September 4, 2013 ~ La Conner to Lake Union

Early this morning there was quite a bit of fog – I think we could make out the other side of the channel, but we definitely could not see as far as the marina just north of town.  We could definitely tell it was September.

Erin had picked up some different flavored scones from a bakery yesterday, and divided them up for breakfast.  Let’s see; there was coconut, lemon, raspberry, and something else.  We each got to sample a strip of each flavor.  The lady who makes them has a secret recipe she won’t even share with her family, and they definitely were better than most scones I’ve sampled.

For best current utilization, we were planning on leaving around 10 o’clock.  If the fog persisted, we’d stop at Everett and forego crossing ferry routes and shipping lanes in the fog.  If it was clear the plan was to continue all the way to Shilshole and the locks.

We did indeed pull away from the dock right at 10 o’clock, and with the current all it took was an idle to head out of town at a pretty good clip.  The tide was falling, and

within a foot or so of the low for the day.  Coming out the channel south of town at low tide sure makes you realize why no one can be taking any shortcuts from the channel.  We often see boats aground where they have cut the corner on the way out, but I think the only boats we’d see aground today would be in the center of the channel.  The Army Corps of Engineers is tasked with dredging this channel, but with budget constraints and requirements for a certain volume of commercial shipping to qualify for dredging now, this channel has not been dredged recently.  I passed over a couple spots near the exit that, even though we were dead on mid channel by the range markers, were less than 5 feet deep.  That’s where you lift your feet up and hope you

clear.  We did.  I hope La Conner and the Army can get something worked out – I sure wouldn’t stop by for a visit at low or a minus tide.

We saw a few boats heading north, but by far most were headed south.  We had four boats in front of us as we turned south out of the channel and towards Camano Island, and another three or four behind us – all spaced out pretty evenly, at least a first.

This must be a good time for catching fish, as there were at least 8 or 9 purse seiners

 

working the shore of Camano.  We cruised close to shore, keeping them to the seaward side of us.  Some were working right up to the shelf where it gets shallow, though.  We watched several do their “sets” with the net circled around and hoisted back aboard the boat – we passed one just as the bottom of the net full of fish was brought on board.

It turned out to be a beautiful cruising day, with calm water and sunshine most of the way.  The sky was clear as we passed Everett and continued on towards Shilshole.

As we approached the locks we noticed a few boats heading out, as well as a tug boat and a large yacht waiting.  By the time we were at the railroad bridge, the light was green for entering the large lock.  We were directed to tie to the large yacht, which was directly behind the tugboat.  Behind us was one other boat, and then the gate closed.  It was also high tide, making this one of the quickest lockings through the large lock we’ve ever had – and we didn’t even have to work the wall.

We are now home, although we have some more unloading to do from the boat, and acclimating to civilization and home too.  Erin and I both agree that this was our best vacation ever, and we’ve had some really good vacations to set the bar high.  We’re looking forward to sorting through our thousands of photos and video clips to make a palatable length DVD show.  Thanks for coming along with us via the blog – hope you enjoyed it!

September 3, 2013 ~ La Conner

We had some rain during the middle of the night, and then some more this morning.  Every so often it would like clearing up, but then more rain would come.  Erin wanted to do some more browsing of the local shops, and it wasn’t a hard decision to just stick around for another day.

After a breakfast of bear claws Erin picked up from the local bakery yesterday, along with eggs for Ray and me, we all went out on an excursion into town.  With our stay extended for a day, I started the generator to build up our amps while we were out and about.  We strolled along the promenade that is under construction, and watched as a welder hanging in a basket from a crane added some length to one of the new steel pilings that are being pounded in along the shoreline.  It’ll be a nice addition to the town when it’s finished.

Erin and Mary headed off to some foo foo shops, while Ray and I paid a visit to Nasty Jack’s, an antique store with some neat stuff scattered throughout.  We had fun browsing through ancient Life magazines, brothel tokens from various ranches in Nevada, old kitchen appliances, jukeboxes, old toys and other items of interest.  We weren’t big time spenders, but Ray did acquire some magnets, four for a dollar.  After a brief visit to the Wood Store at the other end of town, where we perused some fine woodworking, we headed back to the boat and a rendezvous with the ladies.  It was lunchtime, and we all headed to the La Conner Tavern to sample their fares.  Thanks, Ray, for treating!!  While dining on fish and chips, French dip and a burrito, we saw the Willow-B-Gee cruise by.  That’s one of our neighbor boats at our moorage in Lake Union, a 1928 bridge deck cruiser.  They were on their way north, no doubt to enjoy the relative solitude that happens after Labor Day when school is in session and most boating families have returned home.

We had a few more rain showers in the afternoon, but for the most part the day cleared up very nicely and at 6:00pm now it’s sunny and warm, around 68 degrees outside.

We enjoyed a pleasant evening, finishing off a game of dominoes that we had started several days ago.  I think that tomorrow we’ll definitely be going for a cruise.

La Conner is one of my favorite places to spend a day to browse, and sometimes pick up non essential fun stuff, so I enjoyed spending an entire day to walk around the stores with mom.  What I enjoy about the stores are that most if not all are locally owned, and the owners are usually working and enjoy spending time chatting with you without pressuring you to buy.  During the recession we saw several of the stores close, it’s good to see that some of the stores fronts are now occupied with new owners.  Mom and I enjoyed one of the new stores, Maison de Kristine (www.maisondekristine.com).  We really enjoyed getting to know the proprietor Kristine Hasslinger, and one of the local artist who brings in some paintings which she sells in the store.  Kristine and her husband are boaters.  They’ve never gone further north than the Gulf islands, so after sharing some of our current and past travels she’s interested in learning more about it, so I now have another reason for coming back to La Conner sooner rather than later!          

It’s hard to think that our summer adventure is ending, but now I’m looking forward to going through the several thousand pictures (4,000+) to find the best for some paintings; I know there are a several that I want to do.  While I brought my paints with me I only played with them a few times.       

September 2, 2013 ~ Blind Bay to La Conner

Yesterday the barometer was predicting rain again, and this time it was right.  Around 5 o’clock this morning it began to rain.  It wasn’t anywhere near the deluge we had in Ganges, though, and it soon cleared up a bit, with just a couple passing showers later in the morning.

Ray regaled us with some songs of old this morning while cooking his now signature potatoes, along with bacon and eggs.  We enjoyed both the breakfast and the entertainment.

We set our course for La Conner and got underway around 11:00 o’clock.  As we left Blind Bay and entered Harney Channel it seemed like a multi-lane freeway, with a lot of boats heading both directions – no doubt on their way home or somewhere at the end of this Labor Day Weekend.  Fortunately we didn’t also have to contend with ferry traffic between Orcas and Shaw.  We ended up beside a sailboat that was matching our speed, but he wanted to head off to starboard while we wanted to go to port.  I bumped our speed up a knot or two until we were a few boat lengths ahead of him where we could switch positions.

It’s been quite a few years since we’ve taken the main route south towards Thatcher Pass to cross Rosario Strait over to Anacortes.  Instead, we headed east towards Obstruction Pass.  After crossing the mouth of East Sound, we took the northern route around Obstruction Island out into Rosario Strait.  The skies had mostly cleared and the water was calm – perfect weather for cruising out towards the northern end of Cypress Island.  We saw a few boats at anchor or on mooring buoys at Pelican Beach on the northeast shore of Cypress – I think it’s a state park there.  We continued on towards Guemes Island, and followed its eastern shore down towards Saddlebag Island, Anacortes and the entrance to the Swinomish Channel.  The current was in our favor through the channel most of the way.

With the holiday weekend going on and all the boats on the move today we wondered a bit if there would be moorage available at La Conner, but as we approached the town we could see first that there was plenty of space at the north basin, and then also at the south basin.  Our plan was to cruise down into town to see if one of the city docks was available.  If so, we’d be right in town for walkabouts.  We don’t need any hookups from the marinas, so that would suit us fine.  A spot indeed was open, right in front of what was formerly Palmer’s Restaurant – it has been closed for quite a few years.  As we were on our final approach, a small runabout came from the opposite direction and tied to the dock – but they signaled they were moving ahead to the adjacent smaller dock as soon as the boat there left, which it was doing at the moment.  By then the current had changed and was flowing north.  We were already configured for a starboard tie, so we did a 180 turn and I angled the stern more towards the dock, applying occasional shots of reverse to keep us abreast of the dock while the current pushed us in. 

Once we were tied down securely, without hesitation Erin and Mary took off into town to make sure they could visit the shops before closing time.  They were back about an hour and a half later, carrying huge waffle ice cream cones for everyone.  Licorice is a

favorite flavor for Ray and Erin, and they both had double scoops, while I received a raspberry and maple walnut cone.  Mary opted for a single scoop after seeing how huge the scoops being dished out were.  None of us were very hungry for dinner after that.  Speaking of dinner, we had some chicken thighs that had been marinating for a couple days and needed to be cooked.  I set up the barbecue later in the evening and cooked them while Erin and Mary played a game of canasta. 

Erin and I went for a walk after dusk, and found that they’re building a walkway or promenade along the waterfront.  A section has been completed to the north of us, and there are new steel pilings in front of the vacant restaurant.  To the north is another building that was formerly a restaurant, then a vegetable market, and now we see there’s an application to convert it back to a restaurant.  The fore sale sign had a “pending” banner, most likely awaiting some sort of city approval of the buyer’s plan.  Hopefully they’ll be successful – La Conner could use some new business along the “strip”.

We’re getting awfully close to home – it’d be a one day cruise from here, although of a longer duration than we’ve been doing.  We’ll break it up by cruising down to Everett tomorrow and on to home on Wednesday.

September 1, 2013 ~ Port Browning to Blind Bay

Sunrise was spectacular looking out over Plumper Sound at Saturna Island.  Sunrise and sunset are getting a few minutes closer together every day and it’s becoming

noticeable.  But there are still plenty of daylight hours with which to enjoy the sights.

Once again Ray made breakfast for all of us, and we spent the morning admiring our surroundings or with our noses in books.

We stayed at anchor in Port Browning until early in the afternoon, when a rising tide would make the transit of the Pender Canal a bit more feasible.  Actually, I think we could probably pass through even at a zero tide, although I would be skeptical of trusting the 4 foot depth shown on the chart.  We went through with no problems, sounding our air horns a couple of times for effect.  I like hearing them.

From there we cruised past Bedwell Harbour, where we had cleared Canadian customs about 7 weeks ago, and into Boundary Pass towards Stuart Island.  We passed through Johns Pass, between Stuart and Johns Island, clearing the reef before turning towards Spieden Island and on to Roche Harbor, where we’d report in to U.S. Customs.  As we entered the harbor we saw some well known examples of the old and new technologies of boating.  Anchored next to each other were the Adventuress, a large

two-masted schooner that is a century or so old, and the Evviva, the mega yacht we recently saw at Ganges with its satellite antennas and the helicopter on the flight deck.  We’re in the middle of Labor Day Weekend, and Roche Harbor was slammed with

a sea of white plastic, both at anchor and at the docks.  We had no plans to stay there, but if we had there might be trouble getting moorage.

We wended our way through the anchored boats towards the customs dock, and were surprised to see that there was not a group of boats waiting.  We had one of the smoothest and quickest Customs experiences ever.  Although there were two or three open spots at the dock, none were quite our length but we only had to wait about 5 minutes for a spot.  As we pulled up to the dock a young agent came out to greet us, asking for our passports to compare our faces to speed things along.  She then directed me into the Customs building while checking with Erin about what vegetables we had on board.  We ended up having to surrender nothing, although we are supposed to peel our potatoes this evening.  Inside, the longest procedure was filling out the application for the customs sticker, which all boats longer than 30 feet need to re-enter the country.  Once that was done, and some compliments were given about our nice classic boat, we were given our clearance number and sent on our way.

Since the tide was still rising we headed out the east side of Pearl Island to reenter Spieden Channel, crossing over the shallow spots with about 8 feet to spare.  From there we passed Jones Island as we headed towards Orcas Island and Pole Pass. We are anchored this evening in Blind Bay on Shaw Island, a well protected but large bay that can hold many boats.  In fact, I counted 46 boats earlier this evening and I’m sure more have arrived since then.

Dinner this evening consisted of cleaning out various leftovers from the fridge.  Erin and Mary are playing Canasta while Ray and I have our noses in a book – except for now when I have my nose in this computer documenting the day’s events.

August 31, 2013 ~ Ganges to Port Browning

Ray again made a mess of potatoes and sausage with sautéed onions and mushrooms for breakfast, accompanied by eggs to order – most ordered ‘over easy’.  Another delicious start to the day.  The weather was looking much better and we decided we’d go for a cruise today. 

We weren’t in a hurry to leave, though, and made ourselves busy with some excursions.  Erin and Mary went back to the post office and a couple of stores, while Ray and I took some more garbage over to the dumpsters at the marina office, and brought a few more books to donate to their book exchange shelf.  We then strolled over to the Saturday Market for a quick walk-through.  We stopped in the park next to the marina office to watch the marimba band for a number or two. They have quite a set of instruments and put on a good show – they’ve been here at all the Saturday markets we’ve been to for the past few years. 

I saw someone with a few ears of corn, so thought I’d find that stand and get some for ourselves.  We walked through the area with the vegetable stands, but I saw no corn.  There were plenty of displays with beautifully polished peppers, bright onions, strawberries and blueberries, cucumbers, carrots, leeks and kale, but no corn.  We wandered through the rest of the booths quickly checking out the various wares – the guitar maker was there, as well as some jewelry makers we’d seen in the past.  The vegetable area was crowded with people shoulder to shoulder, but the craft area had a little more breathing room.  There were a few stands in the center of the walkway where some children were selling various items they had made.  One especially precocious little girl introduced herself and invited us to take a look at her shells – local beach shells that she and her sister had painted.  They were not priced, but available for a donation to some fund I didn’t quite catch.  I picked a shell and made a donation, provided I could

take her picture holding the shell she had painted.  “Why, certainly – of course”, she replied when I made the request.  She had a full vocabulary and will be a top notch salesperson in another decade or so.  I think she was about 8.

When we returned to the boat, Erin and Mary were already back from their wanderings, but decided to do a quick visit to the market themselves.  While they did that we did a little prep work for departure, switching over to battery power and stowing the power cords and in general making ready for departure.  The wind had picked up by then, holding us somewhat against the dock and we were surrounded by smaller boats both fore and aft.  I put the extra fender up towards the bow, as I’d probably have to drive a bit into the dock to force the stern out against the wind.  We managed to get away from the dock without touching anyone else, or even our insurance fender on the bow.

We had our course set for Port Browning, just a two hour cruise at 7 knots.  We headed out past Secret and Prevost Islands, then crossed the channel towards Stanley Point on North Pender Island.  This led us to Navy Channel, where we cruised past the small settlement of Hope and on to Razor Point.  As we headed towards Navy Channel we spotted the tip of Mount Baker above and behind Mayne Island – a sure sign that we’re getting too close to home.  I guess it just can’t be avoided – we have to return sometime.

At Razor Point there was a group of a half dozen or more kayaks, possibly a class or club

event.  They were staying in a tight group exploring the shoreline.  From somewhere on shore we heard the distant sound of a bagpipe playing.  From here it wasn’t very far into Port Browning – just a mile or so.  We’ve come this way many times before, but we’ve always taken the left turn to go through the Pender Canal, the narrow passageway between North and South Pender Islands. 

Port Browning was billed as having plenty of anchorage room, and they were definitely right about that.  We headed towards the marina, but it looked pretty slammed with boats and we had all the electricity, water and supplies we’d need so decided to anchor out in the bay for the evening.  Erin went out to the bow to do anchor duty, and quickly pointed out the raft of two or three boats with about 20 people partying and we headed on to the far side of the bay.  We are definitely back among the crowds here – it’s nothing like the quiet and solitude of most anchorages way north.

Tonight we’re having hamburgers with bacon, cheese, onions, sautéed mushroom and the works.  It’s about ready, so I’m signing off.

August 30, 2013 ~ Ganges

Today started with a beautiful sunrise, highlighted by a strata of illuminated clouds that didn’t look at all like last night’s thunder clouds.  We weren’t so sure that it would remain a nice day an hour or two later, but it did indeed.  Ray made a breakfast of hash brown potatoes with onions, mushrooms and sausage, accompanied by scrambled eggs.

Ray and I took a trip over to the other harbor where the marina office is to pay for tonight’s moorage and transfer the last few weeks of sorted garbage into the dumpster.  Dumpsters are a luxury not found up in Desolation Sound and the Broughton Islands, and the last burn barrel we were able to avail ourselves of was in Sullivan Bay.  So, we had quite a collection of paper, cans and bottles to dispose of.

Erin and Mary made a couple of walks into town, to gift shops and the grocery store and window shopping in general.  Ray and I walked to the deli where free wifi is offered so I could check email and update the blog.  And Erin and I walked about the town as well a couple of times, taking a few photos of the sights.  All in all, a very pleasant day.

Tomorrow there will be the Saturday Market, a big event every weekend here with lots of crafts and foods offered.  We may browse a bit of that and then we’ll probably shove off for points south.

August 29, 2013 ~ Ganges

We seem to be catching up a bit on rainfall, something we had practically none of during the first 6 or 7 weeks of our trip.  It was raining pretty hard this morning, and when it wasn’t raining the clouds were low enough to almost qualify as fog.  We anticipated moving over to the government dock this morning when folks started leaving, but not many are leaving in this weather.  The ones that are leaving are coming from the marina behind us.

Erin made blueberry pancakes with bacon for us, and we whiled away the morning alternating between reading and glancing over at the docks to see who may have left, or who was preparing to leave.  Finally, around 12:30 or 1:00 I noticed one of the boats had left.  We hurriedly fired up the engines and weighed anchor, but by the time we had our 100 feet of chain recovered, we could see another boat coming in and making a beeline for our intended spot.  We lost out on that chance, but Erin spotted activity aboard the Content, a 1930 cruiser that was moored at the breakwater dock.  We headed over there, and Erin confirmed with them that they were leaving, in about 5 minutes or so.  We hovered far enough away for them to get away from the dock, but close enough to be sure  we would get the spot.  We were successful, and within a few minutes there were more boats coming in perusing the government docks looking for space.  Later in the afternoon I went over to the office to pay for moorage, and the wharfinger told me that the turnover had been unusually low the past few days.  Now it’s only a couple days until the Saturday Market, a big to do here in Ganges.  Dock space will be at a premium for that – we’ll decide tomorrow if we’ll hang around for it. 

We also made a trip to the grocery store to catch up on some needed items, and Erin went to a small shop to get some more spices that she, and everyone else too, enjoyed.  We got a couple jars here on the way north about 6 weeks ago and now they’re in demand.

We’re back at one of our favorite dock spots and, although it gets a bit bouncy here, we

still enjoy the activity at the seaplane terminal and we’re close to town for Ray and Mary to wander in at their leisure.  There are a few more boats showing up and anchoring today, including a mega-yacht with a helicopter on its upper deck.

Late this evening we were treated to a light show – a lightning and thunder storm swept through for a couple hours, and it rained harder than we’ve ever seen it rain up here.  In fact, it was probably raining harder than we’d ever seen it rain anywhere west of the Rocky Mountains.  The rain flattened the water in the harbor to where it looked like an expanse of pavement with the droplets bouncing up from it.  Hopefully the storm blew away the weather system we’ve had for that past few days and we can return to blue skies and sunshine.  We’ll see…

August 28, 2013 ~ Telegraph Harbour to Ganges

The weather forecasts from several different sources all agreed that it was going to rain today, so we were pleasantly surprised that the skies were fairly clear come morning – some clearing, lots of clouds, but no rain clouds.  We decided that we’d make a run for Ganges to see if we could get there before the rains came.

We got underway around 9:30 or so and headed out in calm water.  Our route does a bit of a zig zag after clearing Tent Island so we can pass along the eastern shore of Saltspring Island.  Visually it appears as though there would be plenty of room to pass between Kuper Island and Tent Island for a shortcut over to Saltspring, but that expanse of water is only a foot or two deep – the long way around is definitely the only way around.  As we cruised past Fernwood Point we commented about the long pier and dock that has been there for years.  We’ve never stopped there but have read about a small store there.  There was a boat there, and we saw a person walking back towards it on the pier, possibly carrying some groceries or supplies.

The rest of our cruise was uneventful, although we did encounter a couple of dolphins surfacing as we rounded Nose Point.  They weren’t interested in chasing us, though, and continued on their own way. 

We arrived at Ganges around 12:30, hoping for a spot on the government dock.  These docks are closer to town than either of the commercial marinas, and would make it especially convenient for Ray and Mary to stroll into town at their leisure.  There was no room, even at the breakwater, so we anchored nearby.  Usually there is quite a bit of turnover as the afternoon progresses, but that didn’t happen today so we’re just spending

the night here at anchor.  We’ll be ready to take a spot in the morning.

This evening we played dominoes for a couple of hours, and the game is to be continued.

August 27, 2013 ~ Newcastle Island to Telegraph Harbour

We had some rain showers off and on through the night, but by morning it had cleared up – at least to just some cloudy skies.  Good thing, because we never got around to fixing that one windshield wiper.

Dodd Narrows was at slack around 9:45, after which a favorable ebb current would start.  We left about 9:30 and headed out of the harbor towards the narrows.  This may be the first time we haven’t stopped at all at the port and gone into town – but we really didn’t need anything, and our stay at Newcastle was wonderful.

There was a lot of activity going on in Northumberland Channel, with several tug boats working a series of log rafts.  It appeared they were taking sections from a long raft and moving them to the storage area along the shore.  There was a man walking the logs with a pole, possibly positioning cables.  It was a job that all of us agreed we wouldn’t want.

We entered Dodd Narrows at 7 knots and went through without incident at 9.6 knots.  It was just another two hours before we arrived at Telegraph Harbour – just after noon.  There is plenty of room here at the dock – until Friday, that is.  They have made a business here of hosting various rendezvous’ throughout the season, with something going on every weekend from May into October.  The Canadian Chris Craft Rendezvous was here in mid July, but we were already much further north by that time.  We’ve attended them here in the past.

There’s a bistro here that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a bakery.  There’s not much of a store – just a few souvenir T-shirts and cards, and a shelf with some jams, cookies and smoked mussels and oysters.  But they have all the amenities for hosting the rendezvous’, with a sheltered picnic area and very nice grounds.  There is a channel that runs between Telegraph Harbour and Clam Bay.  The channel separates Thetis island and Kuper Island, and is navigable only at high tide, and then only by smaller boats or lucky boaters.  We have run the channel in our dinghy at high tide in previous years, and we’ve also walked across the entrance at this end at low tide.

We planned on staying here one night before continuing on to Ganges, but right now it is pouring down rain in buckets, and the forecast seems to be more of the same for tomorrow.  If that turns out to be the case we’ll most likely just stay put.

August 26, 2013 ~ Newcastle Island

The purple martins were very vocal this morning – mornings and evenings seem to be their time to sing.  We are moored right under a couple of their nest boxes, which are on the tops of several pilings.

Erin made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast, along with eggs over easy.  After breakfast Erin and I went for a long walk along the shore of the island, looking across first at Protection Island, then out towards Georgia Strait.  It was hard to determine the sea state out further, but it definitely wasn’t the glassy smooth of yesterday near the shore.  We walked out on the beach for awhile, which is mostly a layer of sandstone.  Between the trail and the beach are driftwood logs, and in some places we saw where some trees had been recently blown over, with their roots exposed.  Where the tree had fallen on the trail it had been freshly cut with a chain saw, clearing the trail but leaving the rest of the tree for nature to take its course.  The park is well used by the citizens of Nanaimo as well as traveling boaters, with many arrivals and departures of campers and day users via the passenger ferries.

For lunch Ray treated us all at the deli café at the dance hall/pavilion building.  Ray and Mary had halibut fish and chips, and Erin and I had hamburgers.  It seemed like the day had just begun, but it was already early afternoon.  After lunch we headed over to the pulp stone exhibit – Ray wanted to get a closer look at the machine that cut the stones.  I

took our leftovers back to the boat and shut down the generator, which had been running for about 3 hours to provide some more amps, then headed over to rejoin the others.  In that time they had seen a buck with antlers down by the pulp stones.  I missed it, but Erin says she took some pictures.  We’ll eventually get connected again and I’ll be able to post some photos.

The morning weather was very nice – some clouds, but warm with lots of sunshine.  Later in the afternoon we had some rain showers, and it rained hard enough to start a few of our interior leaks.  Ray benefited from the downpour, as it rinsed the salt off our front windows – a chore that he was to do.  The salt didn’t come from our Georgia Strait crossing, though, but from the day before while cruising down to Pender Harbor.  We didn’t clean it off then, assuming there would be more of the same as we crossed the strait.

From time to time I can see the wireless connection for the Nanaimo Port Authority, but I’m not successful at connecting to it over here at Newcastle Island.  I’m not surprised, as we had trouble connecting to it last month when we were moored out by the breakwater at Cameron Island.  I thought about going on a dinghy excursion over to Nanaimo to check email, update the blog and wander around in general, but as the afternoon wore on that seemed like a task for another day, especially after the rain started.

Tomorrow we plan on cruising down to Telegraph Harbor.  We like it in there, and hopefully mid week there won’t be a rendezvous going on taking up all the dock space.  Slack at Dodd Narrows is just before 10 o’clock – we’ll arrive a bit after that to take advantage of the ebb current as we cruise south.

August 25, 2013 ~ Pender Harbor to Newcastle Island

I got up pretty early, around 6:15 or so, followed shortly by Ray.  We ended up making some pancakes and eggs while the ladies slept in.  Erin definitely deserved to sleep in, as today is her birthday.  And, I guess Mary was there too!

There was a bit of a breeze in our harbor early in the morning, which made me wonder what it was going to be like out in the strait.  Most crossings are lumpy at best, and often downright wet.  The weather channel gave sort of a mixed message, claiming strong wind warnings in Georgia Strait north of Nanaimo, while at the same time reporting the wind speed at the Ballenas Islands at 3 knots.  We were all ready to go somewhere by 10 o’clock, so we raised anchor and headed out.

Coming out of Pender the water was pretty smooth, but we had an hour or so to cruise before we’d actually be out in the Georgia Strait.  We could see quite a few boats in the

distance – in fact Erin said she counted 29 boats across the horizon as we looked out.  This was definitely a good fair weather sign.  Most were out fishing, but a few were apparently headed out across the strait just like us.  I had set our course to cut across

area Whiskey Golf, the torpedo test range and the shortest route.  They are usually not active on Sunday, and I could see some boats a few miles out that would be the first to get the visit from the helicopter if it were.  As we approached the WG boundary most of those boats had disappeared, so I called Winchelsea Control to confirm their status, and they reported back that there was indeed no activity scheduled for today.

This turned out to be one of the smoothest crossings we’ve ever experienced, a great birthday present for Erin and all of us.  We had the front windshield open all the way, with just a very gentle breeze coming through.  At one point we spotted a large yacht, and by large I mean at least 125 feet, cruising north up the strait, and we could see its wake trailing behind literally for miles.  We eventually encountered that wake when the

yacht was 6 or 7 miles to our north.  By then it was no longer cresting, just some big rollers – and that was the roughest water we encountered all the way across.

We cruised right on in to Departure Bay and down the Newcastle Island Passage into the Nanaimo Harbor.  Instead of going over to the Port of Nanaimo, we turned towards Newcastle Island, where there are mooring buoys and a nice dock that’s part of the park that encompasses the entire island.  From a distance it appeared as though there was no space at the dock, but that was because everyone tends to tie to the outermost position on the dock, leaving the inside spots open.  We took a spot ahead of a sailboat, adjacent to the passenger ferry dock.  An hour later the sailboat behind us left, and we moved the Potentate back to the end of the dock so we too could leave unencumbered when we wanted to, and also run our

generator without fuming anyone behind us.

I could go on at some length here about the park amenities, passenger ferries and so forth, but I see I already did that back in July.  Check out the post from July 11^th for the Newcastle Island spiel.

We all went for a walk on the island later in the afternoon, and stopped in at the deli for ice cream cones.  We wandered over to the pulp stone machine display before ambling back to the boat.  We’ll spend the night here, and maybe tomorrow too.  It’s a nice spot and the moorage fee is pretty reasonable.  There is no power at the dock, but we can make our own.

When we first arrived there was some sort of festival going on at the park across the way, with apparently several rock bands providing the entertainment.  They were very well amplified, as at the dock here across the bay, over a half mile away, the sound was close to overwhelming.  They were still well within range during our walk to the far side of Newcastle Island.  Some of the groups weren’t that bad, but they saved the worst for last as the sun went down and a bit beyond.  The vocalist just couldn’t sing, and compensated by yelling into the mike.

I could not ask for a more special birthday than I’ve had today.  Being with Loren, weeks of cruising adventures, enjoying the beauty of Newcastle Island with Loren, mom and dad is something I will always treasure – a perfect birthday gift.        

August 24, 2013 ~ Galley Bay to Pender Harbour

We narrowed down our choices for our next destination to either Gorge Harbor or Westview.  Both have recently updated their marinas with new or expanded docks and had good write-ups in the Wagoner’s Cruising Guide.  We hadn’t been to Gorge Harbor for 7 or 8 years.  The last time we were there the personnel weren’t very friendly, suggesting that they could come measure our boat and charge more if was longer than we told them – I told them to go ahead.  The docks were in such disrepair that I put my foot through one section.  There were other areas that had been repaired by laying a piece of plywood over a bad spot.  Their prices were high, and they obviously hadn’t spent anything on maintenance for years – we renamed them “Gouge Harbor”.  They became a candidate for a return visit after we read that not only were the facilities updated, but they were also under new management.

We hadn’t visited our other choice, Westview, since either ’92 or ’95 on trips in the Free Spirit.  The docks were pretty close together but they could cram a lot of boats in, sometimes by rafting.  It was a good fit for the Free Spirit, but we had never stopped in with the Potentate.  It too had been enlarged just a couple years ago, with an expanded breakwater and new docks that could accommodate boats up to 100’ in length.  They were also right on the route south, while Gorge Harbor would have been a side trip from our location.  We set off for Westview around 9:45 or so, about a 3 hour cruise.  We would be there early in the day for a slip.  As we cruised through Thulin Passage and past Lund we could see out to the west that there were some nasty black clouds on the other side of Georgia Strait, and they were dumping rain.  Once beyond the lee of Savary Island we got a dose of the wind and waves coming in from the strait.  They weren’t terribly uncomfortable, but the ride was a bit lumpy until we gained the lee of Harwood Island.  From there it was pretty smooth the rest of the way to Westview.

When we were within 15 minutes or so of the marina breakwater I radioed ahead for a slip assignment.  They responded they would check the docks, and to call back when we were at their entrance.  This gave me the uneasy feeling that they operated somewhat like the marina at Sidney, where it’s a fire drill trying to get a dock assignment.  I called back when we were at the breakwater, and they responded they didn’t have a place for us, but if we could exit the boat from the stern we could raft to another boat.  Or, we could climb over the other boat to the dock.  I said that we couldn’t be using the stern for access, and they responded they would check on another spot.  That was followed by a radio call 5 or 10 minutes later offering the rafting spot.  Since it was very early in the afternoon we decided to just continue on.  I already had a course from Westview to Pender Harbor on the computer, so we declined on the rafting and headed south.

We had another option just beyond Westview – the Beach Garden Resort, which was a breakwater protected marina just beyond Grief Point.  But, there wasn’t much of interest there other than a hotel with a restaurant – no town to explore unless we were to take a taxi back into Westview.  We opted to continue on to Pender Harbor, another 3 hours or so to the south.

This stretch is all in the lee of Texada Island, which stretches from Westview down to quite a ways south of Pender Harbor.  Even so, we still had a few areas with about a 3 or 4 foot chop in the seas so it probably wasn’t a good time to continue on across the straits.

We entered Pender Harbor just after 4 o’clock, and headed towards Garrens Bay, where we had anchored on our way north last month.  We didn’t bother checking Garden Bay, but there were a surprising number of boats anchored out beyond Garden Bay and in the fairway leading to our anchorage.  But here, there were just a few sailboats and plenty of room.  Not sure why it isn’t more popular with the transient boaters, but we really like it here.

I hadn’t checked our fuel supply since we topped up the tanks last month at Lagoon Cove on the way north.  I was pretty sure we had plenty of fuel to make it all the way home, or at least to the states, where the fuel would be quite a bit less expensive.  I dipped our tanks once we were at anchor – each fuel tank holds 250 gallons, and they’re 30 inches deep, so I just roughly equate that to 8 gallons per inch per tank.  We had 18” of fuel – about 290 gallons remaining.  Most of our cruising around the Broughtons had been in the speed range of 6 to 7 knots, and it worked out that at that rate we were burning only 3.75 gallons per hour for both engines – pretty darn good for our heavy boat.  That also equated to about 1.75 miles per gallon – again, pretty darn good.  We’ll only need about 120 gallons to get to Seattle from here, and around 80 or 90 to get to Oak Harbor, where we fueled up on the way north.  Looks like we’re in good shape, fuel-wise.

We’re not on a really tight schedule yet, but if we were we’d be a day ahead having cruised tomorrow’s planned trip today.  From here to Nanaimo is about 28 miles if area Whiskey Golf is not active, and just a few miles further if it is.  It’s an open water crossing for about 3 hours, so we’ll see how the weather looks in the morning before deciding on a crossing.  We might even poke out of Pender for a look, and if it doesn’t look all that great we’ll just cruise on down to Secret Cove for the night.

August 23, 2013 ~ Galley Bay

We woke early this morning, to a beautiful sunrise with the mountains in various shades of pastel.  The water was calm and the panorama remarkable.  Ray got up an hour or so

later, and as promised, began making a breakfast of fried potatoes and onions, with scrambled eggs.  It’s very convenient having a galley slave on board, especially in Galley Bay.

We hadn’t decided on any particular destination for today, and Galley Bay is as good

as anyplace, and better than most.  Besides, we thought we’d take a stab at finding Erin’s sunglasses come low tide in the afternoon.

We didn’t get much heat to the hot water tank on our short cruise here from Refuge Cove and I think I used the last of the tepid water for a shower last night.  We also need to add some amps back into the house batteries when we’re not going anywhere, so on came the generator for some double duty: charge the batteries, and power the electric element of our hot water tank.

We started out with another beautiful weather day, although it didn’t look like it would get quite so hot, which was fine with us.  About an hour or so before low tide, Erin and I went out in the dinghy on a sunglasses hunting expedition, but it quickly turned into a photo taking and shell admiring session.  We returned to the boat to don our water shoes, grab a bucket and our anchor so we could do some walking around on the reef.  The tide was quite a bit lower than when the glasses went overboard yesterday, but after a few passes through the shallows we switched gears and waded around looking for sea urchin shells and whatever else looked unusual.  We had the dinghy pulled up onto a rocky area of the reef, and as I was walking around in what was essentially a very large tide pool, I

came across Erin’s sunglasses, lying on a small patch of sand just a foot or so underwater.  It was a successful expedition indeed.

Not long after we returned we had the first of a few rain showers – no downpours, just a light sprinkling.  The outside temperature dropped maybe a degree or two but was still in the low 70’s.  We had a variety of clouds blow by, and even a partial rainbow for our entertainment and enjoyment.  We whiled away the afternoon reading, and Erin and Mary played a game or two of Phase 10, the card game Lynn left with us.

Later in the evening we had some wind – nothing to worry about, but for some reason we now have some mild rollers coming into the bay, and of course we are oriented to them with our beam, providing us with some continual rocking.  It’s not as bad as being on the outside of the breakwater dock at Ganges, though.

Tomorrow we’ll most likely move on to a location as yet to be determined.

August 22, 2013 ~ Refuge Cove to Galley Bay

This morning Erin fixed breakfast for everyone – blueberry pancakes with bacon and eggs over easy.  Delicious, as usual.  We have a complement of four aboard again, and spent most of the morning visiting and catching up on what was going on back home.  We’ll be back there in about two weeks’ time, but we won’t talk about that.

We have been using just the forward head since early this month, as the aft head was still having a problem, probably a clog near or in the Lectrasan, which is a little sewer treatment plant that neutralizes the waste through electrolysis.  In regulation parlance, it’s a “type II” device, legal most places but not in “no discharge zone” areas.  I had made several attempts to get it going again, but had just let it sit for the past 10 or 12 days.  Ray and I decided it was time to make another attempt to bring it back to active duty.  I had already tried compressed air, but Ray suggested routing the compressed air into the access port of the Lectrasan itself, which seemed like a good idea.  We had already tried my homemade snake down the pipe from the toilet again with no success.  We determined that the snake went at least as far as the Y valve just before the Lectrasan, so the clog was between the valve and the Lectrasan itself, just a few inches span.  I reconnected the hose at the toilet, as we didn’t want “anything” blowing out during our back flush air attempt.  Rather than use the air nozzle, Ray connected a spare connection to the spring loaded air hose coupling.  With it wrapped in a paper towel to provide a seal, it was my job to briefly connect the other end to the compressor.  We did this a couple times with success – and by success I mean nothing exploded.  Ray reported that he could see the Lectrasan and surrounding hoses expand a bit as the air hit them.  Hoping the clog had been dislodged, we tried again to flush the toilet, but it was no joy – the water came into the bowl, but didn’t go out.

Yesterday I saw and purchased a plumber’s helper at the Refuge Cove store.  I then did some research online, and found admonitions in every article to never use a plunger on a marine toilet.  One site even said “Unless you have a trombone on board and are using the plunger as a mute, it has no business on a boat.”  The articles all went on to say that the use of a plunger could damage the internal mechanism, especially the “joker” valve, which prevents backflow.  Now, I’d already had the toilet apart a few times, and I knew there was nothing we could do to harm the joker valve, as it was in pretty sorry shape already.  I think its main purpose is to prevent backflow to a toilet that’s below the waterline, which ours isn’t.  Good thing, because the valve was so misshapen that it wouldn’t prevent anything from passing through in either direction.  I decided it was time for the plunger.  This was a deluxe model, very flexible with some extra contours.  It made a great seal, and after two or three sessions, we had success!!  We are now a two head boat again.

Flush with our plumbing success, we made plans to depart Refuge Cove.  I made one more trip up to the store for some last minute items, and we made ready to depart – which meant disconnecting our shore power and retrieving the boarding ladder from the dock.

 Our destination was Galley Bay, a spot we passed up on the way north.  It offers a great panoramic view of Desolation Sound and its skyline of craggy peaks.  I kept our cruising speed down to 6 knots so we’d have a chance to heat up the water in the hot water tank a bit – and after about 45 minutes of sun drenched cruising, we arrived at Galley Bay – a long journey of 4.4 nautical miles.

There’s a big rock near the entrance of the bay, and as it was low tide when we arrived it was fully exposed.  There was one sailboat at anchor, and we proceeded deeper into the bay, lowering our anchor as we were about even with him, and laying our chain out as we continued on past.  The anchor set as we were slowly going forward, pulling our bow around.  We were in the perfect location, looking out over the rock at Mt. Crawshay.  The temperature outside was 85 degrees, and we closed some curtains to keep the sun’s heat out of the salon.

An hour or two later Erin and I went for a dinghy ride around the bay, rowing near the shoreline to check out the shallows.  This bay is apparently a haven for oysters, as their shells are just about everywhere.  There were also quite a few starfish – I think they dine on the oysters.

Around the corner outside our little bay was a pair of reefs with their rocky tops exposed at the now rising tide.  This provided many photo opportunities, and as Erin was taking a photo of something on the bottom, her sunglasses, which she had hung on her shirt collar, dropped into the sea.  I grabbed for them as they slowly sank, but didn’t quite reach them.  Maybe we’ll return to that area tomorrow at low tide to see if we can fish them out.  Fortunately we have several more pairs of sunglasses aboard.

Ray and Mary went out with me for another dinghy ride a bit later in the afternoon, and already the tide had come up quite a ways.  The reefs around the corner were now completely underwater, but they still provided quite a view looking down through the crystal clear water.

Later in the afternoon we were joined by another sailboat, which anchored out near the mouth of the bay.  Later yet a Nordic Tug came in and anchored quite close to us.  They didn’t really set their anchor, just shut off their engine as they were coasting forward on it.  Immediately a ladder was mounted over the side and they went in swimming.  It was definitely the weather for it.  They must have read my mind as I stared at their anchoring job, as shortly after returning to their boat they fired up their engine, raised the anchor, moved 100 feet or so away and re-anchored.

We had a pretty good sized lunch shortly after we arrived here, so just had some snacks for dinner – cheese, crackers, fruit and yogurt – that sort of stuff.  It’s now dark and a beautiful evening.  The moon has yet to rise, but it will be there for illumination in a couple more hours.  The water is calm and it’s a beautiful evening.