July 19th Annette inlet, Prevost Island We left Montague and motored all of half hour to Annette Inlet and anchored in the back bay with Steve and Michelle. Crab louie for dinner and crab benedict for breakfast. Still using up the 8 crab steve caught outside of Roche. No one was catching in Garrison Bay apparently so they moved over to the small island across from the marina and caught 8 big ones before they came across the boarder. We ran into Ganges yesterday by dinghy for resupply, fresh raspberry and ice cream for dessert. I have had a vexing problem since we left, taking on water somewhere and I have tried everything to find it. Thought it was leaking shaft packing since that is where the water was accumulating but way too much for that, and when I tasted it it was fresh water, HMMMM! That is a clue. I finally found the source when Chris took her shower this morning. The hose from the shower pump was leaking around the fitting at the hull where it discharges and draining back into the bilge at the outer rib of the hull where I cannot see it. It then slowly works its way to the bilge pump under the back bedroom floor where I have no access and when underway it sloshes around until it drains into the engine room under the drive shaft and then into the bilge pump well. Of course it takes a skinny midget to get to the fitting, behind the fuel tank, above the exhaust system and of course the one at the back behind all the other plumbing fittings. I can just reach the fitting but have to work blind since I cannot raise my head enough to actually see the fitting at the same time I am working on it. I tried tightening the hose clamps, no luck, I changed hose clamps no luck, I had a spare fitting that was not in use so i swapped the hose to that one, no luck, not enough hose to reach. I spliced another hose onto the leaky one, (jury rigged) did not work. So another trip to Ganges by dinghy for the right parts and another trip into the cramped space and presto, no more leak. After pumping out several gallons of accumulated water from multiple showers, hopefully we have fixed the main problem. Fixed two other small leaks, one on the fresh water pump and one on the raw water pump and I am crossing my fingers that were back to a dry bilge. Picked up a Canadian fishing license at Ganges and dropped a couple pots with fish heads for bait and we will see how we do. Were staying put for another night here, too nice to leave, we have it all to ourselves. I did my good deed yesterday. At Montague the wind was blowing hard as it usually does there and I saw a shade umbrella pick up and blow off of the back of a sailboat anchored a few hundred feet away. The owners were not on deck so it appeared they were unaware they had lost it. I jumped into the dinghy and rescued it for them. They were unaware it had blown off but saw it drifting by but until i brought it to them they did not know it was their umbrella. They were most appreciative and brought us a bottle of wine, they are winemakers so hopefully its a good one.

July 16, 2012, Cabbage Island Anchorage We left Garrison Bay after just two crab crawled into the pots.w Don’t feel too bad, Steve and Michelle got skunked last night. Lots of pots out but I did not see a lot being caught. Entered Canada via Poets Cove, Bedwell Harbor. We were over on our allotment of booze. Cost us $80.90 to get Chris’s 5 bottles of wine across the boarder and one bottle of Baileys. They don’t care about the open ones, we had lots of that but the unopened ones were costly. So the secret is to open everything and call it bar stock since there is little likely hood you will be selling it on the black market if its an open bottle. It’s like buying the stuff twice. I think most of the bottles we won in raffles or we would have never had it in the first place. Your allowed 1.2 liters per person and they were generous in they gave each of us a 1.7 liter bottle without duty but everything else cost big time. I truly think it was more than the stuff was worth in the first place. There was no waiting to cross the boarder, we pulled right in and phoned in our information. I was surprised when I was all done and walking back to the boat to see two customs officers getting off another boat that was ahead of us. Hope I wasn’t supposed to wait for them but the customs officer on the phone didn’t seem to mind and didn’t tell to me to see the officers that were already at the docks. We decided to try a new place, never been there before. Cabbage Island on Tumbo Channel which is right on the south end of the gulf islands and on the western edge of the straits of Georgia. Really cool place and has a feel of being very remote. It is very exposed to a northerly but the next three days the weather is supposed to be virtually calm. There are 10 mooring buoy’s here and we grabbed one for $9.80 a night. We took the dinghy to shore and walked around the island. It’s about a 10th of the size of Blake so it’s a fairly short hike but quite interesting. Each side of the island is distinctly different. The west side is sand or pebble peaches with sandstone ridges. The East side is conglomerate, like concrete. Lots of potential for fossils I would think over there. The south side, it’s a triangular island, is sand and grass. We spotted one deer on the walk, he spooked when Sophie got wind or her but didn’t run far. There are several sail boats and couple other trawlers in here with us and a couple guys who rowed a wooden boat are camping on shore. There were a bunch of folks who were enjoying the sandy beaches that had dinghy’d down from Winter Cove and it looks like this is a favorite spot for locals to hang out on a good day. We fished with Jeff and Tam just north of this island along the reefs that protect the anchorage, for lingcod on Saturday. . Right now as I write this, the water is like glass, the sun is beginning to set, temperature is in the high 70’s and we can see across to the city of Vancouver. Were watching the ferry’s cross from Taswassen to Active Pass and a steady stream of shipping to and from the Port of Vancouver. Chris just brought us a crab cocktail and were sitting on the back deck on the new love seat she bought before we left having appetizers and drinks before dinner. Were watching a family of three sea otters playing around the boat, a momma and two baby’s. Sophie is learning to use her fake grass pad on the front of the boat but whenever she finds real land she goes nuts. The starboard shaft packing is beginning to leak now, the aft bilge pump is running on a regular basis so I tightened it up and hopefully will cut down on the bilge pump cycling. Went 5 years without that thing coming on once now it comes on a bunch. The left trim tab stopped working, gotta figure what went wrong. It was working when I put it in so will have to check the wiring to make sure something didn’t come loose. Chris saw a boat like ours several years ago, with wood trim around their windows in the salon and liked it so I picked some up on our way to the boat and have done two of the front windows and one side, it looks good. Ran out of material so will have to pick up some more when we can find it to finish the job. What a sunset, we just watched the sun set below the horizon and it was one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen. Photos to follow! July 17, 2012 Got up this morning to another perfect day, not a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind. Apparently the northern lights were out the night before and WE MISSED THEM!!!!! Argh! We would have been in the perfect place to see them and we slept through one of the rarest events ever for these parts. Bummer! We had a leisurely morning with breakfast on the back deck then a kayak trip around the bay. I finished that with a quick swim and back deck shower to clean up before loading up and slipping our mooring buoy. We decided to head up to Montague Harbor where Steve and Michelle and JJ and James were anchored. Arrived early afternoon in a brisk wind after bucking a full flood tide through Active Pass. I was able to work the eddies on the north side and kept up my speed in spite of the 5 knot current for most of the pass, crossed over to the south side for the second half and only lost a couple knots of speed. Once we got anchored just behind Steve’s boat Chris saw Steve rigging his sailing dinghy and wanted hers set up as well. So for the next hour or so she and Steve sailed all around the harbor. At least four other small sailing dinghy’s joined the party and they had a regular sailing regatta in the bay. Winds died off a bit but they still had a lot of fun. The little walker bay does just fine in a 15 knot wind. JJ and James joined us for an afternoon appetizer and I ran over and picked up Michelle from her boat. Had a very pleasant afternoon with family.

July 15th opening day of crabbing in the San Juan’s We woke up to clouds and rain this morning. What a change from yesterday. Hot without a cloud in the sky to 50 degrees and heavy mist. Put down a couple pots in the bay but no keepers. JJ and James arrived last night and anchored for the first time in their McGreggor sailboat. They survived the night. We had fresh lingcod last night with Steve and Michelle Jeff and Tam. Very good, very fresh since we caught it just hours before. Chris rowed all around the bay while we were off fishing yesterday, she got in a good workout. We pulled anchor about noon, decided to head over to Garrison Bay to do some crabbing before we cross into Canada. The rain stopped but its still cool and cloudy. A few showers all day. Garrison was not too crowded, less than I thought for opening day of crabbing. There are copious numbers of pots in the bay however. Steve and Michelle got lucky and got into the outstation. He needed to pick up water so even though we left before he did and could have grabbed it I wanted to be an anchor another night and really don’t much like Roche because its so busy and so crowded. We got one large 7 inch crab in the pot, hope for more in the morning. 3 pots out, hopefully they are full. Tomorrow we will run into Roche so I can get on line for a conference call with Lokey and company. Once were done with that Chris and I are headed across the boarder for a few days. July 16th Woke up to some fog, warmer how ever after a night of very heavy rain. Ran into Roche for breakfast and the conference call and are headed back to check the crab pots. Fog has burned off and it’s a beautiful day. Will check in when we can find free wifi.

Friday, July 13, 2012, 1000 PM, WX report, Chance of Thunderstorms What an understatement! The weather report was for at 1000 pm for the San Juan Islands was for a chance of thunderstorms. We have been sitting in Reid harbor with Steve and Michelle and Jeff and tam watching thunder and lightening for over 4 hours now. It has been an amazing display of mother natures awesome power. Sitting at anchor in calm waters, no rain but lightning bolt after lightning bolt all around us. This is just one of the most amazing storms I have ever watched. Atone point we had sun to the west, rainbows to the east and lightning on North, South and East. Now it’s anywhere you look and every 10 seconds the sky lights up with a brilliant flash of light. The Dog is petrified, we had to drug her she was so scared. Glad I am in a snug anchorage. Saturday, July 14, 2012, Fishing, little catching Today was glorious. After last nights storm we woke up to a beautiful day, some morning clouds but by afternoon it was clear, warm and windless. We left in Jeff’s very fast Grady White (49.3 mph) to go fishing in Canada. But first we all had to run over to Friday Harbor to print off one day fishing licenses. After a balky printer at the lodge we managed to get all of us legal. We sped across Haro Strait into Canada and a secret spot for catching lingcod. Things started out with high hopes. On my first drop to the bottom something big took my lure, yep took it all, it was gone in a flash. 10 seconds later Michelle yelled ‘I got a problem”. She thought she had the bottom but she had a nice sized Ling Cod, which I nearly lost in my rookie attempt to net. At as were reeling up Michelle’s fish, Jeff yells fish on! We had three fish in less than 30 seconds and landed two of them. And that was the sum total of our catching. For the next 4 hours we had 5 poles with lines in the water and other than a few errant rock fish not another Ling was caught. Oh well, any day spent on the water is better than a day in the office. Oh yea, I don’t have an office.

Day 2 Kingston to Roche Harbor

We left Kingston this morning about 9 am in pea soup fog, quarter mile visibility. Stayed that way all the way to Smith Island half way across the straits We stayed on the west side of the shipping lanes all the way to Port Townsend, many ships passing within a half mile never seeing them but hearing their fog horns. Not many other pleasure boats out with us so the water was not very crowded. The fog finally lifted in time for us to stop and watch J Pod of the local Killer Whale population off Lime Kiln Point. We got the obligatory courtesy stop by the whale watcher watchers. They were nice and just wanted to make sure we knew the new rules for whale watching, stay 200 yards away and you can’t chase them or stop in their path of travel. He said they had not seen us do anything wrong and thanked us for being whale aware. It was a long day but everything worked like it was supposed to and we met Steve and Michelle and Alan and Sue when we got to Roche Harbor. We anchored out in the bay after attempting to anchor near the Henry Island SYC outstation. Could not get the anchor to set in 12 feet of water off the docks so I pulled it up to reset and had about 100 lbs of eel grass stuck on it. Cleaned it off and moved to deeper water and set the first time. Was wandering around the grounds at Roche when I ran into Eric Waters and Pat from GHFD #5. They had decided on a whim to fly up to Roche for dinner. We sat and talked for a while before Chris and I took our leave to have dinner on Sue and Alan,s boat. They are headed south tomorrow fog permitting. Day 3 Roche Harbor Lightening storms all night. NO wind but hail and heavy rain. Today Alan and Sue were planning on leaving but a line of thunderstorms across the straits and heavy fog starting at Mosquito pass caused them to rethink that plan. Saturday looks much better for crossing to the south. Were hanging out waiting for my parents to drive up from Cattle Point where they live to have brunch with the at the Roche Harbor Cafe. Great looking breakfast but were going to miss that as they stop serving at 1100 so lunch fare will have to suffice. If they make it at all, they got several inches of hail at their house, apparently, mom said something about icicles, I think not but hail, icicles, i guess it could be considered the same thing in mom's thinking? Temperature has dropped 10 degrees in 10 minutes as the storm front moves south of us but it should miss us.

Were off!

Ok, we are finally ready to head out on the boat for the rest of the Summer. Had to haul the boat to fix a vibration in the Port shaft that has been their since I bought the boat but has steadily got worse until I decided I needed to fix it before it broke something. Hated to delay our trip but the soonest I could haul the boat was July 5th. Good thing I hauled it. The prop was bent,two blades out of tune and the shaft was bent. But that was the least of the problem. The shaft and the coupling, the bronze piece that the shaft slips into and connects to the transmission, were never properly attached. Apparently the nut that holds the shaft onto the coupling was bottoming out before the shaft was fully engaged in the coupling which allowed for movement which had caused the key, which keeps the shaft from rotating in the coupling, to nearly shear off. This would have been very bad indeed. The guy at Tacoma Propeller said the key and keyway were way too small for such a large shaft so he enlarged them. The fix however caused more problems and a second trip to the propeller shop to shorten the shaft by 1/4 inch to properly mate with the transmission plate. Can't say enough about Tacoma Propeller, they were great to work with. While the boat was out I had the guys at the yard paint the bottom and I upgraded the trim tabs and lo and behold when we put it back in the water their were no leaks and no more vibrations, both good things. I spent all afternoon loading food water and other stuff on the boat. We had unloaded a bunch of stuff to lighten the boat as it is at the upper end of the boatyards lift capability. the last time I hauled it we had a full load of everything for Alaska and I am pretty sure we stressed the four lift straps just a bit. It was a bit nerve racking for everyone involved. Chris got one last day with Chloe, we will definitely miss our one day a week we get to babysit her but are hoping that they can make it up for a few days to visit us. We have no fixed agenda or schedule, wherever we end up each day is our destination.