Today is May 30, 2016, and for the first time since 2007, we are headed to Alaska in a boat.
As Frank said he would, he left Dunvegan in Anacortes, and eventually sold her. We bought back our 20' welded aluminum fishing boat from our son Mike, and that was our only power boat for quite a while. Frank retired, we moved from Montana to Portland, OR. Frank got a Captain's license and spent several summers driving a tour boat (on Flathead Lake Montana) and captaining for saltwater fishing charters in Alaska (at Knudson Cove and South Kaigani Harbor).
In 2013 we got the cruising itch again. It started with the annual trip to the Seattle boat show. There was a 32' Grand Banks for sale, at a price we could afford. I told Frank, let's buy it! He said, whoa, wait a minute. Huh? What?
This led to a year-long quest to find the perfect boat. In January 2014, we closed on M/V GANDALF, a 1999 37' Nordic Tug. We have been outfitting, provisioning, learning, repairing, testing, spending absolutely all our money, and scaring ourselves silly ever since. We knew that a bigger boat was going to be more expensive and of course, more comfortable. I don't think either of us expected that a bigger boat would be so much more complicated and intimidating.
And then there was a near sinking at the dock (galvanic corrosion is no joke). A son who was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma and needed a year of treatment and support - now thankfully fully healthy. Never ending work demands.
The time has finally come. Yesterday we cast off from our home port of Skyline Marina in Anacortes, headed north. We made it to Nanaimo in one day - a big, tiring day.
As anyone who has attempted any kind of ambitious endeavor knows, there are about a million things that can go wrong. We are feeling a sense of accomplishment at this point, to have gotten this far. Thanks for reading, we will be posting when we can.
