The time is almost here to take delivery of our new boat, a Life Proof 35. We were supposed to take delivery this week but a look at the weather, and a couple other developments, put it on hold for a week. The weather here in the SF Bay Area is incredible, in the 70s, light winds, beautiful! Weather in Bremerton Washington today 30 degrees with snow, rain and throw in some wind. Not a good day to test drive the boat.

It has been a lot of work getting ready for our upcoming trip, mostly done by Jamie I might add (she is the editor so I am sure she would have corrected me). We have a tenant for the house, have the jeep all loaded up with boat stuff and we will be off shortly.

The plan is to cruise the Puget Sound area and become familiar with the boat and find any bugs that need fixing. We would then cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria BC and start working our way north to the top of Vancouver Island and wait for some calm weather towards the end of May. From the top of Vancouver Island to the protected waters of “The Inside Passage” there is a 35-mile open stretch of ocean (Port Hardy to roughly Bella Bella) that can have waves of 12 feet or more but on calm days can be very tolerable.

Map courtesy of www.traveldiariesapp.com

With our new boat we can make very good time, our cruising speed will probably be in the low 30s mph with a distance range of around 350 miles. At those speeds we must be careful of the debris in the water, especially the logs that break away from the log rafts. From a friend that has cruised to Alaska many times that is a problem mostly in Canada from all the logging they do with the transportation of those logs via the waterways.

We hope to make it up to Juneau and Glacier Bay around Summer Solstice.

We will then start working our way south and try to enjoy the remaining summer months in the San Juan Islands along with a visit to Princess Louisa Inlet again.

At the end of the Summer, the plan is to bring the boat back to the company for a service and a trailer ride across the Country to do the Great Loop again, yes again! The original Independence was so large we had to avoid certain areas due it’s overall length and draft (how far down in the water the boat sits). With the speed of the new boat we can also explore some areas that on our previous trip were to far out of the way.

Maybe someday we can bring the boat to the SF Bay Area but the management of the State might prohibit that. I am surprised by how many people in the State are unaware of the impending closure of two refineries in the State. Valero for instance is located in Benicia and was originally constructed in 1968 and bought by Valero in 2000. They recently announced that due to California regulations they are losing too much money and will walk away from the billion-dollar asset. The company's stock price actually went up on the day of the announcement, how screwy is that?!? How screwy is California?!? Gasoline prices are predicted to go up by $2 to $4 per gallon. Chevron is also threatening to leave; they started in California and have been in business here since 1879! California’s indigenous peoples couldn’t chase them out ‘back in the day’ but it looks like the politicians might.