We had a great couple days catching up with John and Lisa – formerly of Orcinius, that they still own – but now in the PNW of the M/V Figaro.  They are heading up to Juneau, Alaska and our paths crossed for one night at Telegraph Harbor, Thetis Island.  How great to see them, except…well, see below for more on that!

Figaro approaching the dock.

Great to catch up with John and Lisa, if only for one night.

An impressive looking boat. They do twenty knots at cruise. Where we could "almost" keep up with Orcinius, we can't even come close to matching speed with Figaro. We'll hope to see them again at the end of the season on the way "back down".

So about that Bread Caper.  Well sneaky buggers that John and Lisa are, they finally “aced” us with the infamous “forever” bread.  When we were in Hawaii last year provisioning for the final three week leg back to the US, Lisa convinced Ann to buy some bread that was supposed to stay “fresh” for months.  OK, we bought two loaves.  Three days into the trip, John posted an urgent message via email to say it was the worst bread he had ever tasted and not to open it.  We didn’t.  But…we saved it and hid our two loaves in their house after we got back and were on our way back to the Bay Area.  Sort of a “back-atcha” for Lisa recommending it.  In the last year, those loaves have been hidden and re-hidden back and forth several times as our paths have crossed.  Sometimes to be found in a suitcase, sometimes left in the top shelf of a pantry, etc, etc.

Well, they finally topped us and “got” us.  Having stashed both loaves in Lisa’s backpack at their house months ago on our way up to Port Townsend, Ann and I completely forgot about them.  John and Lisa had not.  We cheerfully helped them leave the dock in the morning on their way north.  An hour later we sauntered out of Charisma to loose our lines for our 10 mile jaunt to the next little anchorage.  As Ann went to unclear the bow-line, she got a panicked look on her face.  I heard a; “Bob, quick come here there’s a problem, the line’s caught on something!”  I went up to check it out and sure enough the end of the bow line was straight down in the water and seemed jammed.  I was able to pull on it though and pretty quickly realized “something” was tied to the end of the line.  Oh crap!  It was the bread!!  Weighted down in a grocery bag with a huge rock!  Rats!  They got us.  And the bread is so water logged it can’t be saved.

Oh well, the end of a year long adventure.  We’ll have to figure out a new one.  In the mean time it’s John and Lisa 4, Ann and Bob 3.