Alaska Trip Day 104

9/25/11

HOME!!!

Miles travelled:  12

Our night wasn’t as restful as it could have been.  At 3:30 this morning the wind came up from an unexpected direction and one of the anchors dragged and the whole raft rotated which twisted all of the anchor chains together.  It was not pretty and having to wake every one up to have non-anchored boats pull out of the raft and then have to deal with twisted anchor chains was not fun.  Once the non-anchored boats pulled out of the raft, significant strain was removed and the wind decided to calm down.  As a group it was decided to try and deal with the twisted anchor chains once it was daylight.  Fortunately the winds died down instead of increasing as Tor and I feared, and we were able to get our anchor chains all sorted out without any damage or significant work.  Not the way we wanted to break up the raft, but it all worked out in the end.

We got an earlier start than anticipated due to the breakup of the raft so we just headed home.  Goodness was it windy!  Tor did get some sailing in, but I don’t think it was exactly what he had in mind.  We made excellent time with just a reefed main against the tide flooding in.  We tucked into the locks and were welcomed home by Auntie Laurie and Andre…what a welcome sight!

The winds continued to be really strong, probably 30 kts as we motored through Lake Union to our dock.  We got under all of the bridges and made it to the dock in time for the boys to go down for their nap.

After nap we gathered the essentials and headed HOME!  How wonderful it is to be here.  To snuggle with our cats and see the boys exploring this “new” place is awesome.  We had dinner with Grandma Jean and Grandpa Lee and got the boys to bed with minimal fuss.

It was an amazing trip and we are so grateful to have been able to do it.  We plan to put together some sort of summary post, but for now we’ve got some settling in to do and some cat loving to catch up on…oh, and some serious child proofing to do!

A rainbow welcomed us back to Ballard (see it over the black boat?)

Alaska Trip Day 103

9/24/11

Blakely Harbor, Bainbridge Island, WA

Miles travelled:  10

Another day of warm, high winds from the South.  Another day of not sailing.  I think it’s killing Tor, but the timing just isn’t working out with naps right now.  We will have to figure out how to get more sailing in on future trips (um, hello, don’t do 2500+ mile trips and then you can take your time getting a few miles), but this isn’t the time.

We anchored in Blakely Harbor in time to put the boys down for their nap.  The rest of the PSCC raft up participants were out sailing a non-race to determine who would win the big bottle of tequila that they would pour for everyone else.  The winner is determined less from actual sailing time and more from a complicated equation that takes things into account like boat color…actually the equation changes from year to year depending on the whim of the commodores.  It makes for a really fun time.

Boats trickled in and tied up to the growing raft or put their anchors out and then tied to the raft.  It’s always a bit of a trick to get the raft set up, but it is really nice to be able to walk from boat to boat and socialize or do a big potluck meal.  We were really fortunate for this raft up because a big catamaran (50’ long with a beam of 24’) tied up next to us so we had some serious space for the potluck.  It was good to have the space since there are a bunch of people since there are I think about 12 boats rafted up together.

We got the boys to bed and then were able to participate in the potluck with the help of the baby monitor.  The boys fell asleep and stayed asleep even though the party was right next door, whew!  It was a fun night and it was great to be back at a raft up…we haven’t been at one for probably about 2 years because I was really pregnant and then we had the boys.  It’s good to be involved again, see old friends, and to meet new members.

Alaska Trip Day 102

9/23/11

Port Madison, Bainbridge Island, WA

Miles Travelled:  27

We had a nice and relaxed morning in Langley.  We walked into town for coffee and pastries and to let the boys roam at the park.  The sun was shining and it was glorious!  We loafed around in town just long enough to let the tide come up to a sufficient level so we could pump out the holding tank…we only had about 6 feet of water and we draw 4.5 feet.  We didn’t plan it, but it certainly worked out well!

The trip south was windy, with wind right on our nose so we just powered into it instead of sailing.  At least the wind was amazingly warm so it wasn’t too unpleasant to be on deck even though we were heading into ~20 kt winds.  We were also fighting a contrary current so we didn’t make great time, but fortunately we weren’t going far. 

Tor and I love Port Madison.  It’s a really well protected anchorage with a nice sticky mud bottom with pretty shallow depths for anchoring.  There are lots of neat boats to look at and it is really close to Seattle, so it certainly felt like we were home after being away for 4 ½ months.  In fact we even started this trip by anchoring in Port Madison for 2 nights!

We had chicken and red pepper kebabs with potatoes for supper and we were able to eat in the cockpit.  The boys have been rubbing their food covered hands in their hair at several recent meals so their hair was disgusting and we decided to take advantage of the warm evening and give them a shower in the cockpit.  It’s certainly the first time it’s been warm enough to do that on this trip!  We rigged up the sun shower and I heated water on the stove since we didn’t have enough time to let the sun do its job.  We put the boys in their high chairs in the cockpit to help keep them contained and they got clean.  Yay!

Odin showering while Lars waits his turn

I'm not totally sure I like this Mama

Why do you put such value on being clean Mama?

Scrub a dub dub for Lars

Clean boys!  Odin needed something to play with while he waited for Lars...good thing he likes beer bottles!

Alaska Trip Day 101

Langley Small Boat Harbor, Whidbey Island Washington
9/22/2011
Miles Travelled: 29

(Tor reporting)

All of our wind down here in Washington is trying very hard to get up to Georgia Strait!  Listening to the VHF weather today told of 40+ knot southerlies in the Georgia Strait area and it is sucking Puget Sound's air North.  We had 20-25 knot southerly winds last night at Hope Island, and the blustery southerlies continued all day today with a steady 15 knots on the nose as we motored south.

We all woke up at the normal time (7:00), had our oatmeal and commenced a relaxing morning of toys, cleaning up from the oatmeal mess and slowly getting ready for a 0930 departure.

As soon as we slipped our mooring line and motored out from behind the lee of Hope Island, the wind and rain really picked up.  Nothing scary but 15 knots on the nose with rain showers isn't fun.  One nice thing is that the wind felt quite warm all day, keeping the experience from being truly uncomfortable.  We motored south, hugging the Camano Island side as the currents were northward and we were trying to gain some benefit by being near the edge of the main flow (edge effect).

Odin had a really rough day.  He didn't sleep all that well last night and we were up for 1.5 hours trying to get him settled and back to sleep.  We realized why this morning, poor little guy is sick.  He is congested with a runny nose, and he even vomited a couple of times today.  Hopefully it was due to swallowing mucous and not a stomach bug, which seems likely because he sure bounced back once we got to Langley this afternoon. Lars' nose started running this afternoon too, ugh.

We pulled into a slip at the South Whidbey Boat Basin at Langley.  It is a very small marina sheltered from the North by a substantial fort-like breakwater that is over 15 feet tall and built in a large C shape from logs on their end...think stockade.  The entrance is quite shallow, but it is a great little spot and within walking distance of the town of Langley.  We walked around town with the boys, climbed a big hill to find the laundromat and even stayed and had British pub fare and IPAs at Mo's pub while our laundry dried.

Lars at Mo's

Odin at Mo's

Alaska Trip Day 100!

9/21/11

Hope Island State Park, Hope Island, WA

Miles Travelled: 29

It's amazing to us that we've been on the boat for 100 days.  We really have figured out how to make it work and how to have fun.

Karla and Soren came by to see us off this morning and brought us doughnuts from Rocket Doughnuts.  Yum!  I was a little scared about the bacon maple bar, but it was great!  I don’t think it quite makes up for not having a maple doughnut of any sort at Tim Horton’s like FarmingMama suggested in an earlier comment, but we’ll just have to try another time when we are up in Canada.

Our trip through the Swinomish Slough was uneventful and a bit slow since we had the current against us.  Once we got to Hope Island, we tied up at a mooring buoy at the state park.  This was the first time we have used a mooring buoy the entire trip.

We had pineapple peanut stew for supper and Odin in particular LOVED it tonight.  It is certainly gratifying to see my kids gobble down bite after bite of kale! 

We are slowly working our way down Puget Sound in thirty mile jumps.  This allows us to work around naps and weather (forecast for strong SE winds over the next couple of days).  It also allows for getting to a social gathering in Blakely Harbor on the 24^th of September.  We've been involved with the Puget Sound Cruising Club (PSCC) since we launched the boat 5 years ago and Tor and I were even commodores a few years ago.  The club has monthly raft ups in Puget Sound and this coming weekend is one of them in Blakely Harbor on Bainbridge Island.  We hope to make it, it would be a fun way to end our summer cruise.  

Alaska Trip Day 99

9/20/11

Bellingham, WA

Miles Travelled: 0

Another day in Bellingham that ended up being so much fun!  Lee and Jean (Tor’s parents) came up from Seattle and we sure had an action packed day!  In the morning before Grandma and Grandpa arrived, Tor, Odin, Lars and I walked up to Karla and Jared’s to spend the morning with them.  Then it was back to the boat for lunch and naps and while the boys napped, I went grocery shopping.  Once the boys were up from their naps, Grandma and Grandpa were already in town.  Grandpa Lee gave the boys baths…something he has been itching to do for a while (that has turned out to be his official Grandpa duty with the other two grandsons).  All 10 of us went out for Lunner at a great Mexican place downtown…I think it was a very romantic dinner for Lee and Jean to celebrate their 44^th wedding anniversary.  After Lunner we all went to Einar’s soccer practice and had a blast.  Then everyone met us back at the boat before it was time to get the little boys to bed.  Busy and lots of fun.

It’s always hectic and always fun to hang out with this crowd.  Einar and Soren really love their cousins and play really well with them and share their toys so well.  We always eat well and the boys get lots of hugs.  We’re glad we are back in town to be able to experience it.

We also got the French Press coffee maker returned at REI today, whew!  We could stay out for another month or so with the coffee we have on board now that we have a way to make it.  Did I just make the Grandparents cringe?  J

First ever art project for the boys, making birthday and anniversary cards for their Auntie and Grandparents

Playing the piano with cousin Soren

Lars giving Auntie Karla a high five at soccer practice

Hanging out on the sidelines

Odin and Grandma rooting for Einar

Grass eating Odin

All of the cousins together

Uncle Jared and Lars

Auntie Karla and Uncle Jared with the boys

Einar and Soren checking out our boat.  For the first time in the history of the boat we heard "Wow, this boat is HUGE!"

Alaska Trip Day 98

9/19/11

Bellingham, WA

Miles Travelled: 27

We awoke to a beautiful morning in the San Juans.  It’s pretty neat to come south and still find a little bit of summer left.  While the weather was pretty nice for us in SE Alaska and N B.C., it still wouldn’t qualify as feeling all that summery since a normal high would be about 60 degrees.  It’s definitely getting to be fall, you can see it in trees turning and feel it in the crispness of the air, but after a summer up North…it feels like summer!

I weighed anchor this morning and motored us out of Parks Bay and through the busy San Juans.  It’s been a long time since we’ve seen this much boat traffic!  I swear these islands are infested with Washington State ferries like a dog infested with fleas.  It seemed like everywhere I looked I saw a ferry.  I’m sure that feeling was magnified by the fact that we haven’t seen boat traffic like that all summer, but it sure seemed there were a lot of them.

We had a nice motor to Bellingham even though we were hoping for wind to sail that just never came.

Once we arrived in Bellingham we had a greeting party meet us at the dock.  Tor’s sister Karla, brother-in-law Jared and nephew Soren came by to greet quickly before they needed to run and get our other nephew Einar at school.

Tor and I got the boys a snack and we put them in the carriers and walked the 1.5 miles to Karla and Jared’s house.  We had a nice evening of visiting and we all enjoyed yummy veggie curry that Jared made for dinner.

Alaska Trip Day 97

9/18/11

Parks Bay, Shaw Island, Washington

Miles Travelled: 27

We are officially limping home.  Our French press coffee maker bit the dust this morning.  It’s been on the edge for a few days, but it is truly dead now.  We have some Starbuck’s VIA instant coffee to get us through, but we are hoping to get to REI when we are in Bellingham to get our problem solved.  Coffee is a BIG deal on this boat, without it we feel sunk.

Well, we are back in our home waters.  We are planning on taking it slowly and making it back home in about a week…I think it will help our re-entry process.  We made good time getting South because we were very fortunate and didn’t really have to wait out much weather.  Two days of weather delay in Shearwater was a whole lot better than we were anticipating when we left to get South late in the season.

We plan to head to Bellingham to visit with Tor’s sister and her family.  It feels an appropriate bookend to the trip since we visited them on the way North.  It’ll be so great to see them!

The boys both had great naps today, Lars for 2 hours and Odin for 2.5 hours.  I guess it kind of makes up for Odin’s really crummy night last night.  Poor kiddo is working on 5 teeth.

The check in at customs in Friday Harbor was painless, and as soon as we were checked in, we high tailed it for our anchorage for the night.  The land surrounding Parks Bay is apparently owned by the University of Washington and is a preserve.  You are not allowed to go on shore, or use the dock facilities in the bay.  Crabbing is strongly discouraged.  It’s a beautiful spot and a good secure anchorage.  Since we can’t go ashore it probably won’t be a good anchorage in the future with two little boys who will likely need beach time to get the wiggles out, but it’s perfect for tonight.

Tomorrow Bellingham!  Family, laundry and showers await us.  Yay!

Alaska Trip Day 96

9/17/11
Selby Inlet, Prevost Island, B.C.
Miles Travelled: 25

The rest of our time in Silva Bay this morning was taken up with laundry, an attempt at showers for all 4 of us that ended up in just washing they boy’s hair in the sink since the shower NEVER got warm, yes we got our money back. We had wifi at the boat, but everything just ended up being so rushed that we never got any blog updating done.

We left the dock in time for lunch and then to put the boys down for their nap. We caught the ebb through Gabriola Pass and hit 9.5 kts! The rest of our trip down to Selby Cove wasn’t nearly that fast, but it was pretty (and) uneventful.

We are back in the land of shallow anchorages. We were near high tide when we anchored and were in 16 feet of water…we only had to put out 60 feet of chain. What a difference from up North where we were routinely putting out 175 feet.

Tomorrow we plan to cross back into Washington waters. We are sad that the trip is coming to an end, but happy to be heading back home to our families, our friends, our cats, our house and away from the changing weather. I think it’s going to take a while to synthesize our experiences into anything coherent, but suffice it to say…this has been an amazing summer. We are so happy we got to have this time together as a family.

Alaska Trip Day 95

9/16/11

Silva Bay, Gabriola Island, B.C.

Miles Travelled: 13

I spend a lot of time on the forums on twinstuff.com.  I find them invaluable for connecting to other parents of twins with similarly aged kiddos for all sorts of issues from breast feeding to sleep to sippy cups.  I have a lot in common with the other moms on Twinstuff simply because I have twins, but by posting a question about sailing with twin one year olds, I found another twin mom that I have a freaky amount in common with.  She is the mom of 9 month old twins (a girl and a boy), and they are sailors too.  When we “met” online, they were all living on their 31’ double ended sailboat in Vancouver, it also turns out she is a chemist.  She and her husband did the Glacier Bay trip before their kids, see, lots of commonalities.  We tried to meet up with them on our way north, but our schedules didn’t mesh.  We planned to stop in Vancouver on the way South to meet them in person, but got an email that they had moved to Gabriola Island for the summer.  We made plans to stay in Silva Bay for the night and meet up.  Boy are we glad we did!

Silva Bay is a busy place, but seems to have a bit of the Port Townsend feel to it…though that may be because we were moored right next to the Silva Bay Wooden Boat Building School.  The whole bay is full of permanently moored boats and a few visiting boats find places to anchor, there are also 3 marinas in the bay.  It’s really a happening place.

Our visit with S and D and their kids W and N (sorry for the initials…I don’t know if they want to be identified on my blog or not), was great.  They came by after their kids woke up from their afternoon nap, so we had time to visit in that sweet spot between naps and supper.  We could have talked for much longer, but the kiddos all needed supper.  I foresee many summers of meeting up with them when we are in the Gulf Islands.  It’s just too cool to find another sailing family with twins who are so close in age and with such a similar boat to ours.  Oh, and they brought us yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies!

A 10' x 40' glassed in deck...perfect for kiddos to run/ crawl around on at Silva Bay Marina!

Not only was the space to roam great, but the glass was fun to bang on.

Odin demonstrating his knee walking...foot walking is overrated anyway.

Off kilter Lars (or is it Mama?)

Alaska Trip Day 94

9/15/11

Newcastle anchorage, Naniamo , B.C.

Miles Travelled: 37

(Tor reporting)

Dropping the hook tonight marks exactly 2500 nautical miles travelled since the beginning of our journey in mid-May.  We had an uneventful motor sail south with not quite enough wind to sail, but enough swell to make things a bit rolly.  Not awful, just more movement than needed. 

We spoke with our friends Steve and Alice on Second Wind on the VHF and figured we would meet in Newcastle Anchorage in front of Naniamo and catch up after last seeing them in Ketchikan.  We arrived in Naniamo and topped off our fuel and water tanks, bought an 8 pack of canned beer (for $12 bucks!) and did a load of diapers at the port’s laundry facility.  This was all made possible by a three hour free moorage policy.  The docks were all full, but with the thought of laundry in mind we had no issues with rafting up to one of the commercial trollers to get our three hours worth!

After all the running around we spent some of the last of our Canadian coinage on some excellent ice cream at a shop right by the marina and headed down to the boat.  A short 10 minute motor across the harbor and we dropped the hook and rafted with Second wind. 

Jess had a pot of Carribean pork and bean stew on the stove all afternoon and we met for dinner on Yare, catching up and counting our lucky stars that we were able to get out of Alaska when we did.  Since we left they have had at least one 75-80 knot gale in the Clarence Strait/Dixon entrance area and North BC was not much prettier.  Second Wind felt like they had been chased down the coast by heavy rains since they left and were glad to be seeing sunnier skies in the Georgia Strait area.  We really have been fortunate on the weather we have encountered this entire trip!

We had a fabulous evening socializing with Steve and Alice, chatting late into the evening while the boys slept down below.  

Alaska Trip Day 93

9/14/11

Tribune Bay, Hornby Island , B.C.

Miles Travelled: 44

(Tor reporting)

Even after 92 days on board navigational mistakes can easily be made… I made the assumption that I knew which way the water was going to ebb in the channel outside of Campbell River.  I figured that the water was ebbing and now that we were south of Seymour Narrows it should be headed south along with us.  Boy was I ever wrong! 

We left the marina at around 8am which was only about 20 minutes past slack water.  As soon as we were outside the breakwater we were pushing against a 2 knot current and by the time we made it a half mile of so south directly in front of town, we were pushing against a 3 knot current.  Now, we only motor along at 5.7 knots full speed, so subtracting 3 knots from this is a pretty significant deal.  Luckily we were closer to slack water than full ebb, because full ebb runs at up to seven knots!! 

Jess and I spent the morning discussing the importance of checking the publications we have on board instead of just “thinking” it out.  I had also heard folks at the head of the dock comment that they would leave about the same time we planned on and have the ebb with them on their way south.  This turned out to be proof that more than one person can make the same simple mistake.  Once we made it past Cape Mudge and got out of the constricted channel the currents dropped off significantly and we were able to chuckle about it (by late afternoon).

We had consistently tempting NW winds that were never strong enough to only sail.  I raised sail three times and we were getting about ½-1 knot push with the wind, but never enough to justify shutting off Perky and only sailing.  At least not with over 40 miles to go to our anchorage!

We arrived at Tribune bay on Hornby Island and anchored amongst 5 or 6 other boats.   It seemed Very crowded compared with the last few months.  Once the boys were asleep Jess and I actually watched a movie on our laptop in the cockpit, a first for this trip.  There was some sort of kids camp on shore and all the noise made it seem like a busy Cineplex.  We are slowly working back towards civilization!

Alaska Trip Day 92

9/13/11

Campbell River, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  21

How’s this for one of those tricky word problems for a math class?

You have two 16 month old toddlers who go down for a nap around 11:30 am and hopefully sleep for about 2 hours.  You don’t want to disturb their nap, but you are living on a small 32 foot boat that needs to be underway while they nap to transit Seymour Narrows and you don’t want to anchor or wildly change engine rpms while they are asleep.  Seymour Narrows is a channel where currents can reach 16 knots and your boat speed is 5.5 knots.  Slack water, today 9/13/11, is at 12:45 and will be turning to flood after the slack. Slack water lasts up to 11 minutes.  The maximum current before your chosen slack is 11.2 knots. You are anchored 10.5 miles from Seymour Narrows and you must reach the Narrows at 12:45 which is during the toddlers’ nap time.  The passage to Seymour Narrows, Discovery Passage, has strong currents, 0.3 or 0.4 times the current in Seymour Narrows.  The tide will be ebbing while in Discovery Passage and those currents will be against you.  What time do you leave the anchorage?

We tried to figure out the best time to leave last night, and decided the right answer was early and conservative to allow lots of time to get there.  We weren’t sure what to expect for currents in Discovery Pass because there is usually a back eddy on the edges where the current isn’t nearly as strong, and can even go the other direction.  We’ve never done Seymour Narrows before and wanted to be sure we wouldn’t have any problems.  We left around 9:15 and it was certainly more than enough time.  We kept the engine rpms down and averaged about 3 knots the whole way to the Narrows.

We ended up challenging the Narrows by about 20 minutes because we were standing by and watching other similarly sized and similarly powered boats go through without problem.  It was truly nothing to worry about.  We were at slack water (or very close to it) and the most we saw was a decrease in boat speed and some turbulence.  No big deal, and we have to say, it is SO easy in comparison to doing a series of other rapids that individually may not run as quickly, but you have to do several of them, over at least 2 days, and the route needed to pass through is far from direct.  When your goal is to make tracks and dawdle as little as possible, Seymour Narrows is definitely the way to go.

We pulled into Campbell River and tied up at the Discovery marina.  We went to the grocery store and it was completely OVERWHELMING.  It was huge and like nothing we’ve seen in the last 4 months.  I guess we really are making our way South and to population.

For supper we had burgers and fries at A&W.  The boys gave us their rootbeer and ice cream from their kid pack meals, we were very grateful (that or we're mean parents!).

Heading into Campbell River, Lars was still napping

Lars shows how goldfish crackers MUST be put into the winch hole before they are eaten!

Do you know how HARD it is to get both of them in the frame when trying to take a photo these days?  Sheesh!

Shortly after the previous photo was taken, Odin had a stick in his mouth, so I went to remove it...I ended up pulling this slug out of his mouth.  DISGUSTING!  I still have the heebie jeebies.

Alaska Trip Day 91

9/12/11

Small Inlet, Quadra Island, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  29

Happy Birthday Auntie Karla!

The plan today was to get as close to Seymour Narrows as possible today.  Seymour Narrows can only be transited at slack water, slack water happens 4 times a day for a few minutes each time.  The way the tides are timed right now, we couldn’t get from where we anchored last night to the Narrows for the slack at around noon, the distance was too far, especially taking into account the currents against us.  Given the boys bedtime of around 6:30pm, we couldn’t do the slack at around 6:15pm, so the goal became get as close as possible so we could transit tomorrow at the 12:45 slack.  We set our sights on Small Inlet which is a good, well protected anchorage just 7 miles north of Seymour Narrows.  If we left first thing in the morning, we would be fighting against the ebb current all the way there, so we decided to have a long leisurely morning and leave around lunchtime.

Good thing we decided to have a leisurely morning…last night was rough.  Odin woke up around 9:20 pm, after we’d been asleep for 20 minutes and it took about 30 minutes to settle him.  Around 5:20, Lars woke up crying and when I went to settle him, Odin stood up in his bed and it took a good 50 minutes to get him back to sleep.  Lars needed back rubbing the whole time Odin was freaking out, and by the time Odin was asleep, Lars couldn’t settle down.  As a last resort I pulled him out of his bed and dragged him into ours…amazingly he fell asleep, but Odin woke up 15 minutes later.  For a big change from his earlier wake up, Odin was happy when he woke up, so I just laid in bed dozing with Tor and Lars and let Odin play in his bed, we got 45 more minutes before Odin had had enough.  That was lovely, and so nice to cuddle with Lars!

Since we weren’t heading out this morning we made blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast.  Yum!  It turned out to be a good day to turn the day around.

The fog that we woke up to burned off before we left and we had a very nice sunny day to travel to Small Inlet.

We had Basque Chicken and rice for supper and were able to eat in the cockpit!  The boys were completely comfortable wearing diapers only.  What a beautiful day it turned out to be!

Blueberry pancakes and bacon, yum!

Snatching bites while watching the pancakes cook

We're waiting to spread those red peppers, rice and chicken all over the deck!  Bring it on!

Alaska Trip Day 90

9/11/11

North Cove, Helmcken, Island, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  49 miles 

(Tor reporting)

The word of the day was FOG!  Jess spent most of the day glued to the radar down below and Tor spent most of the day staring into a white mass with anywhere from 1/8  - ½ mile visibility.  We love our little radar!  It was the smallest unit made when we launched the boat and on days with poor visibility (like the last three days of travel) $800 seems like a real bargain. 

This past few days has made us ponder how Captain Vancouver and his crew explored this area in the 1790s.  Hell, even making this trip 50 years ago was a completely different deal.  When we are underway we always have paper charts in the cockpit in a waterproof envelope.  But, we also have a very small and inexpensive handheld GPS in the cockpit with a crude color map of where we are, and the laptop running down below with an exact position on a digital version of the same paper charts we have on deck.  When it is foggy the radar screen is located right over the laptop with the digital charts which makes “seeing” where we are easier. 

Eventually the fog did lift and the wind came up from behind, so we got to sail!  In fact the wind came up so much that with just the main up (no reefs) we were scooting along at well over 6.5 knots.  As this is over our hull speed I am assuming that some of this speed was due to currents.  We love sailing, but we aren’t good enough to bend the laws of physics!

Currents are another issue that is a bit perplexing.  In Puget Sound there are very few areas that don’t just make sense.  In fact there is a handy little publication made in the form of a graphical picture that shows current directions and speeds with little arrows for every hour of the tidal cycle.  Canada is a bit different.  They have a booklet like this for the area from Puget  Sound to Vancouver (the city) but north of Vancouver one must rely on a text table of limited stations.  Often we have planned days around a speed of say 4.5 knots and had our reality changed by 40% in either direction.  Just proves that local knowledge is a big deal.  If river runoff is high (freshet conditions) the flood currents north of Seymour Narrows can and often does entirely disappear.  And, the winds have a huge impact as well.  Most folks now days have fancy chartplotters with software that shows arrows of current flow on the laptop.  We aren’t there yet.  Our system hasn’t caused any problems, its cheap, and makes for quite a bit of noodling through the coming day when we pour over the tables and books with the charts the night before.

Just because we are off cruising doesn’t mean we can allow our minds to mush, right?

We sailed to within a mile or so of Helmcken Island and then tucked back into North Cove to anchor for the night.  Gorgeous sun and 70+ degrees was a fine way to finish such a foggy day.

A gorgeous night at Helmcken Island

Alaska Trip Day 89

9/10/11
Port McNeill, BC
Miles Travelled:  0

We decided to stay in Port McNeill for another day.  The winds were forecast to be 20-30 kts from the NW in Johnstone Strait and we just decided to stay put.  Odin waking up screaming at 5:50 this morning helped us to make that decision...that is never a good way to start the day, so it made it easier to just stay.

We put the time to good use and did more laundry, gave the boys showers, made phone calls, fueled the boat, visited with Ivan and Janet from Kittiwake, and hit up the grocery store for green bananas and block ice.  Pretty exciting!

Tomorrow we plan to head out into Johnstone Strait and make some miles towards Seymour Narrows.  We'll probably be travelling in the fog in the morning, but the winds aren't forecast to be as strong as they were forecast for today and we should have the tide with us.  We'll just have to see where we get.

Alaska Trip Day 88

9/9/11

Port McNeill, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  29 miles 

Port McNeill just keeps getting better and better!  The showers are now FREE!  They weren’t free in May, if I remember correctly they were a loonie ($1) for 3 minutes, but for some reason they are free now.  It’s almost unheard of for free showers in a marina, and it is a huge deal for people like us. I’ll bet it helps keep transient boats coming to the Port facilities and not the private marina next door.  They also offer free wifi at the dock...wonderful!

We like Port McNeill.  This is the third time we’ve been here and it is really well set up for people to get things done on foot.  We arrived at around 1:45, and by 4:15 we had laundry washed and dried, groceries purchased and back to the boat, moorage paid, ice cream consumed, and the boys had snacked and played in the grass.  All that was left was to have dinner at a restaurant! 

Our trip from Walker Island Group was FOGGY, but I got to test my radar skills and helped avoid a collision in the fog.  Whew!

The last time we checked the weather it looked like we are going to have good travelling conditions for the next couple of days so we are going to take advantage of it and make tracks.  We also have beneficial timing for tides and will be able to take advantage of a tidal push as we move on.  

Leaving Walker Island Anchorage and into FOG

Lars playing in Port McNeill

Odin playing too

Alaska Trip Day 87

9/8/11

Walker Island Group, Queen Charlotte Strait, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  52 miles 

Well, today was safe but VERY far from comfortable.  When we listened to the weather before leaving the anchorage this morning, the West Sea Otter Buoy (ocean buoy that is automated and broadcasts wind and wave heights) reported wind from the SE of 6 kts and wave height of 1.9 meters.  One of the guidebooks for the area suggests going around the Cape when West Sea Otter has a wave height of 1.0 meters or less.  We had the plan in place to duck in and anchor north of Cape Caution if conditions called for it, and we could scarcely argue with the wind conditions even though the swell height was higher than we would have liked.

We motored out of Green Island Anchorage in fog that never really lifted all day.  Thank goodness for radar, electronic charts on the laptop, and an AIS receiver (big ships are required to transmit their speed and heading on AIS).  It’s certainly relying on lots of electronic gadgets, but we didn’t feel totally blind.

Once we left the shelter of Calvert Island, we were in the ocean swell.  It was windless and foggy.  The swell wasn’t terrible and the water was glassy…but about two minutes after we started feeling the swell, Odin was sick.  He got really fussy until he nursed and then fell asleep.  Lars was obviously uncomfortable, and since he isn’t nursing anymore (he went on a nursing strike in Ketchikan), he eventually fell asleep when I rubbed his back.  Since they were both asleep and we just wanted to get it over with and not subject the boys to it again tomorrow, we just decided to go for it and get around the Cape.

Yuck. The boys slept for about an hour and the rest of the day I spent in vomit covered clothes.  It didn’t feel so hot myself and the day just seemed interminable.  Tor luckily didn’t get sick and felt pretty good (thanks to meclizine and lots of recent time on the boat).  He was a champ and just motored and motored us around the Cape.

Once we got into Queen Charlotte Strait, the swell died down a bit and the boys perked up.  I finally gave them lunch around 2pm and they gobbled up the food (the snack I’d tried earlier ended up all over me even though Odin really did like eating the crackers and cheese…in our bed no less!).  They really needed to go down for a nap, but I couldn’t find the energy to make that happen.  I was feeling really unwell myself.  I got a splitting headache.  It was either my way of getting sea sick, or I was responding to not eating much.  I laid down in the berth and the boys played around me.

We got to our anchorage after 52 LONG miles in the Walker Group.  It’s a gorgeous spot that in the fog feels very mysterious.  Thank goodness for pasta and jarred sauce.  A hot dinner was had.  Now…bed!

Two seasick boys :(

Beautiful Walker Island Group Anchorage

Alaska Trip Day 86

9/7/11

Green Island Anchorage- Mainland B.C.

Miles Travelled:  44 miles 

(Tor reporting)

We are definitely making good progress south - when the weather allows.  Today was absolutely gorgeous.  The bulk of the storm had moved north and we enjoyed a 70-80 degree day of gorgeous sun and no wind in the storm’s wake.  In addition to soaking up some much needed vitamin D we also had an ebb tide pushing us along two knots faster than we are used to!  Our original plan for the day was to make it as far as Sea Otter Cove on the west side of Fitz Hugh Sound, but we were able to make it all the way south to Addenbroke Island in the same amount of time.  All this after starting the day by heading over to the fuel dock in Bella Bella, topping off the tanks (fuel and water) and going grocery shopping in the band’s well stocked grocery after they opened at 0900. 

Green Island Anchorage is a fabulous little nook tucked away and completely land locked.  We also were the only boat in the area and have to admit we are getting a bit spoiled by having this gorgeous area to cruise in and not worry about bumping into too many other boats.  We also took advantage of the fact that there were no biting bugs out in the bay after we put the boys to bed, and enjoyed a fabulously warm and sunny evening in the cockpit.

The VHF weather broadcasts for the area are made from a repeater station on the top of Calvert Island, just across Fitz Hugh Sound so we have good reception for figuring out when to make the jump around Cape Caution.   Although the swell is still up from the storm earlier in the week the forecast is good for making the crossing the tomorrow.  Our plan is to head south and see how the boys handle the conditions.  If it is lousy we can stop right before the Cape itself and anchor right about 25 miles into the day.  If the conditions are good we figured we can keep going around the Cape.  Only tomorrow will tell.

Odin woke up from his nap with a fat lip.  Who knows what happened.  When he was settling down to sleep he cried out as if in pain and Tor went to help, Odin quickly settled down with some back patting and then woke up looking like this...poor kiddo!

What?  What's the fuss over his lip?  I've had fat lips before!

Odin steering our good little ship

Lars' turn!

Papa and his boys

Alaska Trip Days 84 and 85

9/5- 6/11

Shearwater, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  18

(Tor reporting)

The first weather report of the day is issued at 0400.  We all woke up at 0700 and turned on the radio to hear what was predicted for the day and listen to the latest observations.  Jess and I were both concerned about rounding near Ivory Island at the south end of Reid Passage after the coming storm because the swell on the ocean was expected to reach 5-6 meters in our area, not to mention having to wait out the storm for 2-4 days in Boat Inlet.  The forecast called for winds increasing  in the afternoon and holding light until then.  Because of all of that, we decided to get in gear and head to Shearwater, before things started to pick up.

We took the sneaky route for small vessels through Reid Passage which avoids most of the swell around Ivory Island.  Weather was holding and the trip down Seaforth Channel went fairly quickly.  The mild roll didn’t affect any of the crew and we made it to the marina in Shearwater just when the winds were piping up to 20-25 knots (on the nose).  We are glad to be tied to a dock for laundry, grocery etc.  We were able to moor to one of the last spots as there were a whole bunch of boats that were heading south and hiding out this rather nasty patch of weather at the marina.  Seeing as the whole marina only has room for 20 or so boats we were glad for our spot.  We took full advantage of the facilities by heading off on walks with the boys and doing laundry as well.  Unfortunately the (expensive) internet access we paid for was spotty and unreliable, so we did what we could with updating the blog, but got a refund.

The weather report was still scary poor and we ended up opting to stay a second night waiting for better weather.  We had a chance to socialize with a number of the other boaters and had a fabulous time.  We even walked the boys up to the local playground, where they completely covered themselves with wood shavings from the ground.  We are still sweeping up the mess on the sole in the cabin. 

A very friendly gal stopped by our boat and admired our nesting dinghy stowed on the foredeck.  Turns out she and her husband have been cruising for more than a dozen years and have a nesting dinghy they just love.  We were invited over to the boat they were on (having left their sailboat in Bella Coola to motorboat with friends) to celebrate one of their daughter’s fifth birthday.  It was great to be included and Odin and Lars seemed to really enjoy the festivities too.  The boat was plenty big enough for all of us as it was the ‘Paspatoo” which is a gorgeous wooden yacht, probably between 60-70 feet long and impeccably maintained.  Richard and Jill (the owners) sure have a lot to be proud of.  As a sidebar, a very good friend of ours in Port Townsend (Todd O.) did some extensive planking and cap rail work on the boat in the Eighties.  The owners had very fond memories of the whole experience and it made it feel like we all live on a very small planet.  

Alaska Trip Day 83

9/4/11

Boat Inlet, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  49

(Tor reporting)

Yikes, I just noticed typing this out that we are on our 83^rd day of the trip.  Jess and I are still talking to one another and the boys are just fabulous.  Lately it has been feeling like we are eager to get south.  Not necessarily to wrap up the trip, but because we are looking forward to being at our house with the boys and because the weather is degrading up here. 

We woke this morning to a light south wind and weighed the anchor by about 0745.  Motoring south down Graham Reach and Tolmie Channel we enjoyed a very favourable current in our direction that pushed us along at an easy 7 knots.  It may not sound like much but it is a whole 1.3 knots than we are used to traveling!  The skies were overcast and the wind was either non existent, or gusting strongly and for short periods of time out of the south. 

We motored right on past the native village of Klemtu deciding that we did not need fuel, groceries or ice and decided to keep on going with our current.  The original goal for the day was Rescue bay, but we were travelling at such a good clip that we kept heading south towards a special anchorage named Boat Inlet that we wanted to try out on the way north but could not fit in.

Boat Inlet is a very well protected anchorage just a few hundred feet from the Ocean.  It is accessed via a very narrow channel that only has 2-3 feet of water in it at low tide.  It is reported to be a great place to hide from bad weather. 

According to Environment Canada, the VHF weather service, we were warned of the approach of the seasons first major Storm Warning.  A Storm warning involves forecasted winds of 50 knots and is to be taken seriously.  The cause for this warning was a low pressure system that had moved into the Gulf of Alaska that was estimated at becoming 955 millibars which is quite a bit lower than the normal pressures af around 1020.  The area around Boat Inlet was not included in the Storm Warning, but winds were expected to reach 35-45 knots (a Gale) and continue from the SE for 3 days.  We figured that finding a safe place to hide was a fine idea.

Our original plan was to take the inside shortcut through Moss Channel to avoid exposure to ocean swell ( all three boys on board do occasionally succumb to seasickness).  At the last minute we looked at the chart and realized that we would exit the other side of the channel and have to get through Percival Narrows fighting the strongest part of the flood current for up to 2 miles.  We opted for the outside route to avoid trouble in the narrows.  It was rolly and although Tor felt fine, both Lars and Odin suffered.

Boat Inlet was beautiful and very calm after our rolly last few miles.  We were very happy to be stopped after a long day and ended by listening to the forecast which was still calling for gale force winds but they were delayed and not slated to begin until the afternoon of the next day.

Tired from a long day of motoring without a chance to sail, we will sleep knowing we are nearly 50 miles closer to Seattle.

Alaska Trip Day 82

9/3/11

Swanson Bay, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  36

We are refreshed and back in the groove of travelling this way again.  Our time in Bishop Bay was just what we needed.

We had a leisurely morning and left the dock about 9:40 am.  The sky looked promising as we motored out of the bay and it turned out to be a nice day.  We are in fjord country and it’s kind of neat to be able to get so very close to shore and still have 100 or more feet of water beneath you…though it doesn’t make for good anchoring.  The places to anchor are few and far between, Swanson Bay looks to be the best anchorage in the area according to the guidebook so we headed there.

We stopped by severely dilapidated Butedale because we heard in Hartley Bay that they have ice for sale.  The float we tied to was really sketchy and the buildings are falling down everywhere.  It was originally a cannery built in 1909 and last used in 1969.  There is a caretaker who lives there year round and he had a buddy with him.  They certainly live a different lifestyle, but they were very nice.  The caretaker had turned off the deep freeze a couple of days ago, but he still had a decent sized block of ice that he sold us for $3.  It turned out to be the perfect size for our icebox.  Sweet!

We arrived in Swanson Bay around 4:30pm and while I made sure the boys got supper, Tor changed the oil in the engine.  It made for a hectic dinner time, but we were able to get it all done.  Perky the engine was happy, and Lars and Odin had nice full bellies of navy bean soup. 

It was a beautiful evening and Tor and I would have loved to sit out on deck after the boys were asleep, but didn’t due to the bugs.  The way they swarmed on us as soon as we got anchored, we ran down below and shut ourselves in.  

What is left of Butedale

Alaska Trip Day 81

9/2/11

Bishop Bay, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  26

We got up this morning and things feel a lot better, even though Odin woke up quite upset at 6:30.  Tor and I are at ease with each other and not snapping…it’s amazing what a good conversation can do.  We put the boys in the carriers and took a walk around the boardwalk that connects the houses in Hartley Bay.  Then we went to say hi to the folks on a beautifully built and maintained steel boat that came into the dock last night when we were getting the boys dinner and to bed.  We always have to talk to fellow steel boat owners.  We had a lovely visit with the 2 couples on board.  It turns out they are missionaries and have been travelling the B.C. coast for over 30 years.  It was an enjoyable morning of chatting and the boys sure liked to have the space to roam in that big boat.

We left the dock around 10:00 and decided to go to Bishop Bay.  When we got there, we had the place to ourselves!  We tied up to the dock and left dinner simmering on the stove (chicken tagine) and went and bathed in the bathing pool and then played in the big pool.  It was wonderful!  The boys really do like splashing in the water, and we all like to be clean.

We got back to the boat in time to cook rice and have a nice meal.  While we were eating a big sailboat (Hunter 42) called Tsimkanu II pulled up to the dock.  I helped catch their lines, and soon after they were tied up, Donna from Tsimkanu II brought over a loaf of bread and cinnamon rolls for us.  Wow!

As it was time for the boys to go to bed the dock got a little crowded and we had a boat raft up to us.  It caused some disturbance and the boys had a hard time settling down, but they soon did and I went next door and chatted with Donna and Barry and their guests Katherine and Sylvie aboard Tsumkanu II while Tor washed diapers aboard Yare (what a guy!). 

All in all it was a lovely day and just what we needed to recharge and be ready to make some miles again.

We had Bishop Bay to ourselves for a couple of hours, lovely!

Mama and her boys enjoying a soak

Alaska Trip Day 80

9/1/11

Hartley Bay, B.C.

Miles Travelled:  41

Today we transited the rest of Grenville Channel.  We fought a contrary current until we were able to catch the ebb in the narrow part of Grenville and saw speeds of 7.0-7.5 kts.  After yesterday’s sun, we had heavy rain.

I was in the aft enclosure playing with the boys and Odin fell asleep on my lap and about 30 minutes later Lars fell asleep next to me.  I decided to let them sleep, but man did it screw naps up today.  Odin slept for about 45 minutes and Lars for about 1.5 hours.  I tried to put them down later in the day because 45 minutes is certainly not enough, and by the time they woke up from their early naps, there was far too much afternoon for them to make it without more sleep.  It didn’t work all that well either, Odin needed help falling asleep, and did just as we were approaching Hartley Bay and Lars never fell asleep.  We felt that we needed fuel and Hartley Bay had it, but we didn’t want to risk waking Odin up by changing engine rpms and docking.  We hunted in the guidebooks for nearby anchorages and eventually ended up just motoring around until Odin woke up.  Gah!  We’ve really got to get naps ironed out!  It’s really starting to impact their night sleep when they don’t get enough day time sleep, and Odin is super grumpy when he doesn’t have enough sleep!

We pulled into Hartley Bay and fueled up and learned that we could tie up at the dock for free since we had purchased fuel.  We bought a bucket of ice from a fisherman on the dock and walked past a seal that had been killed and they were cleaning.  Hartley Bay is a Native village and they are apparently having some sort of traditional feast tomorrow night and seal is on the menu.

We had snapper (thanks Dad and Lynn!), rice and broccoli for dinner.  I burned the crap out of my thumb when I was steaming the broccoli, thank goodness we had the ice, it was needed.

We’re a  wrung out from several long days in a row.  We want to get home, and get south before bad weather hits, so we are motivated to put in the long days, but we’re tired and Tor and I are snapping at each other.  We’ve decided that we need to make sure we have enjoyable days, so we are thinking about heading to Bishop Bay hot springs tomorrow.  We’ll see how it goes in the morning since Bishop Bay is a bit of a back track, but the thought of a bath and an abundance of warm fresh water for washing diapers is enticing.