Thursday, 4:15 a.m. — Our original plan was to catch the early morning high slack at the Grays Harbor bar, which meant heading out before dark, again. However, in the morning we didn’t get an agreeable bar report (boooo!), so we opted to wait until the midday low slack and went back to bed (yaaaaay!). Thursday, 11:15 a.m. — We left our slip at Westport Marina after a few more … Read more
Kevin and I had a few days off in Victoria after our Vancouver Island flotilla ended, so we spent the time relaxing, exploring, eating out, and of course, doing boat projects. We fixed a plumbing leak in the washer/dryer plumbing, worked on getting the boat all dried out with our new dehumidifier, went to the IMAX theater at the museum to see the Great Bear Rainforest movie (which was very … Read more
We left Port Renfrew at first light this morning. The weather continued to cooperate and though we had some current against us for a good portion of today’s 53nm cruise, we had little fog and very calm water — a wonderful way to spend the last day of flotilla cruising! We arrived in Victoria around 2:00 p.m. and got situated on the docks at Causeway Floats. This is one of … Read more
We were up early this morning to start the two-day trek into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The weather, for once, was cooperating. Windy showed gusts in the single digits, Environment Canada predicted light wind building to westerly 5-15 later in the day. The morning light station reports were encouraging, with calm winds and 1 foot chop. Even the current looked like it would cooperate: starting at about 10:15 … Read more
This morning, en route from Bamfield to Effingham Bay, Airship and Dog Star had just entered Imperial Channel near Diana Island, when Dog Star radioed to tell us (on Airship) there were whales off their port side. We kept an eye out, and eventually spotted at a couple of humpbacks a half mile or so west of our course. One of the whales looked like it was just floating on … Read more
We leisurely left the docks at the Port Alberni Yacht Club this morning. Today was another short hop (across Trevor Channel over to Bamfield), and most boats lingered a bit in Trevor Channel to watch the whales. It was gray and rainy this morning, but whales don’t mind. Yesterday we noticed a white stripe on the back of one of the humpbacks, but today with the long lens and little … Read more
Sam left the Nettle Island anchorage early this morning and headed for Robbers Passage on Fleming Island. Port Alberni Yacht Club has an outstation there where they welcome non-members (for a fee, no reciprocals), but because it’s a weekend we were worried it might be full, so having an early scout was helpful. The days have been getting shorter for quite a while, but recently it’s seemed particularly noticeable. Today … Read more
We woke to fog this morning, but it was peaceful and quiet and still beautiful out here in the Broken Group. Today’s cruise was another short day, just 3nm over to Nettle Island. One of the biggest surprises most people have on the trip to Alaska is how much we move. We go somewhere almost every day, and more often than not we motor for at least three or four … Read more