We had never been through the locks into the ship canal and beyond to Lakes Union and Washington, so we gave it a go.  We transited the ship canal through the “Ballard Locks” (really the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks run by the Army Corps of Engineers).  We locked up with dozens of king salmon ready to spawn.  We were the first into the locks and they were ahead of us waiting for the gates to open.

We had to make it through 5 drawbridges (the Burlington & Northern Railroad, Ballard, Fremont, University, and Montlake) on our way to Lake Washington.  All were down as we approached them and we had to signal to them (one prolonged blast followed by a short blast of the horn).  We went both ways, so that was 10 total bridge openings.

It was a busy weekend on the water, including all the football fans who go to Husky games via boat, small and enormous.

We stopped at the public dock in Kirkland, and then anchored in Yarrow Bay, anticipating an overnight windstorm and not able to secure moorage at a dock.  I was feted with a lovely dinner, of which, I only had to grill the shrimp.

We were not disappointed, as williwaws hit our boat from 3-4 AM.  As captain of the vessel, I did not sleep through that, feeling and listening (and occasionally looking) for signs that our anchor was dragging or we were to go up onto a lee shore.   In the morning, I had to cut off about 100 pounds of milfoil off the anchor, as it had plowed it up during the night.

The following day, we retraced our steps.   There was a very stiff breeze on Lake Washington, blowing 20+ knots.  Ultimately, we furled our only sail up into a handkerchief size and still did over 7 knots.

There was some commotion on Skull Island and we saw a dog running fast toward the south end.  It chased a four point buck into the water.  The dog wouldn’t give up and barked and chased the deer in the water.  Ultimately, the deer outswam the dog and the dog returned.

We spent the night off Blind Island near the Shaw and Orcas Island ferry terminals.  The following day, we went to Roche Harbor.  We met up with Lars, a friend of Daniel’s, and took him and his dad for a brief sail in the harbor.

Then, on to Reid Harbor on Stuart Island.  The kids love Cemetery and Gossip Islands at its mouth.  They have renamed them Banana and Banana II Islands for the small succulent plants that live there (they look like tiny bundles of bananas.

There was some interpretive dancing on Banana Island II.

Munchkin, after successfully stealing Molly’s iPhone, branched out into other criminal enterprises, stealing the dry stores.

Camille and magical iPhone stealing Munchkin

We stopped for a while at American Camp on the south end of San Juan Island, and then went to Fisherman Bay.  We knew Lila and her family’s band were playing the next day and we wanted to catch the concert.

We were surprised when we saw Lulu and Michiko there.  Camille was pleased to hang out with her friends while on vacation.