Coordinates: Latitude-Longitue 47.606209-122.332071
Turns out there is a lot of different country around Seattle! On our quest to find the right vessel for us, we went to Le Conner, Oak Harbor, and Semi-ah-moo Marina. There were spectacular cliffs and great views of Mount Baker, and also a great many sailboats.
In our version of Boat Hunters, here are our must-haves:
- A pilothouse--an enclosed room abovedecks where you steer, navigate, and chill out. In Alaska, with the rain, visibility is everything, so windshield wipers are a must.
- A bunch of places to sleep, because this crew doesn't like to split up.
- Lots of windows--we mean lots. Why go to Alaska if you can't see anything? (You'd be surprised--most sailboats don't have lots of windows.) At the same time, have to keep in mind if there's a tsunami, you don't want windows so large that they crash, let water in, and have us all sink in despair somewhere in the channel.
- Last, can't be a millionaire's boat. 90,000 would be really pushing it, which means everything we look at is around 30 years old. In the best way.
Next ship was in Oak Harbor, a Columbia 50' boat that we actually had quite a problem finding. The exit sign says it all. The Columbia didn't have the number of berths we need, outdated equipment, and smelled strange (not good for our weird allergies). So we made a timely exit. (We did NOT follow the sign, LOL).
Next Semi-ah-moo Resort is where we found the Ritz of 30 year old boats. Some artist had to have loved every inch of that interior, with polished teak wood and golden fittings, frosted glass and old fashioned lanterns. Unfortunately, not enough berths and I wouldn't dare sit on that wonderful leather settee with my fish-scale rain gear. But I'm sure someone else will fall in love with it. Can't do it justice in pictures, it was legit.
We saw one more boat, similar to the first...which didn't quite measure up :/ but we have a lot to think about, and we're going to our first boating classes tomorrow! Super excited.
Skipper Krystal
