Our tiny boat doesn’t provide much protection from the elements and since the the weather report was calling for rain in Portland we decided to head up to Seattle. We had made appointments with several brokers to look at boats which all turned out being disappointing. But there was also the swap meet, boat show, and farmer’s market to entertain us. 
Trying to be frugal as always, we had planned on sleeping in the 4Runner. We have a nice platform in the back that makes a comfortable sleeping area and has space for storage below. It rained the entire night and we were only able to crack the windows a tiny bit which made for a very stuffy interior. So the next night we decided we had suffered enough and stayed at the Silver Cloud where we enjoyed a king sized bed, a warm pool, a hot tub, and free breakfast. Much better! During the daylight hours the rain let up and we had sunny – almost hot – weather.

Saturday we looked at the bargains at the swap meet but only ended up buying one small pelican case to protect our phones, etc when dinghying to shore.
Swap Meet Goodies
More bargains
Swap Meet Sunshine

Later that day we went to the Boat’s Afloat Show on Lake Union. We looked at a lot of beautiful boats we would love to own as well as the Ocean Watch.
Ocean Watch
Ocean Watch interior

At the show we bought a crab snare. The theory is that while the crab tries to eat the bait inside the 2 inch square cage, its (yummy) legs get caught in the self-tightening loops and then you just pull it up. We will report back after testing.

Crab Snare
Sunday we went to the Broadway Farmer’s Market to get our weekly supply of fruits and veggies since we had missed our usual trip to the Saturday market at home. What a great market!

On the drive home we made a stop in Olympia to stretch our legs and look at some more boats. While walking the guest dock we happened upon a Pearson 424. While we were admiring her nice lines and excellent condition her owners returned. They had recently purchased the boat and generously invited us inside. Their plan is to sail north to Alaska next summer and then hopefully sail to warmer waters where there are turtles abound. But for now they are “Far From Turtles” – which is their boat name. Sadly, I didn’t have my camera but I did get their blog address: http://travelswithherblaura.blogspot.com/