Ensenada to Palau May to July 2011

To recap the period since the last update: 

We completed our passage from Ensenada to Palau without any significant problems with the boat and with no particularly daunting winds or seas. We made three stops, at Honolulu, Majuro and Pohnpei before reaching Palau. We didn't find the hoped-for steady "trade wind" conditions until we were almost to the Marshall Islands. However, after the first two days, the wind and seas were almost always abeam or  abaft it. Seas were pretty "lumpy" and confused for the first two days from Mexico and again for the first couple of days after Hawaii. However, they didn't exceed 6 ft, or so, for any appreciable length of time over the whole passage.

A trans-Pacific passage is a significant project for any mariner. We all know that even with a really seaworthy vessel and the most meticulous preparation and planning, God, and the fearsome forces of His creation, sometimes challenges seamanship. I'd like to believe, and certainly hope, that I'm prepared to meet such challenges when they arise. However, I feel mightily blessed to have faced no such conditions on this whole passage. For all of you that have supported me with your prayers, I thank you!

Ensenada to Hawaii

We completed the formalities to clear the port in Ensenda mid-day on the 4th of May. After refueling and clearing our account at Marina Coral, Dean Philpott and I got underway for Honolulu by 19:30. By 21:30 we had cleared Todos Santos Island and were on a rhumb line course for Diamond Head. We never had any reason to change that course until we got there, 2,300 miles and 15 days later.

By starting from Ensenada, we were far enough South to avoid most of the effects of the gale force conditions that prevailed at Pt. Conception that day. Nonetheless, things were a bit "lumpy" for the first couple of days. The hoped for Northeasterly trade winds, that can provide a nice 15 kt wind and current on the starboard quarter on this trip, never materialized. The wind and seas stayed pretty much on our starboard beam the whole way.

As you might expect, we didn't take a lot of pictures of the scenery. After the first 24 hours, we never even saw another vessel until we were within a day of Oahu. The sunrises and sunsets were often spectactular, though.

During most days, we trolled fishing gear. Every few days, we'd be rewarded with some fresh fish. Here's a wallet-size mahi mahi that Dean caught. It was devoured almost before it stopped wiggling. Yum!.

Before this trip, I'd only seen pictures of short-billed spearfish on posters showing billfish in fishing tackle stores. Here's one in the flesh. We normally release any billfish we catch, but his one was too badly injured to survive, so we vacuum packed and froze it. I've eaten marlin and haven't been impressed. However, this spearfish was delicious. The taste and texture reminded me of Wahoo. (Lest you think it really is a wahoo, this fish had a mouth like a marlin. . . no teeth.)

It doesn't take much to entertain me on a long voyage. Here I am roasting coffee from green beans during a calm period. Dean didn't care much for the result. I guess there's no accounting for some people's taste, (nor smell, for that matter.)

Waikiki was, of course, a welcome sight. We rounded Diamond head just after sunrise May 19th.

We started calling for a slip as soon as we had cell coverage but were unable to reach some of the more promising marinas. We decided to pull into Ala Wai fuel dock, more in hope of advice than from a dedsire to immediately fuel up. As we pulled into Ala Wai boat basin, the boat on the first dock in front of us was Shaka, a Nordhavn 57 owned by our friends Johann and Laurie. Regular followers of this blog may remember that we cruised down the Inside Passage with them last summer. Small world!

We took a chance that the Waikiki Yacht club would forgive the transgression and tied up to an open spot on the end tie directly behind Shaka and went to the office. They not only forgave us, they let us stay. Great location! Right across the street from Ala Moana shopping center and adjacent to Waikiki beach.

Because our last port of call was Mexico, we called Homeland Security. They had an inspection team aboard within a couple of hours and we were officially back in the country. This leg of the trip was finally over!

Hawaii to Majuro

The day afer our arrival in Honolulu, Phyl flew over from home. We'd each been on Oahu in the late '60s, but hadn't had an opportunity to play tourist there since. We spent the short time we had on a a driving tour of the island, revisiting old haunts, enjoying sights we'd enjoyed so long ago.

Scott Johnston joined us as Phyl left for the mainland. For a couple of days, Scott, Dean and I mixed sightseeing with peparations for the next leg.

Early on the 26th we moved over to a dock in the Kewalo basin where we met a truckload of fuel I'd bought the day before, (a lot cheaper than buying from the fuel dock). We took on 867 gallons to bring our total onboard fuel inventory up to a total of 1100 gallons in preparation for our passage to Majuro.

By the way, data gained on this trip indicate that the recoverable fuel capacity of the permanent tanks is actually 940 gallons, a greater value than I reported in my last posting.

After moving back to our slip, we completed formalities to clear the USA, (necessary get our "Zarpe" required for entry into the Marshall Islands), and picked up the last of our provisions in preparation of departure that evening. Shaka  and her crew, shown below with Laurie who'll join them there, left that evening for Tahiti, a few hours ahead of us.

Dean took the car to the airport and flew off to his daughter's high school graduation. Scott Johnston and I cleared our account at the Waikiki Yacht Club, with heartfelt thanks for their hospitality, and got underway by 20:30 on Thursday the 26th of May.

Only a small deviation in the straight rhumb line course to Majuro was necessary to avoid passing closer to Johnston Atoll than is allowed. We didn't have any interest in landing there, anyway. This particular atoll was an air base during WWII and later. It is now a "wildlife refuge", although it is better known as the place that the USA destroyed it's chemical and biologicial weapons inventory.

Things got a bit lumpy almost as soon as we heft Honolulu. The seas weren't particulary high, just confused enough to keep us in constant, irregular, motion. This condition lasted until we were well West of the whole island chain. After that, we kept the paravane stabilizers stowed nearly all the daylight hours. At night, without the horizon to provide a reference to the eyes, any rolling motion seems to be amplified. Most of the way on this leg, we put the paravanes in the water during the night.

Fishing was spotty, we'd go a couple of days without a hit, then we'd get several. Scott did all the catching, and cooking. I just cleaned it and help eat it.

Scott actually caught quite a few fish on this passage, including a couple of striped marlins, another spearfish, and a respectable black marlin that I estimated to be in the 300 lb range, all of which we released.

If you're wondering why there are no more pictures of these fish, please imagine how it is with only two of us aboard. With  him on the rod and me managing the boat to keep him from either getting spooled or tangled in the paravane rigging. Then, when he finally gets the fish alongside, he's still got to hold the rod tip up, while I'm wrestling with the fish to get the hooks out and complete the release. There just aren't enough hands free to take pictures. Here's a wahoo he caught, though. We ate it promptly.

We arrived at the entrance to the Majuro reef passage at daybreak on Friday June 10th. After 10 days without seeing a single boat or ship, we were pleased to see a very large long range purse seiner going across the reef just ahead of us.

As we approached the port, we called for the Port Captain on the VHF radio. As one of the cruiser's guidebooks had led us to expect, no one answered. We picked an empty mooring ball  next to several good-sized private boats and tied up.

One  of the founders of the local yacht club, a group of cruisers that apparently stopped here several years ago and just never left, came alongside in his dinghy. He gave is a lot of good information about how to complete the entry formalities. He also told us where to get fuel and the location of moorings inside the reef but at other islands more scenic than here.

Three taxi rides later, we were cleared into the port, encountering only very pleasant people at each of the agencies we had to check in with.

Majuro atoll isn't exactly a scenic tourist destination. The harbor is filled with Chinese factory ships and very large long range tuna trawlers. The shoreline near the anchorage is littered with derelict vessels in some state of scrapping.

The crowded town consists of one main road that crosses and connects three islands. There are a few places where islands widen out enough to accomodate parallel roads, filled with a third-world mix of houses. However, such a description doesn't do justice to all the very nice people we met This the commercial center for this part of the Pacific. As a practical matter, we found everything we needed while we were there.

On Friday night, we moved Arcadia I to an anchorage a few miles away at another island around the reef, Enemanet. The moorings were apparently installed by the Yacht Club with funds provided by some sort of US Government grant. Ashore was a very nice little beach park that local folks reach by water taxi. To make it even more interesting, for divers at least, there is a small ship, an airplane and a helicopter that have been sunk in the mooring area. Scott found them all as he snorkeled over to the beach to check out the local talent.

Scott Patulski arrived late Sunday night, rounding out the crew for the trip to Pohnpei.

On Monday, after checking two other sources, we found a fuel broker that would deliver a truckload of fuel to the commercial dock for $4.77/gal. At the appointed 4 pm, we tied up to the dock, paid our $4.00 bunkering fee to the Port Authority and started fueling through an enormous nozzle, the only one they had. It tooks us nearly 4 hours, using only gravity, to trickle about 700 gallons of fuel into our tanks. I say about because we actually topped all the tanks before we'd  emptied the truck and the truck didn't have a meter, (nor any intent to refund the value of the fuel we didn't take).

Majuro to Pohnpei

The next day, we picked up some last minute provisions and cleared out of the port, 4 taxi rides this time. We got underway about 16:00, Tuesday the 14th of June, but a sudden, fierce, afternoon squall kicked up inside the reef as we started toward the passage out. We didn't want to navigate through the reef in gale force wind and blinding rain, so we decided to stop again at the Enemanet mooring, where we had spent the previous weekend, and wait out the blow. By the time we got tied up and made dinner, the weather had abated and we decided to go for it.

The passage through the reef was a bit like a Cecil B DeMille rendition of the parting of the seas, with breakers on either side of us as we passed through. We didn't want to have the paravanes out as we crossed the reef, so we negotiated it taking 30º rolls until we were well clear of the reef. Even after we passed through, it remained pretty lumpy while we ran alongside of the reef for several miles until we'd cleared the northernmost islands of the atoll, About half way along, there was a wreck visible on the reef. That skipper obviously thought these islands were not part of the Majuro atoll. He made his turn too early and ran up on the reef he'd just passed through, an altogether too easy mistake to make.

Once we cleared the Majuro atoll, the trip to Pohnpei, about 780 nm, was essentially uneventful, with generally improving weather and sea conditions. We kept the paravanes in the water during the whole passage in consideration of Scott Patulski's recently installed artificial knee. Since the wind was astern and only 8-10 kts, we had too little apparent wind to provide enough ventilation for comfort, so we ran the generator most of the time, as well.

We made landfall at Pohnpei on the morning of June 20th. Passage through the reef was uneventful. We tried to raise the Port Captain, but got no answer. Thinking this would be like Majuro, we started to head for the yacht anchorage when we were hailed by the Port Authorities and directed to tie alongside the government dock. That was about 07:00.

Customs represntatives came aboard shortly and were miffed that we hadn't obtained advance clearance. I showed them the print I'd made of the FSM website, that said we could either do it in advance or apply immediately upon arrival. They acknowledged that it could be done that way, but that "it would take time". It did! Immigration, Port Police and Health officials came and went before noon, but at 15:00 Customs still hadn't reappeared. Scott Johnston, used one of the Police phones to call to remind them we were still awaiting their clearance. We finally cleared the government dock at 16:00 and moved to the yacht anchorage area.

On the way in, it had became apparent to us that the passage from the government dock to the anchorage was, to say the least, tricky. (I had actually contacted a coral head with Arcadia I's keel, albeit lightly, just before we turned back to the government dock).

During our long wait, one of the local yachtsmen pulled alongside with a Marshallese that he introduced simply as "Robinson", who offered to guide us to the moorings when we got our clearance. I don't know what Robinson's cue was, but he magically appeared in his dingly at exactly the right time and we followed him to a mooring float. For the rest of our stay, whenever we needed Robinson, he simply appeared.

Pohnpei is a lush and scenic tropical island, the largest in the Federated States of Micronesia. The first evening, we took a quick taxi tour around the town of Kolonia and had a nice shore dinner in a restaurant with a marvelous view. The nest morning, we rented a car. With Robinson as tour guide, we went to all the places that tourists go, (not many of which were in evidence, by the way).

The most memorable sight was the ruins of the ancient city of Nan Madol. It's one of those mysteries of the islands that has largely defied explanation. I could fill this blog sheet with what I've read about it, but you can read for yourself by googling "Nan Madol". The most succinct description I found is on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Madol. We got there by driving half way around the island, paying $3 dollars apiece at the local chief's house, driving another mile or so, paying another $3 apiece at a private home, then walking about a mile on a rustic trail back through the mangroves. After paying the last tariff, we had the place completely to ourselves. That's Robinson and me, after wading across one of the many shallow channels within the sizeable complex that make up the ruins of  a once sizeable city.

Nan Madol's structures were built from the large hexagonal basalt stones behind Scott J and I. They obviously didn't come from anywhere close this location. We did see some "Devil's Tower" type geological features on the island that could have been their source, but they were a long way off, across pretty forbidding terrain. Local legend has it that they were "flown" here from someplace else on the island by magic. Science and archaeology reportedly haven't provided any better explanation.

Pohnpei was a brief stop for us. Scott Patulski is flying from Pohnpei to meet his wife, Kristine. The two of them are going to rendezvous and meet us in Palau with Phyllis on the 1st of July.

While were clearing in, we'd made an appointment for outward clearance for Scott Johnston and I to take the boat onward to Palau.
At 12:30 on June 21st,  the appointed time, we pulled up at the government dock. Before I could get back from the Port Captain's office, the Customs inspector was aboard. Immigration came aboard after only a short delay to stamp our passports. We were clear and underway by 16:30.

The leg from Pohnpei to Palau was completed under almost ideal conditions. We never once put the paravanes in the water, as the little bit of swell was from astern. We wanted to arrive the morning of July 1, and we left Pohnpei with 867 gallons of fuel, so we kept our speed up to about 7 kts. We did have to run the generator much of the time, as there was seldom enough apparent wind to ventilate the boat enough for comfortable  sleep.

Scott did keep us in fresh fish most of the way. Here's one of several wahoo that he caught.

As you can see, we also were treated to some glorious sunsets.

We made landfall at Palau at daylight on July 1st, completing the 1400 nm crossing in 9 very pleasant days. We were just off the government dock when we were hailed by Chippper Tellei, NECO Marine's Manager, who had all the arrangments made for entry formalities into Palau.

When the formalities were completed, we moved the short distance over to the NECO Marina and our dock there. On arrivall there, we had an opportunity to share some time with my friend Shallum Etpison before he left, that night, for a month-long family vacation. Followers of the blog may remember that I was a member of the crew that brought his Grand Banks Europa, Mandy, from Singapore to here about a year ago. It was my exposure to his extraordinary hospitality, and the wonders of Palau on that trip, that led to it being the destination for this transoceanic adventure on Arcadia I.

Phyllis, along with Scott and Kris Patulski arrived the same day we did. Scott Johnston kept his residence on the boat for the next 10 days. The Patulskis and Phyl and I moved ashore into resort accomodations for the next week During the first week, we simply played tourist in this lovely archipelago. We made several delightful snorkel and surface sightseeing trips on NECOs boats. This picture is taken at the "Milky Way". It's sort of a rite of passage for tourists to stop here, cover themselves with white diatoms off the bottom and have a group picture taken, looking like ghosts. I think it serves the same purpose as donning silly hats for a New Year's Eve party.

 The undewater scenery is truly extraordinary here, but if you google "Dive Palau" and select "Images", you can see a ton of pictures taken by far better-equipped and more talented underwater photographers than we are. What we can tell you is that you have to really go there to believe it.

For me, the most memorable, and sobering, excursion was to the Peliliu battlfield. This was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of WWII. Peleliu island is about only about 14 square miles of terrain; during the three months of fighting, the casualty rate worked out at just under 1,000 men killed per square mile of island. Close to 1,800 American servicemen died; of the 11,000 Japanese soldiers defending the island, only 202 were captured alive. The recent HBO miniseries The Pacific gives a fascinating and realistic depiction of how it was, from the perspective of a marine private named Eugene Sledge.

After a wonderful two week vacation in Palau I flew home with Phyllis for some much needed time with family and our businesses.

The next adventure is not far off, though.  As I write this, I've been home for a while, gathering charts and parts for the next adventure. My friend and long-time business associate, David Tees, has agreed to share his extensive sailing experience and join me on the passage from Palau to Noumea, with intermediate stops in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. I plan to leave here on the 28th of August. David will join me a week later and we'll set off. Good wishes and prayers are always appreicated.


Addendum

For those off  you that might want to know about fuel consumption and other mundane details of the passaget:

• We had the paravane stabilizers in the water:
• about 2/3 of the time between Mexico and Majuro and;
•  all of the time between Majuro and Pohnpei;
• not at all after Pohnpei
• We ran the generator to only to cool off the boat when it rained and we had to close up the deck hatches and doors, or, if the "apparent" wind was too light to provide good enough ventilation for comfortable sleep even with them open. We made water and did the laundry when the generator was running for air conditioning. We didn't keep a good log of generator hours from the start or while in port, but the total "underway" generator run time for the whole passage was about 200 hours. We approximate our average generator fuel consumption at 1/2 gallon/hour.
• We refueled twice, once in Hawaii and again in Majuro. We reached every port with substantially more fuel than the deck fuel tanks held when filled. Thus, the passage could have been accomplished without them. However: they didn't cause any noticeable change in vessel stability; they didn't cost very much to install; and they provided the option to make a weather-related detour if it had been necessary. I'm glad we had them.
• The distance travelled was 5,156 nm (Great circle course distance, although we navigated by rhumb line.
• Our average speed over the bottom was 6.04 kts.
• We burned a total of 1,791 gallons of fuel for an average fuel consumption of 2.88 nm/gallon.

Some have asked, "why a rhumb lines and not a great circle courses"? The simple answer is that there isn't much difference between the two when travelling on a predominately easterly or westerly course. Without getting into the spherical geometry of the question, suffice it to say that the mileage saved by a great circle route is caused by the convergence of longitude meridians as latitude changes. There is significant value in navigating a great circle route between, say, Dutch Harbor and Hawaii because there is a large N-S component of the course. However, between Ensenada and Honolulu the course is so nearly due West that the difference between a rhumb line and great circle is only a few nautical miles. Between each of the other ports of call, the difference in latitude was even less significant.

Since we've had Arcadia I we've experienced more than a few malfunctions with chartplotters and autopilots. I like to have both my chartplotters to be set on exactly the same course, with the inactive chartplotter "shadowing" the active one exactly with only a few feet of cross track error difference between them.. This allows the helmsan to instantly switch control of the autopilot to the standby chartplotter, without a "bump" in course, if the active one misbehaved.  Since each of the chartplotters calculates the intermediate way points on a great circle route slightly differently, the cross track error between the two chartplotter courses on a great circle route is too great to allow this. Lest I be beset upon by a blizzard of emails or comments about this, let me tell you that I do know how to accomplish the same thing by several other means. This was the simplest approach.

3 April 2011 - Ready To Go Again

After months of good time ashore with family and friends, and a lot of preparation, it's time to go "adventuring" again. Arcadia I is sitting at Marina Coral in Ensenada with full fuel tanks, an extra 180 gallons of deck fuel and her Former Owner, Dean Phillpott, aboard as crew. All systems are in a "go" state, spare parts and provisions are loaded and "Weather Bob" has given us a pretty good forecast for departure tomorrow. Next Port of Call is Honolulu!

Since bringing her home Arcadia I has had a bit of an overhaul. We:

• finally found someone that could solve the "freeze up" problem with the Nobeltec chartplotter.
• replaced the old secondary autopilot with a new one, demoting the old primary to secondary,
• replaced the no longer supported NorthStar chartplotter with a new Furuno.
• reconfigured the navigation system such that either chartplotter can drive either autopilot
• recommissioned the single side band radio,
• installed a new dedicated monitor for the FLIR,
• replaced all the standing rigging for the paravane stabilizers,
• replaced all the seawater hoses throughout the whole boat,
• installed a complete set of new AGM batteries,
• replaced all the navigation lights with new LED versions,
• replaced the venerable refrigerator,
• replaced the washing machine, (original one operated once the day we bought her, but never again),
• stripped the lousy varnish that we put on the teak in La Paz and oiled it instead,
• repaired a lot of minor gel coat chips,
• rigged up a carefully thought out sea anchor system that we hope to only use for crew training,
• replaced the old cone-type drogue with a more stable one from Para-Tech,
• hauled her and had her surveyed so we could get insurance for our upcoming travels. (We got a remarkably "clean" survey report),
• went through the whole DC electrical system, finding explanations to several mysteries and eliminating several "gremlins",

The most visible, and esential creature-comfort item was to install a real helm chair in the wheelhouse. When I got home, I was practically crippled by leg cramps. The cause of which, at least partially was sitting at that accursed board seat that serves as the helm chair on Nordhavn 46s.  The new chair does dominate the wheelhouse, but the changes we made to the "peanut gallery" table makes it a liveable. I'm sitting in it as I write this and loving it.

While Nordhavn represented the fuel tank capacity for the 46 as a nominal 1000 gallons, the reality of the ones with 4 black iron tanks is different than that. Frankly, I don't think you could put 1,000 gallons into the tanks if they were completely dry. Then, because of the shape of the tanks and the location of the fittings, there's a considerable amount of fuel that is simply unrecoverable by normal means. I the case of Arcadia I, our total useful fuel is about 860 gallons from the main tanks. We could probably get to Hawaii with that much, but we'd have to go very slowly and might not have much fuel reserve to dodge a storm. Several Nordhavn 46 owners have addressed this problem in various ways. The one we chose takes advantage of the fact that this boat has a port list of ~2 degrees when it the installed fuel tanks are full, and it has an outside passageway along the starboard side that is pretty low on the boat. I considered having a custom bladder made to fill up that space, but finally decided on two readily available and relatively inexpensive, baffled aluminum tanks that fit in the back of standard pickup trucks and hold about 90 gallons each. With a little imagination and a lot of improvisation, we came up with ways to secure them solidly in all three dimensions. This brings our useful fuel capacity to slightly more than the advertised value and the full load list is now ~2 1/2 degrees to starboard.  

As you can see, we've been getting ready for this trip for several months. In addition to the work on the boat I worked on myself by enrolling in a 5 week course that led to my passing the USCG Captain's examination. I've still got to document my sea time and pee in a bottle before I get my license, but the examination is done. I've got a year to do the rest, if I want to hang the certificate on the wall. Frankly, I don't think I'd ever want to do this for hire, so I really don't need the license. I was just getting prepared for my own satisfaction and the safety of the friends and family that accompany me on my adventures.

I needed to wait until an important operating contract for Sterling Energy was completely executed, (operating contract for the cogeneration plant at John Wayne Airport).  That happened today. The good news is that we got the contract. The bad news is my highly valued shipmate and fellow adventurer, Mike O'leary is going to be the Plant Manager and probably won't have much time to go on seagoing adventures with me.

On the way down here, I was re-commissiong the water maker in the clean ocean. (We don't use it in Alaska because we don't really need it and because the filters plug quickly with plankton and krill.) When I tried to start it, it wouldn't rinse down to spec. water. My good friend Mike O'leary jumped on the problem and secured the necessary parts to fix the probable cause of the problem. While he was doing that, I was working on it in the now much cooler, and more comfortable, engine room. I got it working today, making good water at rated capacity. Nonetheless, we don't quite trust the existing membranes, so Phyllis is going to bring them down, along with some other stuff that arrived after we left for Ensenada.

So, Dean and I are sitting here with Arcadia I ready for sea. All the restraints against the next adventure are cleared up. All that remains between us and departure for Hawaii is to get our "Zarpe" releasing us from Mexico and a quick round trip to the border to share a kiss with the love of my life and to exchange some materials. We expect to shove off tomorrow evening, (May 4), after the thermal winds die down a bit.

Transit time to Hawaii should be between 14 and 18 days. Dean has ot go home from there to be at his daughter's high school graduation. Scott Johnston, a classmate in the USCG Captain's course, will join me for the trip to the Marshall Islands, and possibly beyond. My good friend Scott Patulski plans to join us for the trip from Majuro to Palau. We plan to stay there for a while, (I fell in love with it last year when we delivered Shallum and Mandy Etpison's boat there last year). Plans after that are a bit less concrete. We're leaning toward going on to the South Pacific Islands and on to New Zealand for their summer. Alternatively, we've considered heading over to Singapore for the winter, then making our way up the Asian coast and back to Alaska next summer. We may decide to do either or neither of those. Sometimes, it is well to remember that indecision is the key to flexibility. 

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.