Success, Dungeness Crabs for Dinner!!!

Soaking in natural hot springs, Bishop Bay B.C.

The "dock" at Butedale old cannery.

Cannery building falling back into ocean

Beautiful waterfull at Namu abandoned cannery

Lee and Todd on Fishing Boat

Salmon Fishing with downriggers

Shearwater Marina and fishing resort

We were joined by my nephew, Todd, in Shearwater. He flew in on a small plane to a landing strip. The terminal was basically non existant. Shearwater is known to be a great place to fish for salmon. So, since I'm not the best fisherman, we hired a professional guide to take us fishing for King Salmon for 6 hours. Well, the net affect of this, was ZERO fish!.. And was it ever COLD! I had on two pairs of very heavy socks and boots, and just froze! Not pleasant at all and made especially unpleasant since we had no food. Shearwater features a small restaurant, boat yard, and grocery store. The grocery store is resupplied by barge once every two weeks. So, knowing we'd need milk and other fresh produce we ordered this two weeks in advance of our arrival so they could store it in the refrigerator. Milk cost over $8 per gallon! But if you're out of milk, you don't mind, just happy to receive it. We left Shearwater the next day transiting the inside passage heading to Prince Rupert where Todd would fly home to his home in North Carolina a week later. We stopped at interesting anchorages as well as another abandoned cannery. We fished most every day as well as caught dungeness crabs. It was a lot of fun and again we were blessed with great weather. The next blog will have the pictures of this trip.

CHUCK AT OCEAN FALLS

LOCAL CHARACTER AND BROTHER IN LAW

OCEAN FALLS

FOG MOVING IN AT OCEAN FALLS
Ocean Falls is a community of 50 people, in the summer time! :) At one time there was a very large paper mill here that many years ago closed down. Now the city is actually a ghost town, with buildings that are falling apart and a few people wandering around. About a mile down the road from the dock is where the people live, mostly people trying to make this into a summer destination for vacation homes. This is also located at the deadend of a very long fiord. There is an electrical generation facility here which is enough to power a small town, but instead supplies power to 50 people and then there are transmission lines going about 15 miles to an indian community of a few hundred. The Ocean Falls Power Plant! The weather here was drizzly but not too cold. The winds were calm, and then our second night here (yes we stayed two nights)a fierce wind of over 40 knots came out of nowwhere rocking our boat and ripping our flag. Not predicted and not expected. I always tie the boat very well, and was I ever glad I did. One hour later it was calm again. Very strange.

GRUMAN GOOSE AT DAWSONS LANDING

NAMU CANNERY PIER IN RUINS

ABANDONED NAMU CANNERY

OLD SHIP DERELICT AT NAMU BRITISH COLUMBIA

ECHO BAY, BROUGHTON ISLANDS

KWATSI BAY BROUGHT ISLANDS

KWATSI BAY BROUGHTON ISLANDS
Our trip through the Broughton Islands and around Cape Caution, our open ocean crossing, was blessed with wonderful weather. The winds were relatively calm as were the seas. Cape Caution can be a very rough place if the wind and currents oppose each other, but not this time. After rounding the cape we proceeded to a dock called Dawsons landing where a husband and wife and their children carve out a living in the wilderness. This is a second generation family. Really rough living. For example, besides people like us paying moorage, he collects loose logs from the waters, and then sells them to people who need logs for whatever purpose. It is agains the law to just go and cut down trees which are of course everywhere. Then we moved on to Namu, an abandone salmon cannery where hundreds of people worked and lived at one time. The canneries were prolific up and down the coast and then disappeared with the advent of refrigeration being added to fishing boats. With that technology, the fisherman were able to take the catch back to the cities to sell, vs. stopping at the closest cannery. The coastline is riddled with cannery debris, most of which have been absorbed back into the environment.

We are now sitting in Ocean Falls, British Columbia, literally at the end of the road. This place is almost a ghost town, as only 50 people live here vs. years back hundreds if not into the thousands lived here. This used to be a paper mill town until the mill closed. Of note here is the huge waterfall as there is a lake called Link Lake. This waterfall has electric turbines which power the area as well as a few very small communities downstream. There is no way to reach here other than by boat or plane. Yesterday we went to the "grocery". A place about the size of your living room. Canned goods only, some frozen meats, and only eggs and carrots for fresh produce. It was a 1.5 mile walk each way (needed the exercise) fighting the bugs most of the way.

But, prior to this, back to our last post, we traversed the Broughton Islands, still my most favorite area of cruising. Just pristine, almost no people, beautiful calm waters. Upon leaving the Broughtons we started the open ocean portion of our trip, broken into two days. Carefully watching the weather, we had no troubles, anchoring one night. The second day we passed around the large Cape Caution. There was about a 5 ft. swell in the water but light wind. The boat was pitching fore and aft, up and down, but we counted ourselves lucky. We went to a place called Dawsons Landing which was up a dead end fiord. The husband and wife carve out an existance here, living on floating homes, nothing on land. They have a very nice store, and fresh water. But on the dock there are no amenities so we were entirely self sufficient, providing our own water with our desalination system and electricty with our diesel generator.

We then went to a place called Hakai, which used to be a luxurious fishing resort. After about a 3/4 mile hike through the woods, we came to a beautiful white sand beach similar to something you'd see in Hawaii, but NO people. This faced the Pacific Ocean and waves were crashing. Really something being alone.

Then on to Namu. You must google this place. This is an abandoned fish cannery that closed many years ago, I think in the 70's. There are a man and a woman who are the caretakers of it. Not sure what that means, since this place is literally a ghost town and falling into ruins. She commented to us when we inquired if we could walk around, "don't walk next to each other so if one of you falls through the wooden planks the other one can pull you out"!!

Next, on to Shearwater where Lee's son Todd will arrive on Saturday. We will take him with us up to Prince Rupert, just south of Alaska, where he will go home a week later.

One of the strange things about these places we go, we can usually get internet service. We have had no phone service for over a week. The internet we get however is quite slow, dial up speed, so will post pictures when I have a better connection. For now, all is well, boat running perfect, and expect to be in Alaska by the end of the month. We are moving slow, we could literally be there in three long days from where we currently sit.

Hello All---We are now about 180 miles north of Bellingham Wa. where we left on Tuesday. Each day is a relatively short day of about 40 miles. Today we did 60+ miles. Keep in mind our average speed is 8 or less, so 40 miles is 5 hours. How many of you could stand going this SLOW!? We have been traveling the east side of Vancouver Island and were in a city of about 32,000 people called Campbell River last night. This city is often referred to as the salmon fishing capital of the world. The weather, for this area is quite good. We have not had any significant wind ( a bad thing in the boating world) and have had warm temperatures in the low 60's. Upon leaving Campbell River today we have left any real civilization. There is one more city of about 8,000 people about 60 miles north of here, and then nothing more until Alaska. So, we will travel about 500 miles with almost no civilization present. The desolation and beauty of the area is spectacular. When we reach the north end of Vancouver Island we will have about a 60 mile open ocean passage around an area called Cape Caution. This can be very rough so has to be crossed with a very careful eye on the weather. It could be downright dangerous. Once around there we will be traveling what is called the inside passage which is quite protected waters most of the way to Alaska. That is about all for now, as we don't have any new pictures to share.

Hi Everyone:

We are off to ALASKA for our third time. We just love being up there in the summer as the scenery is just breathtaking. But, along with everything good, there is often things that aren't so good. In AK that is the weather. Usually rainy, I would say, about 70% of the time. Did you know South East Alaska is a rain forest? We usually think rain forest as being tropical. There is very little if any logging allowed in S.E. AK, so the forests, which come down to the water are very nice. Another wonderful thing about AK is the fish. If you like to eat fish, AK is the place to go. I often fish at the docks. Let me explain. I walk up and down the docks and visit with the commercial fisherman, sometimes offering a beer or two. Before you know it, fresh fish, salmon, halibut, red snapper is placed into my hands. I guess you can tell I'm not much of a fisherman. However, I am quite good at "crabbing". We place a trap with bait in it and within a short period of time, sometimes just an hour or two, you have more dungeness crab than you could possibly eat. Let's put it this way, we could eat crab every day, 3X a day! That is not on the weight watchers diet, at least not to that extreme. Speaking of weight watchers, the last 12 months Chuck has lost 38 pounds!! Sleek like a race horse now! :)

My brother in law Lee and I left Bellingham Wa. for AK, a trip of 700+ miles on May 4th. We will arrive there around June 1st when Margaret and my sister Annette will fly in and join us. Then the four of us will tour around S.E. heading from Ketchikan to Juneau. After a couple weeks Lee and Annette will depart and my brother will arrive and we will take him to Glacier Bay. That covers all of May and most of June. Not sure what will happen in July, but we'll keep you posted.

With this I have posted a few pictures of our boat being taken out of the building where we store it during the winter months.

Dolphin In Bow Wave

Fog in Johnstone Strait

"Cajun" night at Jennis Bay

Jennis Bay Dog-lost eye to a wolf!!

Jennis Bay Docks

Monday, August 3rd

Hi Everyone

This will be our final blog for cruising in 2009. We are currently back where we started from, Oak Harbor, Wa. Our boat will be hauled out of the water for winter storage on August 13th and we return home on the 15th. We are very fortunate in that we put our boat inside a building. It is out of the weather and we have no fear of freezing issues. We are cutting our season short this year as we leave September 7th for a trip to Ireland. First we will visit my sister and her husband in Raleigh, N.C. then fly to Ireland for a 14 day tour in mid September. Margaret has not been "home" for 25 years and she still has family in Dublin. It will be fun for Chuck to meet them for the first time. One brother still lives in the house Margaret grew up in. How interesting.

Picking up from our last blog, we left Greenway Sound Marina and went to Jennis Bay. This is a very small "marina" where a young couple (late 30's) live year round in the "middle of nowhere"!! They have two children ages 8 and 10. The son's name is Orion and the daughter is Charlie. Very cute. They live here year round. There are literally NO neighbors other than animals. In the middle of the winter the bay they live on is frozen over so there is no way to leave. There are no roads, no telephone, but there is INTERNET! Of course. Using Direct TV satellite dish they can get internet. Seaplanes bring in supplies or there is a water taxi to the nearest city, about 25 miles by water. They homeschool the children. For those who read this from the big city, this is an unbelieveable place. But, when you visit, it is like heaven on earth. One of the most beautiful places you could possibly imagine. Go to http://www.jennisbay.com/ to learn more.

After three nights in Jennis, on July 22, we decided it was time to head south. Chuck's broken rib, while not terribly painful, was really holding us back from being able to be very active. We basically reversed our original route that we took going north. Overall we had a pleasant trip back to Oak Harbor. While in Oak Harbor we will be doing various end of year projects. Chuck changes the oil in both engines (16 qts per engine), our generator and transmissions. These is a full day project. Most marinas have oil disposal systems, so after changing the oil you cart it up to land in containers where it is dumped for recycling. We also have a water maker, where we desalinate ocean water into fresh water for our usage. These has to be winterized. We also have to lubricate many items. Our inflatable boat has a 25hp outboard, and this has to be serviced too. Chuck has to finish varnishing our rails. He is about half done now.

It will be great to get home to family, yet it is bitter sweet for us as we really enjoy being on our boat. We didn't travel as far this year, but what we did was very enjoyable. Here are some year end statistics:

Engine Hours 136

Miles Traveled 904

Diesel Fuel Used 643

Miles Per Gallon 1.41

Average Speed 6.65 knots

Average Cost Diesel $2.50 Per Gallon

Greenway Sound Bulletin Board

Seaplane to take Chuck to Hospital

Kwatsi Bay at Base of Mountain (note landslide)

Kwatsi Bay dock and Pot Luck "building"

Johnstone Strait

Greetings All:

Today, July 18th we are at Greenway Sound. If you go to http://www.greenwaysound.com/ you will learn about this location. But let me back up and start from where we last left off telling you about our journey.

We are working our way north along the East side of Vancouver Island. Other than the Strait of Georgia in the southern half, we are in quite protected waters.

We spent two nights anchored in Campbell River, which is known as the salmon capital of the world. There are many fish lodges here where you can go out for 1/2 day or more and have a high percentage chance of catching wild salmon. If you do catch one, they clean it for you, flash freeze it, and then put it into a box the airline will accept as luggage. Many many people enjoy this sportfishing.

We left there and immediately transited Seymour Narrows at slack water around 8:30 in the morning. Again, this is a narrow area where because of large tide swings, up to 15 ft., cause a current as high as ten knots with many whirlpools and overfalls, where the water literally stands straight up and looks like a cliff as you approach one of these. So, to be safe, you wait for slack water which happens either at high tide or low tide. After we passed through Seymour, we then head north about 10 miles before making a "left" turn into Johnstone Strait. Johnstone runs in a northwest to southeast direction and is about 30 miles in length. This body of water is about one-half to one mile wide and again runs along the eastern side of Vancouver Island. While there are no dangerous tides, if the wind opposes the tidal flow, this can create lots of waves and rough water. It is normal to see a minimum of 15 knots of wind on up into the 30 knot range during the summer months. There is lots of boat traffic, from fishing boats to large tugs towing barges, usually heading to or from Alaska. There are also cruise ships passing through these waters also to and from Alaska. For our trip the wind was about 20knots on the nose with about a 3 knot tidal current pushing us. There was lots of spray as the boat pounds into the waves but no real danger. There is also lots of "debris" in the water, mainly logs so we have to keep a sharp lookout for these obstacles. A few years ago we hit a log and it really bent one of our propellers very badly. That is a bad day on the water, if that happens!!

We stayed at a brand new marina called Port Harvey. There was no water or power at the new docks but a very nice Canadian couple have started this place. They will cook dinner for you and every day have fresh bread and muffins that they bake. Very nice

Then we moved on to our favorite place, Kwatsi Bay. Go to http://www.kwatsibay.com/ and you will see their web site. This is a couple with two children who literally live in the woods. There is NOTHING there but their docks and small home up on the land. But, very nice people, and some of the most beautiful scenery you could possibly imagine. We were docked on the back side of their docks. They had a pot luck meal, and while we were standing around talking about different things with the people we met, something came up about anniversaries. We asked, what the date was, and realized it was July 13th, OUR 24TH ANNIVERSARY! Margaret and I both realized we had lost track of dates and didn't even know it was our anniversary! What a great laugh we had.

Then we moved to our current location, Greenway Sound. Here, Chuck had an accident. He literally fell off the side of the boat through an opening in the railing and landed just below his left shoulder blade. Really dumb! The next day we chartered a sea plane to come in and pick us up to go to the hospital. It was about a 20 minute airplane ride to Port McNeill, a very small community. At the hospital it was discovered Chuck broke his 5th rib on the left side. We actually feel these was minor compared to what could have happened. No head, back, hip or leg injury, just the rib. Now two days later Chuck is doing better with the pain. There is nothing to be done for this, other than letting it heal on its own. It should take 6-8 weeks. All is well.

Tomorrow, July 19, we move to Jennis Bay for two nights. Go to http://www.jennisbay.com/ and you can check it out. Again, a young family living in the wilderness with two young children. They homeschool the kids. This is a delightful family! After Jennis, we will anchor for a couple days and then go to Pierres. Go to http://www.pierresbay.com/ and check it out. This next Saturday they are having a party called "Christmas in July" with roast turkey and Christmas carols. Should be fun.

We are doing well, in spite of the accident, and having a relaxing fun time.

Chuck and Margaret

REID HARBOR SHORE

SUNSET IN MONTAGUE ANCHORAGE

APPROACHING DODD NARROWS

We have worked our way up into British Columbia and tomorrow, the 12th we head further north where cell phone and internet connections are a rarity. Today, Friday the 11th, we sit in an anchorage across from the city of Campbell River. There is a channel in front of this town called "Discovery Passage". The currents can run up to 6 knots in this channel, so it is important to transit running with the current rather than against. Today we had about a 4 knot current pushing us. We normally run at 8 knots and today were making 12 in the passage.

Prior to arriving here we left U.S. waters and cleared customs into Canada on Monday the 6th. We then proceeded to a very good anchorage called Montague Harbor. The anchor set very well and it was a good thing as it blew quite hard up until about midnight. We had 30 knot gusts. Then all calm! We slept well, but we always sleep with "one ear open". We use our GPS system to create a circle of .05 nautical miles radius around the boat. If we drag anchor and go outside the "circle" we hear a loud beeping sound. If you anchor correctly it is rare for this to happen.

On the 7th we proceeded to the town of Nanaimo. To get there you go through a narrow passage called Dodd Narrows where you have to wait for slack water in the tides. The current can run up to 6 knots here but it is a narrow passage and whirlpools and turbulance are created. This could literally cause you to lose control of the boat. Timing is everything. Shortly after that we arrived at Nanaimo where we spent two nights at the dock

On the 8th we started up the northern half of the Strait of Georgio. This is almost like open ocean in that it is quite a few miles wide and the water can be over 1,000 ft deep. Paying close attention to the weather, in particular wind speed and direction, is critical. The weather was great, wind speed no more than 15 knots and we had a uneventful trip to an anchorage at Hornby Island. We went fishing here and I caught a 3-4 ft SHARK!!! I couldn't get the lure out of him because it was thrashing around so much, it was actually a bit scary. So, had to cut the line leaving the lure in the fish. It will rust away in due course.

Chuck and Margaret

ROCHE HARBOR MARINA APPROACHING HIGHWAY BRIDGE STEEP DOCK RAMP AT EXTREME LOW TIDE IN POULSBO

DOCK POST COVERED WITH MUSSELS AT EXTREME LOW TIDE

June Update

EXREME LOW TIDE IN POULSBO GIG HARBOR DOWNTOWN TYEE MARINA BREAKWATER THE OLD I-90 BRIDGE Greetings: We returned home to San Diego for initially a week until Chuck had to have dental surgery (successfully) to repair an old root canal. We left our boat in a marina near Tacoma called Tyee Marina. This is a family run older marina, but clean, safe and secure. Our friends Gary and Ruth keep their boat here so they were able to watch over Mairead. Tyee has an unusal breakwater to keep storm weather from entering the marina. There was a floating bridge in Seattle that a number of years ago broke apart in a storm. This bridge carried the I-90 interstate. The large concerete structure actually floats and a big section of it is used as the breakwater.

We left Tyee on June 18 and went all of nine miles to a very quaint small town called Gig Harbor. Gig is a very wealthy community, a very secure enclosed harbor, with beautiful waterfront homes, many with their own docks. There are many restaurants, gift stores, book stores and artists here. It was a fun place to stay for three nights.

We left Gig and made a journey of about 30 miles to a community called Poulsbo. This community has a Danish Heritage and of course many bakeries and nice restaurants. We had an unusual, but not unheard of event enroute to Poulsbo. We saw a small U.S. Coast Guard boat with flashing lights approach us and shouted to us to stop. Of course we complied. They came onto our boat and did a safety inspection. We passed 100% but it is a bit intimidating seeing armed men come onto our boat. This is also a procedure used to see if terrorists are trying to infiltrate via the waterways. We really enjoyed two nights in Poulsbo. We also purchased diesel fuel here and paid $2.61 per gallon, a lot less than the $4++ we paid last year!

We left Poulsbo on June 24th and are currently in Roche Harbor out on San Juan Island. It was a long trip of about 75 miles. In June there is a curious event in that there is a day where this is the largest tide swing from low to high and back in the entire year. This tide swing here was around 20 feet! When you have these large tide swings you also find fast and sometimes dangerous or at the very least turbulant currents. We timed our trip to Roche to ride the tide is it Ebbed or flowed out to see. Our normal speed of 8 knots was boosted to 13-14 with current of about 6 knots pushing us out. Fortunately the wind was also with us. If the wind is blowing opposite of the current direction it can be extremely rough. Just as we entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the wind indeed did shift and we encountered some very choppy weather. As the bow of the boat hit into the waves, salt water spray was literally flying over the top of the boat. Not dangerous, but quite spectacular!

We are departing Roche Harbor heading into Canada tomorrow, June 28th. Our next post will be from Canada.

Chuck and Margaret

SPACE NEEDLE SEATTLEJune 5, Friday

We left downtown Seattle on Tuesday, Chuck's "medicare" birthday day! We had a great time in downtown. It was totally opposite of our previous cruising where we have spent many days and nights in some of the most beautiful and isolated anchorages. Bell Harbor marina was noisy, people everywhere, cruise ships, sirens, great restaurants, and Pike Place Market. We walked and walked during our three days here. Our last day we went to the space needle. This was built in 1962 for the worlds fair. Go to http://www.spaceneedle.com/. This was a bit disappointing to us as it seemed to be very commercialized.

We left Seattle on June 2nd, Tuesday, which was Chuck's "medicare" birthday. We traveled further south to Tyee Marina where we had dinner with our friends Gary and Ruth. This marina is in Tacoma. Wednesday the 3rd we flew home to visit family but also because Chuck has to have oral surgery to fix an infection with an old root canal tooth. Ouch! We will be home a couple weeks and then back to the boat. We are enjoying seeing our family.

Chuck and Margaret

PIKE PLACE MARKET CROWD

BELL HARBOR MARINA AND SEATTLE SKYLINE

PIKE PLACE MARKET CRABS

Sunday, May 31st

We left LaConner on Wednesday leaving at 6am! The tidal flow through the slough was slack at that hour so we got up early and ran about 45 miles to a marina just north of Seattle called Shilshole. We just relaxed there and did quite a bit of walking. On Friday we left there and went all of 9 miles to a marina called Elliott Bay where we stayed one night. We were able to meet up with our friends Steve and Elaine who own a 42 Grand Banks. We had a very enjoyable time sitting on the patio of the marina pub enjoying the warm weather and a fabulous view of Mt. Rainier. Really quite spectacular! Then Saturday we moved to our current location, Bell Harbor Marina right in the heart of downtown Seattle. We are on the waterfront, a huge cruise ship here next to us, and just a short walk to Pike Place Market. For those of you who aren't familiar, this is a very famous, open air type market, where you can find all kinds of things for sale from flowers to many fresh vegetables, fruits, meats and seafood. It is quite a spectacle, especially the one seafood vendor where they literally throw huge salmon from the icy table back to the counter where they pack it up if someone makes a purchase. Of course there are all kinds musicians along the street, coffee shops, and you name it. We are heading up there today to buy a fresh piece of salmon for our dinner tonight. This is a great place with lots of excitement, crowds, noise, and all the things you see in a big city. While we enjoy the isolation of quiet anchorages up north, this is a fun thing to do and is quite a change for us.

Chuck and Margaret

La Conner, Washington

La Connor Slough looking south from our boat at the dock

Entering the Slough, passing by railroad and highway bridges

Greetings:
Here we are in La Conner, Wa. We left Roche Harbor and the San Juan Islands on Wednesday the 20th and will be staying here until after Memorial Day. We are slowly working our way down to Seattle and Puget Sound where we have never been with the boat in the 5 years in the Northwest. Our trip here was uneventful, a voyage of about 35 miles. When we crossed Rosario Strait, a major shipping channel, we had a Washington State ferry behind us coming up fast, a very large tug boat and long tow crossing in front of us, and a fast pleasure boat beside us plus the wind and current of the strait. Caution was the better part of valor, so we pulled off to the side and let all the particpants clear out. We approached the city of Anacortes where they have a large oil refinery with very large tankers approaching in and out. To get to La Conner you enter a very narrow channel with mud flats on both sides and just enough width for two opposing boats to pass each other. The "slough" as it is called runs north and south and has very fast tidal currents and this makes docking extremely difficult. A few years ago we damaged our boat trying to dock here so we were a bit nervous (maybe a lot nervous) as we approached the dock. But, we did it perfect! :)

La Conner is a delightful little town, population less than 1,000. The town is surrounded by farm fields so you feel like you're in the country. In the spring this area is famous for acre after acre of tulip fields that are absolutely beautiful. The city has numerous restaurants, and lots of small shops to browse around inside. We walk a lot here as we are 1/2 from the town, but we enjoy the exercise.

Be sure to follow our spot tracking device at the following web address:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0q3hrl6FsvZd8zsBqqKChqTlV0YOen7I8

Chuck and Margaret