Announcing the 2024 Slowboat Flotilla to Alaska

Inside Passage, San Juan Islands to SE Alaska Prevost Harbor to Juneau | May 10 to June 23 | Maximum 5 boats Glaciers. Icebergs. Whales. Bears. Cruising to Alaska is all about the incomparable nature right in front of your eyes. It’s about not just seeing the world, but experiencing it. This year we are again doing an extended six-week trip, exploring coastal British Columbia with an extended tour of … Read more

Airship | And Just Like That, We’re Home!

We got an email from the current owners of the Nordic Tug 24 Snowdrop (previously known as Airship), telling us (1) that they saw (current) Airship in Long Harbour on their evening walk, then (2) that they looked at the blog and learned that we’d already found Snowdrop! They invited us to come by in the morning to see our previous boat and meet in person, so we accepted! We’d … Read more

Airship | Long Harbour on Saltspring Island

We left Hammond Bay around 11am and aimed south for Dodd Narrows to arrive near slack (12:25pm). About 40 minutes before slack we began hearing boats making sécurité calls announcing their transit through the very narrow Dodd Narrows. A couple southbound sailboats went through (current was pushing south until slack), and at that time a log barge made a call letting other vessels know they were a “too wide” log … Read more

Airship | Campbell River to Hammond Bay, and a Cautionary Tale

We had a very nice visit to Campbell River. We even went for dinner out with our friend Scott. (Yay, a night off of cooking!) We made an early dinner reservation for outside on the patio at the Harbor Grill (just at the top of the ramp from the marina). We’ve been eating so much seafood, and we love seafood, but tonight we went for turf over surf — filet … Read more

Airship | Johnstone Strait, Kanish Bay, Campbell River

We left Port McNeill and headed down Johnstone Strait with a bit of current helping us along, which was nice. By the time we were at Race Passage we were getting a push of about 4-5 knots. Wheeeee! Due to the full moon and king tides, there is SO MUCH debris in the water right now. Sometimes in light chop, the logs can be quite difficult to see. Other times, … Read more

Airship | Fury Cove and Secure Anchorage (not Cape Caution, yet)

We left our anchorage at Kisameet Bay late in the morning on Sunday (after watching the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix) and headed south for Fury Cove. We saw so many whales along the way, but weirdly, most of them were just floating at the surface, as they do when they’re sleeping. But it was after noon…and they were spread out over the whole route (not all together, not that … Read more

Airship | Kisameet Bay

We left Mary Cove this morning around 7am or so…exited into Finlayson Channel and pretty quickly saw some spouts over by shore. We thought at first (through the haze) that it was humpbacks, but it was actually a pod of about six orcas…we saw their fins and the steam from their breath, but then we never saw them again. More humpbacks along the way as well, but no sign of … Read more