Relaxing & Exploring

We slept in this morning and had coffee watching the sun come up over the steep fjord walls, not  hitting the dock and boat until 10 AM.

Next up: a hike up the Trapper’s Cabin Trail. This trail was described by various sources as 2 hours, one-way, and very strenuous.  This being a “down” day, we only did about half of it.  A good work out going uphill and some careful footwork on the downhill side.

This was the so-called trail, marked by orange plastic ribbons every 100 – 200 feet or so!

We returned to dock, then rewarded ourselves with a beer and a short nap  -- slackers, huh?

For the afternoon we dropped the tender in the water and took a little rowing tour of the vicinity. Waterfalls are everywhere in the Princess Louisa Inlet.

There were lots of seals in the water, all of whom disappeared as soon as we reached for the camera.

We returned to the dock around 5, and shared cocktail hour with our neighbors, Bob and Kathleen from Camano Island, retired for bbq dinner at 7, and are now settled in with a glass of wine and our books.

We will also note that when a spot opened up at the far end of the dock (opposite end from where the seaplanes dock), we moved. Not only did this get us out of the path of incoming or outgoing seaplanes, but left us with no foot traffic passing by us.  This afforded a first opportunity to try out our “black bag shower” (common for sailors, not so much for motor vessels) while standing on the swim step of our boat.  It worked great, and since the weather has been sunny with high temps in the 80s, we certainly need our daily shower.  Not a bad day!

Check-in/OK message Princes Louisa Inlet BC

Latitude:50.20389

Longitude:-123.76891
GPS location Date/Time:08/27/2011 17:04:51 PDT
Message:We are happy, well and having fun.

Click the link below to see where we are located.

http://fms.ws/5pAYG/50.20389N/123.76891W

WHAT???? No Way!!!

Our son is rolling his eyes at Cathryn’s use of exclamation points, we’re sure, but in this case, we think their use is warranted.

During our 7 years of training as boaters, some in a classroom, some in the school of experience, we’ve imagined many disasters that could happen, as they’ve happened to others.  We’ve imagined on-board fires, hitting rocks, becoming grounded, or worst of all, sinking or falling overboard and drowning.  But NEVER have we worried about what happened to us today.

After settling in at the dock here at Princess Louisa Marine Park, we undertook a common activity for us: walking the dock to look at all the other boats (about 15, in this case). We stopped to talk to a couple on a 42-foot trawler who are up from southern Oregon.  Ten minutes later we heard people down the dock loudly exclaiming, and Bob looked back and noticed someone was on our boat. Next we heard someone say a seaplane had hit one of the boats on the dock!  Guess whose boat?  That’s right – ours.

A 4-seater Cessna seaplane had arrived shortly after we did this afternoon, unloaded its’ 3 occupants plus 2 big dogs, and 2 hours later they were ready to depart.  As they headed out of the seaplane docking spot, the pilot mis-judged his clearance, and his left wing smashed into our anchor light, and rear of our bimini and aluminum canvas support frame. Since we didn’t actually see it happen, we’re relying on the reports and photos of others who did, but we’re told the impact turned his plane toward our boat, and the propeller came within a foot of smashing into the boat. Spectators from nearby boats began running away and yelling, saying they expected the airplane to crash through our boat and into the dock.  Fortunately, that’s not what happened. 

When we realized what was going on, we approached the seaplane, asked who was the pilot, and identified ourselves as owners of the boat that was hit. The pilot was absolutely mortified, appearing near tears, and wouldn’t look us in the eyes. He was busy duct-taping the damage to the leading edge of his wing, where a light was smashed. If you look closely, you’ll see the duct tape on the wing to the right.

While Bob examined the damage to our boat, Cathryn got the pilot’s business card, asked to see his driver’s license, asked the name of his insurance company, (which he couldn’t recall) and gave him our “business” card with our names, phone numbers and email address.  The pilot was clearly nervous, said he didn’t want to file an insurance claim, and asked what we thought the damage would cost to repair.  We have no idea, but it didn’t seem extensive. Our anchor light is destroyed, the frame for our canvas is bent, some webbing straps broke, and there’s a bit of damage to the canvas.  If there’s more, we haven’t yet ascertained it.  The pilot pulled $500 out of his wallet, gave it to us, and told us to please let him know if we needed more to cover repairs.

When the pilot took off from the dock a second time, he did not decline the offers of assistance from others in getting the plane turned clear away from the dock AND our boat!

So . . . . there’s our excitement for the day. How was yours?

Anti-Climactic

We left Egmont at 9am and had a relaxed trip up Jervis Inlet, cruising the 40 miles at 7.5 knots to conserve fuel. The scenery is magnificent. The channel is 1 to 1 1/2 miles wide, the water anywhere from 300 to 2,000 feet deep, and the snow-capped granite mountains covered with fir, hemlock and spruce trees rise on both sides of the channel to 3,000 feet elevation. Waterfalls abound. The scenery is reminiscent of sights we saw on our Inside Passage boat trip with friends Greg and Terry on their trawler in August 2009.

We arrived at the Malibu Rapids, entrance to the Princess Louisa Inlet at 1:00 and found, to our surprise, fast-running water, but no white water. This was very good news as it was 3 hours yet to slack tide, and we hoped not to have to wait. With heightened alertness, we moved into the narrow rocky channel and fast water, saw our speed immediately increase 5 knots (due to current), and before we knew it, we were through!  Anti-climactic, and happily so.

 

An hour later, we’re tied up at the dock at Princess Louisa Marine Park at the base of Chattterbox Falls, a 1,200 foot fall dropping off the sheer granite walls above.

Check-in/OK message Chatterbox Falls BC

Latitude:50.20478

Longitude:-123.76944
GPS location Date/Time:08/26/2011 15:01:26 PDT
Message:We are happy, well and having fun.

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Egmont, Bathgate General Store & Marina

We got a late start this morning after a run, then moved north and east 25 miles to the mouth of Jervis Inlet.  Jervis Inlet is the 40-mile long fjord leading to Princes Louisa Inlet, at the head of which is the famous Chatterbox Falls.

We pulled in at 1pm and filled up with fuel, making sure we  got in every last drop to maximize our range for tomorrow’s trip, as our fuel tank is really smaller than we’d prefer with no fuel available until we return.  One reason we picked this marina in Egmont is because they advertised internet, and since we didn’t have it last night, we thought it would be good to catch up before being out of touch a couple of days.

Unfortunately the internet here doesn’t work. So you’ll be reading this in delayed fashion a few days from now.  We did manage to get the laundry done, then went on a hike to Skookumchuck Rapids, 5 miles round trip.

The rapids are at the entrance to Sechelt Inlet which heads south from here almost 15 miles. During a flood tide the current can run  12-16 knots and have overfalls of 8 feet! Today it was  only 6-8 knots, with overfalls of 2-4 feet. The pictures don’t do it justice. It was impressive.  We don’t plan to run this rapid in our boat, but we do have to run the Malibu Rapids adjacent to the Young Life Christian Camp in order to get into Princess Louisa Inlet. We’ll be timing that as close to slack tide as possible.

Check-in/OK message Egmont BC

Latitude:49.74916

Longitude:-123.92938
GPS location Date/Time:08/25/2011 14:16:04 PDT
Message:We are happy, well and having fun.

Click the link below to see where we are located.

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Thetis Island to Secret Cove via Nanaimo

After spending a second night at Thetis Island Marina, we left at 10AM to conduct an experiment.  We wanted to see how far we could extend our boat’s cruising range by cutting our speed from a typical 18 mph to 8 mph. 

Three and a half hours and 31 miles later, we pulled into Nanaimo, filled up the tank and discovered that at the slower speed we had about twice the range as at the faster speed, two hundred miles.

This is important in that we want to head up to Princess Louisa Inlet which is 100 miles round trip from the last gas dock. Given the rule of thumb of 1/3 out, 1/3 back, and with 1/3 in reserve, the 100 mile range at the high speed is way out of our comfort zone, so we were very pleased with the results of our experiment.

At 2:30 after doing some chart shopping in Nanaimo, we had to decide if we were anchoring out there, or making the 20-plus mile crossing of the Strait of Georgia, a large body of water similar to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We listened to the weather radio, and it sounded like it could go either way, so we  made the decision to stick our nose out in the Strait to check it out for ourselves.  Turned out that things looked good (unusual that late in the afternoon, as normally the wind comes up causing 4-8 foot waves), so here we are in Secret Cove, on the Sechelt Peninsula on mainland British Columbia.

We plan to make a short travel day tomorrow, then take the long slow journey up to Princess Louisa Inlet on Friday.

(Note to self: you’re planning to make a 6000-mile journey next year at 7-8 knots, . . . . . so get used to it!)

Check-in/OK message Secret Cove BC

Latitude:49.53458

Longitude:-123.96539
GPS location Date/Time:08/24/2011 16:41:12 PDT
Message:We are happy, well and having fun.
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Thetis Island, British Columbia

We just finished our coffee in Cowichan Bay and were about to head out for a morning jog along the roadways of Cowichan when the rain began this morning. 

Instead, we showered and headed slowly to Maple Bay in the rain, only 10 miles north on Vancouver Island.  Our long-time (30 years) friends George and Marlene have a lovely home on the bay. They picked us up at Maple Bay Marina and took us to their place for a delicious lunch and 3 hour visit.  We saw them under similar circumstances while boating in this area last summer, and it was good to catch up with them again.

By the time we left Maple Bay, the rain abated and we traveled 13 miles northeast to Thetis Island, a place we spent several days last summer and enjoyed.  We had dinner at the Pub at Thetis Island Marina, a delicious lamb burger.

Temperatures remain mild despite the clouds, and the weather forecast for the rest of the week says the sun will return. We’re happy and having fun. Life on the water is good.

Check-in/OK message Thetis Island, British Columbia

Latitude:48.97732

Longitude:-123.66898
GPS location Date/Time:08/22/2011 16:33:40 PDT
Message:We are happy, well and having fun.
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/5m6Ig/48.97732N/123.66898W

Crossing Into Canadian Waters

After a quiet night on the Swinomish Channel in LaConner, Washington, we got a pretty early start and headed north. The Swinomish Channel is a 23-mile shallow, narrow waterway, and the “No Wake Zone” extends its’ entire length, so it took us awhile to get to open water.  As the weather channel was still calling for Small Craft Advisories in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we were pleased to have avoided it and headed directly through the San Juan Islands, stopping only at Deer Harbor to gas up at U.S. fuel prices one last time. 

We stopped in Sidney Harbor on Vancouver island to clear Canadian Customs (a snap), then proceeded north to Cowichan Bay where we’re docked for the night at Fisherman’s Wharf, a working fisherman’s marina where we spent one night last year too.

A walk along the Cowichan waterfront looking at galleries, cafes, a Wooden Boat Museum, tiny houseboats and finally the wonderful bakery where we bought a loaf of bread brought a nice end to our afternoon.

Total Travel Time; 5 hours, covering 65 miles.

Check-in/OK Chowichan Vancouver Island BC

Latitude:48.74168

Longitude:-123.61757
GPS location Date/Time:08/21/2011 14:06:08 PDT

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Olalla to LaConner: 72 miles

After a slow start this morning, we dropped the line off our buoy at 1:30 and headed north.  As is often the case, the wind had come up in the afternoon, and it was a bit bumpy going up Colvos Passage and on past Seattle.

As we moved further north, things got smoother but there was lots of boat traffic (as one would expect on a warm, sunny Saturday), so we had to pay attention to what was going on around us, thinking through the “Rules of the Road” all the while. No lane markers in Puget Sound.

Given our late start, we didn’t think we’d be comfortable crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so we traveled up the east side of Whidbey Island which allowed us to get further north, and positioned us to cross over to the San Juan Islands and perhaps the Canadian Gulf Islands tomorrow morning, avoiding the Strait altogether. Good call as there’s a Small Craft Advisory in the Strait tonight and tomorrow.

We entered the Swinomish Channel about 5:30 and pulled into downtown LaConnor a little after 6PM.

We’re now tied up at the location you can see in our Spot message below.  A great day and a great start to our annual boating trip.

Check-in/OK message LaConner WA

Latitude:48.3976

Longitude:-122.49649
GPS location Date/Time:08/20/2011 18:28:11 PDT
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/5k-RQ/48.3976N/122.49649W

Check-in Pleasant Harbor, Brinnon WA

Latitude:47.66335

Longitude:-122.91451
GPS location Date/Time:08/06/2011 17:25:40 PDT

Click the link below to see where we cated.
http://fms.ws/5c1Ft/47.66335N/122.91451W

Our last night on Hood Canal before heading home1

Check-in Twanoh State Park, South Shore Hood Canal

Latitude:47.37955

Longitude:-122.96976
GPS location Date/Time:08/04/2011 17:59:39 PDT

We are happy, well and having fun.

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After the fog lifted at Port Ludlow this morning, we made a 45-mile run south into Hood Canal to Twanoh State Park, where we're now hooked on a mooring buoy a little offshore of the park.  It was sunny and hot (for the Seattle area, anyway -- 79 degrees), and the water here is 70 degrees, unlike Puget Sound where it's 50. The snow-capped Olypmic Mountains were out in all their glory, and there are hardly any boaters in Hood Canal, in part, we're told, because there are so few protected anchorages and only one place to get gas, just west of Alderbrook Resort, where the price today was $5.19/gallon. We used our propane barbecue grill mounted above the swim step to cook dinner tonight and are enjoying a glass of wine as we watch the sun go down.  Life is good.

Bangor Trident Submarine Base

Something like 20% of the US nuclear arsenal is based here in Hood Canal. Look close and you will see a sub.

Boating Season Officially Begins

Summer came late to Puget Sound this year. We rarely had two sunny days in a row until mid-July.  We’ve now had a couple of weeks with temperatures consistently in the 70s. We’ve done many afternoons of boating, lots of successful crabbing (with Adrienne and her boyfriend Justin too), and Ryan borrowed the boat for a weekend, but we’ve made no overnight trips until today.

This morning we left Olalla at 10:30 under sunny skies with glassy water and no wind – perfect! On our northbound journey we came across a free-floating buoy (the second one this week – maybe we should open a buoy store, Bob says) so salvaged it. Other than that, saw lots of navy vessels coming into Seattle for Seafair weekend, a dozen Dall’s porpoises and a few seals. By 1:00 we arrived at the Port Ludlow marina 42 miles north where we’re tied up for the night.

One of our favorite activities is walking the docks looking at boats; today we were especially interested in trawlers in the 40-45 foot range, as that’s what we expect to buy in January to begin our eastern seaboard Great Loop trip.

Check In Port Ludlow WA

Latitude:47.92256

Longitude:-122.6848
GPS location Date/Time:08/03/2011 14:35:09 PDT
Message:We are happy, well and having fun.

Click the link below to see where we are located.
http://fms.ws/5Zu5A/47.92256N/122.6848W

Bob and Cathryn

Olympic Music Festival

Quilcene Wa

Houston County Lake

Crockett, Texas

Sunny Saturday

Not hot but very pleasant

Chincoteague Island

So how many of you (mostly the 20-40 age crowd) remember one of your parents reading to you the children’s book “Misty of Chincoteague”?  Cathryn recalls reading it to our kids and loving it herself, a story about the wild ponies on the island of Chincoteague, a true story. 

So today we went to the Island of Chincoteague and saw the wild ponies,most of which are pintos. There are numerous legends about how these 2 herds came to be here, but the most enduring is of a Spanish ship wrecked on the shores in the 1700s, and these are the descendants of the horses which succeeded in swimming to shore. Whatever the truth, these herds survive in the (mostly) wild today and remain beloved by the surrounding communities. 

The Chincoteague Wildlife Refuge is beautiful, is a birder’s paradise, and today was sunny, calm and mild (mid 60s). We had a late lunch of delicious crab cake sandwiches at a waterfront spot in Onancock where we’re also staying tonight. It’s a small, neat and tidy town on the western shore of the DelMarVa peninsula, the Chesapeake Bay side. The peninsula is mostly inhabited by farmers and “men of the sea”, fishermen, crabbers and oyster men. Lovely and bucolic.

No Clay Feet In Virginia

We spent yesterday morning touring Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson,  author of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Freedom of Religion in Virginia, and the co-founder of the University of Virginia. These are the three things by which he asked to be remembered.  He was  also, of course, our third president.  A great man and the creator of a beautiful home and grounds in Monticello.

Bob had just finished reading the very insightful book “The Hemmingses of Monticello” about a family of slaves who spent several generations serving the Jefferson family.  The tour of Monticello left the Hemminges largely out of the story. It wasn’t until the very end when the guide mentioned that most people now believe Jefferson fathered 4 children with Sally Hemmings with whom he lived  for 40 years, four times as long as with his wife Martha who figured more prominently on the tour.

Nor was it explained that Monticello was built and supported by almost 200 slaves, only a few of which received any wages beyond the most basic shelter, clothing and food.  The fact that the entire plantation culture that made Jefferson's life possible was based on this institution was left out of the story almost entirely.

Jefferson was a great man who accomplished many critically important things during his life, but his feet of clay were equally as important to understanding the man and his times. We also noted the same lack of telling the full story at Williamsburg the day before.  It’s disappointing that these two historic sites leave so much out of the story they tell.

The picture below is of a group of Sally Hemmings’ descendants gathered at Monticello.

Monticello VA

Latitude:38.005
Longitude:-78.45242
GPS location Date/Time:05/11/2011 08:36:39 PDT

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A Fitting Beginning

We flew from Seattle to New York City (JFK), then to Norfolk, Virginia, which had us flying down the east coast, site of part of our future Great Loop adventure.

Oh, that’s right – we haven’t confirmed on this blog our plans for a next Great Adventure!  Four years ago Cathryn made friends via the internet with a man named Mark – long story how this came about, so we’ll save it for later when we actually meet him, which hasn’t happened yet.  Suffice it to say that Mark dreams of someday doing The Great Loop, a 6,000-mile loop journey by boat, covering the eastern Atlantic, northern Great Lakes, midwest rivers and the Gulf of Mexico. His passion for the idea and our subsequent research inspired us to do it. We currently think we’ll start this journey sometime in 2012 on a boat yet to be purchased, somewhere along The Great Loop route (Google it if you’ve never heard of it; until Mark mentioned it and got us all enthused, we’d never heard of it either). 

So . . . now we’re on our way to a Great Loop Rendezvous, a 4-day seminar conducted by America’s Great Loop Association, and which includes people currently doing The Loop (by boat), and those planning to do The Loop in the future, like us.  We’ll stay at a hotel in Norfolk, Virginia, next door to a  marina where folks currently underway will stay on their boats and offer boat tours to those of us considering buying “the perfect Great Loop boat”. 

So flying south from New York City to Norfolk, we spent an hour over the east coast, including Delaware Sound and Chesapeake Bay, two bodies of water we’ll navigate when we actually do The Great Loop, as well as a lot of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.  It was a beautiful, sunny, blue sky day, and the waters (seen from 16,000 feet in the sky) looked calm and enchanting. The coastline swirled all over the place.  Enough about that.

We landed in Norfolk yesterday and spent today touring Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown, two historic sites established in the 1600s when the British first colonized North America.  Both were interesting sites with restorations and reconstructions, period-costume attired staff, and re-enactments of various period events . .  .  a great way to spend the day for history buffs.

Tonight we’re in Charlottesville, Virginia, and plan to visit Jefferson’s Monticello in the morning, then we’ll  back-track east to the Delmarva Peninsula. Meanwhile, we had a delicious dinner at a gourmet hamburger joint adjacent to the University of Virginia campus, where students appear more homogenous and more like youthful versions of who they will be in their later years than students we’re accustomed to watching at places near the University of Washington and University of Colorado. We sat at an outside table next to the sidewalk in 75+ degree, sunny weather with a beer and good food. Bob (actually both of us) is happy. It was still cloudy, rainy and in the 50s when we left home yesterday. 

Last Night on the Road

11 hours of driving brought us to LePage and Philippi Parks,  30 miles east of The Dalles, Oregon.  We’re camped right on the shore of a pretty inlet off the Columbia River, and the campground is run by the Corps of Engineers.  It’s sunny and mid-50s even at 6:30 p.m., and if the wind would die down, we could have a last campfire. But this is famous wind-surfing territory, so we won’t expect it to calm. Our Garmin GPS tells us we’ll be home mid-day tomorrow, and we’re eager to arrive. This is a nice end to another wonderful winter in the Baja, despite the lack of our pretty blue Hobie kayak on top of the trailer (see post from last Thursday if you’re interested in that story).