Left Hope Island at 0620 under cloudy skies and calm conditions to continue our journey home. We enjoyed a great flood down Skagit Bay. I was only at 1,200 rpm but was doing 6 knots. By the time we reached Strawberry Point on Whidbey Island the current was gone and I throttled up to 1,700 rpm. Going down Saratoga Passage was uneventful as was the cruise down Possession Sound. We had calm seas and sunny skies. There were lots of boats going north but I think we were the only boat heading south. The crew and I traded times taking the helm. As we came around Possession Point the area was full of fishing boats but I didn't see anybody catching fish. Weaving our way through the myriad of fishing boats was our only cruising challenge. We crossed the central sound only turning to avoid a freighter coming into Seattle.
We got into Kingston Cove Marina at 1345 and got 120 gallons of fuel at $3.91 per gallon. Engine hours read 6186.1, or 86.8 hours since we last took on fuel. This calculates to be 1.38 gallons per hour! Wow! That's great. We were only "sipping" fuel for this trip. Cruising at a lower rpm and cruising with the tide has some real financial benefits.
We then pulled into our reserved slip and tied up at 1400. Kingston is packed with boats and the marina park has some kind of event going on too. There is a band playing and tents pitched up in the park. When I went up we just missed the Saturday farmers market. We took showers and generally relaxed at the marina. Watching boats coming and going. Part of our cruising tradition when at Kingston is to go up to the restaurant Bella Luna and have a Morgan's Special Pizza. A Morgan's Special has got sausage, mushrooms, olives, extra cheese, and jalapenos on it. It is a big, hearty, and tasty pizza. After supper some friends stopped by and we enjoyed some drinks and talked about our recent trip up north.
Stats: 43.6 nm, average speed 6.0 knots, 7:15 hrs. motoring, ending engine hours 6186.3
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