that's what's happening, but it feels that way. Either it doesnt work, or there's a user-interface issue. I reboot it once, Tracking comes back, but before long is back to Paused. Frustrating. It would be very cool to have a good automated accurate map of my progress.

Now out in the open water again, this feels better. Clouds have parted to sun. The precise water surface condition varies constantly, but truly this sea couldnt be more friendly. Big ships are anchored here & there nearer the shore. A huge herd of floating black/white water birds take flight. A seal bobs.

(Excuse the photos' artistic quality, hard to steer and take pictures same time.)

Mid-afternoon, Bellingham appears around the point. I find my way to the marina entrance, worried there'll be no space for me at the Visitor Dock, but there is, and i ease carefully in. Docking isnt easy: there's wind, current, my incompetence, ... and everyone's watching. But i do pretty well, save 1 excessive sudden engine roar reversing, damn, o well. Arrived, woohoo.

And suddenly i feel so out of place! Yachties sipping intoxicating beverages on the fantails. Me dressed as i always do: working rags. And as i step out to the dock, tie up, and look down on my good boat, it appears as my accomodations always do: chaos. Made worse because i removed all the curtains! I'm not a curtain kinda guy, for what do i need curtains, partial blocking my view out even when open, when i'll be anchoring in the remote north woods wilderness? O, except today. I am the Hillbilly at the Cocktail Party.

But i learned in Fiji you can't avoid embarassment, you can only laugh with the others and move on.