Sailing into the West

A couple years ago, my sister and her husband took me sailing among the islands scattered just off northern Washington State.  They own their own boat, went through the coursework to become captains and go out as regularly as they can. 

They have a nice boat that is well built with two bedrooms, a great kitchen and two bathrooms. If any of the rooms are called something else, I don't know the terms because I am not a sailor.  I was just along for the ride.

Everything was build so compactly.  The kitchen, the bedrooms, it was almost like living in a tiny house with the adage "Everything in its place."  There was storage under seats and backrests in the dining room,  in the walls, under this, next to that.  It was cool.

So we took off one Saturday afternoon, heading out to spend the night out near one of the islands and then back.  It was quite an experience to be out on deck with the wind trying to blow my hair loose from its bun.  My sister shared her spray sunscreen with me to keep me from burning.  I'll tell you about that later.

We finally got to the island and dropped anchor in the cove with a bunch of other boats and took a dingy to the island where we spent the next hour or two walking around, finding little bits of glass and watching the tide change.  Once the sun went down, it was dinner, a movie and then bed. 

The next morning, we spent a bit more time enjoying the gently rocking ocean before heading home.  There were a couple things I came away from this adventure.
1.  Take lots and lots of sunscreen and reapply it regularly.  I came away with one of the worst sunburns I've ever had.
2.  Wear a hat at all times to protect your hair so your scalp does not get sunburned.
3.  Wear long sleeves out of loosely woven material, again for protection.

The other big thing, is drink tons of liquid to keep from getting dehydrated.  The beautiful day, the breeze, the movement, teases you and you forget that you can get sunburned and dehydrated.  I loved the trip and I came back sunburned, dehydrated and more knowledgeable.  Would I go out again?  Ohhhhh yeah, I would.