Anchoring

Looking back at our old posts, it's almost funny to see how much stress anchoring has caused us.

The fact is, pulling into Blind Channel and paying $30 for a night at the dock we suddenly realized how comfortable we had become with anchoring. It was with great remorse that we signed the credit card bill for that night's moorage—we could have anchored a couple miles away, in a much prettier setting, for no money at all.

It was a joyful surprise to us that anchoring was no longer the dark wall of stress that ended each day. It is hard to say when the tide of emotion turned. I guess our stress gradually receded with each new experience. When we finally looked out our windows the tide had gone way, way out.

Anchoring is still a skill we are building and a work in progress. We still sometimes get it wrong and have to reset our anchor or choose a new spot. But it's become a challenged that we enjoy. We've come to recognize our skill level and we choose sites that afford us the room and security we need to feel comfortable (when distance, tide, current, and weather allow!).

There is great joy in bringing our boat in, having done our chart work, and then surveying the anchorage based on currents, swing room, protection from weather, and an eye toward ensuring wind enough to set the hook get us back out.

We do love our town days, hearing the sounds of people, having conversations, enjoying a coffee or a beer. But keeping them few and far between allows us to radically extend our cruising range. If we stayed in marinas every night of the trip, the marina fees alone would cost more than all of our other expenses combined! And then, there are all the temptations of town—just one more beer, one more piece of cheesecake. As a friend of a friend said to us, docklines are conduits which suck the money out of your boat. It's true, we've never once broken our budget while anchored.

So after a couple days in town, it's wonderful to return to life among the seals, herring, and eagles, to exchange the schedule of business openings and closings to that of weather windows and tides. It is wonderful to go to sleep knowing that we have set our anchor well and that our site safe and calm.

（翻譯）
回首我們之前的文章，才發現原先讓我們緊張萬分的下錨時刻現在可以微笑以對。

在緩緩駛進BlindChannel的碼頭，付完30元加幣的碼頭停靠費之後，我們突然發覺下錨已經不再讓我們驚慌。我們後悔在信用卡帳單上簽名。我們大可在數哩之外下錨──幽美環境、免費價格。

對我們來說，這是個美麗的驚喜，下錨不再是結束一天的黑暗壓力。很難說我們的緊張何時像潮水逐漸退去。我想，隨著每個新經驗，我們的壓力逐漸減低。當我們終於往窗外看去，壓力的潮汐已經退的遠遠的。

然而下錨仍然是我們持續在學習與改進的技術。我們有時還是犯錯，需要重新下錨或選擇新的下錨地點。但是，我們開始享受這些挑戰。我們開始瞭解自己的程度，選擇適合我們，讓我們感到安全的下錨處（當潮汐、水流、天氣、距離允許的情況下！）

將船駛入港灣、仔細研讀海圖、水流、船可旋轉空間、港灣的保護程度、下錨需要的繩索長度中皆藏著喜悅。

當然，我們也喜歡停泊在文明碼頭的時光，聽聞人聲、與船友聊天、享受咖啡或啤酒。但是不需要常常進港讓我們可以長程旅行。若我們每晚都停靠碼頭，光是停靠費就會高過我們所有其他的支出。再者，小鎮隱藏所有誘惑：再一杯啤酒、另一塊起司蛋糕….。如同一位朋友所說，連結碼頭與船的繩索就像導管一樣，不斷的將錢從你錢包吸出。我同意，我們從未因為下錨而預算超支。

因此，在文明城鎮數天之後，回到海豹、魚群、老鷹環繞的環境真好。我們不再注意餐廳商店的營業時間，而是潮汐與風的時間表。我們平靜入睡，知道我們的錨下的穩固，停泊處安全與寧靜。