9 July - After a long night of drifting and then motoring we finally arrived in front of Shilshole Bay marina, our destination.

We took the reef out of the mainsail and then dropped it, flaking it over the boom and covering it. Though we had not done this in nearly two months it was not too difficult in light winds and with Henry helping me bring down and flake the sail. Then we drove on into the marina, found H dock and went to the pump out station where we emptied the waste tank (in use since we first entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca) then found an open guest slip and got tied up by 1000 or 1030. It was such a relief and so nice to be back in the USA, tied up to a dock, plugged into shore power, engine off, and docked at the foot of Leif Eriksen.

Henry, who had packed his things a week ago, beat an immediate trail to the airport and got out of Seattle as fast as he could. He was trying to make another flight to Southeast Asia. He did manage to work out a ride to the airport and a short visit with our distant cousin Karen. Jimena and I got us checked into the marina then had some lunch and coffee at the cafe by the marina. We did some cleaning up and reorganizing inside the boat and in the night we slept like logs, peaceful in the knowledge we were tied to a dock, unaffected by weather, and not required to get up and stand watches. Oh the decadence.

And so it ends, our odyssey is over, the chapter captured in this blog. Now on to local cruising (the San Juan Islands, BC coast, Alaska, maybe).

Here endeth the lesson.

Post Scriptum Scriptum: There is now a Tropical Storm named Calvin tracking from Central America out toward Hawaii, a little south of the track we sailed but well within “effects” range. We are most happy that we did not have to contend with that.