Our travels so far

In the above photo, Matt belays me up the final pitch of Midden Mountain. Actually that's just the rope to our dinghy, but some of the rocky island landscapes we have explored remind me a bit of our alpine travels. It honestly makes me a wee bit homesick for the mountains. But finding middens, places where countless shells have been discarded by First Nations peoples of many generations, is something I get a kick out of. On Mound Island we explored a terraced area in the forest near a midden beach which had been shaped by a past Native peoples village. Lots of ghosts.

Yesterday, from Mound Island we went through Blackney Passage and had a great down-wind sail to Port McNeill. We really like it when we get the right wind and can sail as fast as we can motor. Wish it was like that all the time!

Today we did a town day in Port McNeill, which means showers, laundry, and a grocery run. The grocery store here was big, so we should be stocked for a while.

So, we are excited to head north to check out some bigger waters to sail, and for some remote places to explore.

Fishing for our supper

We finally made the plunge in Port McNeill and have outfitted ourselves with a fishing license, a net, a rod to go with the trolling reel that we found on the boat, and some colorful lures that we hope fish find attractive. We couldn't resist buying the flasher called "Purple Haze". There was one called "Monkey Puke" but we decided to wait and see how Purple Haze performs first.

Matt vaguely recalls one fishing experience as a young boy at a fish pond, and I have some fond (and I am not being sarcastic) memories of gutting trout and playing with fish eyes as a kid. But beyond that we really have no idea what we are doing. We figure hunger will bring out the fishing instinct in us. So wish us luck and hopefully we'll catch something edible. We'll keep you posted.

By the way, I am getting faster at winching in the anchor. My latest time was 24 minutes, so I think I am improving just a bit.

No gym membership required

This is our windlass. It's a manual windlass. That means that every morning, if we have anchored the night before and we wish to leave the anchorage, we have to move the windlass handle back and forth until we've winched up all the anchor chain we let out the night before. This can average about 260 feet for the deeper anchorages we've been encountering. This morning it took me 35 minutes to raise anchor. I am not proud of that time, but it was a calm morning and we could afford to be slow. It was also the first time I attempted to raise it all on my own. Matt is quicker, so if the wind is up he is the crew mate for the job. One of my goals this summer is to get buff by doing morning workouts at the windlass. It's a well rounded workout - it targets both my upper and lower body, as well as my core. And it can be aerobic as well. So stay tuned, I hope to be reporting faster times for my anchor raising in the near future!

Echo Bay Gremlin, or Is This Going to Give Me Nightmares?

I seem to have a knack for finding dead things when I walk in the woods, but Matt found this one first.

If anyone can identify what this once was please enlighten us. To give you a sense of scale, the head was the size of an apple.

Likes and Dislikes

A rare sunny day up Knight Inlet

Things we like

Fresh baked bread

Chocolate

Our Dickinson heater on cold mornings (and evenings)

Our propane stove

Pacific white sided dolphins

Bears, from afar

Tilly, our tiller pilot

Brian B’s music selection

Mist and clouds that hide clear cuts

Anchorages with good holding and lots of swing room

Stirring up phosphorescence in the water at night

The constant singing of Varied thrushes (they are everywhere)

Things we don’t like

Logs (specifically the ones that float in the water waiting to hit unsuspecting boats)

Bucking strong currents

The sound of anchor chain dragging over rock (it sounds ominous)

Docking

Clear cuts

Steep, rocky lee-shore anchorages

When birds fly away or dive before I can identify them properly

Things we like but don’t want to admit to liking

Strange unidentifiable sounds emanating from dense woods as we row by in our dinghy

Electronic charts

Our diesel engine

Warm sunny weather (let’s not jinx ourselves now)

Bisquick

Hungry as bears

This post is about bears and food. We’ve been fantasizing about food a lot, but also on our minds have been thoughts of bears. We are often hungry because we spend a lot of time outside and the cold temperatures and constant activity keeps our metabolisms revved up. The bears are even more hungry because they’ve recently woken up from hibernation. We’ve been on the watch for bears; partly because we are in the midst of bear country right now and it’s fun to spot them, and partly so that they don’t catch us unawares and decide we would make a good meal.

In Cutter Cove we were rowing up a creek in our dinghy to do a bit of exploring, and a black bear stepped out of the thick woods onto shore and startled us. The photo captures our momentary consternation. Matt briefly forgot how to row, and it appears I forgot how to work a camera.

At Glendale Cove we watched a grizzly and her three year old cub grazing on shore. Another cruising couple who knows the area well informed us his name is Spike. We think Spike kept shooting hungry looks our way. Needless to say, none of our recent exercise has included walks on land.

On our journey so far we have been able to restock food supplies about every seven days. This will decrease in frequency as we get to more remote places. At home I use to grocery shop much more often, so I have had to adjust my planning out here. Also, not having refrigeration adds another challenge. We are here early season too so the small stores we've visited have been lean on fresh provisions, which is exactly what we are lacking. It’s been making me become a more creative chef. I do a lot less recipe following and a lot more improvising. No one on board has complained about my cooking... yet.

I’ve just recently started making bread. We find fresh baked bread an ultimate comfort food on some of the grey cold days we’ve had up here. From the food locker I unearthed a jar of some Trader Joe’s red pepper spread. Since we don’t have a toaster I pan fry the bread in olive oil. Adding the spread makes for a decent bruschetta. It doesn’t seem like much but out here it’s very delicious.

We haven’t started to fish or crab yet, but it’s on my list. Wecantu even hooked an old crab pot on her anchor the other morning. Maybe she is trying to tell us something!

Reflections

Waiatt Bay got a little spooky in the evening. I’ve read about and have seen photos of shoreline reflections and how this phenomenon influenced Coastal Native art, but experiencing it first hand was downright eerie. The evening light was just becoming dim and the water was very calm. We looked at the shoreline sideways and another world jumped out at us. Totem pole imagery marched menacingly down the bay and gave us a mild case of the willies. We were completely sober just so you know. These photos don’t do it any justice. Once it got dark we sat inside our boat in front of the comforting flame of our Dickinson heater and were very glad we weren't camped out in the woods.

Wecantu meets Tangatatu

On our way through Baker Passage at the north end of the Strait of Georgia we came upon another Westsail 32. You can call me biased, but Tangatatu was a gorgeous boat!

Rebecca Spit

Lots of driftwood from southerly storms coming up the Strait of Georgia.

View from our boat.



Cobblestone beach and clear waters.

The story so far

On Thursday we left Nanaimo and crossed the Strait of Georgia. Wecantu literally galloped across at an average of 8.5 knots. Our maximum hull speed is about 7 knots, so we had her going as fast as she could and then some with a bit of a boost from currents. The southerly winds were in our favor. The seas were a bit rough, but the sail across was some of the best sailing we’ve had in a while. Wecantu was in her element.

We anchored for the night in Garden Bay in Pender Harbor. On Friday morning we had an early start. We stopped to top off on diesel at Lund and then continued on to Rebecca Spit on Quadra Island. This surprised me as being a very pretty anchorage, with panoramic views of the Coast Range mountains and a cobblestone beach to walk. The water was clear too.

Saturday we had a later start to time our arrival at Surge Narrows at slack. On our way we encountered a group of five orcas who were moving southward. We went through the passage a little early and fought a bit of current. It kept us on our toes but we made it through just fine. We continued on to Octopus Islands to anchor in Waiatt Bay. We were the only boat anchored here. We are on a well-travelled route but when you are the only ones around it can begin to feel a bit remote. We like the solitude.

Today we left Waiatt Bay and went through Okisollo Channel at slack. Unfortunately when we reached Johnstone Strait we were fighting a pretty good flood current. On the bright side we were lucky to see a big group of orcas feeding in the rip tides near Chatham Point.

We are now docked at Blind Channel resort for laundry, showers, and an internet connection.

A (semi) typical day

You might be wondering what goes on with us on a day to day basis. Yesterday was a slightly out of the ordinary day as it was a day on the town, so it’s a semi-typical day. None of our days have felt at all like a vacation. It’s been lots of work and activity, but very engaging.

Yesterday we woke up at 6, and were underway at 7. This enabled us to reach Dodd Narrows at slack tide. At Dodd currents can create a flow of 8 or 9 knots so this is why boats wait until slack. Dodd Narrows was very pretty and yes, narrow! It curved around so you couldn’t see the other side until you were through.

We reached Nanaimo a little before 11 am and set anchor in Mark Bay. We had a quick lunch and then set up our dinghy and motored across the harbor to the courtesy dock at the marina.

The courtesy dock has a three hour limit, so we quickly decided we needed to find wifi, the post office, and a marine chandlery. I was hoping to find a library because I figured we could get wifi, and we could ask the librarians all sorts of questions. We had a tourist map of the town, but a library was not marked. It was a bit of an adventure being on foot in a strange town looking for things. Serendipity led us to the library very quickly so we spent a little time there. I asked the librarian a few questions – I noticed he was keeping statistics so I wanted to keep him a little busy.

After our library stop we finished up our other errands and then took our dinghy back to the boat, dodging a few sea planes in the harbor.

Back on the boat I made pizza again while Matt worked on a boat project. After lunch we motored our dinghy over to the Newcastle Island Marine Park to explore on foot. This island has a bit of history – Native American summertime settlement, sandstone quarry, herring salteries. It is now a park with lots of trails and wildlife.

We met a kayaker camped on the island who is planning on paddling all the way up to Juneau this summer. He started in Olympia eight days ago. (He’s making better time than we are!) We chatted with him a bit. He has a Pygmy wooden kayak – years ago I had considered building one of these but never did. I got quite excited thinking about his trip and it made me realize how much easy comfort we have with our sailboat. It also made me realize that I absolutely miss camping out! It was fun talking with him and we hope to run into him again.

We continued exploring the island and walked all around it, which turned out to be a bit of a hike. We got back to the boat a little after 8. We had a small snack and I read for a little bit (I am in the middle of Watership Down, but also just started Hoot by Carl Hiaasen which I downloaded on my Nook (which I love, thanks Shoreline co-workers!)). Matt worked on a few things and then we fell hard asleep. Our anchor alarm went off at around 10 pm, but it was just due to a wind shift. (The anchor alarm alerts us if the boat swings farther than whatever pre-defined radius we give it. It can let you know if your anchor is dragging, but in this case it was just fine.)

So that was our day. The days feel very long, and are varied. We wake up with a general plan, but also just go with the flow. Some things go as we expect, but there are often difficulties and problems to be solved. We are enjoying it all very much.

Today we are back in town doing a few more errands and taking advantage of the library again.

The photo is of a river otter on a mooring buoy at Sucia Island. I had no idea that they ate seaweed but we watched him eat several pieces.

We are planning on crossing the Strait of Georgia, hopefully tomorrow, so stay tuned, and thanks for all your comments!

Hi from Nanaimo Public Library

I seem to be able to locate libraries pretty well, I guess it's just a homing instinct with me. And I do feel right at home here - the dewey decimal system and free wifi are alive and well.

We arrived at Nanaimo late this morning and are anchored out in Mark Bay. We hope to do a little exploring and shopping, but have a time limit on how long we can leave our dinghy tied up at the public dock. So sorry I can't email every one - this post will have to suffice.

Some of you have asked about what we do for food on board. I absolutely worship our new propane stove - the photo shows what Matt and I had for dinner last night. Not too shabby.

Meet Tilly

We’ve wanted a tiller pilot for a while now, and we finally acquired one for this trip. They are ideal for motoring or sailing in light wind and wave conditions. Basically you provide it with electrical power and in return it will uncomplainingly helm the boat on whatever course you tell it to. With Tilly steering (yes, we’ve named her) Matt and I are free to do sail work, wander the whole length of the boat on our watch, or work on whatever other task we choose. It’s a liberating tool and we wonder how we ever got by without one.

The photo shows a bird’s eye view of Tilly in action. (She’s the black thing with the buttons on top.)

Stuff

While preparing for this trip, I have been constantly dumbfounded by the amount of Stuff we’ve had to deal with.

First we had to rent a small storage unit when we put our house on the market. We needed a place to store excess Stuff to make the house look appealing and tidy. (And our house was only 650 square feet plus garage, so I didn’t think we had much Stuff at that point.)

Once the house sold we needed to rent a bigger storage unit to store most of our Stuff while we moved in temporarily with Matt’s parents.

Then when it came time to move our Stuff out to the Montana house we had to rent a trailer to help move all the Stuff. The truck, trailer, and MPV were packed to the gills and we still had to leave some Stuff behind. It was beginning to look like the Oregon Trail when things are being tossed out the wagons because the horses and oxen can’t pull the weight. While driving up some of the mountain passes there were moments when I thought that we might actually have to jettison some items because the vehicles were laboring so hard – we could barely keep up with the semi-trucks.

I have to add that during all these months a constant culling of Stuff was occurring, so we actually had fewer things than we started out with.

When we returned from Montana we still had Stuff in the storage unit that we hadn’t been able to fit in the vehicles. Fortunately we had a friend with a fairly empty garage which we could store this Stuff in. (Thanks Libbey!)

Then came the moment that caused some serious despair. We literally had a whole truck load of Stuff that we needed to fit on the boat, and the boat was already fairly full of Stuff. Matt said he had not suffered much serious stress these past few months until faced with this endeavor. It almost pushed him over the edge.

I’m happy to say that we did get all the Stuff stowed away and nothing had to be thrown overboard. This photo is representative of the way all our cupboards and lockers look, however.

In order to retrieve one item, it seems we typically have to move no fewer than five items to get to it. It makes our old 650 square foot house seem like an absolute mansion. But right now I wouldn’t trade our boat for anything. Who needs all that Stuff anyways?

Matt and I just wanted to thank everyone who came to see us off - it meant a lot to us. I only managed to take a few photos so I apologize if you aren't in one of these!

We had a sunny motor to Port Ludlow, and on our way a minke whale surprised us by surfacing very close to the boat.

This morning we woke up early and continued on to Port Townsend. Right now we are all cozy at the Point Hudson marina.

We have jumped right into projects. Matt is installing stronger locker door latches (on the package it actually says 'stud catch' and we are giggling about that).

I am playing the endless game of "Where is the (fill in the blank here)". So far I cannot locate our little video camera, and a USB cable for another camera. I am sure I will not be able to find many other things later today. I am always amazed at how easy it is to loose stuff in the limited space on a sailboat...

Thanks again for showing your support, miss you all!