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!

April 14, 2010 Panama back to La Paz

This posting reflects a change in the cruising pattern for Arcadia I. For the first time since we've owned her, we're heading consistently North!

After we bought Arcadia I last June, we cruised around SE Alaska for the summer. We truly loved it, and knew that one season there wouldn't be enough for us. We seriously considered leaving Arcadia I there for the winter, so we could just pick up where we left off. However, I'm getting old enough to know that there is only so much time left for me to enjoy these adventures. I simply couldn't bear the thought of leaving the boat idle for 9 whole months.

We would have liked to bring Arcadia I home for a while, to clean up the "list" while speaking English and close to home, family and tools. However, due to the voracious appetite for taxes exhibited by our home state, we can't do that until we've owned the boat for at least a full year. That means, we'll have to haul her out at least once more before we can bring her home. She's currently back in Marina CostaBaja in La Paz and will remain there until we put her on the Dockwise transporter for shipment to Nanaimo, British Columbia. We could, of course, have taken her on up on her own bottom without any particular concern for safety, but . . . that's a 2,000 nm predictably miserable up-weather trip that I'm happy to skip. I'm sure my friends are too.

Seasoned voyagers have often told me that it takes at least a year to really learn your boat. We're about 10 months into this and I've learned the wisdom of that homily. A boat like Arcadia I has a lot of systems packed into a very small volume. I'm still pretty quick to learn and have more experience with similar systems than most people that buy complex boats. Nonetheless, after almost 10 months, I'll be the first to admit that there are still many things to learn about this boat and the list of "mysteries" and things to repair, replace or simply inspect is still growing.

Accordingly, we started an extended sea trial of learning experiences by embarking on a series of long legs, often non-stop for several hundred miles, that ended in Panama as discussed in my last posting. Along the way, I've reinforced my already healthy respect for the sea, improved my seamanship skills and developed enormous confidence in the reliability and seaworthiness of our little ship Arcadia I. 
 
My best friend, business partner and wife, Phyllis, has patiently indulged me in this "victory lap" that marks the start of my retirement from the business we started together over 20 years ago. Note that I said "my" retirement. Phyllis is still actively managing important aspects of that business with our partners and keeping the home fires burning while I gallivant around on the boat she loves as much as I do. 
 
I'll also be eternally grateful to the many family members and old friends that have shared their love of adventure to join me. You see their pictures in the blog postings where I show those memorable events and beautful sights that are all the more precious for having someone you care about to shared them with. What you don't see is much that reflects the long hours of lost sleep or boredom that represents the vast majority of time spent on the long transits between destinations. In this blog, you will see, once again, two people to whom I owe a special debt of gratitude, Mike O'leary and Rudy Prendiz. Each of them has made three of those long trips with me. On some of the longer legs, each was my only shipmate.
 
As I left off with the last posting, Phyllis and I were together in the Perlas islands in Panama Bay. We stayed there another three days.

Right after I wrote that posting, I had one of those "lessons in humility" that we all get sometimes. I ran the boat aground on a submerged rock! It could easily have been much worse, but no significant damage was done, (Thank you God and PAE). Arcadia I set down squarely on her massive keel, then careened over twice as waves passed under us. She then simply fell off the rock and I was able to back away. When I dived to inspect her below the waterline, there was nothing to show that the incident even happened except for some deep gouges in the first couple of layers of fiberglass on the very bottom of the keel. They weren't serious enough to require repair before the next planned haulout in Puget Sound in May. I wish I could tell you that it was an uncharted rock that I hit, but it wasn't. Old sailors say that there are two kinds of skippers, those that have run aground and those that someday will. While I've joined the ranks of those that have, it's not something I'm very proud of. I will do all I can to keep from hearing the sickening sound of keel against rock ever again.
 
On Friday, we pulled into a very protected little anchorage and were promptly met by a man and two young women that wanted to take us in to see their village nearby. We hopped in, and took the ride. Not much of a town, but the folks were friendly.

On Saturday. the 12th of March, we returned to anchor just outside Flamenco Yacht Club's breakwater in Panama Bay. No slips inside were available. Phyllis caught her flight home that evening.
 
Sunday, I slept in a bit then set out to see if I could get the FloScan fuel meter working for the first time since we've had the boat. I discovered that the forward fuel meter was physically bypasses so fuel didn't even flow through it. Then, I found out why. There is a pulsation dampener that had rusted through which, if still in the circuit, would have disabled the main engine completely. Apparently one of the two previous owner had bypassed the fuel meter and pulsation dampener and simply left it that way. I removed and discarded the pulsation dampener and put the fuel meter back in the circuit. Voila! I have an operable fuel meter. On the following leg, to Huatulco, I determined that the meter calibration was off substantially. However, by applying a correction factor determined on that leg to the readings between there and La Paz, that I was able to predict fuel consumption very closely using an Excel spreadsheet. In fact, the fuel it took to refill in La Paz was within 20 gallons of the Excel prediction. I'd like to get the calibration right, of course, but I feel that I've made a major stride toward intelligent fuel management with what I now have. One more mystery resolved!
  
Monday and Tuesday, I did minor maintenance, including changing the oil in the generator and main engine. In this climate, the three air conditioner units on board do a nice job, but it takes all of them. In this condition, anchored without shore power, I had a rare opportunity to check how much fuel the generator uses when fully loaded all day. (8 gallons per day, both days).
 
Wednesday, I topped off the fuel tanks. I made the mistake of filling the forward tanks first. The tank vents must have low spots in them, because the after tanks simply wouldn't fill without periodically "burping". By using all my fuel absorbing material, I was able to partially fill the after tanks, but very slowly. Total fuel on board is about 830 gallons. That probably means we'll have to refuel at Huatulco, not something I'd recommend to anyone that cares about their boat.
 
Thursday, March 18th, I met Mike O'leary at the airport and we set out to complete the exit formalities. We'd learned a bit about the paper dance when we entered the country, so without too many mis-steps, we had our Zarpe and our passports stamped by 12:30. We were underway by 13:30. The Southbound trip from Balboa to Punta Mala was uncomfortable but "downhill", so not as bad as when we came. 

Friday, we cleared Punta Mala in the wee hours and the seas calmed considerable as we expected. By 16:00 we were approaching Isla Rancherita and caught a nice dorado. We decided to treat ourselves to a quiet dinner at anchor in a beautiful little bay on a tropical island. Weather Bob had encouraged us to make all deliberate haste to catch a series of weather windows, so we only stayed a couple of hours and were underway again by 18:30, travelling in flat seas with a beautiful sunset.

 

Saturday, at midnight we were just south of Islas Ladrones. By 06:30, we were in Costa Rican waters. We would have liked to stop in Costa Rica, but the time to clear in and out of the country would mean we'd miss the windows at the Tehuantepec wind slot and across the Gulf of California that Weather Bob was predicting, so we pressed on.
 
We started Sunday just off Jaco, Costa Rica. During the day, we checked with Weather Bob and he said we should expect to get to the Papagallo just as the winds started to pick up but before it got very serious and, if we hurried, we could catch a good window for the much more serious Tehuantepec slot. We set the paravanes in the water and pressed on. By midnight, we were in Nicaraguan waters. 
 
Monday, things materialized exactly as Weather Bob predicted. (We've come to expect that, by the way. His forecasts have been nearly perfect since we started calling him. If you want a professional forecast for a reasonable cost, you should call him at Ocean Marine Navigation, 302-284-3268) We had a little wind, but a generally good ride across the Papagallo. We passed the Golfo Fonseca at midday and entered El Salvador waters.
 
Tuesday, we entered Guatemalan waters mid-morning. After Weather Bob confirmed his forecast, we decided to cut across the gulf of Tehuantepec on a direct course to Huatulco, saving more than 50 miles and setting us up for a direct run from Cabo Corrientes to the south end of Baja California.
 
Wednesday, the 24th of March, we crossed into Mexican waters. There was a significant swell because the Tehuantepec had been experiencing full gale winds. However by the time we got into the wind slot off Salina Cruz, there was no wind and the swell was smoothly shaped with a long enough period to make a very pleasant ride. About noon, Mike O'leary caught and brought a nice marlin alongside. We released that one and within a couple of hours he did it again, this time it was even larger than the first. Mike grew up in Ireland as a crab and crayfish, (think lobster), fisherman. However, he'd never really done any fishing with a rod and reel. That notwithstanding, I don't know many other fisherman that have brought two striped marlin to boat in as many hours. I was the high point of the trip.

Thursday, the 25th of March, we were tied up in Marina Chahue by 09:00. The chartplotter odometer indicates that we've travelled 1004 nm since we left Panama. Rudy Prendiz and Mike's son Cian were on the float waiting for us. The marina folks, on hearing that we were just there to make a crew change, put in a call to the Mexican authorities to expedite the entry formalities. The authorities came through for us. Mike caught a flight home at noon and we were fully cleared into Mexico by 2 pm. We promptly moved over to the Santa Cruz fuel dock to take on fuel.

This is a lousy fuel dock. Avoid it if you can! There is no float. It's located in a narrow channel with literally dozens of boats and PWCs zooming by without consideration of their wake. The rough pilings are narrow and almost impossible to get a fender placed effectively against. The crew is totally indifferent, destroying one of our dock lines with their macrame knots and rusted-through cleats . We took on 505 gallons of fuel, pretty well filling the tanks, and headed out to sea.

The weather was pretty nice on Friday, although the seas were, as Mike O'leary would have said, lively. Cian fell prey to mal de mer from the outset. By Saturday, as we passed by Acapulco heading for Punta Corrientes, the seas got a good deal lumpier, as expected. We'd been staying in touch with Weather Bob. He was watching a rare good window develop that would enable us to set a direct course from Punta Corrientes to La Paz, but that meant we had to stick with these conditions. By Sunday, the seas were continuing to build. Weather Bob advised us to pull in to Manzanillo for a few hours, to let the winds abate a bit.

Mid-day Sunday, the 28th, we anchored in Manzanillo Bay. Cian's seasickness hadn't improved and we expected at least another 24 hours of the same before there was any prospect that the seas would lay down. Even then, the bluewater trip from Cabo Corrientes to the lee of Baja California can never be counted on to be smooth. Accordingly, we decided that Cian should fly home from Manzanillo, leaving the rest of the trip to Rudy and me who, so far, are unafflicted.

After a nice shore lunch, we left Cian at a hotel to await his morning flight.

 Rudy and I went back to the boat to find that the generator had broken the vee belt that drives the water pumps. The genset is in a "hush box" in the after starboard corner of the engine room. This belt was in a near to a totally inaccessible position as I could imagine. It took a hard three hours to get the hush box opened, remove a totally unnecessary belt guard and to teach my hands and elbows how to tension that belt. Fortunately, we had a spare belt aboard. After completing that task, we took a nap, leaving Manzanillo Bay at 4 am on Monday the 29th of March.

We passed Cabo Corrientes about 20 miles offshore at about 8 pm that evening and set a direct course for the East Cape of Baja California. Almost immediately, the winds abated. The swell was still with us, but it began to assume a relatively benign long frequency smooth shape that gave us a very pleasant ride. Weather Bob predicted relatively light winds for two days, but warning that we'd want to get into the lee of Baja as quickly as possible, since the West wind was expected to pick up by Wednesday morning. That is exactly the way it happened.

Wednesday afternoon, the 31st of March, we realized that we'd have to either stop somewhere or come into La Paz in the middle of the night. We decided to anchor in El Muerte and have a shore dinner. We pulled anchor at about midnight and got on our way again.

Thursday morning, the 1st of April, we tied up to the fuel dock at Marina CostaBaja. We took on 225 gallons of fuel, or 4.11 nm/gal for 925 miles since Huatulco. We then moved over to our slip. We did laundry and minor maintenance the rest of that day and got the accumulated salt crystals washed off the boat.

Friday, we changed the oil in the main and generator, "pickled" the watermaker, and did a general cleanup of the boat, since we expect to leave her here for at least a month before we load her onto the Dockwise transport ship.

Saturday, April 3, Rudy and I flew home.

Some salient facts: We've travelled 6,037 miles since we left Bellingham last September and about 10,000 since we acquired Arcadia I. The main engine now has 7,406 hours and the generator has 4,727. I've made an effort to use the wing engine for trolling or just battery charging since I've had the boat. Even so, it has only accumulated 135 hours since it was new.