Saturday, October 20th- Back to the USA

Sidney to Rosario

We were undecided whether to visit Lopez Island or Rosario on Orcas Ise.  We finally decided we aren’t equipped yet to land the dinghy somewhere like the Lopez Island Spencer Spit park, so we opted for the comfort of the Rosario Resort marina.

First we had to officially re-enter the US at Roche Harbor which turned into a hide-and-seek to find the customs dock.  I should have guessed that coming from the water, all resident dockage is on the right, and all tourist services like fuel dock, harbor master customs dock are on the left.  Jon said the customs agent maintained a stern demeanor, but he did let us stay long enough to grab some fresh donuts from the Limekiln cafe.

The wind picked up as we approached Orcas Island and Rosario.  It got rough enough that we worried the dinghy might capsize.  We also had difficulty getting close to the dock as the wind was strong enough to overpower the thrusters.  I was finally able to lassoo a cleat and pull us in, something that would be impossible with Canadian bull rails.

We had a nice lunch in the lounge – salmon burgers again- and the house ginger beer had the intriguing addition of lime, cardamom and cayenne.  Then we enjoyed the Saturday music concert which was a lovely combination of historical photographs taken by Robert Moran while a resident artist (who is also the resort general manager) played both the 1900 Steinway piano and the 1913 vintage Aeolian pipe organ with it’s nearly 2000 pipes.  

The most surprising thing happened after the show when we were all invited to view the actual organ console as it played some music automatically.  The original paper scroll control had been replaced with an old Apple PowerMac 6116, Jon had been the project manager for that model back at Apple 25 years ago! Antiques controlling antiques! What a small world.

We enjoyed the evening on Fifth Element; the wind and air temperature is quite biting now, but we’re snug in the cabin with power from the marina.

Power PC!

The visible pipes are actually a “blind” for the real pipes behind

View from the Rosario Resort museum

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