8/31 Telegraph Harbour

I shouldn’t have written that first sentence about the weather yesterday. We were awakened about 4 o’clock this morning by a squall blowing through, with driving rain and winds 18 to 20 mph here in the harbor. Not terribly nasty, but bothersome nonetheless, as we have some leaks on the topside that need attention, especially since this is the first rain the Potentate has been exposed to in nearly a year. We’ve also been a bit leery about wind in the middle of the night since dragging anchor in Princess Bay a few years ago. Granted, we had another boat rafted to us at the time and the winds were even stronger, but once bitten…

We placed some drip bowls at the usual sites, and I noted our position relative to some landmarks to make sure our anchor was holding, which it was. It probably would have been prudent to run out some more chain, but it was nasty out and holding as it was, so we left it. Later in the morning, after daylight appeared, Erin fixed a nice breakfast of hash brown potatoes, bacon and scrambled eggs with cheese. That was a treat after our early awakening.

Our cruising plans for the day were to head up to Nanaimo, but plans are made to be changed. The last 5 or 6 miles into Nanaimo, after transiting Dodd Narrows, can be nasty when the weather’s blowing in from the Georgia Straits. We’re being fair weather boaters this trip, so we modified our cruise plans somewhat. We raised our anchor and cruised at least 500 to 600 yards down the harbor to the Telegraph Harbour Marina, where we plugged in to spend the day.

A sailboat transits Boat Canal between
Telegraph Harbour and Clam Bay

It wasn’t our lucky day with boat equipment either. Erin started a load of laundry in our washing machine, and for some reason it has decided that its 40 minute wash cycle should take about 45 seconds. We manually set it to rinse and then spin, with basically the same results – it didn’t want to spend much time at any step. Although it was turned off at the time, maybe our little brown-out the other night goofed up something in the circuitry. It’s on our fix-it list now.

Other than the morning excitement we’ve had a pretty lazy day, just taking a few walks to look at the boat canal and visit the store. We’re in the same spot on the docks as we were last year when we were here for the Chris Craft Rendezvous. We didn’t come for the one this year, but the harbormaster told us they’d already arranged for a repeat in 2011. He said it was his favorite rendezvous here with all the classic boats that show up.

Tomorrow we’ll take another look at going to Nanaimo.

8/30 Glenthorne Passage to Telegraph Harbour 18.2 nautical miles

It’s another beautiful day in paradise. We’re having a great run of good weather – hope it holds out for awhile.

Diane and an Olympus crewmate came by in their skiff a bit after 9 this morning. She tossed us a couple pieces of coffee cake and let us know that, if we’re interested, a tour of the sheep farm on Prevost Island would start at the dinghy dock at the head of the bay at 10 o’clock. Although this has been one of our favorite anchorages for many years, we haven’t had the opportunity to do any exploring as the island is privately owned and posted with no trespassing signs. So of course we were interested and showed up at the dinghy dock promptly at 10, along with a couple dozen other people. For some background, here’s a brief history of the island farm from the guide book “Exploring the San Juan and Gulf Islands – Cruising Paradise of the Pacific Northwest”.

Prevost Island was acquired by Digby Hussey de Burgh in the 1920s. An Irishman of noble lineage, whose family owned an estate in County Limerick, de Burgh raised sheep, goats and cattle on Prevost’s pastures. His son Hubert took over the island property in 1938. His four daughters grew up on this isolated island – one becoming a concert pianist. Upon Hubert’s death, his widow Jean, two of their daughters and a son-in-law continued living on Prevost and much of the island remains in the family’s hands.

 

Curt had arranged the tour with the family, and our guide was Sheila, one of the daughters who still works the farm to this day. As we went ashore from the dock, one of the first items we saw was an old boat built by her grandfather. It’s not the first time we’d seen it, though – it’s visible from the water and we’ve seen it many times during our dinghy rides around the bay through the years. We continued up a path around the back of the bay to a small cabin. Sheila told us that she and her husband had lived here for 5 years back in the early 1970’s. The cabin was nicely preserved, with a made up bed at one end and a sofa along the wall. To the left of the sofa was a window with a view out into the harbor – today that view included our boat the Potentate at anchor. Across the room from the sofa was an old propane cook stove and a Franklin style stove for heat. The kitchen area was completed by a small countertop with a kitchen sink, with a single faucet. There were some outbuildings for storing wood, and also a guest room adjacent to the cabin that had another bed as well as a fireplace.

We continued on our trek past the back of Annette Inlet, the next body of water beyond Glenthorne Passage. There was a small meadow here, and every so often we’d come to a fence line with a gate. The last person in the group would close the gate as he or she passed through. Along the way we encountered two donkeys, who came over to greet the crowd and hope for handouts. Sheila told us they were pretty young, about 5 years old. Diane had brought along a bag of carrots, much to the pleasure of the donkeys. Diane tried to get the youngest member of our group, 3 or 4 year old Jeremy, to feed the Donkeys but he was having none of that.

Further down the trail a herd of sheep saw us coming and they all came over, expecting to be fed. Of course we were just passing through, and someone in our group explained to the sheep that it was a false alarm - we had no food. Apparently the lead sheep figured that out and headed back up the hillside – with the rest following along like … well, sheep. Off in the distance we could see some cattle, and Sheila told us they currently had 47 head, unless there was a calf or two that they had missed.

There was a spring-fed pond at a high point on the island, and the family had earlier built an earthen dam, which converted the pond into a small lake. It is used for irrigation and their home water supply, with gravity feed. We hike up a sloping meadow and over some tractor ruts until we came to the edge of the pond, which was lined with cattails. One member of our party who had been to the island before told us that the shoreline was just thick with frogs, and that she had seen a turquoise colored one the last time she was here. Just then I spotted a blue frog on a leaf – and she said “that’s the one!” Several people, including myself, took photos of the frog. Now that I have those photos downloaded to the computer, I can see that the blue frog was accompanied by 5 green frogs that blended more or less into the leaf from a distance of a few feet.

At this point Curt suggested we head back, via a different route, as we had a long way to go back to the dock. In all, I would guess we hiked 4 or 5 miles at least. On the route back we were invited to the sisters’ current residence, where we were served cookies, ice water, lemonade and coffee. Sheila’s sister Susan was there – she’s the one who is a concert pianist, and she plans on giving a concert in Ganges next spring. We met her yesterday at the crab feed at Curt and Marsha’s cabin. She didn’t go along on the farm trek as she is awaiting hip replacement surgery soon. Their home was beautiful with a large deck and greenhouse area, where we all relaxed from our hike and ate the wonderful almond shortbread cookies. I could see a view of the water through the trees, and I think it was either Diver Bay or Ellen Bay, on the other side of the island from our anchorage.

Sisters Susan (seated) and Sheila

Before we left Sheila brought out a guest book for all to sign. I hope they enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed the tour. When we left we still had a mile or two to walk before getting back to the dock. The CYA flotilla was planning on going to Montague around 12 or 12:30, and we were planning on splitting off from the group and heading for Nanaimo. A noon or so departure would get us to Dodd Narrows at just past slack current, with a bit of a current in our favor. By the time we were back on the boat it was an hour past that and we were bushed and not ready to leave immediately to make the narrows. A later departure to Nanaimo would have been okay too, as even if we were to arrive at maximum flow it was only 4 knots and in our favor. But, we didn’t want to hurry along and chose our secondary destination, Telegraph Harbour. We spent a couple days here last year at the Canadian Chris Craft Rendezvous and enjoyed it.

This evening we’re at anchor instead of at the marina. There are two marinas in the harbor, and they both had plenty of dock space but we had no need for the facilities. The back of the bay is very shallow, and there are a lot of local boats on mooring buoys. There’s an area in front of the canal to Clam Bay, but there was a sailboat right where we wanted to anchor. So, we headed back out the channel a bit and are anchored just beyond the Thetis Island Marina. It’s plenty deep here – we’ll still have 8 or 9 feet under us at low tide in the morning.

8/29 Ganges to Glenthorne Passage 5 nautical miles

After last night’s little power brown-out, we left things plugged in overnight, and the battery charger was still going to town in the morning. It’s a 3 stage 40 amp charger especially designed for our AGM house batteries – it runs full bore with its cooling fan going for 15 minutes, pauses for 30 seconds to check the state of the batteries then cranks up again. We have eight 200 amp 6 volt batteries wired in series/parallel to make two sets of four batteries, each putting out 12 volts – so 800 amps total at 12 volts. We actually recharge at a higher amperage when underway – the port engine has a 100 amp alternator with a 3 stage regulator. But, if you’re only cruising across the harbor or less than an hour a day it’s not going to keep up. Enough about that.

I never did find the harbor office unlocked to pay our moorage yesterday, so went over there at 9 this morning, where I caught them opening up. I fessed up that we used their power overnight, which is an extra charge – but our two nights’ moorage at the city’s dock was still less than one night at the marina next door.

The CYA flotilla was scheduled to get underway by 11 o’clock to head over to Glenthorne Passage. It’s not very far, about 5 miles from here, across the channel. Glenthorne Passage is one of our favorite anchorages and was on our list of likely places to go to anyway, so this fit right in with our plans. We pulled away from the dock around a quarter to eleven and headed out of the Ganges harbor at an idle. We didn’t pick up speed much once out of the harbor, either – accelerating up to the breakneck speed of 6 knots.

Glenthorne Passage, although we think of it as being on Prevost Island, is actually between Prevost and Secret Islands. Our hosts today, Curt and Marsha, have a cabin on Secret Island, facing into the passage. They had arranged for the use of several of their neighbors mooring buoys, and as we approached, Curt was out on his dock telling us to take an empty buoy or go ahead and anchor anywhere in the harbor. For us it’s less trouble to just anchor, plus we could head to our favorite location, which looks out through a small passageway on the south end of Secret Island. We anchored near a rock face, and just like when we anchor next to other boats, it always looks like you’re too close. Whenever we think that, we take a ride in the dinghy – the perspective is different, and you can then see you have all kinds of room.

The Olympus came in just a few minutes behind us. They are 92 feet long, and their procedure was to set their anchor, then tie their stern to the mooring buoy in front of Curt and Marsha’s cabin. When the Westward, the other big one, arrived, they set their anchor in the opposite direction from the Olympus and tied their stern to the same buoy – so the two big boats were anchored facing away from each other with their sterns essentially tied together, with the mooring buoy in the middle just holding up the lines. It was a good technique to keep a couple of huge boats from swinging around in a relatively narrow harbor.

The Olympus has a classic tender called the Junaluska – a little inboard runabout with a story of its own. It was the original tender to the Olympus back in 1929, but the two were separated for many decades until the present owners located it in a barn and had it rebuilt. Anyway, Diane and one of her crew members came by in the Junaluska to tell us that the crab feed would start around 4, but to come to the cabin early to explore the island.

We’ve been marinating some flank steaks for nearly 5 days now. We were going to have them last night in Ganges, but decided on the fish & chips instead. Now we’re being fed again this evening, so we got out the barbecue and cooked the steaks early this afternoon. Once thinly sliced it’s good pickin’ food, and we’ll snack on it in the coming days.

We headed over to the cabin a bit before 3 o’clock in the dinghy, and after a few introductions between various guests, we headed out on the footpath. The island has a ridge down the middle with a path along the ridge. There are about 3 dozen lots on either side of the path, most of them with homes or cabins. A few were vacant, or had just a wooden platform for pitching a tent. We’ve been anchoring in here for many years but had never had the opportunity to explore ashore, as there is no public access. We walked to the south first, eventually coming to the backside of a cabin that’s at the very end of the island – one we’ve taken many pictures of in years past as we cruise by. Heading back in the other direction, we saw cabins and buildings of all shapes and sizes. We learned from Curt that none of the property owners here are full time residents. We met one lady further down the trail who was out collecting rocks or shells. She and her husband live on a lake near Abbotsford, have a seaplane and can be at their island retreat in 29 minutes. Turns out they were invited to the party and we met here again there later in the afternoon. At the very end of the trail to the north was a small beach of white shells and sand – a beach I remember rowing over to over 30 years ago – probably in the dinghy of the Ojos Verdes. The locals here believe that beach is part of an old Indian midden.

Power Margarita Blender

Turns out the crab feed didn’t start until 5 o’clock, but there were hors d’ oeuvres aplenty in the cabin, and upon our return from our hike we were both provided with power margaritas, courtesy of Curt. I say power margaritas because, as this is an island with no electricity service, one has to be resourceful to power their blender. Curt’s blender sat atop a small gasoline engine, perhaps from a weed whacker or small chainsaw. With a few pulls of the starter rope, we heard that familiar 2-cycle motor sound as he revved it up with the blender on top. The margaritas were prepared in no time at all, and were top notch. I didn’t have our video camera, but I did put Erin’s Sony camera in video mode and take a shot of it. Once we’re closer to civilization again, maybe I can upload it to the blog or to YouTube.

Dinner time approached, and a couple ice chests full of cooked crab appeared. The crab were all caught locally, right here in Glenthorne Passage over the past few days. We each took a half crab and retired to our seats, at a table under a gazebo-like structure with an active fireplace at one end. The crab turned out to be just the first course – soon racks of ribs appeared and took their turn in a large stainless barbeque, next to the fireplace. Baked beans and coleslaw were served with the ribs.

We left the party a little early, I suppose, but we were both ready to head back to the boat. After all, we can only do so much socializing, especially while on vacation.

8/28 Ganges

We’re having outstanding weather this trip, and today was no exception. We had a beautiful view of the harbor this morning. Our spot here on the breakwater dock is ideal with unobstructed views all around as well as close access to everything in town. Of course, if the weather was blowing up a storm we’d be singing a different tune here on the outside of the breakwater.

Every Saturday through the summer the town of Ganges holds a “Saturday Market” where all sorts of arts and crafts, as well as produce, preserves and other goodies are displayed for sale. We were just getting out of the boat to stroll into town to browse through the market when Diane Vanderbeek and a couple of her friends came to the boat. Diane is Rear Commodore of the Classic Yacht Association and owner of the M/V Olympus, a 92 foot classic from the 1920’s with lots of history. The Olympus was leading a group of CYA members on a “Gunkholing through the Gulf Islands” expedition and their itinerary included stopping at Ganges for the Saturday Market. We had joined the CYA last year and attended a couple of their rendezvous’ so we were invited to their happy hour and dinner event over at Saltspring Marina this evening. Their cruise itinerary continues on tomorrow through the next weekend, culminating in the Classic Wooden Boat festival at Victoria. We’re also invited to join the flotilla for any or all of this outing, and since their next destination is Glenthorne Passage, where we were planning on going when we leave here anyway, we’ll tag along and enjoy a crab feed at one of the member’s cabin on the island.

Once we had all that squared away, we got back to our original plan of checking out the Saturday Market. It seems like everyone on the island comes to this, as it was really crowded. The perfect weather may have had something to do with the attendance as well. There was a wide selection of various items to consider, and when we saw some glass items we thought about buying we decided we should take a trip down the block to the cash machine to stock up on a bit of Canadian currency. Well, we weren’t alone on that idea. There were two cash machines about a half block apart, and each one had a lineup of 8 to 10 people waiting to line their pockets. Not the best timing on our part, but we bit the bullet, waited in line and got some spending money.

We had our sights set on an oil dispensing bottle – the one we use at home for olive oil has a leaky cap – and a salt and pepper shaker set to match. We made that purchase and continued our wanderings. Of course there were plenty of rings, earrings and other jewelry for Erin to look at, but she restrained herself very well. In the food section we picked up some salmon candy, a loaf of almond/apricot bread and a fancy red onion. I’m sure they will be transformed into gourmet treats in the coming days.

Erin wanted to bring something to the CYA dinner this evening, so she made a pasta salad using a recipe from one of her friends at work. It’s called pot sticker salad, although it uses ravioli, not pot stickers. It’s mixed in a sauce made of sesame oil, soy sauce and some other stuff. We called it Potentate Potsticker Salad. It’s very good, and I was hoping there would be some leftovers to bring back after the dinner.

Saltspring Marina is on the other side of the bay, and although it would have been a short ride had we launched our dinghy, we decided the walk around the harbor would do us good. We enjoyed meeting some people, and had a tour of the classic yacht Westward. It’s almost as big as the Olympus at 86 feet and probably of the same vintage. It still has its original Atlas Imperial diesel engine, which runs at up to 300 rpm turning a 50” propeller with 48” of pitch. Lots and lots of torque in that setup. Teresa and Hugh, the owners, have circled the Pacific Ocean in it, cruising the southern hemisphere as well as making a lengthy stop in Japan. The boat was in charter service in SE Alaska until 2004, and in fact we encountered it at Ford’s Terror on our Alaska trip in 2003. We also spent some time talking to Curt and Marsha, who will be hosting tomorrow’s crab feed at their cabin in Glenthorne Passage. As fate would have it, we had also met Curt three years ago while we were anchored in Glenthorne Passage. We were on a dinghy ride, and he was ashore working on the cabin, which we now know they had recently purchased at that time. We were admiring their boat, the Gwendolyn – and still admire it! Tomorrow we’ll get to go ashore, feast on some crab, see their place and take a walk on the island.

The hors ‘d oeuvres, dinner and dessert were all excellent, by the way, and although a serious dent was made in our salad we did bring home a small serving for the near future.

We just had an electrical “flash” while I was typing away here. Our inverter, which supplies 110 volts to the boat from the 12 volt house batteries, decided to shut down, leaving us in the dark. I think what happened is the icemaker kicked in, temporarily drawing quite a few amps, and the battery voltage momentarily dropped below 12v. This caused the inverter to shut off, which of course brought the voltage back to 12.5v and it turned back on, which started the icemaker, which… You get the idea. I had left a 12v light bulb on in the engine room all day from when I was checking on things, and those 12 volt bulbs actually draw more current than the fluorescent 110 volt bulbs running through the inverter. Anyway, our batteries were a little lower than usual. Fortunately, there is one power post here on the breakwater dock, and we had enough shore power cords to reach it. We’ll get things charged up overnight and be good to go.

8/27 Ganges

Erin made pancakes this morning, with some turkey bacon on the side. “Shall I put the leftover corn in the batter?”, she said. My puzzled look elicited the further explanation “When we were growing up, all sorts of leftovers went into the pancake batter.” I can report that the corn pancakes were excellent.

I had already disconnected our shore power cord in anticipation of making a move over to the Government dock, and shortly thereafter noticed a powerboat leaving from the breakwater dock, where both the Coast Guard and seaplane terminal are housed. We were cast off and away from our slip within minutes, heading over to our new moorage. We were supposed to notify the dockmaster here by 9 am if we were going to be staying another day, otherwise check out no later than 11. I guess we notified them at 9 by our quick departure.

The rules here at the Government dock are totally different than at the marina. Moorage here is free for short stays of a couple hours during the day, and overnight moorage, less than half of what we paid last night, is only due for those staying beyond 4 pm. I made several trips in the afternoon to the marina office at the other harbor, finally catching them open just before 4 o’clock. When I paid, I asked about the hours of the Saturday Market, which runs until three or four in the afternoon. “When’s your checkout time?”, I asked. “One o’clock, but we don’t care if you stay an extra hour or so.” Now that’s the way to run a business and get repeat customers.

We enjoyed our location today, watching people come and go to the seaplane dock, and just watching the hustle and bustle of the harbor. Several small commuter seaplane carriers, including Kenmore Air, make regular stops here. Most of the planes are either Dehaviland Beavers with rotary engines, or Otters with a single turboprop. The piston powered planes come idling up and shut off their engine 40 or 50 feet away from the dock, coasting in while the pilot gets out on the pontoon, picks up a line and grabs a cleat as the plane slowly drifts alongside the dock. The turboprops come in under power right up to the dock, reversing the propeller pitch at the last moment to come to a complete stop before setting the pitch to neutral and letting the prop wind down. They stay pretty busy from around 7 in the morning until just before dusk. They’ve got a fuel tank behind the Coast Guard dock, and sometimes taxi around there to fill up. An attendant usually hoses the plane down with fresh water to rinse away the salt spray if there’s some extra time between arrival and departure.

We went for a walk around town earlier in the afternoon, visiting quite a few art stores and a bakery that was several blocks away from the center of town. It was beyond where the sidewalks end, but they were busy nonetheless with local car traffic. We went in and bought a couple of sausage rolls to take with us in our wanderings.

Dinner tonight was fish & chips at the head of the dock. The cod was really good, but the batter was too thick, and we peeled most of that off. We both noted the wooden forks that came with our order and recalled talking to a young couple a few years ago that were in an old Chris Craft anchored in Fossil Bay on Sucia. They had patented a method for making biodegradable wooden tableware to compete with and replace the plastic in use at most places today, and were in the process of trying to introduce their product and make some sales. We hoped that this was an indication of the successful fruition of their venture.

Trav will be interested to know that we also picked up some sippin’ items from his shopping list.

8/26 Prevost Harbor to Ganges 19.5 nautical miles

We’re in Canada, in the town of Ganges on Salt Spring Island. Or, Saltspring Island – there’s always plenty of controversy about which spelling – one or two words – is proper, but we don’t have a horse in that race.

As we approached the Canadian Customs dock at Bedwell Harbour I noticed a couple of uniformed agents walking the dock – the first time I’ve seen an actual agent there in many years. But, they hopped in an inflatable and were leaving as we approached the dock. After we secured our lines I headed up to the customs shack, and as usual it was locked. There are three phones on the outside wall – I picked up one to be connected and reported our arrival. Yes, I had a rabies vaccine document for our cat and no, I wasn’t bringing weapons or $10,000 or more in cash into the country – so we were cleared to go, with a clearance number to display in our dockside window during our stay.

The customs dock is shaped in a big ‘U’, and the only spot available when we arrived was down at the base of the U, with sailboats perpendicular to us on either side. The wind was blowing straight into the dock holding us there – which made our approach easy, but getting away was another matter. I used the “poor man’s bow/stern thrusters” to get away from the dock – hard left rudder, port engine in forward for thrust away from the dock, and starboard in reverse to prevent forward motion. I had the engines revving up quite a bit above idle to defeat the wind, so we sidled away from the dock in a flurry of turbulent water and diesel exhaust. Once we were several feet from the dock I could swing the stern out without having the bow go into the dock. Then we could just back away into the wind. We received kudos from those on the dock, but I think they were mainly relieved we didn’t take any chunks of their boats with us.

Bedwell Harbour is on South Pender Island, but the harbor is actually formed by North Pender Island as well. There is a small, narrow and shallow channel between the two islands that goes under a highway bridge. We like to take that route because it’s scenic, fun to do, and provides an opportunity to blow our air horns as a warning, as the entrance is a dogleg with limited visibility for boats coming the other way. But, we were at low tide, and in previous years at low tide we’ve looked at it and turned back. So, we just headed out the other way and followed the shoreline of North Pender Island up Swanson Channel and towards Ganges.

We were hoping to find moorage at the Government dock that is adjacent to the seaplane terminal. It provides easy access to town, and the rates are reasonable. We saw a couple of openings, but none our size. We debated whether to just anchor or take a berth at the private marina just across the way. We decided on the marina, and have a nice slip just across the way from the government dock. We were going to stay at least two days so we could go to the Saturday Market they have here, but this marina is both expensive and aggressive with their 11 am morning checkout time. So, our plan is to watch the government dock like a hawk tomorrow morning and pounce on any openings as soon as they occur. Plan B is to go out into the harbor at checkout time, anchor, watch the government dock like a hawk…

We’re happy to be at the dock tonight, though. The wind has picked up quite a bit and it’s much more comforting listening to the docks and lines creak and groan than it is to swing around at anchor in this kind of weather.

We are plugged in to electricity, so we are charging batteries, and have the icemaker doing catch-up duty. We put the arm up when we’re on battery power - it doesn’t draw a lot of power keeping the ice cold, but it draws power like crazy when it’s making a new batch of ice cubes every 20 minutes or so. So, we were down to the bottom third of ice cubes in our bin, and we all know what a hardship that can be.

8/25 Blind Bay to Prevost Harbor 14 nautical miles

Kitty cheesecake

Photos to follow when the connection is better...

It’s Erin’s birthday today so I arranged for another day of perfect weather. I don’t think it’ll hold much longer – some clouds are due for tomorrow. Not saying which birthday it is, but we expect Erin’s invitation to join AARP to be in the mail when we return.

This morning we removed all the windows around the bridge for maximum viewing and ventilation, but left the canvas up for shade. It was the right combination for today.

We got a much earlier start, heading out of Blind Bay at 11 o’clock. As we were leaving the bay a ferry was approaching, but it turned in towards the Shaw Island ferry dock as we entered Harney Channel. We took our usual route through Pole Pass, but then as we passed Jones Island we turned a little bit more to the north to pass along the other side of Spieden Island on the way to Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island. There was quite a current flowing in Spieden Channel and it was in our favor, bumping our casual 7 knot speed up to about 9.5.

When I took the captain’s class a couple years ago, we learned all about calculating for set and drift, and how to determine what heading to take when a current is coming towards you at a cross angle. We did it all with current tables, paper charts, parallel rules, compass and dividers – and maybe a pencil and paper too. For our run from Jones Island across Spieden Channel I followed the little blue highway on our navigation software, turning to starboard until it was straight. We cut a nice straight line across the channel to our next waypoint with our bow headed about 15 degrees off to starboard. I like technology.

As we were cruising along the shoreline of Stuart Island we received a radio call from a passing boat, reporting that our port engine was making more smoke than starboard. Unlike gasoline engines, which use a spark plug to explode the fuel/air mixture, diesel engines depend on the heat generated from their high compression to ignite and burn the fuel. Full combustion is best with the engine at its peak operating temperature. We had been cruising along at 6 or 7 knots, and I suspect more than the usual amount of unburned fuel was heading out the exhaust. We accelerated up to about 12 knots for a few minutes to generate some more heat, then backed off again – the amount of smoke seemed less. But, these are 40 year old engines and there are many other reasons for smoke, some probably not so good.

It’s been quite a few years since we’ve been in to Prevost Harbor – the last time could have even been with the Free Spirit. There are two entrances into the bay – the correct one, and the one no one attempts more than once. We entered via the conventional route, cruising around to the left and past the state park dock. We headed back towards the other entrance, which is very scenic from the bay side with most of the rocks exposed at low tide. Although we were at low tide, we backed off a little when the depth got down to 5 or 6 feet and we could see the eel grass from the bridge. We anchored in about 13 feet of water, furthest from the park dock except for a local boat on a private buoy.

We lazed around most of the afternoon. Erin read a book while I perused through parts of last Sunday’s paper. Later in the afternoon we went for a dinghy ride around the harbor, and may go ashore in the morning when it’s cooler to take a walk on some of the trails.

Tomorrow we’ll head into the Gulf Islands. We’re only 4 miles from Bedwell Harbour on the other side of Boundary Pass, where we’ll check into Customs. If it’s a typical entry, there will be no one at the Customs dock – we’ll report our arrival via the dockside phone, surrender any forbidden fruits or vegetables, receive our clearance number and be on our way. Our way will probably be to the town of Ganges on Salt Spring Island. It’s a great little town and one of our favorite stops in the Gulf Islands.

8/24 Hunter Bay to Blind Bay, 11.8 nautical miles

What a beautiful morning! We slept in a bit, until past 7, and got up to find ourselves anchored in a dead calm, with the sea like a mirror. Quite a change from last night when a bit of a wind kicked up to ripple the waters. The strongest gust measured 13.8 mph, nothing that would blow us away.

After a leisurely breakfast and a morning of enjoying our good fortune at having this boat and these cruising grounds, we hoisted anchor at the crack of noon, cruising further north at our putting speed of 6 knots.

Just north of Hunter Bay is Spencer Spit, a natural formation and a state park. The spit has been slowly advancing, on a geological time scale, towards Frost Island and from a distance appears to almost touch it. On either side of the spit are several mooring buoys and there is plenty of room to anchor as well. This wasn’t our destination, but we passed between the end of the spit and Frost Island, made all the more dramatic looking by the fact that it was low tide.

As we cruised past Humphrey Head and Upright Head on Lopez Island, we were adjacent to the major ferry route, where all the boats traveling to and from Anacortes come through Thatcher Pass to head to their various destinations. We must have hit the ferry schedule jackpot, as we had 4 ferries pass us heading north or south within the 15 minutes or so we were in that area. The Lopez ferry dock is on Upright Head, and the last boat made a turn to the ferry dock, coming around behind us shortly after we passed by.

We had decided to explore Grindstone Harbor, a small bay on Orcas Island, just east of the Orcas ferry landing. At the mouth of the bay is a reef, with another rock centered further in. Safe passage can be made on either side. Grindstone Harbor became famous, or maybe infamous, around here many years ago when the captain of a Washington State jumbo ferry, the Elwha, took a detour through the entrance to Grindstone Harbor to show off to his girlfriend, who lived nearby. Well, he ran that jumbo ferry smack into the reef in front of the bay, most likely making a lot of grinding noises and knocking a few tourists akilter. He was able to get off the reef and continue on to the ferry landing, just minutes away, where all the cars and passengers, whether that was their destination or not, were offloaded. I think they had divers check the extent of the damage, some of which was apparent down in the bilges where some water was coming in where it shouldn’t. The Elwha was sent back to Seattle for repairs at dry dock, with an Orcas Island pumper fire truck on board as an auxiliary bilge pump. Within days a new hit song was playing on the radio, “Elwha on the Rocks”. An investigation of the incident ensued, and I think the captain got off with a 30 day suspension without pay – although I don’t recall for sure.

We passed the reef and rocks and proceeded to the back of Grindstone Harbor, which ended in a small basin surrounded by a few homes, and with several mooring buoys placed. There really wasn’t a lot of space for a boat our size to anchor between the buoys, and we headed back out and towards today’s destination, Blind Bay on Shaw Island.

In all our years of boating, we’ve never been to Blind Bay. I guess we were always heading to or returning from points further north and always passed it by. Our friends Craig and Kristine stop here frequently, and we decided to see what it was all about. We’re glad we did.

Shaw Island and Orcas Island lie on either side of Harney Channel, and Blind Bay is adjacent to the Shaw Island ferry landing. Across the channel and a bit to the west is the Orcas ferry landing, so we see quite a bit of ferry traffic from our anchorage. The bay is large with a lot of space for anchoring boats, and according to the cruising guides is one of the best protected bays in the islands. We’re anchored next to a tiny island with a view of farm houses and fields in one direction and the ferry landings and Harney Channel in the other. We went for a dinghy ride around the shore, and over to the ferry landing, where we passed under the ramp to a small dock with moorage for the local store. We had neither any money with us nor a need for anything and didn’t go in, although I suppose we should have just for the island ambience. Other than the store at the ferry landing, there are no commercial enterprises within the bay and we are enjoying our rural setting.

Dinner tonight was a fresh garden salad with a tuna melt sandwich. Erin has made a fruit buckle using the blackberries I picked the other day plus a few strawberries. It just came out of the oven and smells delicious. We’ll know for sure soon enough.

At dusk we were treated to a full moon rising in the east over the trees. It’s now about 30 degrees further up in the sky.

8/23 Lake Union to Hunter Bay – 67 nautical miles

Kudos to the weather forecasters – it was a beautiful day from start to finish today. We backed away from the dock a few minutes before eight this morning and headed for the locks. Most of this morning’s marine traffic consisted of racing shells from the various rowing clubs and schools in the area. They were accompanied by their catamaran chase boats carrying the coaches who were shouting instructions to the crews. We saw 2, 4 and 8 man boats – only the 8 man configuration carries a coxswain – I guess the others have to guess where they’re going or look over their shoulders.

When we arrived at the locks there were no other boats waiting, and within 5 minutes the gates to the small lock opened and we entered past the green light. We – well, probably everybody – prefer the small lock because it has floating walls that we tie to so we don’t have to tend to our lines on the way down or up. It’s also a much faster transit than the large lock because of the much smaller volume of water being moved as the level changes. We waited for a few minutes for another boat that was approaching, which turned out to be a Seattle Police Harbor Patrol boat. They were positioned right behind us, and the officer on the bow asked if I’d cut our engines, which I did. We sometimes leave them running when we’re in the small lock alone as it only takes 5 minutes or so to change levels.

We were out in the salt water and headed north a few minutes before nine o’clock. I had calculated that if we left the lock by 9:15 and cruised at 8 knots we’d have plenty of time to arrive at Deception Pass at or near slack water. We had a bit of a boost to begin with, as the tide was still ebbing – we cruised along the first couple hours at about 8 and a half knots, passing Edmonds and then Clinton on Whidbey Island – the other terminus from the Mukilteo Ferry run. This run up between Whidbey and Camano Islands always seems long – well, it is long – but we had smooth water and great weather so just kept chugging along.

As we continued past the northern end of Camano towards Strawberry Point on Whidbey Island, I could see that we were well ahead of schedule, so backed off on the throttles, down to just above idle. We continued on past the entrance to Swinomish Channel, the route to La Conner, heading towards Deception Pass. According to the current table built into our navigation program, the current at Deception Pass was still flooding (coming towards us) at 5 knots. We continued on, but took a little side tour along the shore of Hope Island, looping around past Skagit Island before continuing on towards Cornet Bay and Deception Pass. We went through about 45 minutes early, with the current against us indicated at 3 knots. No problem at all with turbulence, and we were well out into Rosario Strait by the time of slack water.

Crossing Rosario Strait was a breeze, with the only hazard being a few gill netters along the east side. We had flat water all the way, and because we were early at the pass we also caught the last of some favorable current to push us along. We passed through Lopez Pass and cruised right into Hunter Bay, where we’re anchored for the evening. This was most likely the longest cruising day of the trip – 9 hours from the time we left our dock in Lake Union to Hunter Bay – a distance of 67 nautical miles.

The evening was dramatically quieter than last night at our Lake Union moorage, where we’re situated nearly under the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge. Actually, it would probably be quieter directly under, but we’re a half block away where the traffic noise can reach us directly. It’s not so much annoying, but just hard to hear in normal voice when we’re up on the bridge. This evening is especially peaceful because, even though there are a dozen or so other boats in the harbor, no one is sharing any loud music, which we greatly appreciate.

Tribble has been exploring the boundaries of the boat, walking cautiously and deliberately in full alert mode around the entire outside perimeter – twice. We’re not sure what she thinks of the water 4 or 5 feet below, and we’re hoping she doesn’t decide it’s something she can walk on. We have the salmon net for such an occurrence, but hopefully it doesn’t come to that. At dusk we closed the doors to a narrow opening and lowered the rear side curtains, but she managed to squeeze out on deck somewhere, where we found her sitting at the stern. We’re trying to keep her wandering for now to daylight hours as she’d be easier to find while doing the cat paddle.

8/22 Lake Union

We’re on the boat, and we have no other means of transportation, so our trip has officially begun. We brought a final load of clothes and supplies to the boat this morning and returned home to wrap up things there. Mom & Dad Ames came over about 2 o’clock to take us down to the boat and return the car – parking here is pretty tight, especially for long term.

The weather forecast for today called for rain and temperatures in the low 60’s. The forecast for the rest of the week calls for warmer temperatures and sunshine. The first day of cruising to anywhere up north is usually the longest day, and rather than hurry up and leave in a cool drizzle, we decided to stay put for this evening. We have great moorage, and the price is right! We’re on the end of the dock with a view of the boat traffic that passes between Portage Bay and Lake Union under the University and Ship Canal bridges. As usual, the forecast wasn’t entirely accurate – it warmed up nicely and we didn’t have much rain at all after 3 o’clock. Hope the forecast for good weather the rest of the week is spot on .

Our only other passenger for this trip is our cat Tribble. She earned her sea legs last year, so hopefully as a seasoned veteran will spend less time hiding under the couch. She’s already explored the boat from stem to stern and is on a much quicker adaptation schedule than last year. She must know there are no other guests on board, as she’s already claimed the bunk in the guest cabin as her own.

Adjacent to our tiny parking lot, and up against the approach to the University Bridge is a huge blackberry patch. I went on a little blackberry picking excursion this afternoon and picked a few cups. The mass of vines extends up 20 or 30 feet, and the really nice and ripe berries are of course out of reach. Eye level and below have been recently picked, and although there are plenty of berries that are black, I’ve found that if they don’t literally fall off in your hand, they aren’t ripe enough to be sweet. There was a band of ripe ones that were apparently beyond the reach of some previous pickers, and that provided my supply.

You never know quite what you’re going to see cruising along here, and later this afternoon we saw a dinner and dancing party. They were on a log raft that was powered by a small electric outboard. They had a table set at one end, and there were three or four couples dancing some formal numbers, like waltzes, tangos and rumbas. They cruised by at a small fraction of a knot, and I was surprised that tiny electric motor could move it at all – they were definitely going at quarter impulse speed.

While the dance party was cruising by, Erin was busy in the galley fixing our first on-board meal. She sautéed some Italian turkey sausage, peppers, onions and garlic together, then mixed in some angel hair pasta and a light sauce made with the pasta water and some juice from a can of diced tomatoes. That was topped off with some grated cheese. It is definitely worth a repeat later in the trip.

Since we’re already here and ready to go, we’ll get an early start tomorrow morning – but not too early if we want to reach Deception Pass at slack current. We plan on cruising north up Saratoga Passage between Camano and Whidbey Islands, out through Deception Pass and across Rosario Strait to the San Juan Islands. If our timing is off, we’ll make a right turn at the Swinomish Slough and cruise through La Conner and past Anacortes instead.