Wind, Rain, and Heat!

I came up to the San Juan's yesterday to thoroughly test out the recently repaired Wallas stove/heater and see if any other problems crop up.

The weather yesterday morning was quite nice. The Cascades were beautiful and the wind hadn't yet picked up.

Since the forecast called for gale force winds until Thursday, and I need to be home Wednesday night, I didn't want to go to far. Cypress Island is only a dozen miles away from the marina and is a nice place to spend time.

Calm conditions in the anchorage at Cypress Head.

But the wind picked up in the afternoon. The wind died around 8 PM and it rained heavily for a few hours. Then it was dry and windless until about 4:30 AM when the wind returned.

I got underway around 8 AM and headed back towards Twin Bridges.

I'd heard good things about Saddlebag Island and decided to check it out. This is the view from the South side, which is bearing the brunt of today's gale. I went ashore before the rain started and wandered around for an hour or so...it's a nice island to explore and it's amazingly close to Anacortes.

The cove on the North side is providing good protection and holding for the anchor. It's a bit rolly with some waves wrapping around, but not bad given the conditions.

This is a tug coming the same way as I did this morning. As you can see, it's a bit choppy.

Thankfully the Wallas is heating and the cabin is warm and dry. For as yet unknown reasons, the Wallas is actually overheating and shutting itself off when the blower lis is lifted for cooking.  It restarts and runs normally after the shutdown, but it is not operating properly.  I've been in touch with Scan Marine and we are working on troubleshooting the problem.

I'll spend tonight on the hook at Saddlebag Island and head back home tomorrow morning.

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