Kenny belongs to all kinds of internet forums for all the various toys that we own. He peruses through them frequently for information and ideas. He happened to come upon an announcement for a Bayliner Owners Rendezvous, in Roche Harbor on San Juan Island for the first weekend of June. We checked our calendar, and saw that we had penciled-in an idea for a camping trip with our nephew’s family. We checked with their schedule, and as it turned out, they weren’t going to be able to make the camping trip, so we booked the Rendezvous! We figured that this would be a fun way to meet some peeps and it is taking place at a really nice resort that we always enjoy visiting. The flier said that if we booked all four nights, the resort would give us the first night free. YAY!
We zoomed (well, a seven hour ‘zoom’) home to Island Girl from our camping trip in Eastern Washington on Sunday. We had Memorial Day Monday to do laundry and to get groceries and move everything to the boat to be ready for a week or two on the boat. We figured that if we’re going all the way up to the San Juan Islands, we might as well stay awhile. We left our home dock on Tuesday morning for a long 100 mile day up to Anacortes, then on Wednesday, we went the additional 32 miles to Roche Harbor. Our calendar had us going from the far southeast corner of the state to a very northwest spot in the state.
It was a cloudy cool day…. oh wait… we ARE in Western Washington, and it IS still May, right? Seems normal enough. We left our dock early at about 6:15 in the morning 🥱😴, and were tootling past Seattle by about 9:00am. There were a couple of cruise ships in town, preparing for their trips to Alaska. Seattle is a busy cruise ship port from May through September.
The water and wind were calm and it was a nice easy cruise for us. We were up in the Everett area by around 11:30, and some fog/mist/clouds set down on top of us. Visibility got a little obscured but at least the air and water were both very calm, so it was a very peaceful day. We are so thankful that we spent the big bucks for good front windows before we shipped Island Girl to the Pacific Northwest. They are clear and easy to see through while we keep them closed for Pacific Northwest weather cruising. That was the whole idea…. we aren’t new to this rodeo. 😉
But it was chilly! I was wearing several layers and we both had blankies on our laps. All the windows were closed, so we had minimal breeze affecting us. With the limited visibility, we didn’t even think about going downstairs. In all the years, miles and hours we’ve put on Island Girl (over 2,000 hours) we can probably count on one hand the times that we’ve actually operated her from the downstairs helm. It just isn’t where the captain in comfortable. And besides, it really wasn’t any warmer down there, anyway.
By 3:30 we were tootling along the channel that runs through the quaint little town of LaConner, and the sun was out!! Yipee!!
It was a smooth and uneventful 97.5 mile day from Tacoma to Anacortes. We didn’t encounter any rough water or strong tides either for or against us, other than some benefit through LaConner. It is mostly a no-wake zone, so we had our engines going just over idle speed, but with the current we were almost going our normal cruising speed through town! Our average speed for the whole day was 9mph and almost 11 hours.
I had made reservations at Cap Sante Marina, and they provided me with a slip number in advance, so upon arrival we just meandered our way right to our slip and settled in for the evening. We decided that we’d fuel up in the morning since this marina has just about the best fuel price anywhere. $3.98 plus tax = $4.33. Yep – that’s a bargain around Puget Sound. 😵💫
We weren’t in a big giant hurry in the morning, as we wanted to try to time our route with some consideration to the tidal currents. It’s only about 30 miles to our destination, but there are places where we could find some strong currents. Plus, there was a little bit of southern breeze and we needed to cross the Rosario Strait. It isn’t a big crossing, but we figured we’d wait for an incoming tide that would be flowing the same direction as the breeze, for our own comfort. And we’d need some comfort after melting our credit card at the fuel dock. $709.88. 😵💫
It was a beautiful day meandering through the San Juan islands. It is so pretty here!!
Many fewer layers today, with windows open!
We arrived at Roche Harbor in the sunshine. We had our slip assignment in advance, so we were able to tootle on in. We did call on the radio just to be sure, because earlier this morning I saw that our slip assignment had changed in the DockWa App. It was a treat that we called in to confirm, because some nice dock-hands were there to help catch our lines! That is something rare in the Pacific Northwest. In all of our boating adventures in the south and around the Loop, dock-hands were the norm. But here…. we’re almost always on our own, which is fine. There’s often a neighboring boater on the dock to assist, but it is very common to be on your own. Now granted, docks here are always floating docks because of the extreme tides, so that does make it a bit easier. In the south the docks were generally a fixed height and docking involved cross tying lines and lassoing pilings. Backing into slips was the norm because it was common for the finger pier to be a shorter length than the boat, so it was helpful to get a stern line to somebody while I did the piling lassoing on the bow. We generally had a minimum of five lines out to tie up, to allow for tidal movement, because the boat was going to move, but the dock wasn’t. Here you can get away with two to three lines to the floating dock, because where the dock goes, the boat goes.
Anyway, back to the story. Our neighboring boat was also a Bayliner 3988, and they were docked bow in. Everybody else was stern in, so we went stern in. After all, it was going to be a social event, and we wanted to have our party deck on the party dock!
Once we were settled and met our neighbors, I went up to wander around the grounds and found some pretty flowers in their gardens. The gardens here are sometimes used for weddings, and have an English Garden feel.
Some more prettyness!
Sunset was nice and the forecast told us that we were going to have some absolutely fabulous weather for this event!
I don’t recall how many boats were here on Wednesday to take advantage of the free night, but more came in on Thursday, and even more on Friday. Don’t be fooled… that is not Island Girl right there. Follow the red line up to the right about five boats away! It became a casual contest between the 3988’s and the 4788’s on which model had more boats here. By Saturday I think we were tied at five each. Add in the other sizes and some Meridians and I think there were about 20 boats total. I’m not totally sure because some came in on Saturday and didn’t meander down the dock much, so I don’t know if they were actually here for the rendezvous or just being some of the hundreds of northwest Bayliners out for the weekend. One thing about being a Bayliner here, we are anonymous. Well, other than the “Sarasota FL” on the stern. We look just like dozens of other boats.
Roche Harbor has a sweet little chapel that has bells that plays songs on the hour at various times of day. Roche Harbor is really just a resort village – there is not a town here other than the marina and some surrounding homes.
OH man – look at this color!!
Here is another shot of the gardens with some of the marina buildings in the background. The harbor has a long history relating to Lime Kilns, and there are still some old remnants remaining on the property. It’s really a neat place.
Kenny was in boat-geek heaven. In this picture, the other man in the hat was Ron, and he used to work for Bayliner in a variety of capacities over many years. He was a walking Bayliner encyclopedia of information, and I didn’t see Kenny all day. They talked all. day. long. It was so fun to watch them.
In the evening the Bu-da-bing came out in large size. It’s really a Kentucky Mule made with Bundaberg Ginger Beer, but I can not ever seem to remember that, so in our family the drink is just called a Bu-da-bing.
Island Girl got some new swag!!
Another very special thing that happens every single night at Roche Harbor, is Colors. At sunset each night, they have a procession of some of their crew to take down the flags. There is an announcement made to the entire marina, and everything stops for a few minutes. The first flag to come down is the harbor flag, then Washington State, then British (the island has significant British history), then Canada (since we can almost throw a rock to Canada from here, then the American flag. Each flag has a song that is played as is comes down slowly with respect.
Just before the U.S. flag comes down, a small cannon is fired and then TAPS is played, and it is quite somber. The young adults who perform the ceremony are precise and practiced, and it is impressive to watch.
We had a super duper fun day meeting people and visiting, enjoying the fantastic weather and location. It ended beautifully with another stunning sunset.
Friday we just meandered around the docks and visited with everybody. What fun! The couple who has been spearheading the rendezvous for the last few years are a hoot, and they love to cook. I spied them fixing their lunch and realized how brilliant this is. They had shucked some oysters and were cooking them on the grill in these little disposable aluminum muffin tins! What a great idea and super easy clean up!
Yep – lots of jawin goin on! The people who were here last year said that is was cold and rainy, so all the visiting was done inside the boats. This year was amazing weather and we were able to casually visit with lots of different people throughout the days.
This rendezvous was very informal, and there was no fee other than the marina moorage. We all brought appetizers to share for Thursday night. The ‘hosts’ Wade & Eileen brought burgers for Thursday night, and a few repeat boats provided some salads. Then we all contributed to a potluck dessert bar. Saturday we had champagne and donuts Bingo for which we each contributed a prize, and we had a Hawaiian theme potluck for dinner. They did take donations on Saturday, and they hold that money for next year’s event. Last year there were only about 10 boats, and we had at least twice that many this year, so next year’s party should be really good!
For my dessert contribution, I made s’mores in a pan. I used Golden Grahams cereal with marshmallow, a layer of mini chocolate chips, and another lay of graham/mallow. They were delicious!!!
We did take the opportunity to take Stuart out for a spin. This was his first outing since Kenny changed the Stu-zuki’s head, and it ran good! The electronic starter still doesn’t like to always work, but the lil dude ran good. It was a little chilly and breezy, so we didn’t go far.
This is the pavilion on the end of our dock that the marina provided for us. (Island Girl was only four boats away, so we were very close to the main action!) The marina staff were so great – changing out our garbage cans, bringing ice and propane. Most of the staff are young adults/college age kids, and so nice and friendly.
Zoooooom!!
I was trying to get a good picture of the entire Roche Harbor marina, but it didn’t turn out very good.
Here is a better picture – a line of BAYLINERS! Island Girl is fourth from the right in that front row, with Stuart floating around at her bow.
I checked up on Wade while he was cooking up the chicken for our Hawaiian potluck. Behind him was their son Justin who was also taking part in the grilling action. Their whole family pitches in to make this event successful and they all love it! What a great family.
Oh! Here is Eileen and daughter Jen at their self-appointed Mai-Tai bar. Justin and Jen were the hosts for the Bingo game on Saturday morning and did a great job. We played LOTS of games to give out all of the prizes. I won a book, Kenny won a bottle of wine. There must have been 40 gifts, and it was a hoot. One gift was a size XXL tropical bikini bottom, which Jen’s husband put on over his shorts and modeled it with some silly sexy moves and picture poses. It was a morning full of laughter and fun.
Eileen’s boat was even decorated with a Hawaiian theme. Jen’s daughters had so much fun fixing up their grandma’s boat. Too bad the wind kept blowing the inflatable palm trees over.
Our entire group on the day of our Hawaiian shirts. Pretty great group of fun people!
Here’s Island Girl and all of her sisters flying their new Bayliner flags.
The two 4788’s across the dock from us are repeat rendezvouers and were super nice and fun. Kenny is up on the fly bridge of Cool Change on the left. They are originally from Georgia, but have relocated, and their boat lives in Port Orchard. That isn’t too far from us in Tacoma!! Ohhh – we have some new friends in Puget Sound! 🤗YAY!! They participate in their club’s Holiday Parade in Port Orchard each year, and Santa 🎅🏼 rides on their boat. I toldja they are fun people.
Another amazing sunset!!
The weather has been so nice that I’ve been wearing my ‘boat shoes’ all day every day. I like these because they have good grip on the boat.
But they sure do give my feet a weird suntan!! HA!!
We had a super fun time at the rendezvous, and I already have the tentative dates on next year’s calendar! We will be back!! It was a great group of people, it was casual, relaxed, low-key, and inexpensive. I think it is safe to say that Bayliner peeps are our kinda peeps. 😉