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.

July 16 – Ganges

Ray was up first thing this morning, making his coffee and searching for the pancake batter. He chopped up some of the remaining ham, mixed it in with the batter and we all had hamcakes for breakfast.

There’s a small peninsula at this end of town that is now occupied by condos, and there is a smaller government dock on the other side, opposite the main town waterfront. This dock is used almost exclusively now by locals and commercial boats, but it’s where the harbor office is to pay our moorage. We could elect to deposit our payment in an envelope here, but we weren’t prepared with any cash, so I walked over there to pay by charge card. We paid for last night and tonight, along with one day’s worth of electricity. Although the electrical box here has 30 amp plugs, a sign warns us that the breakers are 20 amps, so we needed to be somewhat prudent with our power usage. Erin wanted to run several loads of laundry in our washer, so we refrained from turning on the battery charger while that was in progress.

Later in the morning we all went ashore for a walk around town. Erin and Mary went off to browse a jewelry store and to the pharmacy to buy some over the counter meds, while Ray and I perused the hardware section at Mouat’s before returning to the boat. I made an excursion to the liquor store to pick up a couple varieties of hard cider and a supply of Gibson’s whisky for our friends Trav and Barb, who are not cruising Canadian waters for the first time in many years.

Throughout the day we saw several Chris Crafts come in, and we presume they’re all headed for the rendezvous at Telegraph Harbour tomorrow. We know for a fact that the Key Largo, Gin Fizz and Scandalon will be there, and probably the Monaco and Alyeska will be as well. Key Largo and Gin Fizz are Canadian boats – the rest, including us, or course, are from the U.S.

We watched quite a bit of activity over at the seaplane dock today as well, with the first flights out taking off a few minutes after 7:00 am. The dock in front can accommodate up to four planes at once, and two more can moor behind our boat, where they go for refueling. We frequently saw three planes in motion, either landing, taking off, taxiing or any combination of the above. The planes were coming in from the west, flying directly overhead at about 50 to 100 feet before landing beyond the dock. The last flight came in around 8:30 in the evening.

Tomorrow we’ll top up our water tank and head out later in the morning for the cruise to Telegraph Harbour – about 3 hours of easy puttin’ along.

July 15 – Hunter Bay to Ganges, 44 miles

Oh, what a beautiful morning! Early morning fog enveloped our harbor – not so thick that we couldn’t see the end of our boat or most of the other boats in the harbor, but thick enough that we couldn’t see the shoreline a couple hundred yards away. In the distance we could hear fog horns out in Rosario Strait, and although we couldn’t see the shore, we could see some hilltops that presumably descended to the shore. As the morning progressed the fog thinned somewhat, draping itself over hill and dale.

Ray prepared our breakfast this morning, using the potatoes cooked last night to make hash browns, along with sautéed onions and ham. He served us all generous portions, which we ate up on the bridge while watching the fog formations.

We planned to head up to Ganges today, so hoisted anchor about 10 o’clock to get started. I should say we hoisted anchor from 10 until about 10:20, as the chain was enveloped with kelp – the kind that had tendrils wrapped around the links. Erin had to work it off with the boat hook every few feet to keep it from feeding up the hawse pipe. When the anchor eventually broke the surface, it was encased in about a foot of mud, the kind that turns to concrete when it dries. Although we had our washdown hose at the ready, it was no match for the load on the anchor. We lowered it to just below the waterline and cruised around a bit until it was clean.

We headed out of Hunter Bay towards Spencer Spit. A solid wall of fog loomed ahead of us and I had the radar on, but as we approached the fog it thinned enough that we could see where we were going. Looking to the east out Thatcher Pass we could see that there was still plenty of fog in the straits, and we were glad we crossed over yesterday. We passed between the spit and Flower Island with no difficulty. Spencer Spit from a distance appears to reach out most of the way to the island, but there is plenty of room for boats to pass, even at low tide. The spit is triangular in shape, with a salt water lagoon in the center. As we passed, a perfect image of the spit, including the lagoon, appeared on the radar screen.

We passed the Lopez ferry landing and Upright Head before heading off between Shaw and Orcas Islands via Harney Channel. We saw quite a bit of ferry traffic, both heading for Lopez and coming through Wasp Passage. We chose to take Pole Pass, a small boat passage between Orcas and Crane Islands. We usually spend the night in Reid Harbour on Stuart Island when we’re headed for Canada. From there we can come around through the reef at the end of the Cactus Islands, cruise through John’s Pass and head for Bedwell Harbour. Today we passed Spieden Island along its northern shore, approaching the Cactus Islands reef from the opposite direction before turning into John’s Pass to join our customary route. By now the fog was long gone and we had beautiful cruising weather. We arrived at the Bedwell Harbour Customs dock about 2 o’clock, and we had it all to ourselves. The customs shack here has seldom been manned in recent years, and today was no exception. At the top of the dock next to the shack are three telephones. I picked one up and it rang a customs officer somewhere in the system. I provided the necessary info about our vessel and passengers, and offered up a bag of moldy cherries that we would be dumping anyway. They have a bin there for banned fruits and vegetables. I had our clearance numbers within 5 minutes and we were on our way.

As we left Bedwell we headed deeper into the harbor between North and South Pender Islands, intending to pass between them via the Pender Canal, a narrow passageway under a small bridge that leads to Shark Cove and then Port Browning. This channel can accommodate only one boat of our size and has a blind dogleg entrance – the perfect opportunity to use our air horns. I had Erin turn on the compressor a few minutes before we arrived. The air horn is one of my favorite parts of the boat, but Erin just rolls her eyes. In any regard, the appropriate signal when approaching a blind passage is one prolonged blast of 4 to 6 seconds, as I learned in captain school, and they are great sounding horns. Oncoming traffic consisted of a dinghy and a couple of wave runners, which all went to one side of the channel. A second blast just before the bridge came into view halted what appeared to be a group of 5 or 6 kayakers, who stayed to one side until we passed.

We continued around North Pender Island via Navy Channel, passing a beautiful schooner that was motoring slowly along in our direction. We enjoyed looking at the various homes and cabins along the shore, and passed a couple of seals who were cavorting in the channel.

We turned into Glenthorne Passage, a beautiful anchorage on Prevost Island, with the thought of anchoring there for the evening instead of continuing across the channel to Ganges. Although there was room, our favorite anchorage spots deep in the bay next to a passage that provides a nice view were taken. We decided to continue on with our original plan and head into Ganges, which was only another 30 minutes or so away.

Ganges is usually a pretty busy port, and we were thinking we’d be lucky if we could find a spot on the government dock in front of town. As we approached, we noticed that there were fewer boats at anchor than we usually see here, and we had our choice of 4 or 5 spots our size on the government docks – unheard of in our experience. We chose a spot on the dock behind the seaplane terminal and breakwater dock, and at the end for an easy exit when it comes time to leave. Erin and I went into town to the grocery store to pick up a few supplies. Afterwards, I strolled over to the moorage office at the other government dock across the way and found them already closed so we’ll settle up tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow we’ll spend the day and evening here, heading out to Telegraph Harbour Friday morning for the rendezvous. I’ve found that I have access to a wifi connection right here at the dock, so I’ll post this on the blog now, and follow up with an update of some photos tomorrow sometime.

The weather continues to be beautiful and we’re looking forward to a day of exploration tomorrow. Tribble continues to be wary whenever the engines are running, preferring the safety of being under the couch, but can be coaxed out with a little prodding. Once we’re settled she’s out and about, and in the evening enjoys the run of the boat.

July 14 – Kingston to Hunter Bay, Lopez Island, 55.5 miles

Blueberry pancakes and cantaloupe was our breakfast fare this morning. Afterwards we busied ourselves with the few chores needed to get ready for our departure. We weren’t in a rush, but had a ways to go – we backed away from our slip at about 9:30 in the morning. As we rounded the breakwater and turned to the north I could see that the ferry Puyallup was still firmly in the dock with thrust holding it there. As we continued on to pass by the ferry, I saw the thrust stop, which meant he was about to leave the dock. Sure enough, one prolonged blast of the horn indicated their imminent departure. At 400 feet and several hundred tons, he had all sorts of rightaway, so we slowed a bit and executed a 360 degree turn while he pulled away from the dock. We then passed directly behind what was now his stern and headed off across the sound towards the southern tip of Whidbey Island.

Cruising along the far shoreline, just south of Mukilteo, we saw in the distance a couple boats that appeared to be Chris Crafts. Erin confirmed their approximate vintage with the binoculars. I suspected it might be the Key Largo and the Gin Fizz, two of the boats that came down from Canada for the rendezvous in Port Orchard. They had planned on going into Lake Union via the locks to spend a couple days in Seattle before heading back north towards Telegraph Harbour. I called Key Largo on the VHF radio and they responded, confirming their position. They had the same thought we did – head up towards La Conner and see what the weather was like before deciding to turn into town or head out through Deception Pass. We were cruising at about 8 knots and they were going quite a bit faster, around 10 to 12 knots, so they soon disappeared in the distance. We’ll see them again at the Canadian Chris Craft Rendezvous.

As we approached Clinton on the eastern shore of Whidbey Island, I could see the Mukilteo Clinton ferry approaching off our starboard beam and it appeared we’d both arrive in the vicinity of the ferry dock at about the same time. A total 360 wasn’t necessary this time, just a turn to starboard for a few minutes so that we could cut behind them.

When we left Kingston it was fairly overcast, but as we cruised on the sky cleared and good weather prevailed. We had a little wind and chop as we crossed in front of Everett, but by the time we reached the Camano shore we were in smooth water with lots of sunshine. We snacked some on trail mix and rice crackers, and then Erin went below and fixed us all tuna fish sandwiches. What a mate!

As we left the northern shore of Camano and headed for Strawberry Point on Whidbey we decided to continue on straight towards Deception Pass. We would arrive about 45 minutes past slack current, but we were in a period of neap tides and didn’t expect much turbulence. Several minutes after we passed the turnoff to La Conner, we heard a “pan pan” call on the VHF. This is a trouble call, but less urgent than a Mayday because the callers are not in imminent danger. The call was from a sailboat that had run aground at the south entrance to the Swinomish Channel. Although the channel is clearly marked with buoys and range finders, we see vessel aground there more often than not, so it was no surprise. The Port Angeles Coast Guard station answered their call and took their coordinates, and a cruiser that had just passed us going the opposite direction answered the call as well, offering to assist if they could. We saw a Vessel Assist boat headed that way several minutes later, probably out of Coronet Bay, so I’m sure they got dislodged without having to wait for the tide to come in.

We continued on through Deception Pass without incident, but with an overload of scenery. Ray and Erin were both hanging out either side door taking photos and video, and reported the wind chill was significant, as a stiff ocean breeze was coming down the Straits of Juan de Fuca. We headed out across Rosario Strait towards Lopez Pass under sunny skies. There were some rollers but it was a fairly smooth ride and we reached the far shoreline about 45 minutes later.

Beyond Lopez Pass is Hunter Bay, our stop for the night. We are at anchor with at least 28 other boats by count, but the bay is large and it doesn’t seem that crowded at all. We’re now officially in the San Juan Islands. We all kicked back and relaxed for an hour or so, then Ray and I continued to relax while Erin and Mary whipped up some dinner of cod prepared with crushed almonds, potatoes and corn. Tomorrow we plan on heading to Bedwell Harbour in the Gulf Island to clear Canadian customs, so we cooked all our potatoes. Potatoes are one of the food items not allowed across the border, but if they’re already cooked they won’t take them. This means hash browns in the future.

We were entertained by two day sailers plying the waters of the harbor – a blue hulled sloop named the Rapid Transit and an open ketch with several people aboard were weaving among the anchored boats taking advantage of the breeze, which is still blowing at about 8 or 9 knots. It feels good to be at anchor and away from the hubbub. We’ll probably be back to that at Ganges, where we plan to dock for the convenience of access to town.

July 13 – Kingston

We had a slow morning today – the weather was gray and uninviting, even though clearing was forecast. I went for a walk up to the ferry terminal and although it wasn’t raining at the time, the moisture in the air was thick and clung to my clothes. In the distance I could barely make out a container ship cruising towards Seattle. The Edmonds ferry emerged from the distant fog behind it on its way to Kingston. We decided fairly early that a good time to get underway would be tomorrow. There’s no point in crossing the shipping lanes on radar when we have plenty of time, and clearer skies will eventually arrive. I strolled up to the office to deposit our garbage and pay for another night’s moorage.

We had a late breakfast, which Erin retitled brunch, of a sausage and green onion frittata. As usual, it was yummy and compliments went to the chef. A little later, Ray, Erin and I walked into town to look around and see what we could see. We browsed a couple of shops where Erin picked up a couple of trinkets, and got lattes to bring back to the boat. The rain continued, but unlike yesterday it varied between very light rain and a mist that was almost suspended in mid air.

Now that we had the afternoon, we decided a grocery store run was in order – a perfect reason to take the electric car that was here for our use. The acquisition was relatively painless, requiring just a photocopy of my driver’s license and a signature that I’d bring it back in one piece or it was mine. Coincidentally, waiting in line for the next ferry we saw a Tesla Roadster, an electric car with considerably more moxie. It is powered by about 6900 lithium ion laptop batteries driving a 248 horsepower electric motor. It can do 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds and go 248 miles on a single charge. Our car, on the other hand, was basically a two seat enclosed golf cart with a small truck bed in the back. It had a rocker switch for forward and reverse, a brake and an accelerator pedal. We left via the only route out – down the sidewalk through the waterfront park, into the parking lot and eventually to the highway. We crossed the main drag, which was clogged with cars from an unloading ferry, and took the back roads up to the QFC store, sometimes reaching speeds of 20 mph. Henery’s Hardware was right next to the grocery store, so we went in there first to pick up a couple of things. We had forgotten to bring along Tribble’s scratching post and I had an idea for a substitute. Since her post at home is just a length of sisal rope wrapped around a post, I bought a small roll of quarter inch sisal to wrap around the post that holds up the dinette table. Her food and water dishes are already under there, as is her carrier, so it’d be both convenient and out of the way. My reading glasses had just broken this morning as well, and I found a selection there, 2 for $10, so picked up a couple peepers. We went on to the grocery store for a few supplies and buzzed on back to the boat. Ray and I wound the sisal around the post while Tribble watched from on top of her carrier. She was content to let me pass the roll of rope behind the post, but when Ray did it she smacked him good. But, our effort met with her approval and she initiated it shortly thereafter.

The computer had a technical glitch this morning while I was doing a little route planning and photo editing. Within a 15 or 20 minute time span, I had 3 BSOD’s (Blue Screen Of Death) where the computer crashed and rebooted itself unceremoniously. Some diagnostics revealed that a driver for RAID technology, which I’m not using, was missing. I downloaded the driver and installed it, and the BSOD’s stopped occurring. Problem solved, or so I thought. I later went back to my navigation software, and found that the vector charts, the digital representations where the text and symbols remain upright while the chart turns, would no longer display. Our digital charts were purchased back in 2002 in preparation for our trip to Alaska, and coincide with version 6.5 of the Nobeltec software. I’m now running version 9.2 via an upgrade, and this version technically does not accept the charts of our vintage. But, by installing 6.5, then the charts, then the upgrade to 9.x minus the very last one, I was able to get it all to work. Apparently the driver I had installed screwed up the works somehow. I did a system restore back to before the driver upgrade, and voila! – our charts came back. So far the BSOD has not recurred so that’s still a mystery. The raster charts, the scanned duplicates of paper charts, still displayed, we have our old laptop along as a backup, as well as paper charts – and we’re not going anywhere we haven’t been before so I’m not too worried about it.

We dined in style tonight. Erin thawed some pork chops and prepared them in a sauce of peaches, onions and rum. Oh boy, were they good! They were accompanied by white new potatoes and fresh green beans cooked with a few onions and bacon bits. I should have taken a picture – it looked as good as it tasted.

We all walked the dock after dinner, but there weren’t many boats to look at. I’d say the marina is less than 25% occupied this evening. It’s a great facility with reasonable rates, and the free wifi is top notch – reliable and fast. Tomorrow we’re heading north up Saratoga Passage, between Whidbey and Camano Islands. We’ll either go through the Swinomish Channel to LaConner, or if the timing is right, continue on through Deception Pass and across Rosario Strait to the San Juan Islands. In either case, we probably won’t be updating the blog with any regularity for a few days.

Tonight we played several rounds of Chicken Foot dominos, with Erin coming out the winner. Trav and Barb’s teak table was the playing field tonight, with our two recliners pulled up to it for seating. We hadn’t played that variation for quite some time so had some fun getting back into it.