March 28, 2006

It’s almost April and we’re anxiously awaiting April 1 as that's D-Day for us to begin the 2006 cruisin’ season! So let’s take a look back at the past three months to bring you up to date on our time in Port Townsend…..

The new year started off with us attending the Seattle Boat Show with Derek & Anthea of S/V Sukanuk. We found the “fender step” we’d been looking for and attended Boats Afloat at Lake Union. It was interesting seeing a new Diesel Duck motorsailer and talking with the folks from Nordhavn, who are also considering production of pilothouse motorsailer. As many of you know, we thoroughly enjoy the comfort of our pilothouse and the joy of sailing, which are beautifully combined, in our Hans Christian motorsailer. As the sailing population ages and desires more creature comforts, we think there may be a minor trend toward development of pilothouse motorsailers, something Hans Christian did 25 years ago!

Port Townsend is a windy spot and February began with high winds coupled with high tides leading to some unusual circumstances. February 4 th the wind instrument recorded 63.7 kts. and the breakwater was only 18” above the water due to the winds & high tide! Luckily all dock lines held and there weren’t any problems as the live-aboards did a great job of dock-walking checking on lines. Power was out in parts of the town and even West Marine was closed so I didn’t have to go to work!

The winter months also found Gary being a “techie” when he diagnosed the graphics problem I’d been having with my laptop computer as being the video chip on the system board. He ordered a new system board, disassembled the laptop, and -after having to return a system board that was damaged in transit- reassembled it. Now we don’t have to share computers and wedded bliss is again guaranteed.

We rented a car the first weekend in February to explore the Skagit River area hoping to see the eagles that migrate from Alaska to feed on spawning salmon. The eagles arrived & departed early this year; but we were able to view some of the resident eagles and Gary got some pretty good photos. The area was beautiful and we even saw SNOW! The cabin we stayed in had a fireplace and we devoured huge cinnamon rolls for breakfast! We’ve discovered that Washington has some of THE BEST cinnamon rolls we’ve ever tasted.

New folks continue to enter our lives as we met Alison & Ron on S/V Juichi, a young couple who brought their boat from Seattle to have rigging done at Brian Toss’s Yacht Rigging. It has been fun watching them work on their boat and now Allison has just been accepted for a three-year rigging apprenticeship with Brian. We also met Heidi & Bill on S/V Pippi when I noticed Heidi wearing a Lake Superior State College sweatshirt and ask if she was really from there. (LSSC is in Sault Ste. Marie, MI) They invited us to their boat for drinks and we had a great evening of conversation and reminiscing about Michigan. We’ve also said “see you later” to Derek & Anthea as they’ve headed to Sidney, BC. Friendships and acquaintances occur at a quick pace when cruising as people are in a state of motion and may not be in one place for long.

April 3, 2006

The sun is shining and we’re at anchor in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA as I attempt to finish this section of the log. But first, I’ll finish our “land tales” of Port Townsend….

Survival suits were on our short list of things to buy before heading north and we got them in February, one from West Marine and the other on Ebay. You can tell from the picture how “attractive” they are, but after monitoring the encounter of the boat hitting the whale off the California coast we decided that we wanted to have them if the weather became too rough or we needed to be on the water in a smaller craft. As an aside to the whale incident, we wrote a “Letter to the Editor” for PassageMaker Magazine & it was published in the March issue…it was fun seeing our name in print. A picture of SV Wand’rin Star was also published in the March issue of Sea Magazine in an article about Poet’s Cove Resort, Bedwell Harbor, South Pender Island, BC. A gentleman walking down the dock at Point Hudson recognized our boat from the picture and stopped to talk with Gary. One thing led to another and he brought us a copy of the magazine so we could see the 2-page spread of the resort with SV Wand’rin Star clearly visible at the Customs Dock.

We bought davits for the stern to transport the dinghy more efficiently and keep it out of the water when we’re anchored. Gary is installing those right now as my fingers are flying over the keyboard.

Valentine’s Day we awoke to an unusual sight…. Orcas off shore at Point Hudson! I’d gotten up early and noticed people on the point looking & gesturing out to the bay; after a few minutes my curiosity got the better of me and I went to see what they were watching. It was a pod of Orcas spy-hopping, blowing, and generally carrying on! The whales were moving toward Point Wilson so I ran back to the boat to get Gary and his camera; we joined the parade of folks walking over to get a better look. The Orcas continued to put on a show, but unfortunately Gary wasn’t able to get any pictures….maybe if he’d had that 500 mm lens he’s lusting after!

He did have great fun taking photos of birds and the rascally river otters that frequent the docks at Point Hudson Marina. The otters are entertaining, but can also make a real mess if they decide to climb aboard a boat. More on that later....

The end of February I utilized the area's great public transportation system and took the bus to SEATAC airport for $3.75 to catch a flight back to Michigan to visit family and friends. What was supposed to be a week’s visit turned into more than 3 weeks as I ended up dealing with health issues of our parents. Gary’s mom ended up in the hospital on my third day there and I spent much of the next 2 ½ weeks monitoring her progress through the hospital and a short convalescing period. I also packed up everything from her old apartment & moved her into a new apartment in an American House. It was good that I was already there to deal with the transition; however it did reinforce that the most difficult part of this cruisin’ lifestyle from my perspective is being away from our elderly parents for long periods of time. Fortunately, we are blessed with a good support system in Michigan and are in almost daily contact via cell phone….that luxury will change as we progress further north and cell phone coverage becomes spotty. My daughter & son-in-law have been super helping with Grandma & Grandpa and I feel very fortunate!

While I was in Michigan, Gary attended a Basic Marine Meteorology Workshop by Lee Chesneau from NOAA's Ocean Prediction Center at the Pacific Maritime Institute in Seattle. His friend, Bill Giesecke, who he met five years ago at a weeklong trawler training class, also attended. It is rather ironic as Gary took the trawler training class when we thought we wanted to cruise on a trawler and so did Bill & Masuko. We recently reconnected with them as they have since purchased a sister ship of SV Wand’rin Star and brought her down from Alaska to their home on Bainbridge Island. We’ve all had great fun getting reacquainted and comparing the similarities & differences of our boat to SV Cassiar. Hans Christian only built fourteen 44’ Pilothouses and each one we’ve seen has been different!

Remember that I mentioned otters earlier? One evening while I was gone, Gary heard noises in the cockpit and got up to investigate. He looked out, but didn’t see anything so he opened the door. Eventually he saw a shiny pair of eyes looking at him and wondered how Murray the Cat had gotten outside so quickly; as he reached down to pick him up (and was only about 18” from doing so) he realized that it was AN OTTER not Murray! Upon closer inspection, there were TWO OTTERS on the boat! He quickly shooed them off and watched them playfully slip & slide down the frosty dock-luckily they never returned!

The boat had been scheduled to be pulled on March 7 th at the Port Townsend BoatWorks, but was rescheduled due to my prolonged stay in Michigan. I finally returned on March 13 th and the boat came out of the water on the 16 th. It’s always a little traumatic to see your 56,000-pound boat lifted out of the water and placed on boat stands! Everything went well and we spent the next week living on the boat in the yard, a unique experience to say the least! It involved climbing up a 12’ ladder and not using any drains for 7 days! The weather cooperated and the bottom got painted as well as some other maintenance tasks that had to be done “on the hard” (land). Galmukoff Marine provided excellent service and we would highly recommend them to anyone needing work done in the Port Townsend area. The boat went back in the water on March 23 rd and we quickly hurried to get everything ready for an April 1 st (no foolin’) departure!

April 17, 2006

Where did the time go??? I’m still trying to finish this log so Gary can upload it at our next “land” stop. Where are we now??? Anchored in Growler Cove, West Cracroft Island, British Columbia, awaiting a storm with 30-40 knot winds!

April 1 st we had a farewell breakfast with Ron & Alison at the Landfall Restaurant and then with assistance from several friends from Point Hudson threw off the dock lines and the 2006 CRUISIN’ SEASON began! Murray the Cat has become very acclimated to this whole “getting underway” routine and just heads for the forward berth when the engine starts.

Here’s a quick rundown of our “ports of call” for the past 2 ½ weeks:

Aleck Bay, Lopez Island, WA – We’d been here last year and it was a pleasant stop for our first night out.

Blind Bay, Shaw Island, WA

Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA –A few more things were needed from West Marine, so this was a convenient stop, plus we treated ourselves to great hot dogs at the Paradise Cafe next door.

Reid Harbor, Stuart Island, WA – Another favorite spot from last summer…remember the Slushie Girls? There were more than 80 boats anchored here in August, this time there were 4 and we were able to pick up a mooring!

Sidney Spit, via Bedwell Harbor, S. Pender Island, BC and Sidney, BC – we thought we were going to clear Canadian Customs at Bedwell Harbor as we did last August only to discover that it was only open as a Port of Entry during the “summer season”. The closest place to clear was Sidney, so we went there and quickly cleared via the telephone. An added bonus of going to the Port of Sidney Marina was that we got to say a quick Hello to Derek & Anthea as they were still there having some work done on SV Sukanuk AND I got to the Sidney Bakery to stock up on assorted savory and sweet treats! Rather than pay $50 to stay in the marina, we made the short jaunt over to Sidney Spit and flawlessly picked up a mooring. Sidney Spit is a favorite spot; however we paid very particular attention to crab floats, as this is where Gary had to cut a crab-pot line off the prop in 47 degree water!

Preedy Harbor, Thetis Island, BC

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC – It was time to visit a grocery store and make some phone calls and the Public Wharf at Nanaimo allows a 3 hour stay at no charge…what a bargain! Nanaimo is a great little town and services are close to the marina. After enjoying fresh fish & chips at the dock, we motored .5nm and dropped anchor for the night. We headed out early the next morning intending to spend Sunday night at Scottie’s Bay on Lasqueti Island; however the seas were not kind and we were taking 3-4 swells on the beam, making for an uncomfortable ride. Checking the charts, it was determined that we’d stay on the western side of the Strait of Georgia and put in at Deep Bay for the night. All aboard were pleased with this decision, especially Murray the Cat!

Galley Bay, Desolation Sound, BC – On our way here, the Canadian Air Force Precision Flight Team, the “Snow Birds ”, flew right over SV Wand’rin Star on their way to an air show at the Comox Aerodrome…quite spectacular! Desolation Sound is a cruising destination in this part of the Northwest and even though we were ahead of the season, we wanted to see some of its breathtaking scenery. In the summer, the water temperature warms to the high 70’s allowing folks to go swimming…it was still 47 degrees, so we didn’t bother digging out our swimsuits.

Tenedos Bay, Desolation Sound, BC – This has been Gary’s favorite anchorage so far as it was very sheltered and dramatic with rock cliffs. Unfortunately we also had an anchor incident here as we decided to reposition, but when we tried to hoist the anchor it wouldn’t come! We still had 100’ of chain and the anchor down but the windlass just couldn’t budge it. In fact, the bow of the boat dipped when we attempted to raise the anchor…. luckily after some maneuvering and appeals to the sea gods the anchor pulled free from the rocks and we carefully dropped it again in a better area.

Squirrel Cove, Cortes Island, BC – We stopped at the Public Wharf for a quick visit to the Squirrel Cove General Store and to mail some postcards before dropping the anchor in a secluded part of the cove. The next day was to be our first attempt at transiting rapids. The evening was spent analyzing the current tables and the tide/current information in Nobeltec, by the end of the evening we were confused and I was feeling uneasy about moving the next day. So we decided to crunch numbers again and read more information about timing the rapids. What we found out was that it was very difficult to go through the three rapids, Yuculta, Gillard Passage, and Dent Rapids at the same slack tide when moving north. Dent Rapids, the most northerly, was slack almost 30 minutes before Yuculta, the most southerly, making a run of all three impossible. Luckily Big Bay is beyond Yuculta and it’s possible to stop there and wait for the next slack in roughly 6 hours. As we were approaching Yuculta, another boat, MV Misty Michael was also waiting to go through; we radioed them & discussed our plan to stop in Big Bay and they were doing the same thing. It was a very pleasant chance meeting in a friendly location. One of the local fisherman motored out to tell us that the public dock was available and both boats headed for it. The local community is updating & reconfiguring the docks hoping to attract more boats as the Big Bay Resort Lodge & Marina is now closed and many of the folks on Stuart Island depend on boaters for their livelihood. It was fun visiting with Chris & Gerry from MV Misty Michael, a new aluminum trawler they recently launched. The four of us spent an enjoyable afternoon hiking to Eagle Lake and checking out each other’s boat. At about 5:00 we both fired up the engines and headed out to pass through the passage & rapids. All went well and we headed to Shoal Bay for the evening. A pleasant surprise was that we had a wireless Internet connection compliments of Shoal Bay Lodge on shore that enabled us to check our Yahoo email!

Blenkisop Bay – Before we could drop the hook the next night in Blenkisop Bay we traveled down Chancellor Channel on our way to Johnstone Strait. The information on tides and currents at Current Passage was again conflicting between the Canadian Tide & Current Tables and Nobeltec. We opted to go with the Canadian info…not a good idea. According to that information, there was to be little or no current at the time of our transit. On the approach, there was about 3 knots of current pushing us along and the boat was traveling almost 8.5 knots. Soon the water started to become disturbed and Wand’rin Star became more difficult to steer as we slowed to just over 1 knot!!! Luckily that didn’t last for long and the boat was back up to its “cruisin’ speed” of 5 knots as we headed for Blenkisop Bay. The next day was Easter & Gary’s birthday, so we started out with a special breakfast before heading to Growler Cove on W. Cracroft Island. The trip there was pleasant and we arrived by 3:00 p.m., giving me plenty of time to prepare Dinner & Dessert for the Birthday Boy!

Growler Cove – This was just to be a one night stop on our way to Port McNeill where we plan to buy new batteries for the house bank as the current ones are no longer holding a charge and take the ferry over to Alert Bay to see the Native American Museum and totem poles. But Mother Nature had something else in mind for us! Remember the 30-40 knot winds I mentioned at the beginning of this section??? The wind instrument registered 28-30 knots consistently since we got up; the forecast was accurate with no break in sight until tomorrow morning. Needless to say, we opted NOT to hoist the anchor spent the day rocking & rolling even though we’re in a protected cove. After three nights in Growler Cove, we finally headed to Port McNeill!

Whew! I think I’m finally up-to-date and hopefully we can get this uploaded while in Port McNeill. In closing, I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a few lines to gush over the beautiful area we’re passing through. The mountain summits are snow covered, the steep hills are thick with evergreens or are craggy exposed rock and the water is DEEP! Much of the time our depth gauge is ---, that means it’s deeper than 600’, 1000’ is not uncommon and in places it has been over 1500’! Anchoring in some coves is a challenge because the water is over 100’ right up to the rock. We’ve been fortunate to always find an easier place to anchor. Eagles soar overhead and seals still greet us along the way. We’ve yet to see our first whales on this leg of our journey, but it shouldn’t be long. The feeling of solitude and aloneness is incredible as we are definitely “ahead of the season” and find anchorages deserted; in fact many facilities aren’t even open yet. Gary & I have often commented that we feel like the only people in this beautiful world and we’re glad to be sharing it with each other!

May each of you enjoy the spring wherever you are and continue to grow as the season warms.

Peace,
Dorothy, Gary & Murray the Cat
Port McNeill, Vancouver Island, BC

Instead of a quote this month, we have a reading recommendation, Passage to Juneau, A Sea and Its Meanings by Jonathan Raban. Mr. Raban follows the route George Vancouver took from Seattle through the Inside Passage (It’s the same one we’re on!) as he discovers much about himself and the sea. Gerry on MV Misty Michael gave it to me and I'm having a hard time putting it down.

© Copyright 2006
Last updated on October 13, 2007