Northern Puget Sound through the Hole in the Wall

Sailed from Shilshole to Langley the first day. Some sailing, some motoring. We anchored in 18 feet off the harbor in choppy seas and got into the dingy to motor to shore. Life was good and Chance got to pee. New motor worked great but we had to row a bit to clear the surfy conditions to deeper water to start the motor. Good again.

Motored around to Langley to check out the harbor and waterfront. Sunset was upon us so we motored back to the anchored boat, now rocking quite a bit in the waves. Chance had to improvise a bit to get back in the boat since his boarding ladder was kind of messed up by the surf. All was rolling once we were back in. Mo checked the GPS and it said the depth was 4.5 feet. ! !!! Yikes! With the tide going out we'd need 8'. We must have swung over some shallows or were having a problem with the depth sounder. Blain rigged up a lead weight on a string to double check, and it was too close for comfort with a falling tide.

So on with the navigation lights and the engine, up with the anchor, and we pulled into the harbor in the dark with Mo on the spotlight up front pointing out obstacles and other boats. We found a tight spot to squeeze and tied up - and retied up - until we were happy and flopped into bed slightly before midnight. Quite an adventure for our first night.

Langley was idealic with thrift stores, a pub with a lawn overlooking the harbor, galleries and cows. We don't see many cows. So they were a treat. So were statues. And butt shots of Blain.Off in the morning to Coupeville and some famous Penn Cove mussels. We enjoyed a beach walk and skipping live sand dollars back into the sea (they probably didn't evolve to be fun little frisbees to entertain dogs) massive mussel beds and hundreds of cockles. It was killing Blain to see so much sea life and not be able to eat them.

So with an appetite established, we dropped in to the local bar and bought two pounds of Penn Cove mussels raised just off the beach. They made an awesome green curry with broccoli and brown rice later in LaConner.

Someone's excited about eating two pounds of mussels...

Crossing the bay to LaConner is up the tricky Swinhomish Channel and you follow the well marked channel through log booms and past way too close piles of rocks to the Hole in the Wall canyon-like entrance and turn hard left.

The current was ripping with us so we had a speedy ride under the Rainbow Bridge and LaConner to tie up at the public float for 50 cents/ft. Best rate we've had. And a footbridge shaped like a salmon to boot.