This first decision was easy for my wife Betty and I, even though most of Betty’s boating experience has been in small sail boats. (She used to sail a Cal 20 from San Pedro to Catalina on a regular basis.) The comfort and convenience of a 32 foot power boat with twin screws, a full galley and thermostat controlled heat helped get her over the "stinkpot" image she had of all large diesel boats. Sailing is a lot of fun and much more challenging that yachting, but at this stage of the game we're more inclined toward the comfort side.
I think most of us with boating experience would choose to be our own
captain if possible. Betty and I are of the " I’d rather do it myself" variety and
chose to go with a bare boat charter
Charter Companies
The last time I chartered a boat we picked it up at a marina on Lake Union in
Seattle. We went through the channel to Lake Washington and spent the first night at a
marina by Kirkland. The next day we went back down the channel, through Lake Union and through the
Chittenden Locks. These fascinating locks raise and lower boats up to 20 some feet.
This time we decided to charter from San Juan Yachting because of their location
in the Bellingham harbor. From there it is just a skip and a jump to the San Juans.
We chose the Exodus,
a 32 foot Bayliner and signed up for a week starting October 3, 2002.
While some of the other boats would have worked for us we decided on the Exodus
because it had twin screws, (for maximum maneuverability), a shallow draft, (2'8"), and the
main saloon was up high with a 360 degree view. Since Betty and I would be the only
ones on board the single head would not be a problem.
We arrived in Bellingham Wednesday before noon on October 2nd. San Juan Yachting turned out to
be a well run organization with a lot of friendly helpful people. Danelle, who was always
available by phone or e-mail and is our pick for future President and CEO, got us right on
board the Exodus and made sure we had everything we needed.
The next morning Paulette gave us our "skippers meeting", a thorough rundown on charts, tides,
currents and dangerous areas to stay away from. She provided us with; a tidal current book
showing hour by hour information on the direction and intensity of the tidal currents around
the islands, a visual reference of the tides for each day, a "Maptech" chart book of the
San Juans with danger areas marked in red, phone numbers of the marinas and immigrations, plus
all kinds of information on what we would find on the various islands we might visit. This
really made everything easy for us.
The last time I chartered a boat we picked it up at a marina on Lake Union in Seattle. We went through the channel to Lake Washington and spent the first night at a marina by Kirkland. The next day we went back down the channel, through Lake Union and through the Chittenden Locks. These fascinating locks raise and lower boats up to 20 some feet.
This time we decided to charter from San Juan Yachting because of their location in the Bellingham harbor. From there it is just a skip and a jump to the San Juans. We chose the Exodus, a 32 foot Bayliner and signed up for a week starting October 3, 2002.
While some of the other boats would have worked for us we decided on the Exodus because it had twin screws, (for maximum maneuverability), a shallow draft, (2'8"), and the main saloon was up high with a 360 degree view. Since Betty and I would be the only ones on board the single head would not be a problem.
We arrived in Bellingham Wednesday before noon on October 2nd. San Juan Yachting turned out to be a well run organization with a lot of friendly helpful people. Danelle, who was always available by phone or e-mail and is our pick for future President and CEO, got us right on board the Exodus and made sure we had everything we needed.
The next morning Paulette gave us our "skippers meeting", a thorough rundown on charts, tides, currents and dangerous areas to stay away from. She provided us with; a tidal current book showing hour by hour information on the direction and intensity of the tidal currents around the islands, a visual reference of the tides for each day, a "Maptech" chart book of the San Juans with danger areas marked in red, phone numbers of the marinas and immigrations, plus all kinds of information on what we would find on the various islands we might visit. This really made everything easy for us.