Today we decided to go to the Anacortes Boat and Yacht Show at the Cap Sante Marina. Unfortunately it was another drive up I-5 to Burlington to get there. We are already quite tired of that I-5 run as this is the 3rd time to make the hour long drive. Anacortes sits very pretty on the San Juan de Fucs Straight near the San Juan Islands. The ferry that goes to San Juan Island, Orcas Island, and Vancouver Island leave from here. The marina was very nice and we got lucky with a parking spot. The show was very neat because it concentrated on Yachts and Boats designed for open ocean use rather than the typical Dallas ski and wakeboard boats. One style very popular is the Tug Boat Cabin Cruiser style. While the Tug Boast style shares some similarities of shape with “real” Tug Boats these were generally much smaller and nicer. The boats ranged from a low of $40,000 for nice looking used sailboat up to $3.5M yachts. They were all open to explore inside but you had to take your shoes off. I should have worn slip-ons. I was able to see everything I needed by peeking in windows so I’m not complaining. Surprisingly the show was dog friendly and, as usual, Maverick was a hit. One of the boat brokers declared him “The prettiest dog he had ever seen”. Of course we think so, but we don’t hold it against anyone who thinks differently. Most of the boats were in slips in the water and by the time we walked all of the 5 docks we were beat. In the middle of the show we had Fish and Chips at the Cabana Cafe there at the Marina. Cabana is the walk-up To-Go part of the chain Anthony’s to which it was attached. The Fish and Chips were fantastic.
After the show we drove around Anacortes and found a lovely Famers Market. Donna found some baked goods that were super tasty, some really beautiful flowers, and some Asparagus. It was a really nice market. We continued driving around Anacortes until we felt we had seen most of it and then headed back home.
Interesting footnote. Watching local news on the Television today we saw the tragic Cougar attack in North Bend that left one dead and another injured. We were in North Bend just yesterday. While extremely rare, it does make you think when you are in these parks all by yourself. Research on the web indicates that fatal Cougar attacks throughout the US and Canada combined average 0.8 deaths per year. We are still much more likely to die from very common threats related to health, sports, etc.