Ginny and I have been happily married for 50 years , have 2 sons and 6 grandchildren. We have been avid boaters since the mid 1970's. We have sailed in various parts of the world making 'bareboat' charter trips in the Washington and Canadian San Juans and Gulf Islands, Maine,the British Virgins, South Pacific's Moorea and Tuamoto's and New Zealand. We owned and raced a J-24, Laser, and cruised a Newport 30 before buying a long range trawler in 2003 and cruising the waters of the Pacific Northwest and the 'Inside Passage' of British Columbia to SE Alaska for the last 10 years. After first owning a 2000 Selene 47, and 2002 Selene 50 (both named 'Ina Marie', we now, in the 'bell lap' of our boating days, own, operate and thoroughly enjoy 'Ginny C' , our 2007 Selene 42.
To see our locations and routes click on this text
Basic Stats for the Trip:
This being the last blog update for this incredible cruise of a lifetime for us it seems appropriate to start it with a few stats:
- Days underway: 102 with only 2 weather day delays; one day in Alaska and one day in BC’s Gulf Islands.
- Days at Anchor: 61
- Days at Marinas: 41
- Nautical Miles travelled: 3,058
- Engine Hours: Main [Cummins]: 471
- Engine Hours: Auxilliary [Yanmar]: 10.4
- Genset Hours: 87.1
- Fuel Used: 1,376 Gal.
- Fuel Purchase Costs: $5,812: [$4.22/Gal.]
- Fuel Burn Rate: 2.92 gal/hr.
Friday, September 20, 2013 The Final leg begins.
It is Friday afternoon, the weather is calm and warm so canvas is treated, windows are washed, provisioning is complete, laundry is finished and boat is rinse cleaned as we await the arrival of Tucson friends John and Diane Kidd. We are excited to see them, pleased that they will be with us for the last leg of this fantastic cruise---the icing on the cake!!!
We welcome them aboard about 3:30pm and after the usual safety orientation and systems review Ginny prepares a yummy pork tenderloin washed down with a great cab provided by the Kidds.
To see our locations and routes click on this text
To see our locations and routes click on this text
Saturday, September 21, 2013: To Ganges and Montague Harbor
We wake up to bright sunshine and calm seas, perfect conditions for our 23.6nm run to Montague Harbor with a lunch stop in Ganges on Saltspring Island and a visit to their weekly Saturday Market. Our plan is to spend the night at Monatgue, enjoy its beach at its north cove and then head up Trincomalie Channel to Wallace Island on Sunday afternoon.
We depart Sydney about 8:15 and, upon arrival at Ganges, we anchor out, drop the crab trap and tender and dinghy in to the market to find the great local cheese vendor we like. After stuffing ourselves with fish and chips we walk the public docks to enjoy a large number of restored wooden work boats attending a rendezvous of the NW Workboat Assn.. Some are still working but most have are being restored and converted to pleasure craft.
Unfortunately, the crab trap is empty and as we dodge a multitude of traps exiting Ganges Harbor heading for Montague, the weather man informs us that weather will be changing rapidly. Good news and bad news. Montague is a bomb proof place to be in a storm but we may not make it to Princess Bay on Wallace Island as planned for the 22nd.
We pick up a mooring buoy at Montague and watch the weather change over the cocktail hour before having a great prawn pasta and heading for bed.
To see our locations and routes click on this text
To see our locations and routes click on this text
Sunday, September 22, 2013 --- Weather Layover---Waiting it out at Montague!!
We awake to a windy bay and a weather forecast of Gale force winds in the Georgia Straits and also Haro Straits. which we had never heard before in over 20 years of boating in this usually calm area. So, I make the decision that we will have to abandon Wallace Island and stay put for the day. It is too stormy to even take the dinghy ashore to the beach or set the crab trap. So we hoist the tender and the day is spent reading, resting, eating, and watching an old Alfred Hitchcock movie. To see our locations and routes click on this text
Monday, September 23, 2013---Back in the USA.
We wake up to clear skies and a good weather report. The front has blown through and it will be calm for the next 2 or 3 days, but we learn that another front is developing for the end of the week.
We wake up to clear skies and a good weather report. The front has blown through and it will be calm for the next 2 or 3 days, but we learn that another front is developing for the end of the week.
Based on this we decide to head across the border and proceed on into Roche Harbor where we will clear US Customs and spend most of this day at this wonderful resort of which Ginny and I will never tire. The run is about 3.5 hours, 21.5nm, most crossing Haro Straits. the passage is smooth. You would never know that 35-40mph winds were blowing through here just 24 hours earlier.
Just after entering US waters and giving respectable space to 2 large cargo ships passing by, Ginny suggests I go closer in toward shore at Stuart Island so the Kidds could enjoy a close up view of the beautiful Turn Point Light House.
Boy was that a great suggestion!!! Just as we arrived about 1/3 mile off Turn Point we spot a big fin sticking out of the water. Yes, it is an Orca Whale, few of which we have seen all summer. And then there was another, and another and another. And no other whale watching excursion boats nearby. Just us, right in the middle of an entire school of Killer Whales, at least 11-15 of them, moving our direction, spread out over about 1/2 mile. Several surfaced and rolled very close to the boat, oblivious to our presence as they circled and fed on whatever their find.
We slowed, then stopped, then slowly followed for about and hour as we watched these magnificent creatures.
It was a ‘jackpot’ find, the largest and best Orca spotting Ginny and I had seen in the several years since we had a similar experience in the Queen Charlotte Straits.
It was a ‘jackpot’ find, the largest and best Orca spotting Ginny and I had seen in the several years since we had a similar experience in the Queen Charlotte Straits.
It ‘made our day’ to be able to share this with John and Diane, after the disappointment of having weather delay us a day and thus deprive us of another day in the Gulf Islands.
It was on into Roche for an uneventful clearance through customs and a most enjoyable relaxing afternoon enjoying the place, watching their ‘Colors’ ceremony and ‘Salute’ and eating out at the restaurant.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 --- Another Jackpot for [or from] the Kidds
To see our locations and routes click on this text
To see our locations and routes click on this text
The weather man is predicting super calm for the Straits of Juan de Fuca today with them kicking up significantly tomorrow and for most of the rest of the week. So we decide to leave early and make the 37nm crossing to Port Townsend while the ‘going is good’.
We are less than 1.5 hours underway, just out of Mosquito Pass and about 1/3 of the way down the west side of San Juan Island when John, who is piloting the boat, points to the right and asks ‘whats that’. What he has spotted is the first of a very large school of Dall Porpoises. Before you can say ‘WOW’, there they are, turning and coming right at us from both sides of the boat. I take the helm and slow to 1200.
For the next 20 to 25 minutes they played with us, gliding, jumping and diving under and around the bow of the boat and surfing in our wake. We think we have some good pictures to post and maybe some video if I can figure out how to link it.
Enjoy this video summarizing almost an hour of fantastic whale watching
Enjoy this video summarizing almost an hour of fantastic whale watching
The balance of our passage across the Juan de Fuca Straits was our calmest ever on into Admiralty Inlet and Port Hudson Marina at historic Victorian Port Townsend for the night.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013--Down Admiralty Inlet into Puget Sound
To see our locations and routes click on this text
To see our locations and routes click on this text
As we leave Port Townsend for the Seattle area of Puget Sound in clear weather and calm seas we learn that a record size storm is building to hit the entire Northwest by mid day Friday bringing torrential rain,flooding waters very high winds and big seas. I begin to reflect that this fantastic summer cruise is quickly coming to an end. It is Ironic that the worst and most challenging weather for the entire trip will hit us during the very last days of the trip. We reach the north Seattle/ Port Madison area late morning and decide to move on and spend the night at Blake Island, a Wash. State Park just southwest of downtown Seattle. We have a 15 knot wind pushing us down the sound with 2 foot seas.
Thursday, September 26th. Fueling up and then on to Longbranch
To see our locations and routes click on this text
To see our locations and routes click on this text
We awake to calm waters and depart for a 20 mile run to Des Moines to top up our fuel tanks and pump the holding tank, the first steps in preparing the boat for the winter. There is no fuel in Olympia. We could pump the holding tank there but it may be quite stormy by the time we arrive on Friday so we do it here. With weather beginning to change I decide that we should move on and get somewhere south of the Tacoma Narrows so we run another 17nm heading south through the Narrow with a 2 knot current on our nose and cruise on into Longbranch in Filucy Bay for the night, arriving about 4:45.
Ginny takes to her kayak for the last time this year and by 6pm the clouds burn off Mt. Rainier. We have a beautiful view of the mountain to frame our cocktail hour and dinner on the fly bridge, a perfect ending for our last night of this incredible trip, our best ever in 20 plus years of boating. And it is great to share it with the Kidds as we begin to bring closure to our summer of boating.
We awaken to rain and building wind so we leave early to get into Olympia before the predicted storm builds and really hits us. We have only 16 miles to go so we are on the dock by mid morning. We have timed it right. we have some wind testing our docking skills but nothing too difficult.
The rest of the day is spent packing up clothes and food and loading the car as we begin our step by step process of preparing the boat for its winter shutdown mode. We do this as the weather deteriorates fast. We cap off the day with a great dinner at Lemon Grass. a Thai favorite.
The trip is over and that is hard to believe. it now seems like it was almost like a dream.
We will leave for Portland in the morning. The Kidds will be with us for a few days there but we won’t be enjoying golf at Waverley as planned as the rain is sideways in raging winds. It will be that way thru Sunday night when the winds will die off but the rain will continue though Tuesday and possibly Wednesday.
In hindsight, boy are we glad that we decided to run for cover a full day and 1/2 ahead of this record breaking storm. Never dreamed it would be that way here.
No comments:
Post a Comment