Time to catch up again. The last two nights we were in Campbell River and spent much of the time with company, doing laundry and general boat cleaning and fishing. Let's start where I left off from the last post.

September 11, 2009

The fog horn at Chatham Point (in Johnstone Strait) has stopped sounding and that is a good sign. The fog around us at Blind Channel has lifted completely and we have a beautiful sunny day. Fog is great for photo opportunities. We shoved off at noon making way for Campbell River en route to Vancouver. We needed to do some laundry and trash duties. It's been a couple weeks!

We spotted whales again. This time there were at least half a dozen whale watching zodiac boats hanging around. We moved to the middle of the channel to keep our distance. We did not have the luxury of time on our side to drift and enjoy the pod. We had to make it to Seymour Narrows on time.

Have you folks heard of the infamous Seymour Narrows? I encourage you to 'google' it. Everything I read about the narrows scared the living #$%^ out of me for fear that we read the current tables incorrectly. I checked the tables, checked the time, checked the tables and checked our time again. I was sure that one of the whirlpools would swallow us up. On the other hand, tens and tens of boats go through there everyday.

We arrived at the narrows ahead of time so fished while we waited. Now I have to tell you, when we fish we really do not know what we are doing! Ron drops something pink over the side and we troll. We heard that the fish this year like anything pink so pink it is.

The time came to make our way to the narrows. Ron piloted us through while I was on the lookout for the big one that was going to spin our boat, swallow us and spit us out in some other location. I never felt this anxious piloting us through all the other rapids. This one has such a history.

Ron reminded me that we did all the others just fine, the moon was not full which meant smaller tides and less current. Seymour Narrows can flood/ebb up to 16 knots!!!! Not today and not when we transited. It was beautiful, calm and uneventful as were the others.

We continued to motor to Discovery Harbour Marina in Campbell River. We had dinner with my Aunty Linda and Uncle Al. Kris, if your are reading this blog - Al and Linda say hello! They were surprised that we are living at the same Marina.

We were pooped so turned in early. We knew we had a busy coming up.

September 12, 2009

How exciting can laundry and vacuuming be? Not very so I am not going to tell you about it. After our chores we went fishing. The tyee are jumping like crazy. They were running like porpoise. I had never seen anything like it before. Ron and I were in our little dinghy. Remember, we do NOT know much about fishing and especially in unfamiliar places.

We eagerly set out to land the big one. We motored to this little place the locals call Tyee Bowl. This is where they were almost jumping into the dinghy. We trolled back and forth, back and forth. We were commenting to each other how interesting it was that other people were in dorries and rowing - now that is adding sport to the sport of fishing! After Ron promptly lost his tackle and was reloading a kind gentleman gestured me with this pointing finger to come closer to his boat... I did as I was motioned to do. He very gently explained that we were in a no motor zone and if we wanted to fish we had to tilt our motor and get out the oars. OK, we said, we can do that. It was not so easy. The current was building and I was rowing nowhere fast. When I was pooped from rowing - and just to be fair to Ron, I chose to row - we dropped the motor and happily changed locations. We went back to the boat absolutely skunked by the jumping tyee.

Friends, Bill and Leanne, from Courtenay drove up for a visit. We had a very nice evening and dinner. Not a late evening as Bill and Leanne had to releive the babysitter and Ron and I were planning so undock at 0700 the next morning to catch the flood tide past Cape Mudge.

September 13, 2009

We witnessed a spectacular sunrise this morning while walking the dog. We could feel it was going to be a stellar day with some sailing - finally. We popped over to the fuel dock before heading into Discovery Passage. The people at this fuel dock were outstanding in their customer service - Discovery Fuel - if you are boating in this area.

As we were heading out we tried to reach Barbara on the SSB. No luck but then came to the conclusion that the huge antenna towers might have had something to do with the interference.

I spotted a single whale this morning. I do not think he was an Orca as there was a very tiny dorsal fin. I will have to research to see if I can ID what I saw. He was definitely blowing out of his blowhole.

You will never guess what happened on the way to Powell River! Ron and I do not need to circumnavigate the island for excitement and adventure. We cleared Cape Mudge, had a good point of sail for raising the genneker. It is a large and lightweight sail much like a spinnaker but is a different shape.

We were breezing along at 5 knots and so enjoying being one with the wind and the water. We sailed on past Middlenatch Island maintaining our point. Ron played with our new Hydrovane ( a steering system that does not use electricity). We are neophytes when it comes to the Hydrovane so play we did. Ron did very well and we were impressed. The wind was quite light so thought we would try again later when we have the main and genoa sails up.

Ron went below to review our charting. I was at the helm. What ensued next took only a matter of minutes but felt like hours - drum roll please....

I head some raindrops hit the canvas. I felt a great gust of wind. I look behind me and a squall was coming down on us fast. I called Ron up and we decided to drop the genneker. Not an easy task in now 20 knots of wind. I really don't know at what point things started to go wrong but suffice it to say that we have learned very valuable lessons. At some point I let the genneker sheet go as Ron was pulling the sock over the sail. You are not going to beleive what happened next and keep in mind we are in the middle of a 20 knot squall. For some it might be a piece of cake but for Ron and me, this was a new experience.

I started the engine - as you should do before dropping sails. I heard a klunk and thud and then an alarm. Yes folks, for those of you who sail will know I wrapped the genneker sheet around the propeller shaft. We were now dead in the water. We cut the line - good idea but wrong timing. As soon as Ron cut the line the Genneker flew out from the boat and the sock was unreachable. Now what - and keep in mind the wind is blowing us about. We knew that we and the boat would be fine but how are we going to get the sail in.

As I dropped the halyard, Ron pulled on the sail during the lulls in the wind. As the wind picked up I was sure my husband was on his way overboard. Again and again and again he gave it the old college try and between us we managed to get the sail onboard before it completely landed in the water.

We could start the engine but not put it in gear because of the sheet wrapped around the prop shaft. So here we are half way to our destination and completely shocked at what just happened - perhaps we were in denial. We set the main sail and got underway.

After many minutes of silence we decided that we should do the inevitable - Comox Coast Guard, Comox Coast Guard this is sailing vessel Ta Daa. We explained that we were in no immediate danger and felt that we could make our way to the marina but would need a tow to the dock. The Coast Guard was absolutely wonderful. They monitored our progress every hour. We gave them our coordinates and speed to help estimate our time of arrival to Powell River. Once there they would put out a call for any boats in the area to assist. As our luck comes and goes... we sailed well to the Powell River mill and then the wind died. Again we were dead in the water. I hailed the Coast Guard letting them know we would need a tow sooner than anticipated.

Coast Guard to the rescue! Once they arrived they attached a tow line and to Powell River we landed in style. It sure saved on the fuel bill -hee hee.

For any of you who are boaters I strongly urged you to send them a donation - it was very comforting to know that they were there when needed!

Once tucked into the dock we took Winston for a walk and our luck changed again. There were a group of commercial divers and Ron struck up a deal with one of them. All the line was cleared off the prop shaft in short order. He checked our through hulls, sounder and zinks while he was at it. We were very appreciative and felt the small fee we paid was well worth it.

We will certainly have a good night sleep knowing that all is fine and we are much wiser than we were yesterday. Tomorrow we are off to Garden Bay in Pender Harbour. Tomorrow is a new day and all will go well. TA DAA

Hello Family and Friends! Time for some catch up on the blog. We have not had good connections until now.

September 8

It was extremely foggy outside so we had to stay put another day. For those of you who do not understand why we stay put for a whole day, we have current times that we have to meet in order to transi t some of the rapids in daylight and that will be flowing in a favourable direction. For us, we want the ebb tides as we go north.

The fog did finally lift later in the morning. We had a little sleep in, as much as I can sleep in. We have also had good SSB connection with Barbara in Sidney. It is a steep learning curve to operate the SSB but I am persisting.

Before leaving Victoria, I had purchased some very nice and new fender line. Thanks, Fern, from Bosun's Locker! I changed all the fender lines today so have now gotten rid of some of the less than desirable fender line that came with the boat. What I purchased from Fern works on the Chinese Pull Finger method and it is great to handle. For you who have boats -go see Fern.

I tried my had at fishing from the dock but nothing bit in the first 5 minutes so I gave up, but did try again and no bites so I gave up again. Good thing it is not my job to feed the crew - we'd all starve.

September 9

Woooo whoooo we are leaving Cordero Lodge. Not that is is not a nice place to wait but there is so much more to see. Today we transit Green and Whirlpool Rapids. Our destination - Forward Harbour. Did I tell you that it is raining buckets. We are in our winter gear.

It is stunning scenery up here. And that is without seeing the tops of the mountains. I still don't know how high they are visually however the chart does indicate the height.

We made it to Forward Harbour in record time. We caught the last of the ebb through Whirlpool and had a good ride. Anchoring went without a hitch. Another boat was just ahead of us and we had a sheltered little bay without a breath of wind. We anchored in 50 ft of water so let out all 300 ft of chain. It was a good thing we did because no sooner did we anchor and I looked to the east and I could see unsettling skies and I could hear the water start to ripple. Yes sireee-we anchored just in time to ride out a four hour storm with winds gusting up to 36.8 knits. Double that for a rough estimate of kilometers per hour. We made a decision that if the wind didn't settle by 4 PM we woud weigh anchor and move to the head of the bay.

All went well - we stayed the night. I rowed Winston to shore to do what dogs need to do then rowed for another 45 minutes enjoying the calm and quiet. It was so quiet that I could hear the seaweed brush by the dinghy.

All in all we had a very peaceful night with four other boats that joined us in the early evening. They missed the storm. We have great faith in our new anchor.

September 10

Today we need to make some decisions. As you already know we have decided not to circumnavigate the island but thought we would mosey on north a little while before heading south for Victoria. Well, another option came available. We have some warranty work that needs to be done on the boat. Specialty Yachts can fit us in to have the work done. It was a tough decision - go north or Granville Island; go north or Granville Island. Ron and I knew that the best decision is to go ti Granville Island and have the work done while we have the time. It will be much more complicated to get the work done once Ron starts working in Vancouver. There it is... we are turning around. Sad but true. It was tough for both of us but is is the right thing.

Today we left Forward Harbour for Port Neville. From Port Neville we charted our new route to Vancouver. We always like to take new routes so we can see new thinngs. Well, as they say "everything happens for a reason". We saw two pods of whales! How exciting. The first pod was about 6 whales. They were on both sides of us. The second pod was about 10 whales and babies. Yes, we did keep our distance even though it was tempting to get closer. We didn't want to intrude.

There has been no wind for sailing. We had a nice motor to Blind Channel - a stunning little place. Moorage is only a buck a foot but electricity is expensive - nearly $20. a night. Thank goodness we are green and have our solar panels.

We had BBQ chicken and cole slaw last night for dinner. Food always tastes better when we are somewhere new.

We saw stars tonight. They were magnificent and the planets shone like lightbulbs. We sat outside until about 10 PM picking out the constellations we know. We noticed that the big dipper is starting to spill its contents.... winter is coming.

September 11

This morning we had about 50 feet of visibility - fog surrounded us and we could hear the fog horn at Chatham Point. Not a good sign for heading into Johnstone Strait. It's a good thing that we do not have to leave until noon. The fog has been slowly burning off. It is about 1030 and the fog horn has stopped. Looks like it will be a go to leave as planned. We are off to Campbell River. Funny thing but we have never been there by boat before so it will be an adventure.

All in all even though we are heading to Vancouver it is good. We will still see new sights, have new experiences and above all we are still vacationing.

Cheers!

OK - here is the scoop. This is the third time that I have written this update. I just keep losing the connection. Also, the internet is sooooo slow that it will not allow me to upload pictures. That is the life in the boonies.

Don't faint but I have baked muffins since we have been here. Thanks, Tara C of SV Sumitra, for a great recipe. I also have apple crisp in the oven as I type - recipe compliments of a no name boat from Washington State. They are delightful people.

This afternoon we went for a dinghy ride. Discovered an island for sale. Any one of you can purchase it for a mere $1.6M. Leanne - you wanted a project. Here it is. All there is is the island and a ramp to the dock. It looks new so maybe it is a bargain!

We saw a huge sea lion - the only one. We have heard the orcas are on their way. We shall see as we head north.

Lots of boats from the marina tonight. Ron and I are the only Canadians and probably have the smallest boat. Do the math - they are 60 plus feet.

Tomorrow we will head out at daybreak for the Green Rapids and mosey on up to Whirlpool Rapids then on into Forward Harbour. I am hoping for find a Grand Banks there - named Sea Gypsey. I understand they know how to work a SSB. I am going to crash their boat and not leave until he teaches me everything he knows. Shhhh- he doesn't know that yet.

Time to say goodnight. Until the next update... stay safe1

Here it is, the morning of Sep 7. All is calm at Cordero Lodge. We have gone for a forest (also pronounced 'forced') hike this morning. I think Ron and Winston would have rather stay curled up in the dry and warm boat. I managed to drag them out after checking in with Barbara on the Single Side Band. Our connection with Barbara is hit and miss. Last night I could listen to people from Michigan. We keep saying we have radio problems but me thinks it is Janice knowing how to work the radio.

Tomorrow we will head north to Forward Harbour. The weather reports for Johnstone Strait and Queen Charlotte Strait do not sound favourable so we will just take out time in the calm and protected waters. We have also been monitoring the weather on the West Coast - it is crazy out there too. Our goal is to at least get to Bull Habour and it looks like coming down the West Coast might be saved for next year. The final decision still to be made.

We have a lot of fun using our navigation skills, checking each other's work. Planning around tides and currents. Dent Rapids has an area called Devil's Hole... it sounded extremely daunting but was totally uneventful. I guess that is why we did all the courses!

It is very peaceful up here. Even though it is drizzling outside I am enjoying sitting in the cockpit as I type. Winston is snoozing beside me and Ron is cooking brunch. Can it get any better?

I walked in the forest yesterday when we arrived at Cordero Lodge. It was so quiet, so lush and the only sound was a very loud and large Raven. I am sure he was talking to me and Winston. I have no doubt he reminding me that I was intruding.

Internet up here is intermittent. Funny how I can update this blog yet I cannot seem to send an email. My Crackberry doesn't find the signal but Cordero Lodge has very slow wireless. Thanks to them you are getting this update.

This afternoon we may go exploring in the dinghy and I also might put my nose in the manual (yet again) for the SSB radio.

TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)

Yesterday was a very rainy day. That, however, did not deter us from trekking through the forest along a very lush, water's edge trail. I spotted my very first ever forest frog. It was the size of Ron's fist and blended in very well with the brown and green of the forest floor.

In the afternoon, Ron and I poured (pun for all the rain outside) over our reference material to best decide our departure time from Dent Island to transit Dent Rapids. We decided to head out for the slack turning to an ebb (just what we wanted) at 0606 hrs.

After that we pumped the dinghy of the rain water so we wouldn't be pulling all the extra weight - glad we purchased a proper hand pump. It was much faster than bucket bailing.

We caved and ate dinner at the resort knowing it likely will be the last time we eat here. If you save every cent for a year you too can afford to eat at this lodge. The food is to die for. Enough about that as I already mentioned how good the food was in the previous writing.

Off to bed early as we were due to arise at 0500. I was wide awake this morning at 0300. Not sure why so just started thinking about our day ahead. As I checked the 0400 Marine Weather report on the blackberry and reading about THUNDER storms a sheet of lightening lit up the boat and cracked loudly in the not too distant. That went on until about 0530 and by that time Ron and I decided we were not heading out at 0600 with lightening about. Our mast is a good target so we stayed put.

This morning the rain has subsided for now. I did get a chance to see how light it is at 0600, 0615 and 0630 for when we have early starts later in our trip.

At the moment I am enjoying a relaxing cuppa Joe. Ron and Winston are snuggled and reading a good book. We have referenced out materials and will push off about 1130 today to catch the slack at the Dent Rapids. This slack will be turning to a flood but we feel this is the lesser evil between the alternative - Thunder and Lightening.

We are optomistic the weather will be changing in a couple days.

Yesterday was a very exciting, anxious and nerve-racking day. Why, you ask... well, Ron and I will be going where we have never gone before. To get to Johnstone Strait we will be transiting 5 sets of rapids: Yuculta Rapids, Gillard Passage, Dent Rapids, Green Rapids and Whirlpool Rapids. Why would we choose such a route you might ask...Well because we can and thought it the best route for us considering the other choices. Our considerations included weather forecast, flood and ebb tides and the time of the flood and ebbs. Also consideration was given to where we could duck out of any unfavourable weather if needed.

We left Gorge Harbour at 1100. Again, no wind for sailing so we motored and explored Von Donnup Inlet. Last time we were in this area with Figment Too we were afeared of 'the rock'. So, we went exploring today on Ta Daa which is longer and wider and we went in at low tide. No problem at all and what a beautiful anchorage. From this anchorage you can beach your dinghy and walk to Squirrel Cove as both places are on Cortes Island. Being conscious of the time we motored north to Harbott Point on Stuart Island to wait for the ebb tide. We met strong current so it did take us a little longer than expected but that was fine - extra time was factored into our calculations.

As many of you know Ron - we have reference books on the reference books! That is why we needed the bigger boat - hee hee. Following the reference books, advice of old salts (Sue and Ralph, SV Mariah), the tide and current schedules, our chartplotter predictions and our trusy paper chart we headed through Yuculta Rapids at 1700. We took advantage of the back eddies and made great time and only slowing to 3.6 knots. There were no whirlpools that threatened to swallow us, no rapids that threatened to return us from whence we came - it was uneventful - as it should be if you follow the sage advice of all mentioned above.

Next came Gillard Passage - again uneventful but put on the way as we still had a bit of a flood. We motored across to Dent Island where Ron treated me to the bestest meal I have EVER had and may not eat in a regular restaurant ever again. We celebrated 13 years since our first date. If the truth were known we actually haven't stopped dating.

Today we will stay put as the slack and ebb tide in daylight for Dent Rapids is tomorrow morning. We are having a lazy morning sipping coffee and refraining from going outside where one raindrop is big enough to kill man or beast.

It is actually starting to brighten a bit so in a short while we will trundle off with cameras and Winston to do a bit of exploring.

Until next update...

For those of you who have not been to Gorge Harbour, by boat, it is well worth visiting. They have all new facilities; gas dock, docks and swimming pool as well as previous facilities; canpground, laundry, store, showers etc.

It is a great little marina and prices are fair - including internet which is how I am reaching you now. Thank You Gorge Harbour Marine.

We are full of steak and prawns - Ron did an excellent job on the barby. The wind is building so it was a good call to come in and get a good night sleep.

Ta Ta For Now - time to piddle the dog and hunker down.