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.