May 11, day 6

We stayed in Pender Harbor today and played. Absolutely 5 star day up here. It was a bit windy in the morning and cool but sunny. We took the Kayaks out for about 3 hours and paddled all over this harbor. It is probably the neatest place to explore by kayak for a populated area. The harbor is actually about 6 seperate bays all with their own character. we paddled through a narrow channel, about two feet deep into Bargain Bay and had a great time. We came back and I was sent on a mission to find a restaurant to take Chris to for mothers day. As it turns out there are not a lot of options here. Two of the three restaurants listed are all closed down. Irvines landing and its pub is closed down and it looks like the prperty all around there has been subdivided into lots. The lots look a bit precarious to build on, quite steep and rocky but thats par for the course up here it appears. Most homes are sitting on rock ledges over the water.

The restaurant that was located in the old missionary hospital has also closed down. So the only option is the Garden bay Pub. There is a new resort and marina being built and as of our visit it is not yet open but supposedly there will be an upscale restraurant there. From the looks of it it will be quite nice.

We went over to the Garden Bay pub and were pleasantly surprised. There was a small local crowd and a live band. Apparently every Sunday afternoon there is a jam session with local musicians. Apparently they have nothing better to do up here in the winter than to practice because these people were really good. Not your average kareoke group. There was this one guy with a fiddle that was amazingto listen to. Then they had a visitor who played classical spanish guitar and he was phenominal. They all looked a bit rough around the edges but they could play and sing.

Oh yea, we had a fantastic meal as well. If you ever get up here you have to try the seafood chowder. Even Chris's chowder looses out to this one. There was every type of seafood imaginable in their except maybe squid. Oysters, muscles in the shell, salmon, clams, crab legs and shrimp. Best I have ever had and it was a full meal, not just a small cup like most places serve.

The wind died down completely in the afternoon and the water is like glass tonight. It is clear and cold and tomorrow should be about the same. Another weather front is moving in and it does not look too good for Tuesday or Wednesday. .

We are about the only tourist up here right now. Were surrounded by working boats tonight, not another recreational boat in sight. I guess were about the first northbound boat this season by the looks of things.

Were moving north tomorrow, probably Lund or Squirrel Cove and wait for Glen and Liz there.

From Lund it is an easy run to Yaculta, Guilliard and Dent Rapids. We need to be at Yaculta half an hour before slack tide at Guilliard in order to make it through Dent at high water slack. This is where you want to make sure your timing is right because Chris and Liz are not gong to be happy campers if we misjudge the tides and currents here. It is not a pretty picture watching a 43 foot boat spin in circles in the whirlpools especially if your on it at the time. If we time it right we can ride the ebb tide north to Greenpoint rapids and once past that the second challenging navigation problem is behind us. Only about a dozen more to go.

Still not luck on my Yahoo email. Everything else works but I still cannot read my email when I use the Verizon card.

Still no luck on my AIS but I got a good response from the Jeppson software tech. He emailed me on Chris's hotmail account with some things to check and I am closer to a solution but not yet there.

Hope everyone had as nice a mothers day as we did, it can't get much better

Day 5

It's like were dragging our anchor behind us. Not going far each day, delaying and waiting for Glen and Liz to catch up. I think they left today but my email is still acting very strange so I cannot read her return email to me. I can connect, i can blog, I can get into Chris's email and I can get into my email, I just cannot open or send any of my emails because when I try it says I am not connected to the internet. I am totally confused. Anyone got any brilliant ideas about why my email won't work on the vorizon air card. When I was hooked up to the local wireless network my email worked fine. If your sending us emails send it to Chris's as well as mine. Chris's email is mrsmajor@hotmail.com.

I think there is a computer bug. My navigation software went buggy as we crossed the straits of Georgia today. Lost GPS connection and my AIS. At this rate we could end up in Siberia.

I got the GPS working again but still cannot figure out the AIS. That is the system that identifies shipping via a radio receiver and plots the location onto the computer map so not only do you know there is a commercial ship there but where they are going, how fast and when they will most likely run over you. Without that I will have to rely on just radar and eyeballs. I guess they have worked for years so we should be ok. But it is frustrating, the AIS worked fine for two days and now won't work. But lesson learned, do not try to trouble shoot while underway. Its hard to watch for logs, ships and stay on course while ones head is buried in a computer screen.

Were at Pender Harbor tonight and we will stay here tomorrow waiting for Glen and Liz. Its a big harbor with lots of places to explore by dinghy or kayak. Hopefully the weather will finally warm up. It was grey and cloudy all day but the wind held off and the storm front the Canadian weather service was predicting never materialized. I am guessing they come from the same school as american weather men.

We will head north towards Squirrel Cove on Cortez Island on Monday and hopefully meet Glen and Liz there. Without phone service its a bit hard to connect once they leave until were within radio range.

May 9, day 4

Did not get far today. Left Montegue at 1100 and cruised slowly north to Gabriola pass. Needed slack tide to pass through and that was at 1:50. Made it through without any difficulty and stopped at Silva Bay. Decided to stay at Silva bay today because the candadian weather service was reporting "an intense low pressure system will cross Vancouver Island this afternoon bringing strong to gail force winds south east of Nanaimo. Well that is where we would be in early afternoon if we continued across the straits so we decided to stay on this side today and see what Saturday brings.
Three hours later the water in the strait is still flat calm and we would have been safely on the other side but better safe than live with a ticked off wife in a 43 foot boat.
No more boat issues today, things went well except that I cannot email from my account or read emails. I can access web sites, download weather, blog, read chris's email but I cannot get any of my mail. Kind of frustrating and it dosn't seem to make any sense. Not sure if it is on my end or Yahoo's end. Oh well.

Send emails to both Chris and I and between the two of us we may be able to read them.
My nextel no longer works. Chris ordered a special nextel account that was supposed to allow her phone to work in Canada but it is not working either. Not sure why were worried about not being able to talk to people, were supposed to be on vacation and out of reach aren't we?

Today was a beautiful day. Woke to blue sky and flat water. Clouded up today and we are expecting rain by tomorrow morning.

day 3, customs

We crossed into Canada today. Left Roche Harbor at about 1130 and debated between Sydney and Bedwell Harbor for entry. Chose Sydney because the currents were more favorable. Good thing, Bedwell is not open for business until May 15th at the earliest. It could be May 31st.

Sydney is a mess. The Marina is in a state of disassembly. The customs dock has been moved to the far end and is not functional. they are putting in more floats and they don't even have the cleats attached to the floats yet. We tried calling the marina office by radio and phone for directions but they were out to lunch. There were no signs for customs and the only information we had was to tie up at the end of F dock which we did. There is not a customs offieice at Sydney marina, the customs officers have to come over from the airport. We later were informed by the marinal manager that the red box lying on the dock is the customs phone. No sign and the box looks nothing like a phone box. So if you cross over in the next few weeks through sydney, look for a worn, red metal box that looks like someones toolbox lying on the dock and open it to call customs.
We finally called Bedwell marina and they gave us the customs phone number to call. I spoke with a very nice lady and it seemed like we were just about to get a phone clearance when she asked about fire arms. I have a shotgun on board and that required a visit from an officer. so we waited about 30 minutes and two very young officers came down and ran through all the questions again. Chris had more booze than she was supposed to have but because we declared it all and were up front they did not charge us for it. It cost 27.50 to get the shotgun registered but that was painless and I now have a permit that is good for 30 days.
They did not ask us about the freezer full of meat. the looked through the refer but were only concerned about fruit and vegitables.
chris asked about the health document for the dog and they were unaware of any new requirement. All they said they need is a current shot certificate for the dog and they are happy.
So all in all the crossing north into Canada was a piece of cake. We will have to check in on the way back for a face to face inspection because of the gun.
We go it registered ahead of time with US customs while we were at Roche so there should not be a problem entering Alaska with it.
Were sitting in the sun, blue skys, no clouds with 10 mph cold wind blowing here at Montegue harbor. Stopped here to by a crab license. Yikes, 109.00 for crab. I better find 109.00 worth of crab to eat while were in BC.

Not many others here at Montegue. about 5 other boats hanging out with us. Normally there are between 50 and 100 boats in here.

Day 2

Woke up to cold west wind at La Conner this morning and grey sky's. Got a slow start, topped off the fuel tanks so we can make it half way to ketchican before filling up again. Paid $4.24 a gallon and took 100 gallons. My milage calculations are right on, after 10 hours cruising since the last fill up we are burning about 5 gallons an hour per engine. Better than I hoped for. .

Bob Bjerk called and said that he and Sheryl were at their boat and planned on meeting us somewhere in the islands and suggested James Island. We headed north on an outgoing tide and found the north end of the Swinomish slew just about as shallow as the other end. Ran most of the way with about 5 feet of water under the keel. I think the last red bouy, the northern most one is missing. According the the gas dock attendant the funds for dredging the canal all went to New Orleans so there is nothing left to repair this waterway.

Bob called a little later and changed the meeting place to Spencer Spit. The tide was a minus 3 and was running strong out Rosario straight and he was not making much headway against it so he let the tide take him south to Lopez Pass and went through where he could make an easier run north to Spencer Spit.

We found them hooked up to one of the bouys and we impressed them with how easy we made it look as we tied on to the adjacent one. Chris was piloting and I was hooking up and we got it done in one pass with the "Happy Hooker" device that came with the other boat.

We spent the next four hours on their boat catching up on family and friends. The clouds cleared up, the sun came out, the wind never materialized and the afternoon turned out perfect.

Were sitting here at Roche Harbor in the Yacht Club out station. From the looks of things were the only people here. Most of the boats are dark, no one is walking the docks and it is pretty quiet here. Never been here this early and have never seen it this quiet.

Tomorrow were crossing into Canada and weather permitting and customs permitting and if we time the tides right we will head for Silva Bay. Friday is supposed to be the best day of the week so if were at Silva bay and the winds and forcast are calm we will shoot across Georgia Strait and hang out in desolation sound to wait for Glen and Liz.

The tracker system is working well and a couple fo people have called to tell us they are keeping track of us and watching our progress.

Day 1

We finally made it, were on our way. We left Port Orchard at about 7 am this morning, cold but no wind. I let Chris sleep while I untied and got us underway. We made it to the Bremerton side of the bay when alarms started sounding and poor Chris was rudly awakened by blaring horns. good thing I put in the alarms when I did, they saved the trip. This was not a good omen or the best way to start a 4 month cruise. . Suffice it to say you need sea water to cool the engines. Once that little oversight was fixed and I checked to engines to make sure they were not over done, we got back underway. Everything seemed to purr right along after than. We debated going the outside route across straits of Juan De Fuca but the coast guard kept broadcasting a gale warning for afternoon, winds up to 35 mph predicted from the West. Smith Rock was reporting 20 mph hour winds at the point I had to make a decision so after checking a couple other weather sites I decided to go the inside route. Not as much push from the current that way but it was calm all the way.
Swinomish channel is hazardous at low tide, No I did not run aground the but the sailboat entering next to me did. I was in four feet of water when lined up with the range markers on the west entrance for most of the way in to the first island on the south side of the channel. A sand bar protrudes out into the channel about a third of the way at the east end of that island. And right in the middle of the channel adjacent to that island are three nasty deadheads, pointed west and set to put a nasty hole in any unwary boat that does not see them. I am not sure if they stay in that position as the tide rises, if they do, anoter two feet and they would be absolutely impossible to see and set perfect to take out the running gear of any boat.
We are tied at the Swinomish yacht club reciprocal dock enjoying some sun at last. Wind had died down finally and it has warmed up nicely.

final days, a change in plans

Were down the the last weekend before departure. Today was my last day at work, said goodby to the office and apparently I was already in vacation mode because I left my phone sitting on the desk. All afternoon I was lost without it because it is my electronic brain with all my contact information and phone numbers. Withhout it I could not even coordinate with Chris regarding a meeting place for the send off party at Dukes. A bunch of friends gathered for a few drinks, some food and lots of bad jokes and good stories. I got my phone back so now at least Chris and I can communicate. I had sent her to the wrong restaurant so I got the phone back just in time to divert her to the right one, not a good way to start a four month trip, send you wife off to a different restaurant. I wonder how long she would have waited for us to show up before I was a dead man.

Were not quite ready. Small repair job to the starboard engine. I noticed the raw water pump was dripping oil from the weep holes a few weeks ago. I debated whether I needed to change the pump or not, and initially figured I would chance it, surely the pump would last another 3000 miles. Bad decision Tom! I decided on Wednesday to make a better decision and do the preventive maintenance and to pull the pump and rebuild or replace it. Thankfully the other pump looks in great shape because getting to it would be not much fun. Getting this one off was hard enough and it was the one with easy access. I got it off then called around to get a price and pick one up. Well the best of plans usually overlooks a few small details, like no one has my pump in stock. Uh oh! Called Tacoma Diesel. The sales guy their said, uh oh, these are on back order. I might be able to have one next day or more likely in about a week. Not the answer I was looking for. He said he would get right back to me when he found one. I am still waiting for his call. I called fisheries supply and they found one right away. In Maine. they could have it in a couple days for a mere 650 bucks. Yikes that is 130 gallons of diesel. Everyting is now calculated in fuel units not dollars and cents.
I asked the guy at Fisheries if they had a rebuild kit and he said they did. I said I would be right up to pick it up, not even asking the price and I would let him know if I wanted him to order the new unit. I do need a spare but was not sure I wanted to spend the money on one so I would just rebuild the old one. and hope for the best As I headed North to Seattle I called the Cat dealer to see if they had a pump in stock. He could not tell me if they had one because they used cat part numbers not Sherwood pump numbers. He needed the engine serial numbers. The only place to get those is off the engines. I turned back around and made a short side trip from Tacoma to Port Orchar, got the numbers and called the Cat dealer back. Not only did they have one but it was only 25o dollars. Hmm, must be some problem here, how in the world can there be a 400 dollar difference in price for the same pump. I headed for the the Cat dealer figuring for sure there was going to be some mistake and the pumps would not be the same. Wrong! They were exactly the same. So I picked up the new pump but the salesman forgot to tell me over the phone there was a 250 dollar core fee. They wanted the old one to rebuild. I figured I was still money ahead if I picked up the rebuild kit from Fisheries, it could not be all that expensive, keep the old pump, rebuild it for the spare and install the new one.
I got to Fisheries about 3 hours later than planned and they had the rebuild kit waiting for me. The small box of parts cost a stunning 350, more than the entire new unit at Cat.

On my way home I started doing the math. If I return the rebuild kit, get my 350 back, go to Cat and buy another new pump and turn in the old one I would only be out 750. Right now I was out about 850. I could save a whole 100 dollars or 25 gallons of diesel.
I figured my time was worth something so instead of doing the driving to return things I decided to use the kit to rebuild the old one. After spending about 4 hours trying to get the old one apart, spending more money on tools to do that and then reading the instructions about how hard it is to rebuiild correctly unless you have the right tools, (I don't) I decided to go back to cat and pick up another new pump as a spare and get rid of the old one to get my 250 back.

I called them and the salesman told me that he sold the last one to some guy the day before. No kidding, what luck. But he could have another one by Monday. So Plans do change.

tomorrow I will install the new pump, put everything back together and pick up and clean the boat. Saturday afternoon we will finish sinking the boat with the additional clothing and food that Chris is convinced she needs. Sunday we will finish up around the house and have breakfast with the kids, dinner with the in laws and fret over last minute details.

Monday I run up to the Cat dealer and pick up the second spare water pump. Go to Fisheries to return the parts kit, head back to the house and have someone drive us to the boat. Hopefully we can be underway by mid morning. the morning tide runs north turning to flood and working against us by noon. I am going to try to use the tides to improve milage and gas consumption so we have to time our travels according the the currents and tides wherever possible.

The weather is finally showing signs of improvement, sun and calm weather for the next 5 to six days. so if the wind is in our favor (calm) we will go the west side of Whidby and across the straigts of Juan De Fuca. If not we will go the inside route to Deception Pass which is a bit longer but fare less bumpy.