Cruising to Government Island East Dock

On Friday night Charing got a call from Alicia and Ray from S/V Rowena.  They asked did we want to join them on an overnight cruise to the island.  "What island?" I asked. "Government Island, they said, and Charing said yes let's go do it.  Well that was Friday night at 8:00am, and by 10:00am Saturday we had the bags packed and we were out the door.

We stopped by Columbia Marine Exchange to find charts for Barkley Sound.  Kim commented that Alicia had just been in and picked up the only charts she had in the area.  We got to the boat and loaded her with ice, and dropped off the bags on the boat.

We left the docks about 1:45pm and started moving up river to Government Island.  We motored up toward the 205 bridge.  Charing went up to the foredeck and snapped a few photos of the boats sailing back and forth across the river.

Charing on the foredeck 

From the deck of the CarolMarie looking toward Mt Hood.

As we neared the 205 bridge Charing took the wheel and piloted us through the passage.  S/V Rowena called and they were behind us.  As we passed the West Dock on Government Island we saw it crowded, and full of boats.  Looking towards the East Dock there was only two boats at the dock.

We radioed back to Rowena to tell them to meet us at the east dock.  They were happy to have less people there.  As we approached the dock, I let Charing off on the outside dock.  She ran over to recruit help from fellow boaters who were there already.  I motored the boat through a circle to come into the inside and we tied up.  Charing and I got the dinner ready.  Charing had prepared carne asada, with all the fixings for the grill.

About an hour later Rowena pulled in, and we helped them dock.  We helped them tie off.  In return Ray and Alicia broke out the cocktails.  We moved the table down toward their boat mounting the stern rail grill on the leg of the table.  Both boats' had a great dinner watching the sunset.

As the chill of the night moved in, we moved aboard Rowena to keep warm.  Charing and Alicia began planning a trip to Barkley Sound while Ray and I shared stories over a couple of glasses of Conomara.  For desert I found a Whiskey and Chocolate Pairing plater at Bale's Thrift-way.  The platter was excellent in the pairing with the single malt Irish Whiskey.  As it turned out Ray and I both were guitar players; Ray even broke out his axe to play around with.

We turned in about 10:00pm, and I slept well through the night.  We woke up to a chilly Sunday morning not getting out of bed until 8:45am to meet on Rowena for breakfast. By the time Charing and I got there Alicia had laid out eggs, sausage and hash browns, and pancakes when we went through the door to her galley.  Rowena was warm and cozy in comparison to the CarolMarie.  After breakfast both boats left to return to our respective home ports.  

Terry at the helm on the return to Salpare Bay.

We returned to the docks at Salpare Bay in no time.  The current was fast moving, which totally helped push us home. It was a great weekend, we were off the boat before 2:00pm.