Showing posts with label boating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boating. Show all posts

Friday, July 24, 2015

Sea Ray Summer ~ Roche Harbour

Roche Harbour is located on San Juan Island in Washington State.
Just south of the 49th parallel across Haro Strait from Sidney, BC awaits a picturesque marina with all the amenities. It's a lovely spot to tie up our SeaRay for a few days.
It also is the permanent home to many US boats.

Modest boats mingle together with vast opulent yachts sharing dock space while the owners are free to enjoy the Resort. Boaters are an extremely friendly lot. It makes little difference that you are cruising on a 70 or 100 foot yacht or a 25 foot runabout...you are "out there" on the ocean having fun.

We observed two families sharing a "very compact" boat, which was probably about 25 feet...4 adults and 6 children..can you imagine the logistics? The sleeping and cooking arrangements would require immense planning and precision.
They were having a fabulous time and there was lots of laughter and some good natured competition.
Racing on paddle boards, floaty toys, kayaks and a sailing dingy and when they were not having races they were swimming at the pool...I imagine that they were exhausted by the time their heads hit the pillow!

Roche Harbour Resort has a swimming pool, assorted shops, a spa, cafe, bar, restaurant, The Hotel de Haro, beautiful gardens, a church and tennis courts. At sunset the flags are lowered in a precision military fashion accompanied by music.
This is known as the "Colours ceremony."

I snapped a bunch of pictures to share with you...


Here we are tied up on the guest dock in front of the church.


The Hotel is a popular spot for weddings.


The historic Lime Co. building houses the grocery, clothing store, the washrooms, laundry, showers and a post office.


Crab Season opened and many boaters were setting their traps.
The cook pots on the docks were boiling away in no time and people were enjoying their haul.






The Lime Kilns.





The lovely Classic Chris Craft "Paloma" formerly known as Destiny.
She has just been professionally and lovingly restored.
Her new home port will be San Francisco, California.
We met the proud owners who had just taken her out on their maiden voyage and were cruising with their friends aboard the classic beauty "Rialto."
These beautiful Chris Craft wooden boats in "just out of the box" immaculate condition require a lot of hard work, TLC and VERY deep pockets!



The grocery store is well stocked with an assortment of food...
they carry all kinds of things that mariners might have forgotten to pack!


Wines from Washington, Oregon and California as well as imports are available.


White roses


White wedding gowns...


a perfect pairing.

It was hot weather and we needed to make shade on our boat which was quite a challenge.
We used towels and a blanket to help keep the midday sun off our lounge.


I was most surprised to see Starbucks working out of one of the kiosks in the square.
There are many local artists and artisans selling their work out of these kiosks and by the amount of people milling about I think they must do a pretty good business.


The Kayak rentals were always busy.


We took the shuttle into Friday Harbour one day to explore.
Stay tuned...
I'll show you some more of this idyllic destination...
in the next post.

Hooray!
we have had a downpour of rain this morning and we really need more to help douse the forest fires that are raging in our province.
The gardens are parched and there are water restrictions in many municipalities...
I'm praying for rain.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Sea Ray Adventures...and wildfires.

We went out on our SeaRay this past weekend and left the cats at home with a friend.
 The forecast was for record high temperatures...and records were broken, we were glad that we didn't take them along as they would have been miserable in the heat.


OPI : "This colour is making waves."
Polka dot PJ's and our new nautical mat.

A trio of blues...



Breakfast is blue too.


Our wee Galley.


Ah...
it's Dusk at the Maple Bay Marina...
and we are finally cool.
Keeping hydrated was tough and we had to seek out shade from the mid day sun.


Taconite is the lovely Fantail Cruiser from the 1920's that you can see in the middle of this image
and to the right a tug that has been converted into a live aboard vessel.


Metal wall art on a house boat at the Marina.


In the afternoon...
the water was calm so we went out in our dingy for a ride to explore the cove.


Pretty orange Nasturtiums
I love the variegated leaves.


A wee bit of whimsy...
some one has been busy carving.


We had asparagus with our BBQ steaks, mushrooms and salad.
We went to bed early and had a sound sleep.
When we woke up there was a fire red sun, smoke in the air and ashes all over our boat.


There are quite a few wildfires burning out of control in our province and the wind has carried the ash and spread it all over the lower mainland and the south of Vancouver Island.
It feels very eerie...
there is a red glow in the sky and you can smell the smoke.


We stopped on the way home at Mill Bay Marina and had a bite of lunch.


This family of Canada Geese and a lone seagull greeted us...
you can see the strange colour of the sky.

Ferocious Forest fires have displaced many people who have had to flee from their homes...
it's very alarming and I can imagine how upset they must feel.
Many brave fire fighters are risking their lives to help get these wildfires under control.
Alaska and the Yukon have dispatched experienced firemen to help our Province.

Hope that you are safe and sound where ever you are...