I mentioned the sunshine this morning. Perhaps I should have been quiet. By the time we cast off from Echo Bay docks the wind was ushering a fresh bank of water logged clouds in over the Broughtons. Our departure was slightly later than planned or we might have escaped the soaking received upon arriving at Sullivan Bay. The delay occured dockside when in passing conversation with another transient boater, I asked if the couple had traveled up here much. This evoked a quick reply of yes, "we do the Waggoners Cruising Guide for northwest boaters. I'm Marylin and this is Bob". Sheepishly I expressed my appreciation of their work and added that this was our key reference for travels in the northwest waters. We talked awhile about sails versus motoryachts and favorite places to go. Marilynn said they were sailors in the early days of the project but when they "went to the dark side", they acquired this vintage Tolleycraft, named Surprise. Although not as stable in weather as their sailboat, Surprise is an able vessel and a comfortable couple's cruiser. I requested a quick snapshot to which they acquiesced and soon I had a few shots recorded with Bob's discriminating guidance.

We left Echo under sail but only briefly. The winds turned and the rain came. We arrived at Sullivan to be helpfully guided to a berth with a view of the surrounding waters and hills and were soon checking in at the General Store. We stocked up on a few dairy items and were handed a golfball upon clearing at the counter. "Tee time is at 5pm", the teller announced. We looked at each other and back to our informant. "Each boater has a shot at free moorage if you can hit a ball off the end of the floatplane dock and into the satellite dish floating in the bay". We chuckled and willingly took the ball and stepped back out into the rain.