We left Vancouver in the rain on Friday, Oct 17 in our rented Hundai Santa Fe, which we practically filled with stuff. We had spent the day getting wet and cold while tying on tarps to cover the boat, the idea being to protect it from the flocks of ducks and geese in the nearby Fraser River as well as to protect against water intrusion. It was difficult to leave Toga there in the boat yard, looking lonely – especially for Ralph.

Goodbye gathering with our Vancouver friends, Anne and Henri

Have a good rest, Toga!

We headed south and had no trouble crossing the border, except that my tomatoes and half of a lime got confiscated. Strange rules we have regarding produce. We picked the worst time to travel through Seattle and hit all of the traffic on our way to Matt and Hilda’s house outside of Tacoma. We were greeted with a wonderful home cooked meal and lots of libations. We spent two nights there visiting our family and we got to celebrate brother West’s birthday. We took a trip to the Defiance Point zoo – what a wonderful little place! We had nice weather and only a little rain.

Brother West’s birthday

Penguins!

On Sunday we took off early, drove all day and stayed in Redding, CA. Not much to report there. Monday we headed for Santa Cruz where we stayed with my Aunt Annette and Cousins Danna, Keith, Madi and Kohl. We even got to crash another birthday party (Madi’s 20th)! It was a very nice time, even though it was short.

My pal and cousin Danna

Beautiful Santa Cruz beaches

On Tuesday we drove to San Luis Obispo and got to see our son, Jacob, who attends Cal Poly. It was wonderful to see him and we did the typical parent visit of grocery/essentials shopping and out to lunch. Ralph and I love Jacob’s dog, Charlie, and we convinced him to come with us and visit for a while. So, with Charlie in tow, we headed home.

Our friend Charlie

Welcome back to LA!

We are slowly acclimating to the comforts of being at home. It has been wonderful to see all of our loved ones! We have a long list of things to do to get ready for the sailing season next year and plenty of house projects to keep us busy as well. I am going to try to get a little consulting work this winter, so we’ll see how that goes. Thanks to all of you for following along on the first part of our adventure! It’s been great to stay connected this way. Hope to see all of you soon.

Our stay at Royal Vancouver Yacht Club was very comfortable and we enjoyed visiting with our friends and getting to know the city. On Tuesday, September 30 we left RVYC and headed to False Creek to anchor. It was a windy day and there was a significant amount of chop in English Bay, but it was a short trip. False Creek is a busy and interesting area with aqua buses and taxis as well as lots of pleasure craft zipping around all day. It is the only area we have been where a permit is required for anchoring, although it is free of charge. Apparently there was a problem with derelict boats littering the creek, and this is the way to handle it. Getting the permit was easy and we settled in to our anchorage nicely.

On Wednesday we took the dinghy and explored the area of the Olympic Village from the 2010 games. The developments have turned into housing and there is still a lot of development in progress in the area, which was formerly quite industrial. Vancouver has gotten into the craft-brewing race, so we had to visit a few places, of course. We visited Craft, which has over 100 beers on tap – very fun. Thursday we took the dinghy to Granville Island (which isn’t really an island). We went through this area with Anne on the bike tour also – the market is wonderful. While there we visited the Granville Island Brewery and tried out a few of their offerings. I liked their Amber Ale and, surprisingly, their Maple Cream ale.

We completed our research on boat yards and decided to keep the boat at Shelter Island Marina and Boatyard, which is located on the Fraser River in Richmond, BC. The mouth of the Fraser is south of Vancouver off of the Strait of Georgia, and we left False Creek at 8 am on Friday morning, timing our departure to correspond with the flood tide in the river. We made arrangements to have our friend, Henri, accompany us on the trip because he is very familiar with the river. It turned out to be a really nice day and the trip was really pleasant. We arrived early, but the boatyard made room for us in their schedule and Toga was hauled out of the water. There was a knot on my stomach watching the process; I was really nervous. It was obvious that the boatyard crew could do this in their sleep and it went very smoothly. Toga is now “on the hard” in the boatyard, which is a huge place with a lot of work happening.

We are spending each day cleaning, sorting, packing and winterizing. We need to make every effort to keep the inside of the boat dry and to avoid any damage for potential freezing while we are away. We are planning to drive back with a rental car, since we have quite a bit of stuff to take home and we aren’t sure when we are going to be done here. It was a great, GREAT, summer and we can’t wait to do it again next year! Video of the haul out is posted at http://youtu.be/1I8mDFBLqV0.  Please excuse the bad videography and the smudge on the camera lens.

Area surrounding anchorage in False Creek

Area surrounding anchorage in False Creek

Area surrounding anchorage in False Creek

Area surrounding anchorage in False Creek

False Creek sunset

Lights at False Creek

Great Canadian snack!

Dead Frog Brewery fearless IPA – Ralph’s #1 beer so far. Very good.

Craft – many beers on tap

Granville Island Brewery sampling

Approaching Shelter Island, Geese give a salute

First stage of haul out

Toga on the road

Power washing

Adding supports

Toga in her new home

Ralph and Henri toasting a successful haul out

We took off from Salt Spring Island on Monday, 9/15, after pulling up our anchor and chain covered with very sticky mud.  Now we understand why everyone has an anchor wash down pump aboard; it was quite a mess!

We headed to Montague Harbour Marine Provincial Park on Galiano Island, and it was a quick trip; only about 2 hours.  The Park is very lovely and serene.  The Marine Parks usually consist of an area for anchorage, mooring balls for $12/night, some dock space for smaller boats, and some camp grounds ashore.  The walking at this park was great, beautiful views from the trails.  There is a bus that comes from the Hummingbird Pub during the summer months, but we didn’t make it during this visit.  When we were planning to go the wind came up and we weren’t comfortable leaving the boat.  But there is always next year!

On Wednesday we left Montague mid morning in the light rain.  We were headed for Nanaimo because we had some pressing business with the US Coast Guard and needed to get to a major port so we could print and fax documents.  There was no wind, so we motored and we didn’t mind the rain. We stopped for the night at Clam Bay, which is between Kuper and Thetis Islands.  What a lovely spot! It was absolutely calm and there were no boats anywhere near us, just ducks and geese.  We were sad to leave the next morning.

In order to get to Nanaimo, we needed to pass through a small opening called Dodd Narrows.  The passage is usually timed for at or near slack water, which means the time when the current is not flowing.  During other times the current can move up to 8 knots.  Again, we were motoring.  The narrows are aptly named – it’s narrow in there! But it’s very short.  We passed through with no problems.

After we passed through the narrows, we immediately saw a huge lumber and plywood processing plant.  Quite a change from where we started the day! We arrived at the Port of Nanaimo and docked at about 2 pm.  While we have been here we have done laundry, eaten out a couple of times, restocked on groceries, refilled our water tank, emptied our holding tank, charged our battery bank, washed down the boat and cleaned the inside, taken care of our coast guard business, reconnected to the world on Wifi and taken several warm showers.  Everything a boater needs to refresh themselves is here.  It’s a very comfortable place to stop.

A few days ago we met a local wood carver, Frank, who is part of the Coast Salish people (In the US we refer to Native Americans; in Canada they refer to First Nation).  Frank is a wood carver and after talking with him, we asked him to carve a dolphin for us for a v-berth hanging.  We were really happy to meet Frank and we are very pleased with our dolphin.

The warm weather continues here.  The rain only lasted a couple of days, and it is beautiful again.

Approaching Montague Harbour

Anchored at Montague Harbour

Beach at Montague – I waded in the 60 degree water and Ralph actually dove in. Refreshing!

Art work left on the train at Montague Harbour

Walk-in camp site at Montague Harbour

Serene Clam Bay

Anchored at Clam Bay

Approaching Dodd Narrows – it’s that tiny opening!

Image of Dodd Narrows after we passed through

River otters on the dock in Nanaimo

River otters on the dock in Nanaimo

Our new friend Frank and the dolphin he carved and his wife, Dora, painted

The “famous” Nanaimo bar, which consists of a cookie crust, custard filling and a chocolate top. Not bad!

Toga at the dock in Nanaimo

So many islands

We had a really great hike to Cascade Lake on Orcas Island on Saturday.  We went all the way around the lake, about 7 miles.  It was beautiful! There were several people swimming and we wished we’d brought our suits.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned this, but the sea water here is about 55 degrees, so we haven’t been tempted to swim.  However, apparently, the lake was warmer.

Our friends came in to the marina at Rosario on Saturday and it was fun to see them (Ron is a former partner of mine from KPFF, from the Seattle office).  Ron and Trung have a 42′ Catalina sailboat and they brought along their three children as well as another family of four.  The kids had fun swimming in the resort pools and running around.  On Sunday they fed us two meals!  What a treat.  It was great to be among friends and hang out.  We hope to get together with them again soon.

On Monday we headed out of Cascade Bay to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  After leaving the east sound of Orcas Island, there is an intersection where several channels cross – boy, is that busy!  All kinds of boats, passenger ferries, etc.  We heard some testy exchanges on the VHF radio, but we stayed out of trouble.

We were able to sail a little on the way to Friday Harbor, but mostly the wind was on the nose.  When we arrived, there was a lot of action happening here.  Friday Harbor is the government and commercial center of the San Juan Islands as well as a customs port of entry, so there is a lot going on here.  We decided to anchor in a cove away from the marina, and I’m glad we did.  It’s very peaceful here.  We had a good, calm night last night.  This morning we took the dinghy to the marina dinghy dock and had a productive day in town.  We took care of some business, took a long walk during which we picked blackberries, got groceries and ice for the ice box.  We almost made it back to the boat before the heavy rain started!  We didn’t get too wet.  It was our first real Washington rain – thunder and lightening and everything.  We were comfy and warm inside the boat and the storm didn’t last long.

Tomorrow we are planning to head to Stuart Island State Park.  Here is a little video that we took last week, if you are interested.

http://youtu.be/RQiboaUoy3I

Pausing during our hike for a snap

Rainbow at Friday Harbor

Toga in the rain

Friday Harbor

Sunset in Cascade Bay

Closest I’ve come to bald eagles are these models on someone’s porch

Cascade lagoon

Cascade Lake trail

Cascade Lake, Orcas Island

Beautiful Cascade Lake

Area map of where we’ve been lately – zoom in to the red circle

We were a little sad to leave Port Townsend last Monday, August 25th.  It’s such a comfortable marina and we had sunny, warm weather.  My step-brother Matt came to visit us and we had a great time catching up.  We walked to town and then came across a farmer’s market on the way back where we picked up a beautiful salmon for $20.  We also bought some gorgeous tomatoes, and together with the beets that Matt brought us from his garden, we had a tremendous feast on Saturday night.  It was great fun.

We had planned for our first stop in the San Juan Islands to be James Island, a tiny State park.  We reached it after about 4 hours of sailing/motor sailing in light winds.  There are only a few places to either dock or moor at the island (no anchoring), and the west side was full.  We decided to anchor right across the water at Decatur Island (Decatur Head).  We put the anchor down in about 15 feet of water, and we were done for the day!  It was so calm there – we had a sweet first night in the islands.  There were several harbor porpoises swimming in the bay and some cute little harbor seals.

The next morning we decided to head to Spencer Spit State Park, which was only about 6 miles away.  That’s kind of the way it is up here – there are so many islands and places on each island to see and they are close together.  It’s awesome and sometimes overwhelming.  We approached the park and saw that a mooring was available.  For those of you not familiar, this is a float that is anchored to the bottom with a heavy weight or the like, and you tie up to it.  (For those of you familiar with Catalina moorings, there is no stick to pick up, you have to tie a line to the ring on the mooring ball – quite a trick!).  The moorings cost $12/night, which is a deal.  We let the dinghy down from the stern swim step and I drove while Ralph caught the mooring with the boat hook and tied a line to the ring.  Then we dragged the line to the bow and tied it on.  We were done with our day’s work in about an hour!  After settling in we took the dinghy to the beach to walk around.  There is a marsh on the spit with lots of interesting birds, etc to look at.  It’s been pretty nice almost every day, but it does get cool in the evenings.

We decided to stay two nights at Spencer Spit.  The second day we blew up our inflatable kayaks and took our trash to the trash receptacles in the park and paddled around, in addition to doing some usual boat chores.  I’m pretty sure I saw an eagle – either a juvenile bald eagle or a golden eagle.  I’m really excited to spot eagles and I can’t wait to see orcas!

Speaking of orcas, we are now moored in Cascade Bay on Orcas Island.  We are meeting some friends here this weekend and we decided to get here early so that we might get a spot – our timing was perfect!  We got a great mooring for $25/night and that includes access to the Rosario resort on the island (nice swimming pool and access to showers included).  The mansion is in the national historical places register and is really interesting and beautiful.  Yesterday I took the bus to the biggest town on Orcas Island, Eastsound, to get groceries.  It’s a really cute little town.  Later, we toured the mansion and stayed for a musical performance on the 1900 Steinway piano and a giant pipe organ – just wonderful.

Today we plan to hike to Cascade Lake and meet up with our friends.  We’re having a wonderful time – it is really amazing here with gorgeous views everywhere you look.

WiFi and phone service is really spotty in the islands, so although I am trying to update the blog once a week, I might not always be able to do so.  I’ve been taking video, but there’s not enough bandwidth here to upload it, so I’ll save the footage and load a video when I can.

Spencer Spit

Sunset at Spencer Spit

Love kayaking!

Black tailed deer on Orcas Island

Leaves are already starting to turn here

Marsh at Spencer Spit

Mooring field in Cascade Bay, Rosario

Historical mosaic floor in the Moran Mansion, Rosario

Moran Mansion, restored pool

Rain on the way, Cascade Bay

Ralph, the blackberry hunter

Sailing with the Mainsail, on the way to Orcas Island

Sea planes lining up to delivery passengers to the Rosario resort

Toga on a Rosario mooring in Crescent Bay

Stained glass in the mansion music room

Moran Mansion at Rosario Resort, Orcas Island

Ferry with snow covered mountains in the background

Anchored at Decatur Head, Decatur Island

“Crabby” – great boat name

We enjoyed our stay at Port Angeles, even though it was short and we didn’t make it to town.  We used the time to work on a little boat cleanup and relax.  We left Port Angeles on Monday, August 18th at 7 am.  Even though we will no longer have river bars to cross, the timing of our trips are just as important because the tides and currents in this area rule everything.  We left when we could go with the current and round Point Wilson at slack water (that is when the current = 0 knots).  Going with the current added a knot or two to our normal speed, sort of like walking on those moving walkways at the airport.

We had a beautiful day for our trip and we got to sail a little bit.  It was a short trip compared to our others, and we rounded Point Wilson at about 11:00 am.  We enjoyed the absence of rolling and pitching! We were watching the vessel traffic on the radar because this area can be congested with large vessels going to and from Seattle as well as passenger ferries and all kinds of pleasure craft, but we had no problem other than competing with a passenger ferry that was on it’s way to Port Townsend.  The ferry won.

Port Townsend is a mecca for boat builders and enthusiasts and it’s fun to be in this environment.  The marina is comfortable and the downtown area is only about a mile away.  We took a walk down there the other evening and went out for dinner – it’s such a cute town! We have a great fish market and a grocery store right here – also, a brewery!  Port Townsend Brewery is right in the marina area and the IPA is very good.

We are planning to leave here Sunday or Monday and head north – not sure where yet!  We are very excited to be here and hope to see a lot of places in the next several weeks.  I got the laptop working again, and I posted a video with some footage from a few voyages for you.

Link to video: http://youtu.be/ByBIyJ3gGVY

Area map to help you understand where we are

Boat name I like

Beautiful Port Townsend Boat Haven

Fresh seafood abundance

Fun in the beer garden

Lovely Port Townsend – Disclaimer! I did not take this photo

It’s not all fun living on a boat. We spent several hours the last couple of days removing dozens of mysterious rust stains from the deck.

Boat maintenance and repair happening everywhere around here

Wooden boat building classes

Ferries are a common sight here

Pretty beaches at Port Townsend