2023 Summary | Holiday Cheer | Looking Forward

The photos above show Touch of Gray in her new home at Skyline (Anacortes).

I’ve been spending some time creating a comprehensive cruising log for our last 7+ years of boating. I’ve always kept notes of some kind – logbook, paper and online calendars – and of course, my blog. What I didn’t have was a list of details regarding our trips. Other bloggers have been part of my inspiration for this project. Also, I just like to know stuff.

It’s been a bit arduous, as I’ve had to review a lot of information in various formats. My project is by no means complete, and will never be absolutely accurate – sometimes I just didn’t keep track – but it will get easier if I keep my spreadsheet up-to-date as we go. It’s been interesting. Rereading blog posts from the past seven years reminds me of very cool places we’ve been and experiences we’ve had related to boating. It’s shed light on the amount of knowledge and experience we’ve gained, friends we’ve met, and the fact that we’ve changed our views about some things over time. (And sometimes come full circle!)

One example: We’ve talked with many people over the years about cruising to Alaska, I’ve written about possibly making the trip, we’ve had multiple conversations with each other about how that trip may come about, and discussed tentative plans with potential cruising partners. At this point, we don’t think we’ll do that particular journey…ever.

It’s mostly been a lot of fun remembering glorious days on the water and enjoyable times with friends. Every now and then I’ve run across something that makes me cringe – remembering something not-so-great that happened. Remember that time our bow line wrapped around the prop? Remember that time the boat hit us, and then we got boarded in the middle of the night?

Most people we’ve talked with agree that the 2023 cruising season was great – a good 6+ months of mostly decent weather.  

A brief summary of 2023 Touch of Gray cruising:

Trips = 9

Longest trip = 2 of them tied at 35 days

Moorage: Dock = 86/Buoy = 7/Anchor = 29 (122 nights at sea.)

New locations = 9

Use of State Park moorage permit = 15

Nautical miles = 1748 (That seems like a lot!)

It will be interesting to see how the coming year, with our boat now moored two (driving) hours away from home, will change our cruising habits. We are looking forward to hopping in the car and then taking the boat for a quick cruise into the San Juan Islands. We are thinking about places we have or haven’t been that might replace some of our local go-to’s. James Island and Cornet Bay Marina are two state parks we haven’t visited, and both are pretty close to Skyline. Not sure we’ll ever find a good, quick and easy-to-get-to replacement for Gig Harbor but we’ll certainly bring the boat south to get our fix. Needless to say, we are planning our 2024 boating season! The Broughton’s are a main focus.

Christmas and the new year are upon us…and we’ve both been sick. (One of the worst colds I’ve ever had in my life. And Nick is sure he had RSV -yuk.) Timing is good though, and we should both be okay for the imminent festivities.

Happy Holidays!

We have a two-week trip to Mexico planned for January – can’t wait! We may or may not get up to the boat before then. Weather dependent, as always.

Cheers!