What's Up? Or....Down??

Sparky started cruising aboard Kairos when he was a wee lad of 3 months.  He has changed both in size (now he weighs 30 lbs. instead of 17 lbs.) and amount of energy expended on a daily basis!  (lots more!)  He's into everything..like....

" Garbage!  Love the garbage.  Recycle?  Let me help...you put it in the bucket, I take it out and chew it to bits.  Sort of a pre-recycle.  SO helpful.  (Then add the part about Steve or Nan on hands and knees picking up all the bits.  It helps them to do their stretches.)  Nothing in the bucket?  No problem, I see a shoe right over there, or a tag on the fire extinguisher right here, or how about the rug!!!  I love rugs.  The rubber mats are tasty too...and I found a dock line hanging in my reach...eewww and a buckle on my life jacket...interesting but tough.  What's that?   Dinghy going down?  Steve's going down?  What's up with that? "

Two happy crew members...retuning from shore leave...Capt. Nan style

Boys with the wind in their face....Capt. Steve style

Our first stop is Stuart Island, on the northern end of the San Juans.  It is our "hop across the border" position....and we arrive with lots of room in the anchorage.  It fills quickly.  Oh.  It's almost Canada Day!  Decision: stay until the maddness is over.  And right before the 4th of July maddness begins.
A good place to sink into boat living again...with all the pluses and minuses.  And did I mention....getting used to being disconnected from the web?  Gasp!  What?  No email, no web searches, no news, no, no, no, no...and....No...Facebook?  Double gasp.  (sadly...it sorta matters...well, at least is not un-noticed)

So, it's dinghy the dogs ashore, continue to try to break Skipper of the "I'm going to KILL the outboard motor" behavior.  We try using food treats as distraction lures.  It's sort of working.  Sparky, while a handful in some ways, has not (yet) copied this dreadful behavior. And it's dinghy out of Prevost Harbor into the edge of Boundary Pass to collect email on calm evenings.

Yep, got the connection!

Just a short ride around the corner into Boundary Pass....and AT&T shows up!

One day we hike to the Stuart Is. Lighthouse.  First it's a dinghy ride to the county dock at Prevost.

Prevost mail drop....inside 10 assorted boxes with residents names....ready for delivery.

Then it's a three hour round trip out to Turn Point on Stuart.  We take bottles of water and a snack for revival after a rest watching the astounding beauty of this international cross boundary water.

Steve touches history....but's what behind this locked door now days?

Nan touches the most North and West spot in the lower 48 states!

Stuart Lighthouse from a land view!!

Snack time!

Then it's time for the return trip....back "up" all the "downs" on the long long trail.  Yay for the resting spots along the way....oh, and the shopping experience offered by Stuart Islanders at the Treasure Chest where the trails split.  Do we buy?  Oh yes...these t-shirts and cards are one of a kind!

At the top of the second rise on the way back...sits a bench...to...SIT!

"Shop Local"....at the Treasure Chest...and enjoy a sip of water for all!

Can't buy just one....

Yes, got in my 10,000 steps today.  Tomorrow a different hike, from Prevost Harbor to the Stuart Island schoolhouse.  Sadly, this unique little school will most likely be closed next year.  The two students are moving off the island and there seems to be no one to step up for a one room school experience on a remote island in Washinton state.  So, if you know anyone with school age children....

Ready to roll on the schoolhouse stroll!

Serious thought...what goes down...goes back UP!

Library in the original one room schoolhouse

 My mind takes me back to 1987....when the school district asked me to go up to Stuart Island to give the standardized tests.  Steve and Jessica dropped me off in the morning by boat.  I walked up the trail and  gave the tests to kids in this room.  At the end of the day, I hiked to the air field and waited....and waited...and WAITED for a plane to pick me up.  I had no idea if they would really remember to come and get me.  No cell phones.  No friends on the island.  Just me, sitting on the runway.  Waiting.  Yes, San Juan Airlines showed up....about 6 p.m.

Beautiful Stuart Island School built about 1980

Postcards for sale by Stuart Island school students

Gotta stop and swing on the way back down the trail

Once back aboard, we all take a little nap.  It's lovely here in the sunshine and warm air...a Pacific Northwest dream of delight.  Then, my eyes snap open as Steve says:  I have really bad news.

Bad news?  Like really bad? (not so bad, really...but)  Here are the details.....

The Good News, Bad News Story  by Steve and Nan

Bad News:  The solar panel slipped off the roof top and slid down to the rail.  Steve sees it.  Then it plops into the water....overboard.  He watches it sink.   :(

Good News:  It was one of two solar panels.  We have one left.

Bad News: Two is better than one at helping to keep the systems charged up.

(Two hours pass.)

Good News:  Steve can see it on the bottom!  It's only 18 ft. down...

I find Steve leaning over the edge of the dinghy spotting the panel below.

Bad News:  The tide is rising.  He hooks it with a little anchor but cannot pull it up.  It slips off.

Good News:  Maybe the boat hook will reach!

Bad News:  Not long enough.

Good News:  If we hitch two boat hooks together and extend, extend, the second one...it reaches!  Now to just twist the hook part around one of the wires....the visibility is good in 18 ft. of clear clear water!!

Bad News:  It's difficult.  Much twisting, rotating, more twisting, encouraging words...well...

GREAT NEWS!:  IT WORKS!  Up comes the lost solar panel!  Nan rushes to do a fresh water wash in the shower.  AND, Greater News:  After several hours the charging power is the same as before!!

SUCCESS!  

This has been a good stop at the beginning of our trip.  We get things organized, get the dinghy motor running dandy, launch and use the little kayaks and then figure out how to restow them better.  We get a reminder about tying things down every time, like solar panels.  We come out ok on that one.  We figure out a few things left behind...amazingly enough...and decide how to work without them.  We remember that Up and Down seem to be words that show up a lot in daily living....wherever you are.  

So that's the news from Stuart Island, as of July 1, 2013.  Tomorrow we head across the border into Canadian water, to visit Canadian islands, and work our way north going with the good wind and the good tide to the good places.