8/5/2024 - 8/6/2024 Sullivan Bay is a unique floating marina and village of eclectic wooden structures and float homes, some which have been here since the early 1940’s. The “downtown” area has a well stocked general store, liquor agency, restaurant, post office, and international airport served by float planes. There is also laundry, showers, and a book exchange. The old town hall is now the restaurant serving lunch and dinner on alternating days. There is no land access here, it you can walk just over a mile by walking the docks and checking out the boats and float homes.
While at Sullivan Bay we ran into Greg on Sundodger. We bought our Ocean Alexander 50 Classico boat (what was then named Sundodger) from Greg in 2019. He traded up to the Ocean Alexander 60, giving them 10+ more feet of space for family and friends. We formally changed our boat name to St. Florian so that Greg could keep the name Sundodger for his new toy and not create any confusion. We didn’t quite understand the name and had to ask its meaning. Greg is a University of Washington alumni and the school mascot used to be the Sundodger. Perfect name for him, not for us. (In case you haven’t been following since we bought this boat, St. Florian is a nod to Brad’s profession of firefighting. Florian was a Roman warrior (born in about 250 AD) who trained and led an elite group of soldiers who’s sole duty was to fight fires. He is considered the patron saint of firefighters, chimney sweeps, and brewers.
8/7/2024 This is where things get complicated. Kinship and Second Verse left Sullivan Bay this morning heading to Port McNeill. Phil has some servicing scheduled to occur there. This is where our trip with Kinship and Second Verse was supposed to start deviating. They are headed south. Kinship is officially for sale now and needs to be in Anacortes, WA by August 20th. Second Verse has some work scheduled in Sidney, BC about the same time. Since we are not on a schedule our plan was to stay in the Broughton Islands for another three weeks and then meet Brad’s cousin Vince in September for a few weeks in Desolation Sound. Seemed like a perfect plan…..
We left Sullivan Bay after finishing our “chores” (make water using shore power until tanks are full, cook our 10 crabs using shore power, get gasoline for the dinghy, fill the propane tank, finish laundry, clean strainers) and headed to Claydon Bay about four miles away. We spent the night anchored in a nice, calm bay. However, we did not have a restful night. A bilge pump (that we have never heard before) ran for about twenty seconds. The first time was at 10pm, then again at 1:30am, 2:50am, 4:20am, and 5:10am. At this point neither of us were going back to sleep. Brad had been up multiple times during the night checking compartments to make sure we weren’t sinking (my exaggeration). After some investigation we determined that our water heater is slowly leaking.
The next few hours were spent trying to locate a new hot water heater and explore options on where to have it sent. After talking to the manufacturer we concluded that there was exactly one unit between Washington and Florida and it was in Seattle. So we bought it. Brad’s cousin Vince picked it up this morning and has it waiting for us in La Conner (where Vince keeps his boat). As a result we are re-joining Kinship and Second Verse on their trip south. I get to delay my goodbye post a bit longer!
We've been checking up on you! Glad you're having fun! -Kaitlin & Rene