Matia Island Cleanup Cruise
Host: Greg & Kathy Hartgraves
Dates: May 9-11

There were 11 sailboats that rafted on the dock at Matia on Friday night. Participants gathered for appetizers, beverages and tall tales in the evening. Laurent kept many entertained as usual.

 

A group of 24 met Ranger Steve on Saturday morning for the work party. Ranger Steve provided an update on the docks, mooring balls and pump out projects in the islands. We then spent the morning raking, pruning, weed whacking, mowing, ivy pulling, and spreading/transferring the compost from the outhouse (a big thanks to Andreas and Andy Mosley for the latter).   

 

In the afternoon two groups participated in an “escape island” puzzle event held in the camping area. Successfully solving the puzzles allowed the teams to return from “The Twilight Zone.” The first group finished in an impressive 30 minutes and the second group was not far behind with around 40 minutes. Everyone was rewarded with a commemorative mug. 

 

An amazing array of entrees and desserts was spread out for a potluck dinner on the dock. More stories and plenty of libations were again shared. 

 

It would have been nice to relax on the island Sunday morning, but a negative tide necessitated that some of the boats leave earlier than desired. The cruise host was perhaps overly anxious to get going. Sailors were rewarded to a really nice sail across Rosario and down Hale Pass. For those patient enough the wind eventually filled in for a downwind sail across Bellingham Bay. Some especially fortunate sailors watched a pod of orcas off the end of Lummi Island.

 

Participants	Sailboat
Joab Echabarne	Blackmast
Andy Mosley, Jessica Lewallen, Auresa Nyctea, Devlin Sweeney	Sisu
Laurent Martel, Linda & Chris Benafel	Falcon
Kathy & Greg Hartgraves	Blue Skies
Renee Olson & Kevin Hartig	Kilgharrah
Andreas Weinrich	Free
Andrew Berg & Margaret Hall	Blue Fin
Joie Cosby & Kurt Andersen	Northern Skies
Pam Spencer, Kathy Sheehan, Lesli Beasley	Telos
Joyce & Bret Phillips	JoyRide
Helen & Dan Green	Sensation
Mary Stift & friends	Colibri

 

Lummi Island/Inati Bay
Host: Pam Spencer
Dates: April 26-27

First cruise of the year! What a fantastic weekend!  The sun was out and it was almost t-shirt weather!  Everyone gathered at Aiston Preserve at 1:30 pm on Saturday to hear about Lummi Island Heritage Trust purchasing the old quarry, cleaning it up, and helping the preserve return to it's natural beauty.

Smuggler's Cove now has 4 buoys: three for 35" boats and one for 55" boat.  The buoys were put in to deter people from anchoring close to shore and disturbing the eel grass meadows. The buoys are free for now so please use them instead of anchoring!

We had a bigger turn out than expected.  We were well rewarded with sunshine, absolute beauty, and Pam's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!  We walked up the trail to admire the views from the top of the quarry and to hear about the work being done there.

We had a bigger turn out than expected; attendees included:  Laurent and Amanda, Darice, Deb Dempsey and Mary Durbrow and friends on Night Heron, Gary and Gail Fortenberry on Lyra, Patrick Murphy and Mariko Fujio-Murphy with their 2 children on Merlin, Stuart Stebbings and Anne Slater on Outlier, and Pam Spencer and Nathan on Telos.