Anacortes Boat Show!

What a great weekend we just had! Last year we were supposed to go up to Anacortes for the Fall Boat Show, but with 40mph squalls, we stayed home. This weekend was the exact opposite! The weather was warm and sunny! Anacortes is a great location / marina due to it's proximity to the San Juan Islands.

We stayed at the Islands Inn on Commercial Avenue. Not a fancy place, but very clean and a nice complimentary breakfast in the morning. Plus, they accept dogs, so it was a win win!

The great thing about the boat show, is it's FREE! Plus dogs are welcomed, but we didn't know that, so we left Mac back at the room. They had about 40 boats to view, ranging from weekend cruisers to trawlers. One of the favorite boats we liked, along with our friends Nick & Michelle, was the 2003 Silverton 330 Sport Bridge Yacht. 

One of the biggest treats we experienced was viewing at 64' Northern Marine Pilothouse Trawler. Though trawlers are not our type of boat, this one was amazing! Should be for $1,590,000!

Going to a boat show, really makes you want a boat (now!). Luckily, my sister & her husband moor their boat in Anacortes, so we enjoyed a fantastic evening with her enjoying wine & cheese amongst the sea lions.

A great ending to a wonderful weekend. Soon this is how we will end our days. Cheers!

Seattle Fall Lake Union Boat Show

Every year we attend two shows in Seattle. One is in the Fall that is held on Lake Union and the other is in January, which is at our Convention Center and Lake Union. This year, the Lake Union "Boats Alfloat Show" was a warm and sunny day!

While, there never are catamarans, except one Lagoon 39, it is great to get ideas for storage and utilities on the boats. We originally fell in love with Lagoon, but the more we spend time on one, we realize how small the cabin is and wouldn't work for us.

We have also considered living aboard a power boat in Seattle first, to make sure we like it. This show, had a lot of Pilothouses, which is not our style. We prefer Sedans, and Meridian has the perfect layout for us, in the 2004 and 2005 years.

The idea would be to rent out our house and buy a used Meridian, saving us money on a monthly basis, so we can eventually buy the Cat of our dreams. Only time will tell!!!

New Reads

Back in March, we started following another sailing blogger, Kimberly on Lahowind. She and her fiance Jereme left Florida and are working their way through the Caribbean. She is a fantastic photographer and tells a story very well. If you enjoy blogs, this one is one to subscribe to!

I started a new book called "Seasoned by Salt", by Jerry L. Mashaw. I'm only half way through, but it's an interesting and very detailed account of their voyage from CT to Grenada. Just dealing with the Gulf and upcoming hurricanes has been very eye opening.

We subscribe to many sailing & yachting magazines, but two that have been very informative have been "Blue Water Sailing"  and "Sailing Magazine". Not sure how we plan on saving the articles of importance, maybe the old fashion way, in a binder!

 

With everything we read, we're just absorbing all of the information and taking our time to research , research and research. Too often, big purchases are impulse buys and we can tell you that years of thought and research will go into our ultimate dream. Happy reading!

Another 6 months into the year & that much closer to our dream!

Well, not exactly. People keep asking us when will all this happen? We don't know right now. As long as we own a business and are still working hard everyday, no time soon. BUT, it will happen and hopefully within 10 years!

Sadly, I was sick in Jamaica, so we didn't get to go on our sailing trip. Now that summer has arrived in the Pacific Northwest, we hope to spend some time on my sister's trawler and enjoy the great waters of the Puget Sound.

Currently, I'm reading yet ANOTHER great book about sailors from Seattle. It's amazing how many people / authors are from here. It's called: Sailing the Dream.

 
I'm almost done with this one and have another one to start soon after called:  Seasoned by Salt. This is a book about sailing the Caribbean, which is what we ultimately plan to do.

So for now, we'll just keep reading our books and magazines and staying up to date on the newest & greatest. All along trying to learn from all of the tips out there.