20 Sept 2010 - Bringing Arcadia I Home at last

This belated posting represents the end of the "Extended Sea Trial" we've been on since we first took ownership of Arcadia I in Skagway in late June of last year. After well over 10,000 nautical miles under the keel, we've finally brought her to her new home port at Dana Point. We'll stay home and pay attention to family and business for a while, but the next adventure won't be too far in the future.

To recap the travels described in earlier postings. We spent the summer of 2009 in SE Alaska. From there, after a short period on the hard in Bellingham, we took on her own bottom from SE Alaska to Huatulco, Mexico by the end of 2009. In 2010, we continued South to El Salvador and Panama, then turned back North to La Paz, Mexico where we had booked a ride for Arcadia I on a Dockwise yacht transport ship from there to Nanaimo, BC. (Thus avoiding the long and predictably unpleasant ride, "uphill", to Puget Sound). We then made a relatively leisure trip back up the inside passage along the BC coast, back to SE Alaska, where we enjoyed the remainder of the summer season. As we made the last posting, Phyllis had joined Willy and me in Ketchikan, and we were preparing to start down the inside passage toward home.

On Thursday, August 12th, we got underway from Ketchikan at 4 am in hopes of clearing Canadian Customs and Immigration that afternoon. We entered Canadian waters by 10 am and were tied up to the Customs dock in Prince Rupert by 3:30. Checkin formalities were conducted by telephone interview from a phone mounted on the dock, at the end of which we were given a "report number" and were free to go. It was late enough that we decided to try to find a slip in Prince Rupert for the night, but both marinas were completely full. We went looking for a protected anchorage nearby. We notice Phillps Cove on the charts. It looked ideal, although none of our guide books mentioned it. We went in through a looping channel to find a good holding bottom in 3 fathoms and no one else there.

We slept in a bit and got underway the next morning by about 10 am and made a short day of it. Along the way, Shaka made radio contact with us. She had cleared Customs early that morning and was a couple of hours behind us. I'd read the Douglass cruising guide description and wanted to anchor in Baker Inlet that afternoon, but it has a narrow entrance with very rapid tidal currents. We entered at near slack conditions without incident, but Shaka behind us would have missed the tide window. We agreed to make radio contact with them as soon as we re-entered Grenville Sound the next morning. Baker inlet was, indeed a beautiful place to stop. We could have happily spent a week there.

The next morning we were faced with pea soup fog and had to literally creep the winding course back to the entrance to Grenville Sound, with Phyl standing lookout on the bow. Fortunately, the fog lifted right at that point and, although we'd missed slack tide flow, we were able to shoot through with a 3-4 knot current and be on our way without incident.

We raised Shaka (Nordhavn 57) on VHF, finding her also getting underway a couple of miles behind. We had met Johann and Laurie in Ketchikan after a long email correspondence and several missed connections and looked forward to travelling together down the inside passage.

As we finished talking with Shaka, we were hailed by Craig Hougen on Explorer II several hours ahead of us. We hadn't actually met Craig in person before. However, last year we had made preliminary plans to buddy boat with him from Bellingham to Ensenada that ultimately didn't materialize. It was a pleasant surprise to encounter them going down the inside passage at the same time we were.

Craig has a beautiful Malahide 60, (one of the real pioneers of the  "trawler" passagemakers trend we all enjoy). You can take a look at his website at http://www.mvexplorer.ca/Explorer_Blog/Welcome.html. Explorer I was on course into the Broughtons at that point, and we'd made plans to go to Butedale so we didn't connect then. However, we made plans to rendezvous when our paths again crossed between Port Hardy and Campbell..

That morning, Saturday the 14th of August, on Craig's recommendation, we made a short detour into Howe Inlet. We'd hoped to see the bears that Craig reported seeing earlier, but they had left with the tide. The tide flow at Varney Falls was impressive, nonetheless. As testament to the tides along the inside passage coves, these falls can be traversed in a dinghy at high tide.

We then continued to Butedale where we tied alongside the old cannery ruins, (sorry, no pictures there unless Johann took some and sends them to me. If so, I'll post them later). We enjoyed a lovely meal aboard Shaka with Johann and Laurie.

Sunday morning, we got underway early and made a fairly short day of the trip to Fancy Cove in time to enjoy the colorful sunset that resulted from forest fires inland.

On Monday, the 16th, we again left early in the morning, to make the open ocean run across Queen Charlotte Strait. The morning started out beautifully, but degenerated into gale force winds by late afternoon. We were more than ready to tie up when we got to the Quarterdeck Marina in Port Hardy.

On Tuesday, the 17th, we made a long day of it travelling down Discovery Passage, to rendezvous that evening behind Chain Islands, just above Seymour Narrows, in time for a lovely dinner aboard Explorer II. Craig Hougen and his friend Mark Tanner were gracious hosts, indeed.

On Wednesday morning, we got underway at 05:30 to time our run down Seymour Narrows with slack tide flow. The last time we went this way, with Ron Fawcett, we did it at near full flow and passed through them at 18 knots. This time, it was a non-event. As soon as we cleared the narrows, entering Georgia Strait, the wind kicked up to 15-20 knots. Our little flotilla, Shaka, Explorer II, and Arcadia I, breasted lumpy seas for the rest of the day. We got to Nanaimo, and all three boats were able to tie up next to one another at the Cameron Island float in time for a very nice shore dinner at my favorite restaurant there, the nearby Acme Seafood and Chop house, (best clam chowder on the planet). Johann and Laurie were staying a few days in Nanaimo, so we bid them farewell, for now. We hope to see them in Southern California later this fall.

The next morning, Thursday the 19th of September, we followed Explorer II through Dodd Narrows for a protected passage through the Bay/San Juan Islands. This is another very narrow passage with tide flows strong enough to make it impassable by slow boats except at slack tide.

We cruised leisurely down through the islands on a sunny day in almost perfect conditions. It's easy to see why so many people consider the Bay,  (Canadian), and San Juan, (American), Islands the best cruising in North America. We made it to Roche Harbor in time to clear US Customs, (represented by a particularly unpleasant woman), anchor the boats and have an extraordinarily lovely dinner ashore in this delightful place.

The next morning, Friday the 20th, we got underway early and made the short trip over to Bellingham. We'd made arrangments to haul out at SeaView North Boatyard early the following week and they were kind enough to allow us free mooring on their adjacent floats. We were tied up by noon. We cleaned up the boat a bit, rented a car, stopped to say goodbye to Craig and Mark and left the boat for a weekend ashore with friends before Phyl and Willy had to catch their flight home on Sunday afternoon.

We didn't actually haul the boat until Tuesday the 24th. What we found was scary, indeed!

I knew there had been contact with the bottom in the first cove we anchored in after we crossed into Alaska in early July. It felt like a minor scrape on the bottom of the keel. No big bumps or lurches. We checked the bilge for any indication of leaks, of course, but after our much more traumatic experience in Panama the whole incident seemed minor and was soon out of mind. I wouldn't have been surprised to find some small scrapes on the keel but what we actually found was that the Nobeltec transducer and its fairing were completely gone! Here's what it should have looked like. It was the big one with the teardrop fairing.

The previous owner of Arcadia I installed this transducer with the Nobeltec navigation system. For reasons never resolved, it never worked for him, or for us. This transducer protruded 5" below the hull. The fairing was made of insubstantial blue plastic, the trailing edge of which we found broken off last year. All in all, I was happy enough to be rid of it. Thus, this was an incident without any serious consequences. The trandsucer didn't work anyway and no seawater entered the boat as a result of its removal.  The Nobeltec transducer hole was plugged and glassed over. The Furuno transducer, (the round one next to it), was replaced with one that is almost flush with the hull, thus eliminating one more protruding device to catch seaweed or fishing lines or, heaven forbid, be broken off.

However, what made the whole thing chilling to contemplate was the discovery later that we could simply pull the transducer stem inside with with only a slight twist and a gentle tug by hand, leaving a 2" hole through the hull under the bed in the master stateroom! All that had held the transucer stem in place for almost three months, (without leaking a drop), was the thin coat of caulking that had ben applied to it when it was installed. While we have wooden plugs located at every hull fitting, a 2" hole three feet below the waterline would have certainly caused serious water damage and might well have sunk the boat in the time it would have taken us to identify the location of the flooding source. I learned several important lessons from this that I want to pass on to my boating friends.

• Even in Alaska, the GPS charts aren't perfect. While the GPS showed me clearing known rocks as  I entered that cove, I cut the corner when I had plenty of room to give them a wider berth.
• All hull fittings should be as near flush with the hull as possible. Think very carefully before you decide you need that "gee whiz" device that protrudes from the hull. A 60,000 lb boat has enormous inertia. If you contact the bottom or a substantial submerged object with them, such protrusions will be removed and you may not even feel it.
• ANY contact with the bottom calls for immediate inspection of ALL hull fittings from inside the hull and an underwater inspection as soon as possible. Like most prudent boaters, we already had a map of all the hull fittings. If we had pulled the mattress up to look at the 5 hull penetrations under it we'd have seen that the transducer shaft was leaning unnaturally forward. If I had dived the boat, I would have noticed that there were only a few shards of the tranducer fairing remaining.
• God continues to bless us and to forgive my transgresssions.

My brother, Paul, joined me in Bellingham on Friday the 27th of August to help get the boat ready to go on South. While the yard folks worked on the outside of the hull, we did all the normal oil changing and minor repairs inside through the weekend. On Monday, we reprovisioned the boat while the yard crew was doing some minor cosmetic work topside. Weather Bob warned that Tuesday was going to bring some foul weather, but that we had a pretty good window that should last long enough to get to Crescent Bay if we started out as soon as it moved inland.

On Tuesday, August 31st, we were back in the water by noon on a very windy and rainy day. We stayed on the yard's wet dock until about 4 pm, when we moved over to the fuel dock to top off our tanks. By about 5:30 the weather seemed to abate a bit, so we got underway. We deployed the paravanes immediately and moved tentatively out of Bellingham Bay toward Puget Sound. Wind was at near gale force, but without a long fetch the seas were not too bad. By midnight as we cleared Rosario Strait and entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the wind had abated, but were plowing through good sized head seas.

By 10 am on Wednesday, we were passing Cape Flattery with a pretty good ride, considering the weather that had just passed. We went far enough to set a rhumb line course directly South to Crescent City, hoping to avoid crab pots and fishing activity. By midnight, we put Grey's Harbor abeam.

By 06:00 am on Thursday, we put the Columbia River abeam. This was an alternate port, if Weather Bob had indicated we shouldn't try to make it to Crescent City we would have gone in here. Instead, he told us that we needed to be in port by Saturday morning. We opted to make all deliberate haste toward Crescent city. That afternoon, conditions were good enough to stow the paravanes and gain a bit of speed for a few hours.

On Friday, September 3rd, we passed Coos Bay, Oregon by 6:00 am, experiencing a pretty nice ride. By about 5 pm, the wind and seas were picking up a bit, just as Weather Bob had forecast. However, we were able to leave the paravanes stowed as we turned into Crescent City. We were tied to the Crescent City floats by 9:30 that evening.

Paul and I spent Saturday morning doing minor cleanup and maintenance and the afternoon exploring the marina. Weather Bob told us to expect to stay here at least until Tuesday, so we rented a car on Sunday and set out to explore the redwood country for a couple of days. Mike O'leary flew up that afternoon to join us for the trip on South. We had a great time exploring the redwoods and the coast south to Trinidad, CA on Monday the 6th. Just as predicted, there were gale force winds from the North all day.

Just as Bob forecast, the weather broke on Tuesday, the 7th. We turned in the car and got underway before noon, with the paravanes stowed. Paul caught a nice albacore that afternoon as we made our way south. That evening he made a nice dinner of some of it.

We continued South in good weather conditions, Wednesday and Thurdsay deploying the paravanes only at night when moderate seas seem bigger without a visible horizon. On Friday the 10th, we put Pt. Conception abeam by noon, with a noticeable improvement in wind and sea condition right after that.

The early morning hours of Saturday the 11th of September were spent nervously threading our way through heavy ship traffic at the entrances to Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors.

For several days while we were travelling down, my son Zach had been on a quest to find some place near home to tie the boat when we got there. The Nordhavn folks had a slip waiting for us at Dana Point on Monday, so he rented a temporary slip for us in Newport Beach until then. At 6:00 am I called Phyllis on my cell phone to tell her we expected to be there in about an hour. Phyllis, Willy, Zach and Stephanie met us as we tied up. It's good to be home!

11 August 2010 - Cruising Around Alaska, again

We stayed in Petersburg from the 19th of July, (my last posting), through the 22nd. Once again, we enjoyed the extraordinary hospitality of George and Nancy Murrison. Sam Floyd and Al Locy know them from when they all lived in Sacramento many years ago. Sam and Al have been coming up to Petersburg to fish with George and Nancy every summer for several years. Will and I had the pleasure of fishing with them for two days. As usual, George showed that he knows how to put the boat over halibut.

Will and I left Petersburg, without Sam, on Friday the 23rd of June and headed toward Juneau to rendezvous with Danny and Cathy Long. We stopped early that evening at one of our favorite anchorages, Snug Cove in Gambier Bay. We could have easily gotten to Auke Bay on Saturday but that marina operates on a first-come, first-serve basis and there's little hope of finding a place to tie up late on a summer weekend day. Accordingly, we decided to go only to Taku Harbor where we'd be staged for an early Arrival in Auke Bay. Besides, Will likes to catch the little flounder that hang out under the float there. 

We were tied up at a nice location in Auke Bay by 09:30am on Sunday the 25th. Will and I devoted Monday to laundry and shopping. On Tuesday, my old friend and Navy Shipmate, Warren Coughlin, arrived mid-afternoon. His visit will be short, so we got underway as soon as we got back to the boat so we could get some fishing in before dark. We had some success. Warren caught one nice Coho and an Alaskan true cod as we trolled slowly around Douglas Island. We stopped again that night at Taku Harbor because it's a good stop on the way to Tracy Arm.

We spent the whole of Wednesday going into Tracy Arm. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was, of course, awe-inspiring. I don't think I'll ever tire of taking new people there. We made a long day of it, finally dropping anchor at 9:30 pm in Pleasant Bay a short ways up the Seymour Canal.

Thursday, we headed for another of my favorite places in SE Alaska, Red Bluff Bay. Along the way, we trolled some more, catching 2 undersized king, (chinook), salmon and one small halibut. We released the salmon and ate the halibut, of course. We anchored, as planned, in Red Bluff Bay by about 9:30, just in time to see the panorama.

Friday, we made our way up to Tenakee Springs. This time, we tied up at the city floats rather than our usual practice of anchoring in Saltery Cove. We tied up adjacent to a particularly friendly group on a beautiful Nautor Swan sailboat. They announced that they had more Dungeness cooked than they could possibly eat. Willy and I, of course, helped them remedy that situation. Warren, as a matter of religious conviction, doesn't eat shellfish, so he had to suffer through eating halibut.

On Saturday, July 31st, Danny and Cathy Long arrived. Warren left ship's company early Sunday morning. As soon as the fuel dock opened on Sunday morning, we topped off and got underway, stopping in Saltery Bay to stage ourselves for transiting Peril Strait the next morning on our way to Sitka..

Monday morning, we left Saltery Bay early. We arrived at Sergius narrows at near slack conditions and could have gone on to Sitka that evening. However, we weren't in any hurry, so we opted to anchor in Baby Bear Cove early in the afternoon. We deployed the dinghy and cruised around the local coves and even did some unproductive fishing. As much as Cathy wanted to see a bear in Bably Bear Cove, we never did.

Tuesday, we went through the narrows without incident and tied up at Sitka's Eliason Marina in time to make a walking tour of this lovely old city and to have a nice dinner ashore. We spent Wednesday doing a small amount of boat maintenance and wandering around seeing the sights. It's easy to see why so many cruisers think Sitka is the nicest stop they made in SE Alaska.

We thought about making an outside passage south from Sitka to Ketchikan, but the seas and wind reports made that sound like an uncomfortable trip. Accordingly, we left Sitka early on Thursday morning and made the Peril Strait transit in one long day. Late that evening, we anchored in Schooner Cove off Warm Springs Bay. As soon as people started to leave the public mooring on Friday morning, we moved there and went ashore to enjoy the public warm springs bathouses and see the sites of this unusual little community. We left there before noon and made the passage through Frederick Sound to anchor in Portage Bay by 7 pm. We have often seen a lot of whales in this stretch of water. I'd hoped to show Danny and Cathy a group bubble feeding, but all we saw were a few singles this trip.

By now, we had about used all of Danny and Cathy's time, so on Saturday the 7th of August, we left Portage Bay after picking up our empty crab pot and made another long day of it. We passed through Petersburg without stopping, transited Wrangell Narrows and finally anchored in Ratz Harbor on Clarence Strait.

Sunday, the 8th, we took on fuel in Ketchikan, then docked at the city floats at Bar Harbor. Danny and Cathy flew home to Texas very early on Monday morning, once again leaving Willy and me on our own. We had a great day! We walked up to the other marina to meet with Johann and Laurie on Shaka, (Nordhavn 57). We'd been corresponding by email with them for months, but this was the first time our paths had actually crossed. Later, Willy and I walked up Ketchikan Creek to see the king salmon run. Truly imprssive! We also took a tour of the hatchery that the local Indian band operates right there in town. Unfortunately, I cannot find all the pictures I took that day. When I turn them up, I'll edit this post and add any good ones.

On Tuesday, Willy and I reprovisioned the boat, did laundry and straightened things out in preparation for the Admiral's arrival. We had another great dinner at the Back Bay restaurant with Shaka's crew.

Phyllis arrived Wednesday afternoon, the 11th of August. The resident Social Director, Willy, insisted on showing Mom the salmon run in Ketchikan Creek that afternoon and dinner that evening at the Back Bay Restaurant.

20 July 2010 - Back to Alaska

My apologies for not staying more current. The farther behind you get in one of thes things, the harder it is to find the time to catch all the way up.

As noted in previous posting, we loaded Arcadia I aboard Dockwise’ Super Servant III on June 4th. The ship made another stop was in Ensenada, Mexico before proceeding to Nanaimo, BC. It arrived there on June 18th. I drove up from home and was in Nanaimo to see it arrive.

As I came aboard Super Servant III, It was obvious that she had encountered heavy weather along the way. One sailboat that had been loaded stern first had her dodger completely blown out and destroyed. Arcadia I suffered no significant damage, although the dinghy cover had blown off and the dinghy, itself, had considerable salt water aboard. Other boats reported similar minor wind damage. Several rust stains appeared around stainless fittings on Arcadia I, as well. This is apparently attributable to “acid rain” caused by Sulfur oxides in the carrier’s exhaust plume being mixed with rain and salt spray. The stains were easily removed using “On and Off” deck cleaner.

On Saturday, June 19th, unloading from Super Servant III began about 9:00 am. Unloading proceeded smoothly, if a bit slowly, under the direction of the competent Dockwise Load Master. The only incident occurred just after the ship was fully ballasted down and all the boats were afloat. A BC ferry steamed close by at high speed, throwing a large wake into the open cargo deck causing several boats to pitch and rock wildly while in close proximity to one another. We heard a VHF conversation from the sailboat Crème Brule declaring that damage had occurred from a resultant collision. We don’t know the extent of damage, nor do we know if Dockwise took responsibility for the repairs.

Unloading was completed by noon. Before Arcadia I actually unloaded, I called Canadian Customs & Immigration by cell phone. I was given my CanPass number by phone, with no boarding or inspection required. None of the other boat owners I talked to had the same experience. Each was apparently required to report to the customs dock for inspection while I was able to move Arcadia I directly to the slip I had reserved earlier at the Nanaimo boat basin.

On Sunday, June 20th, Phyllis’ brother and sister-in-law, Steve and Alex took the ferry over to Nanaimo. We spent a pleasant evening making a short cruise of their visit, with an overnight stay in nearby Nanoose Bay. We returned to Nanaimo boat basin on Tuesday in time to share some of what I believe to be the world’s best clam chowder, (at the nearby Acme Rib and Seafood House), before Steve and Alex had to leave on the last ferry back to the mainland that evening. The longer I do this, the more I value the time I get to spend aboard with family and friends that I rarely get to see otherwise.

Tuesday, I spent the day doing odd jobs, then had a very pleasant dinner with new friends from Celtic Song, a beautiful Pacific Seacraft sailboat that made the same dockwise shipment from La Paz.

Wednesday, Arcadia I went on the hard at Stone’s Boatyard. This is the first time I’ve actually seen her out of the water since I fetched her up hard on a rock in the La Perla Islands in Panama. The gouges in the keel are more extensive that I remembered from diving on her. They’re certainly ugly. However, as we ground them out in preparation for repair, it was apparent that not one of them actually penetrated all the layers of fiberglass fiber.

Nordhavn owner’s all have a great deal of confidence in the quality of their boats. I can attest that this confidence is not misplaced. Arcadia I survived an event that might very well have fractured the hull on many boats. She not only survived, she did it without a leak. We sailed her without any repair from Panama to La Paz. When we did repair it, the cost was less than $500 and it took only a day. Thank you, PAE and Ta Shing shipyard, for all of us Nordhavn owners!!

During the two day stand on the hard, we did a pressure wash, replaced hull zincs and added a coat of anti-fouling bottom paint. We also, replaced the pillow block that serves as the upper bearing, or gudgeon, for the rudder shaft. (My grandmother, a Midwest farm woman with no known connection to the sea, often used the expression “from rim to gudgeon” to describe something as all-encompassing. Language is a beautiful thing.)

This particular bearing application, however, isn’t so beautiful. It didn’t last a full year before the seals, intended to keep foreign material out of the bearing race and balls, themselves, disintegrated in the salty environment and fell into the balls in pieces. This caused the bearing to bind, with an increase in steering effort and the autopilot could no longer consistently maintain course. When I changed it in Bellingham, I thought it was a problem that had taken 14 years to develop. Now that I understand that it failed in only a few months, I’m in active pursuit of a better solution.

Arcadia I was re-launched on schedule Friday afternoon and moved back to the boat basin in time to see my business partner, Dave Morgan, arrive by seaplane nearby. Dave was in Vancouver on business and took the opportunity to hop over for dinner.

On Saturday, Dave and I left together on the ferry to Tsawwassen and drove to SeaTac and flew home to Southern California. I’m going primarily down to bring our 6-year old, Will up. He’s going to spend the summer on the boat with me.

On Tuesday, June 29th, Will and I converged with Sam Floyd and my brother-in-law, Steve Hellyer all converged at Sea-Tac airport and loaded into the Land Cruiser. Sam, Will and I got on the ferry at Tsawwassen, Steve took the Land Cruiser home to Olympia. He and Alex are going to Southern California later this week and will drive it down and leave it when they fly home at the end of their trip.

On Wednesday, the 30th, Sam, Willy and I moved Arcadia I back over to Stone’s boatyard to install the new house batteries that arrived in our absence. This is a long needed replacement of these batteries. The earlier ones died last fall, possibly of age, more probably of neglect. (You have to disassemble the master stateroom bed to get to them). I had to replace the two big deep-cycle batteries with a single, relatively inexpensive truck battery, as a temporary measure, because that’s all I could find.

This actually worked out OK in the tropics, since we ran the generator nearly all the time for air conditioning, we didn’t actually cycle the house batteries., they just floated on the system except when we were servicing the generator or switching to or from shore power. However, now that we’re back in a more temperate climate, we don’t need the air conditioning. It’s not good for the generator it to run it with the remaining low house loads, so we rarely operate it at all. That all means we now must restore the house battery banks to full deep cycle capability, recharging them from the main engine as we travel and giving them a full equalizing charge every few days from shore power whenever we get to marinas. The new batteries restore us to full capability and, since they are now sealed AGM cells, we no longer have to take the master stateroom apart to add water to them. Life is good!

When we completed the battery replacement, we found ourselves to be mud-bound by the tide and couldn’t leave Stone’s marina for several hours. However, the inconvenience was minor and we moved back to the Nanaimo boat basin without significant incident when the tide turned. As we arrived, we noticed Autumn Wind (N6219), a beautiful example of what I still think of as the sexiest boat on the planet. Bill and Arline had watched us come in and graciously invited me aboard for a short visit when I went over to admire her and say hello.

Early Thursday morning, we got underway for an overnight stop in Campbell River. Nice little town that I’d been to several times on business. They were having their Canada Day celebration, with a parade and craft fair on the waterfront.

Friday morning, we continued our trip back North with a relatively short run to Port Neville. This was once an active little country store location. The buildings are still there and the grounds are kept up beautifilly by the family, but it is no longer doing any business. The dock is there, however, and several boats were tied up. They watched while I made a mess of landing in a heavy tide flow with conflicting wind. When I finally got within Sam's limited ability throw lines across, the spectators pulled Arcadia I ignominiously across the huge gap. Willy fished with the other kids, and caught one of the huge starfish in abundance there, along with one codfish.

Saturday, we traversed the Havannah Canal and Chatham narrows, anchoring in Cutter Cove. We deployed the dinghy, set the crab pot and observed a very small black bear cub along the shore. Mom wasn’t in evidence, but I’m sure she was close, so we didn’t land ashore. We returned to the boat and will caught one codfish and numerous small flounder.

Sunday, the 4th of July, we picked up the crab pot, (6 keeper-sized Dungeness), and got underway. We crossed the Knight Canal, transited Tribune Channel to Penphrase Passage and entered Sullivan Bay. We tied up there just in time for their annual 4th of July celebration and barbeque. This is a friendly little town, all on floats, that makes cruisers feel more than welcome. We enjoyed the barbeque and good company for the evening.

Monday, the 5th, we moved on to Pt. Hardy. We were tied up to the Quarterdeck Marina float by 3pm, in time to do the laundry ashore and get the grocery shopping done.

On Tuesday, the 6th, we left early. We set the paravanes and moved directly into Queen Charlotte Sound and the first portion of this trip that is exposed to open ocean. Seas were less than 5 feet, but the wind was more than 20 knots. Not a bad ride, although Will experienced a bit of mal de mer. We were across that section by about 1pm and set the hook in Philip cove. After a short lunch break, we decided to move on for another 5 hours, or so, to set down for the night in Fancy Cove.

On Wednesday, we got underway early and anchored in Bottleneck Inlet by about 3pm. We adjusted the main shaft packing and replaced the circuit breakers on the downriggers in preparation for salmon fishing in the near future.

On Thursday, on advice from “Weather Bob” we made all deliberate haste toward a weather window across the Dixon Entrance. The Grenville Channel was glass calm until about noon, then freshened to 30kts over the bow by 5 pm. We anchored in Kumeleon Cove at about 9 pm.

On Friday, we called US Customs in Ketchikan while we were in cell range of Prince Rupert and obtained advance clearance into Alaska. We also called Canadian Customs as directed when we were given our Canpass. They seemed surprised that we’d called them and said no exit call was required. We crossed out of Canadian waters about 2 pm, in choppy seas and 15 kt winds. (The next day brought full gale conditions. Thanks again Weather Bob). We were tied up to the city floats in Ketchikan by 8 pm, in time for an excellent shore dinner in the little Back Bay Cafe, right next to the Dockmasters office.

We’d covered 534 nautical miles since we left Nanaimo, burning 200 gallons of fuel, giving us a respectable 2.67 nm/gal for the trip.

We stayed the weekend in Ketchikan, changing the oil in the main and generator. I mis-threaded the filter on the generator when I tried to install it through the hush box access port and created a big oil spill when I restarted it, then spent hours cleaning up the mess. To make matters worse, the venerable, twice repaired, oil transfer pump failed when I tried to replace the spilled oil in the crankcase, and I spilled even more oil when I put it in manually. All in all, the most time consuming and frustrating oil change, yet.

On Monday, the 12th of July, we got underway for Misty Fiords by about 7 am. We slowed for a short while to troll and quickly brought a nice silver salmon aboard. It made a very nice lunch, indeed, as we toured through the Wilson Arm of Smeaton Bay. By 6:30, we were tied to the forest service mooring ball in the Punchbowl in Rudyerd Bay. It was a beautiful evening in an awe inspiring place. To top off an already perfect day, a large sow grizzly ambled out in front of us, trailing three young cubs behind her. They stayed in sight until dark. It’s days like this that make the long trek up here worthwhile!

On Tuesday, we went the North Arm of Rudyerd Bay, anchoring for a short while for lunch its beautiful head. That afternoon, and well into the evening, we completed the circuit of the Behm Canal to anchor in Helm Bay. The Navy has some sort of undersea sound test range at the very west end of Behm canal. The last time we went through here, there was no activity. However, as we approached this time, we heard their range control officer announce a test in progress, requesting all boats contact him before entering. We made contact and were informed that we should stay along the north shore and that we must slow to an idle whenever the light was flashing on a barge that was then visible. As it turned out, that meant we spent more time at an idle than we did underway. We didn’t get into Helm Bay until 10 pm. In the dark, we couldn’t find the Forest Service float. However, we were able to find a comfortable anchorage with pretty good holding and got a good night’s sleep.

On Wednesday the 14th, we got underway early and made our way to Wrangell. I had started feeling a bit ill on Tuesday. By the time we tied up to the float in Wrangell’s new Heritage Harbor at about 5:30, I was done in.

I was bedridden Thursday, Friday and Saturday with fever and chills, while Sam and Willy explored every nook and cranny of Wrangell.

By Sunday, I was beginning to think I’d live, but still wasn’t up to joining them on the tour Sam booked to Anan to see the bears eat salmon in the river. Before they got back, I felt well enough to take a short walk, though. We all really like this friendly little town.

On Monday, the 19th, I felt recovered enough to make the short trip up the Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg. We were met on arrival by Nancy Murrison, and we had a nice dinner in their home that evening.

4 June 2010 - Loaded onto Dockwise

This posting is in response to a lot of interest in the process of shipping on Dockwise that has been expressed by other cruisers. Arcadia I has been shipped this way four times now, although the first three times were while she was owned by Dave and Sally Chambers whom, incidentally, I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time while we were here in La Paz.

We loaded about a month later than the schedule originally put forward by Dockwise. We put Arcadia I aboard Super Servant III on the 4th of June. Except for the delay in starting, we couldn't have asked for it to go more smoothly.

The paperwork for the La Paz loading was accomplished on board Arcadia I on June 2nd. Dockwise' customs agent was quick and efficient, once I got connected with him and the documentation required straightforward. There were no surprise requrest for unexpected documents or additional fees. The paperwork for the Nanaimo unloading came in the form of a .pdf form that I filled in. Since I have a scanner aboard, I attached copies of my passport and the USCG documentation to the .pdf file, (the only documents other than the form itself), sign the form electronically and turn it around. That whole process only took a few minutes.

All the boats to be loaded were instructed to be alongside the Dockwise ship by 07:00, each with two line handlers aboard. I engaged two local men by referral from the CostaBaja Marina office. Both were experienced boat people and one had loaded boats on Dockwise before. I couldn't have asked for better help.

As we arrived, the ship's deck was still dry, although they had started to ballast down.

Promptly at 07:00 the Loadmaster came up on Channel 16. He identified the first three boats to load and told them exactly where they would be located aboard and where they should have their fenders and dock lines placed, (bow, stern and two spring lines on only one side in every case I heard). At about 07:30 he called each boat, in turn, reminding them where they were going.  As he called each boat to come aboard, he identified the next boat in the sequence, keeping three boats queued up. We were the 5th boat to load. As you can see, the ship arrived with several boats already loaded from earlier ports of call.

We were directed to tie to the starboard side of a center walkway structure. As we entered the bay, we literally handed the lines to the waiting Dockwise crewmembers. They walked us into position and tied us off. Our fenders had to be relocated somewhat, since there was no flat wall near the water line where we had placed them, but we easily fended off by hand until we could accomplish that. The whole process took only a few minutes.

The sailing vessel directly in front of us loaded in Ft. Lauderdale. He had stayed on his own boat during the transit from there to La Paz and intended to continue to ride during the remainder of the transit to Nanaimo.

After tying up, we made our way forward on the center walkway to the ship's office to hand over our keys and sign the manifest. As you can see, they can fit a lot of boats on this ship. You can just make out Arcadia I's pilothouse in this picture, (immediately behind the sailboat with the green sail covers).

My crew and I, along with that of another 6 or 7 boats, were on the launch headed back to CostaBaja by 08:45.

After all the boats are loaded, Dockwise divers set the stands under the boats they've just loaded. At sundown, I drove back to where I could see Super Servant III and she was still flooded down. The next morning, however, she was riding high in the water again, with all the boats on stands just as if they were on the hard in a boat yard. 

We've been told that they actually weld these stands to the deck, then place hold down straps to rigidly attach our boats to the ship. We saw 4" nylon straps draped across the boats already aboard. During subsequent loadings, they apparently just loosen them to let the boats rise freely above the stands when they ballast the ship down. 

The next posting should be in Nanaimo, where we unload.

  

22 May 2010 - Singapore to Palao

This posting describes an adventure different than the others in this log, since the passage described was not made on Arcadia I.

While at home awaiting the arrival of the Dockwise carrier that is to ship Arcadia I from La Paz to Nanaimo, I visited our good friends and across the street neighbors, Brian and Dale Bumgardner. They mentioned that their seafaring son, Dustin, was to Captain a crew engaged to deliver a 47' Grand Banks from Singapore to Palao. I said, "Wow! I'd love to make that trip!", of course.  At that point, however, Dustin already had his crew list filled and there didn't seem to be any likelihood that I could go. Then, at the last minute, one of his crewmembers had a family emergency and could not go, and I was invited to participate.

I left LAX just before midnight on May 3rd for the long flight via Hong Kong on my favorite trans-pacific airline, Cathay Pacific. Because we crossed the International Date Line, I arrived in Singapore just after noon on the 5th. Another of the crew, Mark de Castro was aboard the same flight from Hong Kong to Singapore, although I didn't know it until we connected with Dustin at the airport. We went directly to M/Y Mandy at Keppel Marina. The owner, Shallom Etpison, was aboard seeing to final details of preparing the boat for the trip.

We spent the remainder of the 5th and all of the 6th of May completing a minor worklist and provisioning Mandy. The afternoon of the 6th, we moved her over to the Singapore Yacht Club's customs dock after fueling her at the marina fuel dock. As you might expect in Singapore, customs and immigration clearance was accomplished in a few minutes, exactly at the scheduled time the morning of the 7th. Here's a picture of my crewmates for the voyage just before we left. From left to right, Mark de Castro, Jim Persinger, Dustin Bumgardner.

We moved her across the way to fill two 75 liter reserve fuel bladders we'd brought aboard that morning, then got underway with Dustin piloting us  through the extremely busy Singapore straits before noon, setting a course around the North side of the island of Borneo.

South China Sea sunsets, and sunrises, can be spectacular. We took a lot of pictures of them, but they never really capture their grandeur. Here's one with my watch-mate and now good friend, Jim Persinger, in the foreground. Throughout the trip, we piloted Mandy from the flybridge although there is another helm station belowdecks.

 

The transit through the South China Sea was relatively uneventful. Shipping traffic in this area is quite heavy and piracy/hijacking is always a concern. Accordingly, we kept a sharp lookout with two persons on the flybridge throughout. While we were using the electronic chartplotter for routine navigagtion, we had a full set of up to date paper charts on which we tracked our current position.

Late the evening of the 9th, about 530 nm later, we anchored offshore at Miri in the Malaysian part of Borneo. At daybreak, when we could see well enough, we moved into the very nice Miri Marina adjacent to the "old" river entrance customs house. The first person we saw in the marina was, unexpectedly, an acquaintance of Jim Persinger, who quickly gave us the "lay of the land". It is, indeed, a small world.

  

While Dustin and Mark attended to the entry formalities, I sallied into town for some shopping. Both were completed by noon and we moved Mandy to the fuel dock upstream of the "new" river entrance. As you can see from the picture below, waterfront aesthetics in Miri are pretty consistent with the rest of SE Asia. (The rest of the town was pretty modern, however. The supermarket I found, in the basement of the Imperial Hotel, was actually nicer and better stocked than those in Singapore).

After fueling, we again got underway mid-aftenoon for our next refueling stop at Puerto Princesa in the Philippines. We anchored next to this live-aboard dive boat.

As further evidence of the diminshing size of our world, Jim knew the skipper and the boat was a sister vessel to the one on which Dustin is normally Captain in Kona. The crew helped Dustin get through the customs and immigration formalities, (a certain amount of "mordida" was needed to get them completed in a single day without onboard inspection). When that was accomplished, we were allowed to tie up to the commercial dock. I went ashore for a few provisions while the rest of the crew refueled from a truck that came to the dock. The dive boat Captain invited us for a lovely dinner aboard before we left there that evening. 

The next leg of the trip, between Puerto Princesa and Surigao was the shortest of the voyage. We arrived early in the daylight hours of the 16th and were permitted to tie up to the commercial dock for the day. Formalities were quick and straightforward, but it took several hours to organize fueling from a flatbed truck with two "totes" containing the required 1400 liters of diesel. This gave me some time ashore in this typical Philippine waterfront town.

After stocking up on "mystery meat" on a stick and some other provisions we were off, while there was still light enough for the transit through the straits into the Philippine Sea and beyond for our last and longest leg of the voyage.

Three and a half days later, on the 20th of May, we passed through the West Pass across the Palau reef. This picture shows the remains of a boat that missed the pass.

 What a gorgeous place! The pictures fail to capture the splendid luminescence of the water over the reef in contrast to the dark clear blue of the deeper water.

Jim was in his home waters, so he piloted us through the reef.

At about 1pm, we brought Mandy to her new and permanent home at Neco Marine's dock in Koror, Palau on the 20th of May. We were met by the owners, Shallum and Mandy Etpison, as well as several of their crew at Neco Marine, only one of their extensive business interests on the island. Even though we'd only had Mandy for a couple of weeks, we turned her over feeling as if we were parting with an old friend.

The Etpisons proved to be extraordinarily gracious hosts for the day and a half of leisure that we had available before our flights home. They put us up in a delightful apartment above the Neco offices adjacent to the marina, with all our meals and drinks provided by the Drop Off Bar & Grill next door. We were all too tired to do much that afternoon, but the next day Shallum made arrangements for a private tour of the Rock Islands on one of his boats. I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed seeing this beautiful place. It was already on my planned itinerary for next year. Now I can't wait to get there and show it to my friends and family. To my cruising friends, I recommend Palau heartily as a beautiful destination. You will find Neco Marine has friendly and helpful people, a very nice marina and a fuel dock. (680)-488-1294/2206.

There are, literally, hundreds of islands in the archipelago that makes up Palau. Not only is it a beautiful place, but it has an extraordinarily rich history. One of the great battles of WWII was fought on one of the islands, Pelelliu. My poor photography doesn't begin to do justice to what we saw while we were there. Fortunately, owing to the extraordinary talents and efforts of Mandy Etpison, I have three wonderful books, all authored and autographed by her, that richly document the history of the islands and its natural beauty in a manner that I couldn't even imagine, much less attempt. I will always treasure the books, the extraordinary commitment of time and effort they represent. They are a most gracious gift, indeed!

 

After a wonderful crew dinner at the beautiful Palau Pacific Resort hosted by Shallum Etpison and his two sons, we reluctantly left this beautiful place in the very wee hours of the 22nd of May. Our flight home made stops in Guam and Honolulu. While we spent almost 24 hours in transit, the International Date Line played its normal tricks. We got to Honolulu before we left Guam and I arrived at LAX only 3 hours after I left Palau.

The entire transit of approximately 1,600 nm through the South China into the Sulu sea and then into the Philppine sea and the open Pacific to Palau was marked only by a few thundershowers and occasional periods of 15-20 kt winds and 2-3 ft seas. In all, weather and sea conditions were as near perfect throughout the voyage as we could have asked for.

This Grand Banks is a lovely and gracious boat for coastal cruising. There was never a time during the voyage that we had any reason to question its seaworthiness. Mandy's twin engines are capable of pushing her along at more than 20 kts, however to achieve the necessary 500 nm plus range we needed for this voyage, we had to run at less than 1000 rpm with through the water speeds of approximately 6.5 kts for nearly all of the voyage.

However, Grand Banks are clearly not designed with comfort in mind during long transits in the open ocean. Even these light winds and seas often caused us to hang on tight to keep from being thrown about when the seas were abeam, (most of the trip). The master stateroom, to which I was assigned, is forward, and during much of the trip it was untenable due to pitching and loud noises as the seas pounded the hull. I did, indeed, miss my stout little Nordhavn with it's large fuel tanks, paravane roll stabilizers and its heavier-built and much quieter hull. I can't wait to take her to Palau next year!