May 29...I've lost count of which day it is....

Yesterday we left Nanaimo after listening to the weather reports for the area. Okay, that was at 4:00am. We left at 6:00am - the wind was around 10 knots - not terrible - and the seas were a little choppy - about a foot. No big deal. Whiskey Golf was active, so we had to stick to the coastline. (Whiskey Golf, for those of you unfamiliar with our waters, is an area in the Straits of Georgia where Canadian and US naval forces test torpedoes and other ammunition....so when it's active they're out there shooting things around and terrorizing seals.) By about 7:30am,. it was clear that the weather had changed pretty dramatically - it was blowing about 15 knots, with about 3' seas. Enough to make it a lumpy bumpy ride. Around 11:30 things calmed down, the wind lifted and the seas flattened and it became a lovely ride. Since it was so nice, we came on up to Comox, which was about a 7 1/2 hour ride for us. A long day.

Along the way we noticed that none of the VHF radios on board were working properly. Yikes. We were going to investigate the problem and figure out how to fix it while we were in Comox.....when we got here, it magically disappeared and the radio worked fine. Nothing to fix. We'll just cross our fingers and hope they decide to work when we are ready to go around Cape Caution.

Heading up to Campbell River area today, in a light fog and what appears to be no wind...............another long day, but probably not as long as yesterday.

No pictures, as flat seas and no land nearby don't make for anything much to look at, unless you like blue.

May 27 - day 4 (I think)

It's really easy to forget how many days you've been on a boat when your world is pretty small.....our world is 40' long and about 13' wide right now. However, so far, we've gotten off the boat every day. There's something to be said for going to marinas. :)

This morning we were up and out of Ladysmith at 0700, only to realize that Dodd Narrows wasn't as far as we thought, so we had to go at a snail's pace (about 4 kts per hour) so that we weren't just hanging around the entrance for an hour. Oh well, gave us time for reading.

Going through Dodd Narrows is pretty fun, I think. I like making the VHF call that you have to make going though narrow spots - it makes me feel so official:  "Securite, securite, securite, this is Nellie, a 40-foot motor vessel, now entering Dodd Narrows heading northbound. Any concerned traffic respond on 16. Nellie out." I get to pretend I speak French with the whole "securite" thing. Terribly international, doncha know.

I have a better picture of the freighter that Bob cropped but I can't figure out how to upload it.....as I get better at the ipad/photo thing, the pictures MAY improve (again, I make no promises)

As we entered Nanaimo, we encountered 3 BC ferries, 3 freighters, 2 log booms with their attentive tugs, and several miscellaneous sailboats. None of them, however, were coming to the Nanaimo Yacht Club, so we are pretty much alone on the dock. Very nice.

Ahhh - I forgot - for the first time ever, we got boarded by Canadian Customs and Immigration in Bedwell Harbour. Must be the year for boardings, since Karen & Barrie Hutchinson, who went through a week ago, had the same experience. I just thought it was a really slow morning, and the guys were kind of bored.....a strange experience, having strangers poke through everything you have. Then, one comes out and takes Bob away, down the dock, to question him (!). Then he walked down to me and asked me the same questions - only he tried to trick me. He said, "Your husband says he has guns. What firearms are aboard?" GUNS??? WE HAVE GUNS??? I must have looked a little flustered, because I sputtered around and asked him finally if the flare gun counted. :)  Anyway, we escaped the inquisition just fine. After it was all over, he came over, said we were all fine, and "welcome to Canada"..... then we stood around and chatted for 15 minutes. Nice guys (but a little testy on the gun issue).

Tomorrow we're off north - we'll go along the east side of Vancouver Island, either as far as Comox or maybe just halfway. Then we're going to decide if we're going through Seymore Narrows to get to the Octopus Islands, or if we'll go around from the other side. Reading about Seymore Narrows does not fill me with confidence......I would rather not have a close encounter with a cruise ship unless I'm actually ON the cruise ship....and they transit the narrows on their way to Alaska. We'll see - and probably let the weather decide for us. Which is the smart way to do it, anyway.

Hopefully I'll have the whole picture thing figured out by next posting.........there's nothing to take pictures of down here, anyway. Just lots of water and trees and big boats.

Sunny Ladysmith, day 3

On the first day of any boat trip, at least once, the sun will hit the water just right, and the water turns to gold. At that moment I am reminded again how incredibly lucky we are to live in a paradise like the Pacific Northwest. This afternoon we got that feeling around 3:00pm....the sun glistened, the water was calm, it was warm, and no big Bayliners went by to rock our world.

We got to Deception Pass about 90 minutes early, so we had to idle for an hour before we could get through the pass. Finally, we decided to go through, about half an hour before slack water. It was running about 3 knots, which can make for an exciting journey....but the good news was that the tide was going with us, so we just pushed it up to 1800 rpm and went through. Yee haw! Hit 10 knots of speed, even though we were going 5knots through the water....speed over ground is what it's all about!


Crossing Rosario Straits, along with some very big boys on their way to Port of Bellingham.


...and our home for the night....lovely Hunter Bay, on the south end of Lopez Island.

Day 2
Deer Harbor Marina, on Orcas Island.

This will probably be our last stop in the US. Right now we have wine and 2 cans of beer aboard, so we may have to stay another night, since we can't take them into Canada, and I can't drink all that in one night... :) The good news is that we're with about 30 folks from our yacht club, and the food and conversation is terrific - a great way to spend our last day or 2 before the next 9 weeks of mostly solitude.

The wifi router here at the Marina doesn't seem to be working, so this may not get posted for a couple of days. Our next stop will be in Montegue Harbor, on Galliano Island...but we will be at anchor, so no wifi for us. After that the plan is to hop over to Ladysmith, on Vancouver Island, where I know there is wifi....and real stores.  A bakery that is out of this world good! I will attempt to exercise self-control, but I make no promises.

I have pictures, but I will have to switch to the laptop to publish them.....I am having PC vs iPad wars....

Tomorrow we go through Dodd Narrows and into Nanaimo, where we should have wifi and I'll figure out a way to add pictures.

Oh yes, I did NOT buy (or eat) anything at the bakery

Day one - or, more precisely, day one-half

Taking off this afternoon in a pretty nasty day......rain, cool, pretty much just a yucky day. On the other hand, there is no wind, so as long as the windshield wipers work, we're good to go. We've changed the plan and will go through Deception Pass this evening around 7:00pm (or 1900 hours on the 24-hour clock - which I must get used to again). We'll cross Rosario Straits and drop the anchor in Mud Bay on Lopez Island.

I wonder what I'm forgetting to do before I leave..............hmmmmmmmmmmmm

The Great Northern Expedition v. 2014

We've been chomping at the bit to get out on the water.........hmmm, a horsy entry doesn't really go too well with the whole boat thing, does it? Let's try this again:

The main's set, the jib is ready and the vessel's tugging at her lines..........that's better.

Either way, we're getting close to casting off for the 2014 version of "Heading North on Nellie." I have been buying food for 8-10 weeks, and Bob's challenge is to find places to store it all. We've decided that our boat refrigerator is simply too small for everything, so we're going to be taking a couple of ice chests. As the fridge empties, we'll move things there. Right now, juices, sauces (Worcdestershire, soy, mae ploy, teriyaki, etc) are in the cupboard, but as soon as they get opened, that's more room taken up in the fridge. When I checked out of the grocery store yesterday with two carts and a huge bill, the checker looked at me and asked me just how many kids and grandkids I had! (I THINK he was joking.)

We will head off Friday - probably in the late morning, since we are only going for about 3 hours. We will anchor in Cornet Bay and await the Deception Pass slack tide at 7:00 Saturday morning. The plan is to meet up with friends at the Deer Harbor Marina on Orcas Island for the weekend, then head through Canadian customs on Sunday or Monday. Our first anchorage will be Montegue Harbor, on Galiano Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands. From there, we may head over to Ladysmith for a day (just because we really like Ladysmith), and then it's through Dodd Narrows and into Nanaimo, where Bob buys his Canadian fishing license.

We will have Internet connections the first 10 days or so of the trip, but that will go away the farther north we go. Once we are past the northern tip of Vancouver Island, it'll be sketchy at best. I have promised Ross that I will post more pictures, since that's his favorite part of this blog. My plan is to keep a daily journal and post it whenever I have the opportunity.

Stay tuned..........