Sep 28 – Poulsbo to Lake Union, 18.4 miles

We planned on shoving off around 10 o’clock after spending a leisurely morning getting ready. Today was yet another nice day, but the forecast was for the good weather to end, with rain and cooler temperatures to prevail the remainder of the week. The front bringing this change in the weather arrived a little early, with the winds picking up quite a bit just ahead of our planned departure. We watched as some other boats had trouble getting away from the dock in the wind, and decided we’d wait a bit to see what developed. We were moored stern in on a 40’ dock, and had about 14’ of our bow sticking out beyond the dock straining against the wind. Out in the bay just beyond the log breakwater, where a group of sea lions continued to make a fuss, we could see whitecaps developing.

Liberty Bay and Agate Pass are well protected by Bainbridge Island, even in stormy weather. Our only rough patch would be crossing the Sound over to Shilshole and the locks once we were out of the lee of Bainbridge. I turned on the weather radio, and wind speeds in nearby areas ranged from 10 mph to 24 mph, with seas at about 4 feet. Our anemometer was registering about 16 mph at the time, here at the dock. The forecast was for the winds and seas to increase after noon, so it didn’t sound like any respite would be coming soon.

We had a short lull where the wind dropped to 12 mph or so, so we rearranged our lines for a quick departure, fired up the engines and pulled away from the dock. Even in Liberty Bay the wind was pulling on our new CYA burgee enough to bend our antenna way over, so Erin went out and removed it. We followed the Scaup, another old wooden boat at the show, out of the bay and around the corner to Agate Pass. We had a very smooth ride, with just the flapping of the flags on our mast to tell us it was blowing out. All our windows up on the bridge were in except for the mid window on the lee side for ventilation, so we were well protected from the weather.

Once we passed Port Madison we headed out beyond Bainbridge Island and got into the wind and rough water, both of which were approaching from the south. We quartered the waves for the best ride. It didn’t take long for the salt spray to come over the canvas, but the wind was blowing hard enough that the brunt of the water flying up was blown away before it reached the bridge area. It was a good test to see how many leaks had been sealed by our recent paint job and caulking and we fared very well in that department.

Our course quartering into the waves was taking us a bit south of our target, so I turned 90 degrees or so for a downwind run to get squared away. With the wind at our back we weren’t continually bathed in salt water, but the following seas would push the stern this way and that. At what looked like an opportune time I came about again to head towards Shilshole. As it turned out my timing wasn’t all that good and we caught one of the waves sideways, giving us quite a tilt and sending stuff flying, including all the contents in the cupboard under the sink. Erin claimed I did that just to have something to write about in the log. Tribble probably didn’t know what to think, but she stayed in her hiding spot under the couch for the entire crossing.

Soon we were in the lee of Discovery Point and then headed into the channel leading past Shilshole and towards the locks. As an added hazard there were several gill nets strung along either side of the fairway. They were clearly marked, and unlike some times in the past, didn’t protrude into our course. There was one boat ahead of us, and we both tied up to the waiting wall on the south side of the channel. It wasn’t even 10 minutes before the green light came on, indicating we could enter the small lock. The boat ahead of us proceeded so slowly, at about 2 knots, that I had to drift behind him while in neutral most of the time, as we cruise at about 5 knots at idle.

We eventually made it into the lock, with Erin handling the line at the bow and Trav and Barb manning the stern line. There were no other boats behind us, and we locked through without incident. The viewing area was lined on either side by a large contingency of schoolgirls from Japan or China. They all wore the same style and color of blouse, skirt and knee sox, and were greatly amused when Trav bowed to them.

As we cruised towards the Foss Tug yards on the south side of the channel, we came upon one of the floating dry docks out in mid channel. They had just launched what appeared to be a small car ferry. It had a narrow bridge structure with one car lane on either side. It appeared to be freshly painted, and was being towed by a small tug. The floating dry dock was still partially submerged mid channel, and we could see some lines securing it to the south side of the cut. They probably had to wait for it to be fully refloating before reeling it in. The same boat that had entered the locks at a painfully slow speed came to a stop in the narrowest part of the channel to consider which way to go. We waited as well, as there was only room for one boat at a time past the dry dock. He was eventually coaxed to proceed and we followed, passing an oncoming patrol boat that had to wait for the lane to clear.

We passed under the Fremont Bridge and headed for the home stretch around the corner at Gasworks Park, where another spate of gill nets had been placed. We wended our way through and headed for our moorage at the north end of Lake Union. Erin and Barb had gone below and prepared egg salad sandwiches for all and we had an enjoyable lunch at the dock before any unloading chores.

Although we didn’t venture far from home, we had a great weekend with our guests Trav and Barb, and got to see some interesting old boats at the show in Poulsbo, with the tour of the Olympus definitely being a highlight. Tribble earned another stripe as boat cat, and will definitely be prepared for some extended cruising come next summer.

Sep 27 – Poulsbo

This morning there was a semi-organized breakfast event out at the end of the dock that we chose not to attend. Instead, we had our own gourmet breakfast on board the Potentate. Erin brought out the waffle iron and we all enjoyed waffles with bananas and blueberries.

The CYA event and our complimentary moorage were scheduled to run through 2 o’clock in the afternoon, giving folks to head on back home or to their next port. Rather than head for the locks on Sunday, we had planned to head on down to Port Orchard or Bremerton Sunday afternoon to spend a night there, but in a fit of laziness we decided that we’d just hang around Poulsbo for the extra day. The weather remained delightful, although it was a bit blustery – another good reason to stay at the dock.

Barb, Erin and I went out for a walk in the afternoon and headed off onto the boardwalk that follows the shoreline north of town. The boardwalk runs a couple hundred yards or so, then ends at a shore side park where the trail continued on towards a playfield. At the boardwalk end of the park is an old church building that has been converted into several upscale condos overlooking the harbor. Years ago Erin and I explored through this building when it was vacant and before the remodeling started. Along the trail walking north were turnouts at the water’s edge where we could look through the trees out at the bay. Liberty Bay is shallow at the head so there were no docks or anchored boats at this point. The overlooks were 10 or 15 feet up a steep embankment from the beach. Some folks with a dog were walking below, and the dog ran up and down the embankment, although it wasn’t that suitable for casual human travel.

When we returned to the boat, we stopped at the marina office and paid our Sunday night moorage, courtesy of Trav. We had taken some chicken out of the freezer for yet another gourmet dinner, but none of us were very hungry after snacking on lefsa and other treats. We put the chicken away and had some leftovers, or as Trav says, “planned overs” a little later in the evening.

Tonight’s entertainment was the movie Ghost Town, about a dentist who, after a near death experience, could see and converse with ghosts – and they all wanted him to take care of their unfinished business.

Sep 26 – Poulsbo

More dominos last night – an abbreviated session to be continued. I had picked up a package of bay scallops at Safeway the day before we left – neither Erin nor Barb are fond of seafood based breakfasts, but Erin fixed scallop and onion omelets for Trav and me this morning. They were awesome.

Today a public viewing of the classic yachts at the marina is on the agenda for visitors to the city of Poulsbo. We have our information narrative out on deck near the door for people to read as they stroll by. We are not required to allow visitors boarding privileges, but it is optional at our convenience and most of the long time CYA members have their signs that display “Welcome Aboard” or “No Boarding at this time”, depending on which way it’s flipped.

We went for a dock walk this morning to look at some of the other boats, and as we approached the Olympus at the end of the dock, Diane Vanderbeek, the owner, invited us to come on board for a tour, even though the “No Boarding” sign was out. We were treated to a private tour by Diane, and she told us quite a bit of history about the boat. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a 97’ fantail – it was built in New York in 1929, commissioned by a wealthy Wall Street tycoon to be used as a commuter vessel between his two estates. For that reason, it was built fairly low to enable it to pass under all the bridges in New York City. It can also pass through the ship canal from the locks to Lake Washington without having to raise any of the drawbridges, including the Fremont Bridge, the lowest of them all.

It didn’t belong to that Wall Street tycoon for long as 1929 wasn’t a very good year for him. The yacht was purchased in the 1930’s by George Converse (of Converse shoes) and his wife Mary Stuart, a former silent screen star. They brought it from the east coast through the Panama Canal to Southern California. During the 1930’s and into 1940 it was a part of the Hollywood social scene and appeared in several movies.

During World War II, the boat was conscripted into service by the Navy to act as a patrol boat, plying the waters between California and Alaska on the lookout for Japanese submarines. As we were being shown the formal dining room, we learned that, during its Navy service, President Truman had met with various military brass there just days before the first A-bomb was dropped, perhaps to give a go-ahead or plan some post event strategy.

After the war, the boat was declared surplus to be auctioned off. Harry Truman told his good friend Monrad Wallgren, the current governor of Washington State, about the auction and it was subsequently purchased by the sole bidder, the state of Washington, for $15,000. Truman and Wallgren had worked together on legislation to form the Olympic National Forest, and the boat was renamed Olympus after Mt. Olympus. Truman spent time aboard the boat on many occasions during that time, and once signed the guest book as a resident of Independence, Mo, and in parentheses, he wrote: (temporary residence 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, D.C.).

From the 1950’s on, the boat was privately owned by various corporations and individuals, and was eventually purchased in the mid 1990’s by the VanDerbeeks. Diane mentioned that they had no original plans or blueprints for the boat, but at a yacht club function some years later, famed yacht architect Olin Stephens was a guest on board for a function and told Diane “I designed this boat – I’m surprised it’s still afloat!” He had been an apprentice at the yard in New York where the boat was built. The largest boat they had built before this one was 77 feet long, and he was told to draw up some plans for something similar, only 97 feet long. He went on to design several sailing vessels that won the America’s Cup, beginning in the 1930’s. He died just recently at the age of 100.

Thanks to Diane for the wonderful and informative guided tour of the Olympus!

Moored a couple slips towards shore was the Old Man IV, an Admiral’s Barge from the U.S. Navy. It’s an honorary member of the CYA, and was crewed by three smartly dressed sailors: a bosun’s mate, an engineer and a lieutenant. It was used by the local Navy admiral for daily commuting between Sand Point and Bremerton back in the 50’s and 60’s, but now makes the rounds in a PR role. We enjoyed talking to its crew, all long term Navy, but still young.

Tonight’s activity was a potluck dinner at the end of our dock, next to the Olympus. Erin made a bowl of spaghetti for us to take down, and there was quite a wide selection of dishes from which to choose. Probably one of the best potluck dinner’s we’ve ever attended. We dined out at the end of the dock, then returned to the boat when a chill wind picked up.

Erin and I walked the docks later in the evening and we then all finished off that game of dominos we had started the night before.

Sep 25 – Port Madison to Poulsbo, 11.5 miles

Despite our late evening, most of us were up fairly early this morning, with Trav leading the pack at around 6 o’clock. I got up shortly thereafter and started the tea for Erin. It was a beautiful morning in Port Madison, and the dew was all beaded up on our new paint job.

After our morning hot beverages, Erin fixed some breakfast of scrambled eggs with sausage, toasted English muffin and fruit – blueberries and peaches. As usual, the fare was excellent. We had a pretty lazy morning. My activity consisted of attaching our new Classic Yacht Association burgee to the port side antenna. Our burgee is blue, denoting a “vintage” yacht – one made after 1942 but before the 60’s. The pre-WWII yachts are sporting red burgees. During our leisurely morning, an old cruiser from the 20’s glided into Port Madison, circled our anchorage and headed back out. Its home port was Olympia and it was sporting the CYA burgee, do doubt on its way to Poulsbo. We later found out that it was built at Lake Union in 1926 for the founding family of the Olympia Brewery.

We weighed anchor around noon and headed out around the corner through Agate Pass, where the current was ebbing a knot or so against us. We were in no hurry though – in fact we detoured over to Manzanita Bay on the backside of Bainbridge to take a tour around its shoreline. As we crossed back over the channel towards the entrance to Liberty Bay, we were joined by four older cruisers that had just come through Agate Pass heading in the same direction. We were cruising at about the same 7 knot speed and blended into a 5 boat flotilla for the entrance into the bay. As instructed in the info emailed to me a couple days earlier, I radioed ahead to the Lady Grace on VHF channel 68 to get a slip assignment. Except for the very end dock, which is double length, the slips here are either 30’ or 40’. We are stern in on a 40’ slip with our bow sticking out about 13 feet. But, our entry door and ladder are on the dock and that’s what’s important.

Barb, Erin and I walked into town a little later in the afternoon, browsed through a few stores and found our way to the Poulsbo Bakery. They have an outstanding collection of body putty sweets, and we picked up a few rolls and a couple packages of lefsa. This is a Norwegian town, after all…

Diane Vanderbeek, the Rear Commodore of CYA and our sponsor for joining, came by and invited us to her boat for hors‘d oeuvres, which her chef had prepared. Her boat is the Olympus, a 97’ fantail cruiser built back in the 1920’s. We had dinner in the oven, but shut it off for awhile and headed down for a brief visit. We were introduced to a bunch of people as the newest members of CYA. After a short time we returned to the Potentate and got our dinner going again. Erin an Barb went back into town for the Art Walk while Trav and I stayed on watch at the boat. That means we did nothing much.

It’s now about 8 o’clock and we’re contemplating our evening’s entertainment, which will be either a short game of dominos or perhaps a movie.

Sep 24 – Lake Union to Port Madison, 11 miles

Although it’s no longer officially summer, it’s still boating season so we’re extending this log by a few more pages. We’ve spent the last few weeks doing a lot of painting and varnish work on the boat and now are taking the opportunity to enjoy some of our Indian Summer weather. We recently joined the Classic Yacht Association and have decided to attend their next event, which is a rendezvous at the Port of Poulsbo. We have on board as our guests our friends Trav and Barb. They are selling their boat and getting out of boating after 40+ years so are happy to be out on the water with us. Also on board for her second trip is our cat Tribble.

We headed out a day early, with the plan to cross over to Bainbridge Island in the afternoon and spend a leisurely evening at anchor before heading around the corner to Poulsbo and the festivities. It also eliminates the possibility of crossing shipping lanes through late September morning fog in the event it materializes on Friday. Although we had planned an early afternoon trip down to the dock, we were all ready to get going in late morning, so we picked up Trav and Barb (they live about a mile from us) and headed down to our moorage on Lake Union. We have limited parking there – sometimes it’s not a problem and other times it’s jam packed. This morning, much to our dismay, it was the latter. We parked temporarily in the remaining spot for Fluid Ride, a bike shop on the premises, and unloaded our gear from the car to the boat. I then made the rounds around a couple blocks checking all the untimed parking spots. Not only were they all full, there were two or three other cars prowling around looking for space as well. I returned to our still empty temporary spot, and we decided on Plan B, which was to drive to Ray and Mary’s and have Ray drive me back, then take our car home. As Trav and I headed to the car to do that, a spot opened up next to Gallery Marine and we whisked into it. Since it was on the Gallery Marine side, I went into the office to make sure it was okay to leave it there for a few days. Permission granted - problem solved.

We puttered around at the dock for a bit putting stuff away and finally backed out around 2 o’clock to head down the Ship Canal towards the locks. As we approached we could see several boats waiting, with the small lock green light just coming on. We knew there were too many boats ahead of us for us to get in on that locking, and we were redirected into the large lock. Ahead of us were a couple of tug boats and a large barge, so most of the lock space was taken with that. There was just enough room for two boats behind the barge, and we ended up on the wall just in front of the gate as it closed. Rafted to us was a 42’ Ocean Alexander. After securing their lines to us, they mentioned that they had been waiting nearly two hours, so we were even happier with our good timing as to our arrival. With the lock gate closing behind us as soon as we were secured, we had a quick descent for being in this lock. Sometimes it can be an hour’s wait as it fills with other boats, but the barge took care of that. We were out in the sound in no time.

The weather was perfect for our crossing, and we proceeded at a leisurely 8 knots. We headed a little off course to cross behind a large container ship that was coming past Kingston on its way to either Seattle or Tacoma, then headed on in to Port Madison, where we dropped the anchor around 4 o’clock.

Port Madison is lined with docks and homes – some very upscale and others from another era. It’s an eclectic mix and provides for a very nice setting. It’s also very peaceful and quiet here, with the solitude interrupted only by the occasional lawn mower.

Trav had brought along a slab of fresh salmon, and Erin prepared it with a light brown sugar glaze and lime slices for a delicious dinner. Sunset was around 7:30, and we played a full round of Mexican Train dominos on into the night, finishing around midnight.

July 27 – La Conner to Lake Union, 53 miles

We woke up early in anticipation of getting out of town to do some traveling before the heat of the day caught up with us – but still had a leisurely start, brewing a pot of tea and a pot of coffee for Ray and Mary. We noted the direction of the current to plan how to adjust our lines for departure. In La Conner, on the Swinomish Channel, the current flows fairly strongly in either direction, depending on the tide. It was still flowing in our favor, but wouldn’t be for long. We shoved off a few minutes before 7 o’clock in the morning. I angled the stern out away from the dock and let the current catch it and push us away before heading out of town and under the Rainbow Bridge.

South of La Conner, after passing Shelter Bay, is Hole In The Wall, the narrow opening created years ago by the Corps of Engineers when they converted what was Swinomish Slough into a navigable channel. From there we make a sharp turn to starboard, line up with the range markers and follow the dredged channel past the mud flats on either side that are being exposed by the falling tide. We are “behind” Whidbey Island and the tidal flow ebbs around either end of the island – to the south around Possession Point, and to the north through Deception Pass. We were just a few miles from Deception Pass where we made the turn to the south, so the ebb current opposed us, reducing our headway speed.

But, it was a beautiful morning with glass smooth water and scenery everywhere, including Mount Baker coming into view as we passed by the Skagit Bay shallows. We had an almost chilly breeze at the time, and I said out loud that we would be wishing for this breeze in a few hours, as the forecast was for temperatures into the 90’s.

Once we had cleared the shallow channel and viewed the close-up scenery, Erin went below to stir up some breakfast, and soon reappeared with some egg and sausage sandwiches, perfect hand food for eating on the run. We were soon at Strawberry Point, where we angled towards the western shore of Camano Island to follow it south through Saratoga Passage. Along the way we were removing the windows on the bridge until we had just the canvas top, which we left up for shade from the ever warming sun. I had the throttles at 1400 rpm, which was about 8.5 knots through the water, although our boat speed was usually a little less due to the ebbing current. As we got further south the ebb actually helped us for a short time before the tide turned.

We passed both the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry and Edmonds/Kingston ferry routes as we continued south towards Shilshole and the Ballard Locks. At times we would be traveling the same speed and direction as the wind, which left us with no wind at all. Erin brought up an electric fan and we placed it on the bridge dash behind the computer to create our own breeze.

After about 6 hours of cruising, we arrived at the locks, and as we were cruising down the fairway towards the railroad bridge, I could see that the green light was lit for the small lock. We continued on towards the entrance to the lock, thinking how lucky we were to hit it just right. As we approached the light, it quickly changed to red and the locktender’s voice came over a loudspeaker “What is your length? Call us on channel 13”. I called to report our overall length, and they said “sorry, you won’t fit – we’ll get you on the next locking”. The tide was fairly low, so rather than tie up to the barnacle encrusted waiting wall we stood by, waiting for 20 or 30 minutes until the lock was available again. At least we were first in line.

The small lock typically holds 5 or 6 pleasure boats, and is by far the more desirable of the two locks available. It also features floating walls that the boats tie to, so no line work is required during ascent. In the large lock, the locktender throws a small line down to each end of the boat, your lock lines are tied on and secured to bollards topside. As the water fills the lock, it’s necessary to keep the line taut as the level changes. To add to that difficulty, 3 or 4 other boats are usually rafted alongside with their weight pulling on your lines as well. So, we were grateful for the small lock, even with the wait.

As we exited the lock into the ship canal, I called our friend Trav, who had volunteered to operate the “Interurban”, a ride so Ray and I could retrieve our car from home while Erin and Mary organized stuff. We soon returned with Erin’s car, the PT Cruiser. It’s smaller than our Jimmy, but I remembered that the air conditioner had failed about a week before we left on our trip and it was now 91 degrees outside with the temperature still rising. We stuffed what we could in the back of the car, and we all climbed in to air conditioned comfort, including, of course, Tribble, who had earned her stripes as a genuine boat cat.

We had a great time the entire trip and were delighted that Ray and Mary could come along with us. We enjoy their company and look forward to assembling the photos and video so we can revisit the good times. The boat performed flawlessly as well, making the trip all the more pleasurable. A good time was had by all.

July 26 – Anacortes to La Conner, 10 miles

This morning Ray and Erin collaborated on making a frittata for breakfast. It had maple sausage, onions and some other goodies in it. It was yummy, along with the hash browns that Ray cooked up.

Erin and I went for a walk into town, first heading down to the other end of the marina to take a look at the W.T. Preston, now on display ashore. The Preston is a steam powered stern-wheeler that plied the waters of Puget Sound for many years removing snags and other hazards to navigation. It was retired from service in 1981 and ended up on permanent display in Anacortes a few years later.

As we were walking to the Preston we noted a car with two dogs inside, windows rolled all the way up and unattended. It was still there when we left for our next stop, the Safeway store to pick up a Sunday newspaper. After we returned to the boat, I took my cell phone and walked back to see if they were still there an hour later. They were, so I called the police and they said they would dispatch an officer to check. In weather like this, those dogs could get cooked pretty fast – they were already wiener dogs (dachshunds).

As usual, the tide and current was against us for our run down to La Conner, but we didn’t have that far to go. We cruised out of Cap Sante past the oil refinery dock. There were two tankers at the dock – one full and one empty, and another at anchor, which appeared to be empty. A work boat approached it as we were cruising by and dropped someone off at a stairway that was lowered. Must be getting ready to go for more crude.

We arrived at La Conner around 1 o’clock. Both marina boat basins had plenty of room, so with that in mind we cruised along the waterfront of town to see if there was a vacancy on one of the city docks. They have no facilities, but they’re right in town and just fun to stay at. None had an opening our size, but when we got to the south end of town, one more dock, a relatively new one just a block south of the last business, was available. Eventually a hotel is going to be built there, but for now there is just a landing area and the dock. We tied up, and Erin and Mary immediately headed into town to do some shopping. Ray and I had some leisure time reading the newspaper while they walked the town in the blazing sun. When they returned, Mary had a new travel bag, and Erin had an outdoor garden decoration and a silver ring – a successful shopping trip for both.

About that time, a fellow heading for a small boat behind us stopped by to ask if we had registered. We hadn’t yet, but I told him we planned on it. We had also been noticing some undesirable odors from time to time, so I went back to chat with the guy, a local, some more. I asked him if there was a sewer outlet somewhere around here, and he said that there was, although it was treated and supposed to be below the low tide level. He went on to tell me that the reason he asked about registration is that the dock belongs to a developer friend of his, and he said boats were staying without paying. No one is there to monitor the dock – they just have a drop box, same as the city docks here.

We didn’t care for the dock after being there a couple hours. Besides the smell that would waft up every so often, our view landward was the underside of a pier, and the price was higher than either the city docks in town or the marina. I could see with the binoculars that there was still plenty of room north of town at the marina, so we decided to pull up stakes and head up that way. Along the way we saw a boat leaving a city dock, one of our favorites with a steel fish sculpture over the walkway to shore. We went upstream a bit as we were heading into the current, turned around and came in for our second landing of the day. The view is better, it’s 15 bucks cheaper and as a bonus I’m picking up a free wifi connection.

Erin and I went for another walk into town just to snap a few photos, and we decided that rather than cook dinner in the heat we’d pick up 4 orders of fish and chips from the La Conner Tavern. We’ve had them there before and knew they’d be good. They were.

Tomorrow we make the long run home down to the locks and into Lake Union. As has been our luck the past few days, we’ll be going upstream, as the ideal time to take advantage of the currents would be to leave at either 3 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon. Neither of those sound like a good idea, so we’ll just plan on cruising an extra hour.

July 25 – Westscott Bay to Anacortes, 29 miles

As we were having breakfast this morning, we noticed a tall ship come into the bay and anchor, up at the entrance. It was the Hawaiian Warrior. We saw both it and the Lady Washington last year while we were traveling with Trav and Barb, as we entered Maple Bay in the Gulf Islands. And, sure enough, not too much later we saw another tall ship come in and anchor and it was the Lady Washington. We took a few telephoto shots, and planned on taking some close-ups as we left the harbor. We had some extra entertainment when they fired their cannon – it was towards us, but no cannonball came flying overhead.

Yesterday morning, for some reason, the starboard engine was a little cranky about starting up. It eventually did start, but because we had to crank on it quite a bit, it belched a lot of smoke on some neighboring boats at Roche Harbor. So, I thought it would be a good idea to start a little early, just in case some tinkering would be required. It wasn’t – it started right up. We raised the anchor and slowly cruised out, doing a full 360 circle around the Lady Washington as she lay at anchor, snapping photos all the way around.

I had plotted a course on the computer to take us to Anacortes. We hadn’t stopped there in many years so thought we’d see what was new. Our computer software includes ETA and Best-Departure-Time features. All the current stations along the way are automatically linked to the route’s waypoints, and given a date and time range and expected cruising speed, the best and worst departure times are calculated. Today some more than average tides were occurring, which begets a little higher than average current speeds through the various passageways throughout the islands. Of course, for today’s trip the best departure times would have been about 4:30 in the morning or 3:30 in the afternoon. We left about 45 minutes before the absolute worst departure time, so had reduced headway much of the time due to oncoming currents as the tide ebbed and the water flowed out of the islands and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Our trip through the islands and across Rosario Strait was uneventful, and although some legs seemed to take quite a bit of time as our forward speed was reduced from 8.5 knots down to under 5 knots at times, in total only about 45 minutes extra time was added to our journey.

We arrived at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes around 1 o’clock, and the drill here is to tie up to C dock to get a slip assignment. A small sign on the breakwater gave the hailing channel for the harbormaster, and I called as we were approaching the dock. Just as Erin and Ray were tossing our lines to someone standing on the dock, I received an assignment to a slip on D dock, and away we went, with our lines being hastily retrieved. If only they could assign slips in Sidney that quickly.

The last time we were here with the boat the docks were wood, old and rickety, with some individual floating boat houses along the way, so we were agog at how much the harbor has changed. The docks looked brand new, and we found out at the office later that they were upgraded just last year. The boat houses are gone and the shore side facilities are all new.

The weather was sunny with temperature in the low 80’s, and we quickly closed the sun side curtains and set up our fan for maximum cooling effect inside the salon. We watched from our shady location as other boaters came in and quickly went about their business of hosing off any salt residue from their hull and railings. A little later Erin and I took a walk over to the Safeway store a few blocks away, and although we have only two days left on our trip and much more food than that on board, we managed to come back with a selection of goodies.

Later in the evening we were treated to quite a light show, as a thunderstorm approached from the southeast. For the first hour or so it was just bright flashes and loud thunderclaps, but eventually the rain hit. Ray and I were up on the bridge watching, so quickly put in the side curtains, then congratulated ourselves on our previous laziness as the rain washed away any salt residue. Erin hastily deployed our drip bowls, as we have an assortment of interior leaks. Some reliably occur in the same place and others pick new locations to manifest themselves. We’re hoping that planned maintenance with sealers and new topside paint will stem most of it. We’ve been fortunate to have mostly dry weather on the trip, but on the other hand, that also makes any open seam that much more open and more prone to leaks. We have work to do when we get back.

We’ve got a good wifi connection here at the dock, and we were pleased to see an update on Craig and Kristine’s travel blog that they were successful with their run to Bellingham for repairs to their alternator. Actually, the alternator was shot; they got a rebuilt one and returned to the San Juan Islands Friday afternoon.

We had hamburgers and salad for dinner tonight, along with some steak fries we picked up at Safeway, but probably should have left there.

July 24 – Westscott Bay, 3 miles

Ray found the package of cinnamon rolls that Erin requested he make the other day, so that was incorporated into breakfast today. We all slept in a bit, if 7 o’clock is sleeping in.

After breakfast, Erin and I walked ashore to the sculpture garden for a walkaround. We saw several pieces we liked – especially the mobiles and of course the turtle art. All the pieces here are for sale and range in price from a couple thousand dollars up to $25k and more. I don’t think they’re moving them very fast.

Checkout time was at noon, and we were in no hurry to leave earlier, as we’d decided to go anchor at Westscott Bay, a 3 mile cruise just around the corner. By the way, all the references to miles in this blog are nautical miles, not the statute miles we’re all familiar with on land. Nautical miles are 6,076 feet.

We pulled away from the dock just before noon, idling out of the harbor towards Mosquito Pass. This pass runs between San Juan Island and Henry Island, and leads out to Haro Strait. About two thirds of the way through southbound, one can turn to port, or to the east and enter either Westscott Bay or Garrison Bay. Mosquito Pass is pretty straightforward if you pay close attention to your chart, but many who have attempted to cut a corner short have run aground here. That would especially be the case today, as we passed through on a minus 2 foot tide. We saw no one stranded today. Other than a run into the bay about 16 or 17 years ago in a rented skiff, we first came here last year to rendezvous with Trav and Barb on the Bar-T-Na. This year there were nearly as many crab pots scattered about as last year, but nowhere near the anchored boats. Many of the pots are being checked, I think, by people zooming in here from Roche Harbor.

After such an arduous journey, of course we kicked back for a little relaxation. But, soon I lowered the dinghy, and Ray and I went for a spin around the bay. We checked out the aquaculture pier, which appears to be an oyster farm of some sort. They have a bunch of black buoys running in several lines around the pier. On the dock are a few that have been pulled up, and we can see thin mesh cages, about the consistency of shrimp pots. They were round, about a foot and a half in diameter, but cylindrical – several feet long as they hang down under the buoys. The ones up on the dock appeared to contain oyster shells, and there were also some plastic milk crates with oyster shells.

We continued on to the head of the bay, where we saw a small sign on an upright stick, about 50 yards from shore. Of course, we had to approach it to read it, as the font was very small. It was a warning that we were now entering an eel grass preserve, and to keep out.

Erin and I went for a ride a little later in the afternoon, with Erin doing all the motoring, including landing at our swim step upon our return. We cruised along the shoreline, and tried to find the viewpoint in the sculpture garden where we could look out at the tide flats of this bay. We could only guess where our viewpoint was this morning.

Our dinner consisted of pork chops, corn and the remaining new potatoes we had picked up at Ganges some time ago. They tasted extra good, maybe because we weren’t supposed to bring them across the border.

I was able to find an unsecured wifi signal after dinner, and was hoping to see an update to Craig’s blog to see if they had a successful day in regards to getting their alternator problem resolved. No update, but we’re hoping for a good outcome. The wifi was a one bar weak signal and is gone now, but may come back when we swing around. If so I’ll post this this evening – otherwise it’ll wait.

Tribble is finally coming around to taking on the roll of a boat cat. The past two or three days she has spent very little time under the couch, and has joined us up on the bridge while we’re underway. Today she ventured out onto the deck when no one was watching, exiting via the back side curtain and walking the length of the walkway. Erin spotted her as she passed in front of the salon side door. She was in her typical cautious nervous cat slink, but continued on out to the foredeck, checking out the closed hatch there. She stopped to look over the edge several times, but must have intuitively known it wasn’t a good idea to jump down. We brought along our salmon net for just such an occurrence – fortunately it wasn’t needed. She returned back to the rear side curtain, bypassing an entrance into the salon, to come back in the way she left.

After a chill wind off the strait early in the afternoon, the weather has settled down and we are enjoying a sunny, calm evening swinging on the anchor at Westscott Bay.

July 23 – Sidney to Roche Harbor, 10.5 miles

We also picked up a couple of cinnamon rolls at the Sidney Bakery yesterday, and that became our breakfast, along with eggs over easy, courtesy again of Ray’s galley handiwork. Afterwards, all four of us went for a walk into town. Erin and Mary headed for the bakery to procure some fresh butterhorns. Ray and I went to that marine store that Craig told us about yesterday, just to browse through the stuff. We got there about 8:30 and they were not yet open. There were no hours of business posted, so we decided to take a walk down the street towards the water, where there was a fishing pier at the street’s end. From the pier we could see not only our harbor, but also the ferry landing for the Anacortes ferry that comes here once or twice a day. We were blessed with another sunny day and we could see all the way across the straits to Washington, even though a thin fog was developing.

We returned to the store at 9 o’clock and found them just opening up, hauling odds and ends out on the sidewalk for display, including some large ball fenders and a full sized wooden pirate. Inside were rows and bins of all sorts of paraphernalia, similar to the Second Wave store in Seattle, only with aisles closer together. Outside was a yard with fuel tanks, a canoe, exhaust manifolds, teak ladders – you name it, they probably had it somewhere. But, it turns out we didn’t need any of it, so we came back empty handed.

Erin and Mary almost came back empty handed as well. The bear claws were not quite ready at the bakery and the clerk suggested they come back in a half hour. They shopped in some nearby stores and returned a half hour later, only to discover someone had come in and bought their entire stock of fresh bear claws. They did manage to come back with a box full of butter horns, though.

We had planned on leaving at about 11, but hearing that fog had formed in the strait around that time yesterday we backed away from the dock a bit early, around 10:30. As we were headed down the fairway towards the exit, we saw Craig and Kristine aboard the Elsa, also heading out. “Adios Potentate”, they radioed, as they were headed south towards Cadboro Bay.

We set our course for the tip of Sidney Spit, and then a direct shot across Haro Strait to San Juan Island and Roche Harbor, where we could clear U.S. Customs. Because we left a little earlier, the tide was ebbing quite a bit faster. It was to our advantage for the first half of the crossing, boosting our speed over the bottom up to 11 knots in some places. It also created quite a bit of turbulence, but it didn’t approach the level of a pounding and we only took a few sprays up over the bow. Midway across we entered the ebb flow coming out of Spieden Channel on the U.S side and our speed over the bottom dropped dramatically, to as low as 4.6 knots. The water was much smoother, though – a fair trade for the reduced headway.

We passed Battleship Island and entered Roche Harbor just before noon and headed towards the marina and Customs. We expected the usual 20 or 30 minute wait for a spot on the Customs dock and were pleasantly surprised to see an opening large enough to accommodate us and then some. We cruised right on in and tied up. I gathered up our papers – passports, registration document, customs decal number, Canadian clearance number and Tribble’s medical records and went into the office to declare our arrival. That all went smoothly, and today the agent came out to the boat – not to board it but to compare everyone’s face to the photos on our passports. We were done in less than 10 minutes.

The agent asked us to shove off as quickly as possible, as other boats were now waiting. We had decided to stay here for the evening, so I contacted the marina on the radio and we were assigned a slip. About an hour later, Mary, Erin and I walked ashore to investigate while Ray stayed on board. As we were walking past the store, who should we see approaching but our friend Craig, who had been heading south from Sidney when we both departed the marina. They had encountered an electrical problem with their alternator or voltage regulator as their battery voltage was dropping rather than increasing as they cruised. They decided to divert here in hopes of finding a quick repair somewhere in the San Juan Islands. They had just cleared customs, and Craig had found a marine store a couple hundred yards beyond the old lime kiln area here at Roche Harbor. He had inquired there about repair facilities, and found that nowhere in the islands is there a place that repairs alternators. They typically ship them out to Seattle or Bellingham. With the shipping turnaround time he’d be looking at several days of waiting.

After hearing the story, I said “we have a spare alternator on board the Potentate, from when we upgraded to a higher capacity alternator a few years ago. Maybe you can use that.” Craig and I returned to the Potentate while Erin and Mary continued on their walk. We found the alternator in our sea chest after a bit of rummaging around, and carted it off to the Elsa, which was tied to the visitor area adjacent to the Customs dock. It looked like it would fit, but it had been a few years since I removed it, and I wasn’t certain which terminal was which. We decided to walk back to the marine store for advice. We got the straight story there on battery lead, ground and switchable field connections, and headed back. We even hitched a ride on a harbor service golf cart for part of the way, a good break. Craig began removing his alternator, and I went to the Potentate to retrieve a coil of wire that we could run from an ignition switchable terminal to the voltage regulator (his was configured differently). We thought we were in fat city with all the bases covered. Then Craig noticed that the mount for our alternator was the opposite configuration from his. His alternator has a couple of ears on it that go on either side of a mount on his engine. Mine had a solid mount on the alternator made to go onto ears that come out from the engine. We thought there might be a way to make it work, but without a supply of different size and different length bolts and a few other things, it just wasn’t going to work. We were bummed, especially because it took away a few hours of travel time in hopes of getting it fixed. Craig resorted to his original plan, which was to cruise either to Anacortes or Bellingham this evening in hopes of getting a quick fix tomorrow. He can last a couple days without the alternator, but will have to go to a dock with shore power for recharging at least every other day. We’re hoping to hear a successful update to this story soon.



Dinner this evening consisted of cheese dogs that Erin and Mary picked up at the store here, along with some baked beans and chips. Afterwards Erin and I walked a few docks, admiring the boats. The Thea Foss, a classic from the 1930’s and originally John Barrymore’s boat, was here and in pristine condition. We admired and photographed it, walked a few more docks and returned to the Potentate for the evening.

July 22 – Cowichan Bay to Sidney, 13 miles

As usual, Ray was in the kitchen looking for breakfast fixin’s, and came up with pancakes and eggs. We could get used to having an onboard chef.

After tidying up a bit and topping off the water tank, we pulled out at about 11 o’clock, destination Sidney. The wind was blowing in the 15 to 20 knot range and we had whitecaps, but it was a relatively smooth ride all the way as we crossed Satellite Channel and entered Colburne Passage. This leads to Swartz Bay, a major B.C. ferry terminal. We saw one of the jumbo ferries leaving the bay while we were still a few miles out, and could see another approaching in the distance. A third, smaller ferry coming from Saltspring Island followed us into Colburne Passage, but turned off to the terminal before catching up with us. We chose John Passage, between Coal and Goudge Islands, to round the point and take us towards Sidney. This is a small narrow passage with marked rocks at each end. The passage between them is clear but requires a zig in the middle. We entered just in time to avoid the wake of the third oncoming jumbo ferry, the Empress of British Columbia.

The main harbor at Sidney is at the foot of Beacon Street, the main drag, and has been upgraded in recent years to accommodate hundreds of boats. It is surrounded by a huge rock breakwater. Last year, when we came here with Trav and Barb, we learned that they are quite disorganized in the manner they track and assign slips to visiting boaters. We radioed ahead before approaching the breakwater to get a slip assignment for one or possibly two nights, and found that the process was equally disorganized this year. We circled outside for 10 or 15 minutes standing by the radio for a slip. Finally, we were assigned slip F18, but then informed that the vessel there that was supposed to leave was still there due to the low tide, so we’d have to wait an hour. “Okay, where can I wait?” I radioed back, still circling. After a few minutes of unintelligible chatter at low frequency on the dock radios, we were informed we could proceed to slip F17. We entered through the breakwater, jockeyed past a boat aiming for the customs dock and headed down the F dock fairway. I was close enough now to hear the dock attendants radios, and heard that there was another boat in F17. We were rerouted to F13 and told we could stay there for two days if we liked. As I registered at the office later, I learned that the owner of our slip would be returning tomorrow, so we’d have to move if we wanted to stay a second day. That’s not a big deal, except checkout is at 11 and check in time for new slips isn’t until 1 o’clock. I’m sure they’d work around that, but we’ll probably be on our way tomorrow anyway.

The facilities here are top notch, with new, wide docks and lots of room – other than at the entrance, that is. Every piling, and there are a lot of them, is decorated with two hanging baskets, overflowing with flowers. When we arrived, the baskets were far overhead, but now, at high tide, they’re just 3 or 4 feet above the dock. Each basket is watered automatically from a coiled hose that has enough slack in it for the tidal changes. The only design flaw I can see is that the basket drips right onto the electrical stanchion where we connect to shore power. At the head of the dock is a large two-story floating building. The lower area is a lounge with laundry facilities and the upper floor houses the marina office and souvenir store. The grounds along the shoreline are impeccable, with wide paver stone walkways, manicured lawns and nautical looking fencing with chains and ropes.

A little later in the afternoon the four of us went for a walk into town. Erin had a craving for some fresh bear claws and butter horns from the Sidney Bakery, a longtime institution here. When we arrived there we found the cupboard relatively bare, but did get some sausage rolls, donuts and cookies. We walked back towards the water to an incredible view of Sidney Spit. Beyond the spit, across Haro Strait we could see Spieden and San Juan Islands, our next destination – back in the USA.

As we were leaving on our walk we came upon Kristine from the Elsa at the lounge area at the head of the dock. They had arrived here an hour or so ahead of us and she had a load of laundry going already. Their plans on to head down to Cadboro Bay tomorrow for a stay there before returning back to home waters. They plan on meeting their daughter and her boyfriend next Monday up at Samish Island.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with some reading, napping, art work by Erin and a couple rounds of Canasta between Mary and Erin. We planned on dining on leftovers today to clear out some space in the refrigerator, so no major preparations were necessary there. Erin and I walked some of the docks, including D dock, where the Elsa was berthed. Craig was busy barbecuing some chicken for dinner so we only chatted for a few minutes.

Tomorrow morning we’ll make another trip to the bakery for some fresh goodies, and I’ll take a look at the used boat store Craig told me he found earlier today. He said it had quite a few old Chris Craft parts and other funky stuff – just what we may need to see. After that we’ll probably head out across Haro Strait, back to the good old USA. We plan on visiting another Craig and Kristine recommendation, the sculpture garden at Roche Harbor.

July 21 – Cowichan Bay

It’s another beautiful day in the neighborhood. The skies are clear and the weather is sunny. A breeze developed later in the morning, which helped keep us cool throughout the day. Ray fulfilled his morning duties of preparing breakfast, baking some orange flavored rolls accompanied by eggs over easy. I topped up the water tank, which was almost empty from several showers and laundry loads, and Erin ran another load. Other than that, we mostly spent the morning watching harbor activity and catching up on some reading.

Ray and Mary decided to walk through the town rather than take the dinghy down to the Maritime Museum and around 12:30 we set off into town. We browsed through a couple shops before arriving at our first destination, the Rock Cod Café, home of purportedly the best fish and chips you can find in this hemisphere. We all ordered the two piece cod fish and chips plate. The only quantity choices on the fish were one piece or two pieces and we figured we could take home some leftovers. We sure did. Each piece was literally a slab, an entire filet and a big one at that. The pieces were quite a bit longer than the plate and were folded, giving the appearance of four huge pieces on each of our plates. We did our best but still brought back more than we ate there. I’m not sure about the entire hemisphere, but Trav and Barb can take note that it beats the Dinghy Dock Pub in Nanaimo hands down.

Adjacent to the café was the Maritime Museum. It consists of a shop and a 350’ pier with three buildings or “pods” along its length. Each pod housed exhibits of various elements of maritime history. In the first pod we saw some old dugout canoes, and they were remarkably similar to those we saw being paddled around our anchorage at Dunsmuir Island across from Ladysmith the other day. I don’t think I mentioned it in that day’s log but those canoes were being manned by natives, one with two persons and two with one each. They were paddling in earnest, no doubt preparing for some sort of regatta or meet. The canoes were long and narrow and hewn from a single piece of wood.

The next pod housed several examples of antique outboard motors as well as exhibits of lap strake boats and their construction techniques. It was slightly disturbing to find as a museum exhibit a 2 hp Elgin outboard very similar to what we had as kids. To share the museum similarity wealth, in the shop there was also a Sea Horse 22 hp outboard of 1930’s vintage, a twin to Jim’s 22 hp Johnson outboard. Also on display was an Indian outboard, made by the same folks who made Indian motorcycles. Only 2000 of these were made in 1930 before the depression hit, so they’re relatively rare now.

The last pod at the end of the pier housed several meticulously made model boats from several eras, including the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. The accompanying blurb pointed out that the real Santa Maria was built in 1462, so was already 30 years old when relegated to Columbus for his quest to find a new route to the east. Also on display was a 1/64th scale model of the HMS Victory, an 18th century ship of the line in the Royal Navy. The actual HMS Victory is the oldest naval vessel still commissioned, currently in dry dock in Portsmouth, England serving as a museum. Several models of tugboats and other workboats from the late 19th and early to mid 20th century were also on display. Most of the models were built by local retired ear, nose and throat surgeon Ewald Dwersteg, who says: “I worked with fine instruments in surgery and this hobby requires a similar coordination and spatial orientation with your hands”. Although the doctor had an extensive knowledge of shipbuilding and naval history, he was a landlubber who would sum up his opinion of sailing thusly: “He who goes to sea, goes to Hell for a pastime”. Seventeen of the models on display are his handiwork.

A boatbuilding class was in progress in the shop on shore. They were building a 10 foot dinghy of mahogany, oak and cedar. One of the museum staff told me that if a class member paid for the materials he could then take it home, otherwise they would raffle it off. A previously built model was on the floor to be raffled, with tickets $5 each. It takes from $1500 to $2000 just for the materials they use. Outside on the street side were some other exhibits, including a couple of vintage diesel engines from old tug boats.

By the time we got back to the boat we were all ready for some ice cold drinks and relaxation. It was somewhat cooler inside, thanks to the sun shield of dish towels devised by Erin. Our future plans include a more formal window dressing for these front windows, but for now we’re cool inside, whether we look cool or not.

July 20 – Ladysmith to Cowichan Bay, 21 miles

Before retiring for the night, we announced we would be leaving around 8 o’clock in the morning for the best currents heading south and through Sansum Narrows. Ray and Mary must have taken that to heart, because they were both up way before sunrise. They blamed it on the apple-rhubarb pie. In any case, when we got up around 6, Erin’s tea was ready and we had breakfast before leaving, rather than while underway.

It was already warm when we left, and the side windows were coming out before we got too far away from the anchorage. Our cruise south was uneventful, which is a good thing. We arrived at the narrows around a half hour after slack and encountered only the slightest of turbulence. Cowichan Bay is just around the corner from the southern exit of the narrows, across the bay from Genoa Bay. While we have never cruised into Genoa Bay, we drove there last year with Trav and Barb when we rented the car out of Maple Bay, the harbor on the north side of the narrows.

We’re on the government dock at one end of town, and are delighted with both our moorage and the town itself. The main street runs along the waterfront for about a quarter mile, with a mixture of shops, floating homes, restaurants and shipyards along the way. Craig and Kristine told us we could get the best ever fish and chips here, and a couple from Victoria who moored their boat ahead of ours about an hour after we arrived offered the same advice, unsolicited. We plan on having some fish and chips tomorrow. We also plan on staying for at least a second night so we’ll have some time to look around.

When we arrived, the tide was low and the ramp was quite steep. Erin and I went into town to look around while Ray and Mary stayed on the boat. The maritime museum, which we all want to see, is situated at the other end of town and would be quite a hike for Ray and Mary round trip, so our plan is to take the dinghy to the other end of town for an excursion tomorrow.

We took several photos of the waterfront here during our initial walk, and I’ll post a few here. There are two or three unsecured network connections here, so hopefully we won’t have any problems posting some updates to the blog.

July 19 – Telegraph Harbour to Ladysmith, 6.9 miles

Last night I wrote in the log while up on the bridge, but because we still had the helm seat turned backwards I sat on the back seat with the computer on the small teak table. When I attempted to connect to the Thetis Island Marina wifi for Internet access, it was not to be found. I finally held the laptop up over my head and was able to get the signal. Needless to say, I just briefly checked email and uploaded this text. Photos will have to come some other time. I attempted to connect again this morning before we left, but the “try it free for a few minutes” button did not appear this time. I either wore out our welcome, or more likely needed to wait 24 hours for the next freebie.

Telegraph Harbour Marina hosts a Sunday Market from 10:00 until 12:00 and we had planned to check that out before getting underway. It had skipped my mind until Craig and Kristine stopped by on their way. We enjoyed both their visit and the reminder. Erin, Mary and I went ashore to peruse the market while Ray remained aboard with a good book. There was a small variety of jewelry, produce, Indian art and baked goods to choose from. Erin picked up a nice bracelet and earrings, while I found a nice homemade apple-strawberry-rhubarb pie for us. The lady told me it would last three days without refrigeration – I told her it wouldn’t last that long. At another station, an elderly lady was offering free plums. She had a basket full and some plastic bags and said she wanted the basket to be empty by the time she went home. I thought the least I could do was help out so I bagged a couple dozen or so to take with us.

Before heading back to the boat we walked back to the observation area for the small boat channel to show Mary what it looked like at low tide. The bottom was exposed and covered with the same starfish (yes, I’m sure they were the same ones) as the day before. I went down and took a few pictures from the channel bottom.

While visiting with Craig and Kristine they suggested Cowichan as a nice place to visit. It has a main street that runs along the waterfront and a maritime museum. It’s not such a hot anchorage, but there are several marinas and a government dock, so we’re pretty sure we can find moorage there. We have never been there in all our cruising around this area, so it’ll be a new adventure for us.

We left the dock just before noon, on a rising tide. Craig asked me to sound our horn as we passed by on the way out of the harbor and I was more than happy to oblige – Erin was tolerant.

We decided to head over to Ladysmith today, then to Cowichan in the morning for a better chance at a dock space. Although we’re within the boundaries of Ladysmith Harbour, the actual town of Ladysmith is across the bay from our anchorage here behind Dunsmuir Island. Ladysmith’s waterfront is mostly commercial, and the small government dock there is usually full of local boats. The town itself is a stiff hike up a steep hill, and all the cruising guides recommend taking a taxi. Our anchorage is quite peaceful, other than the occasional rap music that spews forth from one of the houses on shore. We plan on barbecuing some chicken for dinner and will get an early start tomorrow, heading out around 8 o’clock to take advantage of favorable currents going through Sansum Narrows.

July 18 – Telegraph Harbour

Ray continues with his new duties as morning chef. We were all treated to scrambled eggs with bacon bits and toast this morning. We’re getting used to this.

After breakfast Erin and I went for a walk ashore and explored the boat passage canal a bit. It was low tide (the Potentate had 6 feet under it, and we’re out at the end of the dock), and the canal was completely dry at the entrance, with several starfish lining the bottom. The narrowest part is at the Telegraph Harbour end, and has a dogleg as well. We could see the rocks on either side that would be hidden at high tide. If we ever attempted a passage at high tide, we’d have to be doubly sure to stay centered, especially in the dogleg. We could look down the canal all the way to Clam Bay from the vantage point of a little lookout beyond the picnic shelter, and could see a few homes along the way as well. It was very scenic.

Later in the morning I lowered the dinghy, hooked up the tank of fresh gas to the outboard and pulled the rope. This was its first performance since last September or so, and it started on the first pull. Erin and I went for a morning dinghy ride around the harbor. We explored the entrance to the boat passage, but the tide was still fairly low so we weren’t able to go in very far. We continued on our dinghy ride around the harbor, heading out towards the Thetis Island Marina, which is halfway down the bay. They have a restaurant and a liquor store there. We saw Ross from the Gin Fizz there – he said he was resupplying his liquor cabinet after last night. A sailboat was intentionally beached there, sitting on its keel on the shore and tied to a single piling that kept it upright. The owner was working on recaulking the bottom. We opened up the throttle to clear our little Yamaha’s pipes after its long winter layover and headed out towards the mouth of the bay at about 20 mph. We turned around at the Kuper Island ferry landing and followed the shoreline back, pestering a few herons along the way.

By the time we came back to our marina, the entrance to the boat passage was a little deeper, and we saw a dinghy coming through. That was an invitation for exploration, so we headed in. Along either shore were drying mudflats, or grassy areas where the high tide didn’t quite reach. We could see an estuary that was totally dry, with the exception of a small area where it connected to the canal. Along the north side were a few homes, with floating docks resting on the bottom. This was definitely a high tide community as far as moving a boat goes. We continued on to Clam Bay, where there were some pilings marking the entrance. A small fishing boat was coming towards the entrance pilings at a pretty good clip, so we waited for him to pass before returning. He slowed to minimize his wake as he approached us, and then gunned it back to a plane to continue on through the canal. We followed shortly thereafter. Ray and I went out for a ride a couple hours later, and upon entering the canal I could see that the water was now much higher, with the floating docks floating and the estuary filled with water. Coming our way were three small cruisers, in the 24 foot range, headed across to Telegraph Harbour.

Later in the afternoon Craig and Kristine came motoring into the harbor aboard the Elsa, and chose an anchorage not far from the dock. As they headed towards the marina in their dinghy we turned our helm seat around to put the bridge area into the conversation pit configuration so we’d all have a comfortable place to chat. We had a great visit, trading boating stories and comparing notes on our experiences with clearing customs while boating. They plan on heading up to Nanaimo to anchor off Newcastle Island. They’ll be back to Samish Island where their summer home is around the end of the month to pick up their daughter and her boyfriend for a tour of some San Juan Island sites. We took photos of each other for our respective travel blogs. To see our photo, which was taken with their camera, I suppose you’d need to look at their blog, which you’ll find at http://elsacruise2009.blogspot.com/. You’ll see their photo right here, but only when we have a connection good enough to upload it.

We spent the evening up at the picnic shelter with the rest of the rendezvous contingency at a potluck barbecue. They had a large brick lined grill going for folks to barbecue their main dish, and we all brought side dishes for the potluck. Ray and I grilled our hamburgers; we filled our plates with a variety of salads and goodies and had a great meal. We shared our table with the crew of the Ocean Pearl and had a good time bantering with them. Between yesterday and today we had purchased quite a few raffle tickets, and the drawing was held following dessert. They had an assortment of prizes available, and when a winning ticket was selected, that person could choose any prize from what was left on the table. Our tickets weren’t among the first few drawn, so we weren’t able to snatch up the self inflating lifejacket there, but we did eventually have some winners. We came back with a spice rack, an LED flashlight, a toy bubble wand, which Erin presented to a little boy who had been telling us how much he like vegetables, and the last prize, an undisclosed amount of money, went to us as well. Ray and I split the 2 twenty dollar bills.

We haven’t settled on an itinerary for tomorrow, so for now our plan is to stay here up until checkout time at noon before getting underway. We’ll probably head over to Princess Bay or some other anchorage for some peaceful relaxation.

I may or may not get this posted to the blog tonight. I have photos as well, but I’ll add those later when I have access to a full connection.

July 17 – Ganges to Telegraph Harbour, 20 miles

Ray has taken on breakfast duties, and was at it again this morning. Neither Mary nor Erin expressed interest in a full breakfast, but Ray and I were the recipients of his handiwork, with a scramble of potatoes, onions, cheese and eggs. As usual, it was excellent.

We planned on getting underway around 10:30, so we set about our departure chores. I filled the water tank, and discovered that it was within a fraction of an inch of sucking air. I guess we came out even with all the loads of laundry and showers the last couple days. Erin and I walked across town with our garbage and then went to the cash machine, as we didn’t have any Canadian money, other than a 5 dollar bill leftover from a previous trip. We also stopped at the Thrifty Mart on the way back to get some more eggs and cheese, Ray’s morning staples.

It was very warm first thing in the morning, and we were hoping a breeze would develop so it wouldn’t get so hot. By the time we left the dock around 10:30, a breeze was indeed coming from the east, and it was refreshing to head into it.

As we were leaving Ganges Harbor we heard over the VHF radio, “Potentate, Potentate – Elsa”. It was our friends Craig and Kristine on their boat, the Elsa, heading into Ganges as we were leaving. We had traded some itinerary information before our trip, and they planned on being in Telegraph Harbour on Saturday for a visit and to peruse the Chris Crafts here. We waved as we passed and will visit in person tomorrow.

Once we turned past Nose Point on Long Harbor, the breeze was at our back, which left us without much air on the bridge. We removed both the mid and wedged windows from each side, and opened the front windshield all the way for the duration of our cruise. We followed the shoreline of Saltspring Island in a northwesterly direction, passing on the inside of Atkins Reef before altering course to go out around Walker Hook. At Southey Point we turned to the southwest and followed Houston Passage down to Tent Island, where we made the turn to head towards Kuper and Thetis Islands. Telegraph Harbour is bounded by both Thetis and Kuper, although both marinas are on Thetis. The two islands are separated by a shallow boat passage between Telegraph Harbour and Clam Bay. It is passable only at high tide. The last time we were here, just cruising in to look around, it was low tide and the bottom of the boat passage as 3 or 4 feet above the waterline.

I called the marina on the radio for our slip assignment, and we were put on the very end of G dock, a spot we like, as it’s on the outside and affords us a view of the harbor. They put us here also because the docks closer to shore will be in pretty shallow water come low tide tomorrow morning – although I don’t think we draw much more than any of the other boats here.

We were greeted immediately by Brian Lord, one of the organizers, and the one I had exchanged a couple emails with when we signed up for the rendezvous. He had told me to just pay the $15 registration fee when we arrived rather than worry about checks/cheques and currency exchanges. He had pretty much forgotten that part, but I fessed up and paid him the fee. Our registration packet included a nicely made ballpoint pen with the Chris Craft logo inscribed by laser on the wooden barrel. Nice touch.

This is by far the hottest day of the trip, with the temperature reaching 90 degrees. We had our curtains on the sun side closed and fans set up inside the main salon. We went ashore to pay for our moorage, and bought two-scoop waffle ice cream cones. The two scoops were very generous and filling. No one was hungry for dinner, although there was a no-host potluck get together at the shelter on shore later in the evening. We mixed up some salmon dip and contributed that, along with some crackers. We snacked on that, as well as a few meatballs, chicken wings, shrimp, vegetables and other dips as we socialized for an hour or so. This rendezvous has a much different flavor than the one in Port Orchard – more like a family picnic, and we like it. There are several US boats here this year – I don’t have a count of the total turnout, but I would guess it’s somewhere around 30 boats or so.

It’s now after 9 o’clock and finally cooling off. We have been working our ice maker overtime, as we’ve all been downing multiple glasses of ice water throughout the day.