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.

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July 12 – Port Orchard to Kingston, 20 miles

We thought we’d dodged a bullet with the rain, as by the time we got up in the morning it hadn’t rained, our drip bowls were empty and the sky was looking halfway decent. We were wrong about that. Just as we were about to eat some breakfast, things changed. We were deluged with rain and scrambled to put in the remaining windows to fully enclose the bridge. Between, Ray, Erin and me we got them up in fairly short order. Of course, the rain stopped a few minutes later, but it has continued on and off throughout the day, with a bit more frequency than I suppose could be described as “showers”.

We had some more visitors this morning as well. Randy Rice, who has a boat at our moorage, had come over with a friend to help someone bring back one of the Chris Crafts, as they needed some extra hands going through the locks. They walked on the ferry to Bremerton, and then found that the little shuttle ferry over to Port Orchard doesn’t run on Sunday. This fact wasn’t lost on the taxi driver who was stationed nearby to take advantage of just such a situation. They took the taxi ride around the bay to get to Port Orchard. Randy and his friends, as well as a four month old Labradoodle named Chucca, came on board for awhile, much to the consternation of Tribble, who waited out the entire visit under the sofa, her ultimate safe spot. We also had a visit by the owners of the Key Largo and the Gin Fizz, two boats that came down from Canada for the rendezvous. They were very interested in seeing the interior, as the Gin Fizz had a similar layout, although it’s 10 feet shorter and without the guest cabin. They were pleased to hear that we’d be in Telegraph Harbour next week for the Canadian Chris Craft rendezvous.

Boats were leaving the marina periodically from about 7 o’clock on through the morning. We fired up the engines shortly before noon and got underway for our trip to Kingston, traveling north up the west side of Bainbridge Island and through Agate Pass. Three or four other Chris Crafts were headed our same direction, with at least one peeling off to head into Poulsbo on Liberty Bay. We had rain showers off and on most of the way, which kept Erin busy chasing down any new leaks that appeared.

We continued on towards Kingston, arriving about 15 minutes after the 1:30 Edmonds departure ferry, which carried Kris, Mike and their grandson Michael. They brought Ray’s inhaler and all visited with us for a couple of hours. Mike and Michael used our net to garner a starfish and prod a few crabs that were lurking about in the rocks on the breakwater. Michael asked if he could have a cheese omelet, and with a little guidance from Erin, cooked one himself and ate in the galley while great-grandpa Ray chided him for not cooking him some toast while he was at it. We all had a good visit, and hopefully they didn’t have to wait too long for the ferry ride home, as they had come in their car rather than walking on in Edmonds.

It’s a very nice facility here in Kingston. I don’t think we’ve been in here for an overnight stay since the days of the Free Spirit – and we’ve now had the Potentate for 10 years. We have free wifi access courtesy of the Port of Kingston, and a 2 seat electric car is available for us to borrow should we need it. We may just come up with a reason tomorrow so we can take it for a spin.

The weather had cleared up quite a bit by the time we arrived here, but now we are being inundated with thundershowers. We’re getting quite a light and sound show and a good soaking as well. But, we’re all cozy here at our slip as the light show continues. If the storm gets too close, we’re counting on the sailboat two slips down to be our lightning rod. In the meantime, I can use the wifi connection to offload some of our photos to a Shutterfly account I’ve set up. When I get the share site ready I’ll post it here so everyone can view more photos than the few included here.

July 11 - Port Orchard

Another day, another fine breakfast – this time it was scrambled eggs with green onions, sausage and cheese mixed in. Ray and I also headed out for a walk down to the activity float to pick up a few more muffins and check on the raffle number postings – so far we haven’t won anything.

There are a few more boats here today – some are tied up along the outside of the breakwater where they can get a pretty good beating from the wakes of passing boats. There are also a lot more people in town and walking the docks viewing the boats. We’ve had several admirers stop and chat. On shore, the Saturday Market is in full swing, and Erin, Mary and I walked up to peruse whatever was being offered. Erin and Mary ended up with new sun shade hats, and we were going to buy a new bouquet of flowers, but lost patience with the proprietor and decided our roses would hold out nicely through the weekend.

A little later in the day we had some special guests on board – Jim and Barb Jorgenson, the former owners of Potentate. They live in Gig Harbor, a bit of a drive but on the same side of the Sound. We always enjoy seeing them, especially aboard Potentate. This year we could show off our new carpet and sofa, as well as the teak table Ray made. We had sent them pictures of it, along with the story of how Trav and Barb had asked Ray to build it for their boat. Jim always has stories to tell, and we usually learn some new tidbit about the boat every time we see them. Today was no exception and I’ll probably be head down and butt up sometime in the future looking for the wires that are stubbed off with the intention of additional lighting. I think I’ve described before how Jim had rewired the entire boat, and I still proudly open the electrical panel to show off the neatly loomed and arranged wiring behind it, just as he did for us when we first viewed the boat.

We decided not to partake of the catered dinner event in the park this evening, choosing instead to have a casual dinner aboard. We later joined the crowd ashore to give our batch of raffle tickets one more chance to bring us a prize, but no such luck. Awards were given for the peoples’ choice of both wood and fiberglass boats, as well as the most improved. Ten years ago, when we came here for the first time with the Potentate, we ended up with a trophy – I’ll have to take another look at it, but it was either People’s Choice or President’s Choice, or something like that. We were reminded of that by Joel Van Ormund, who stopped by to chat in the morning. His boat, the Scandalon, also received an award that year, and is moored at Harbor Village in Kenmore, right next to the Bar-T-Na, Trav and Barb’s boat. Apparently someone had been talking, because he knew all about our boating adventures with Trav and Barb.

The weather forecast for tomorrow calls for cooler temperatures with a chance of rain, and as we walked back to the boat we could see and feel the changes taking place already. To our west, beyond Bremerton, we saw some dark clouds and several flashes of lightning, some followed eventually by distant thunder. It’s apparently a fairly weak front, as the weather is supposed to improve on Monday, with sunshine and mid 70’s through the week. Just to ensure that we wouldn’t be rained on this evening, we put in the windows over the helm and Erin set out some drip bowls under our known interior leaks. I’ve been re-caulking our decks and resealing the windows, but the job isn’t finished and the rain knows it.

Tomorrow we head for Kingston, an easy cruise.