The Thankful crew went ashore to explore the hamlet of Thorne Bay after we got settled in the marina. On the way up the pier Matt and Vicki bumped into Judy, who invited the crew over to her houseboat for dinner.
The liquor store lay just across the street from the harbormaster's Office at the top of the ramp. We turned right, passed a few high end waterfront homes, and a quarter mile down the road found the town's sole grocery store where we bought ice cream and avocados. With nothing beyond the store, we turned around and headed the other direction. On the other end of town we found the sporting goods store, a cafe, and the combination post office/drug store/coffee shop where Lori Lloyd purchased and mailed a post card to Betty Lou.
There wasn't much to it, but Thorne Bay was a quaint little town, and we could see why Judy chose it for her floating home.
At 530PM the Thankful crew headed over to Judy's floating home that was moored at the far end of the marina in front of Free Spirit. She gave us a tour and told us how she'd worked to make her houseboat dream a reality.
Once Judy decided she wanted a floating home in Thorne Bay, she approached the town's officials to get permission to put a houseboat in the half-empty marina. "No houseboats allowed," was their response. Not one to give up easily, she found an old steel barge in Wrangle that was a Coast Guard documented vessel.
"How about if the houseboat is a documented vessel? Could I put that in the harbor," she asked.
She got an affirmative response, so she bought the barge, had it refurbished, and hired a home builder in Wrangle to construct a two story, three bedroom, two bathroom house on top of it. In late April this year she had her new floating home towed to Thorne Bay, and there it sits moored securely in the marina.
We had a fun evening getting to know the Free Spirit crew better. Tad Luckey had spent many seasons drift net fishing in Bristol Bay, Alaska, just like Matt has, and they had a lot to talk about. As a forty plus year Lahaina harbor slip holder, Tad and I had a lot of Hawaii pals in common. Judy, Gracie (another of Free Spirit's crew), and I had yachting pals in common from Newport Harbor Yacht Club. It is a small world.
This morning brought clear skies and light wind for our passage south to Kasaan Bay. We are currently powering along the coast of Prince of Wales Island in glassy conditions. The Clarence Strait is a minefield of floating logs right now, a byproduct of the area's lumber industry. Hitting a dead head would ruin our day, so helmsman Vicki is steering Thankful left and right to avoid the debris. She just stopped the boat to let a couple of young humpback whales headed in the other direction pass. They went by us a boat length away.
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