Good News and Bad News…

The Good News…

Lopez Island is the most beautiful island we have ever stayed on. Truly. Mostly rural, with a few commercial cattle ranches and sheep farms in the interior, it is bordered by lovely forests, amazing beaches, and a picturesque waterfront town you can walk through completely in about, um… fifteen minutes.

From the dinghy dock (where we paddle in from the GLORY B), the road to Lopez Village (as well as countless other places) is lined with wild blackberry bushes. That still have ripe, perfectly delicious berries on them. So, we've been picking some every time we come and go, and I'm turning them into jam. Such fun!

The people are friendly, and we have been meeting quite a lot of them. They even issued us temporary library cards (first time in all our years of travel), and I have already found a lovely little tucked away corner (with a view!) in the quiet reading room. Ah, bliss…

The Bad News…

The closest island, with the larger town of Friday Harbor, is less than an hour across the San Juan Channel. Just right for an afternoon outing, or an overnight anchorage in the cove we enjoyed so much at the beginning of the summer. Which is where we were headed on Labor Day afternoon. We didn't get very far. 

Entrance to Fisherman Bay. Our
anchorage is behind the clump
of trees in the middle.

Halfway through (thank the good Lord it wasn't halfway through the ferry lane out in the middle of the channel), there was a terrible clanking sound that forced us to pull over and drop anchor. At high tide that spot was only twelve feet deep (we draw six) but we knew we had a safe couple of hours before we would be bouncing off the bottom when the tide changed. 

This time, it was serious. A major rebuild is in order--and no-- we could not turn the engine on, again, even to limp back to where we had been anchored in the first place. I don't know what a tow might cost in a place like this. But considering a pound of good hamburger can be close to eight dollars, it didn't look good for us just then. 

But we've changed a bit since we started our great adventure. Because it has worked out considerably better for us if we pray FIRST, in situations like this, rather than as a last resort. A lot can happen between those two time periods that one tends to be ashamed of, later on.

And MoreGood News…

I had a better picture of rowing back
 to the GLORY B, but the Captain is still
disturbed at the prospect of rebuilding
the engine, so I didn't post it.

Not long afterward, a wonderful couple in a smaller sailboat passed by and agreed to tow us back (Hello, Yvonne, from Ventura, California!). It was nip and tuck for a bit, as they only had a ten horsepower outboard engine, but we made it! Without mishap. And considering the fact that I grew up in Ventura county, myself, I felt like we had been rescued by family. 

Which is how it always seems to be when you are trying your best to stay right in the center of God's hand instead of leaping off so often. At least that's how it seemed right then. And two days later… 

I'm still inclined to agree.