This article was previously written by Rachel Messerschmidt for and published by Vancouver Family Magazine in August 2021.
Tonight, my husband and I sat in the cockpit of our 40-foot sailboat, Mosaic, musing about our spring and early summer spent cruising in the San Juan Islands, and wondering what the future has in store for us. Since my father-in-law’s weekend visit, we’ve actually had a few more special visitors come and stay aboard with us.
Our two friends, Rachel and Brian, are new Pacific Northwest liveaboards with a boat of their own and dreams to cast off cruising in a few years’ time. When we approached them to ask if they’d be interested in crewing with us on our way down the west coast, they jumped at the chance for experience and the adventure. We’re so thankful knowing that we’ll have four adults aboard for our passage south to California. Four people means a bit of a buffer for standing watch and getting enough rest during the non-stop journey from Port Angeles to Crescent City.
So Rachel and Brian came and spent a weekend with us aboard Mosaic. While they know how to sail, we wanted to let them have a chance to get to know our boat, how she handles, and how all our specific systems work. We had a blast and got a nice sail in during their stay: mission accomplished.
After dropping them back off to head home, we switched gears and dropped our anchor for a week’s stay in Fisherman Bay on Lopez Island where my mother-in-law, Tamara, rented a room for the week to visit during her vacation.
The kids had an amazing time spending the whole week with her, swimming in the resort’s pool, and getting some quality Oma time. Each afternoon when work was done, my husband and I would take the quick dinghy ride into the marina to go hang out. And, for the final three days of her vacation, we left her car behind and brought her aboard for her own chance to experience boat life.
Once again we visited Sucia Island, hiked some of the wonderful trails and shared the stunning scenery with her, and we even ran into some friends there from our old marina in Portland. Rich and Theresa had just sailed their own boat up the Washington coast to move up to the Puget Sound. It was a wonderful visit to one of our favorite cruising destinations.
Little did we know, though, that we were about to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event- something to remember forever. As we headed back to Lopez Island at the end of Tamara’s visit, we were lucky enough to cross paths with a pair of orcas. Now, any day that you see orcas is a good day aboard Mosaic. But this encounter took my breath away.
We saw the whales some distance off and slowed the boat while carefully maneuvering to parallel their course. We know, and vehemently adhere to, the rules surrounding orca encounters in order to protect the whales and give them the respect they deserve while we share their ancestral waters. These two whales though took it upon themselves to give us a closer look.
As they neared our boat, they dived down out of sight for a few moments and when they surfaced they passed a mere 10 feet from our boat! Witnessing their majestic beauty from such a close distance was beyond words. Seeing and hearing the excitement of my children at that encounter is everything to me. How lucky are we to share these waters with such powerful, beautiful, sentient creatures? And what a note to end on for my mother-in-law’s visit!
Now, we reflect on our time here this spring and summer, and what lies ahead. We’ll haul the boat out of the water and complete some final projects and preparations before leaving on the adventure of our lives. The countdown is on and we’ll be leaving before you know it.
Rachel Messerschmidt and her family are Clark County natives currently living and cruising full time aboard their sailboat, Mosaic. In the Pacific Northwest currently, they will leave for Mexico in mid-August. Rachel blogs about her life and journey at www.mosaicvoyage.com and shares her family’s adventures in a monthly column in Vancouver Family Magazine.
