A very quiet night at anchor in Hunter Bay but neither Barrie nor I
slept as well as we would have liked. It may take a day or two before
all the odd noises don't startle us! McDuff the cat is much braver this
year. He immediately crawled under the covers in the master stateroom
but was out roaming the main cabin while we were underway. Have you
ever wondered how many hours a day a cat can sleep. Ours is pretty
close to 24!
This morning we opted for an early start and had the anchor up before
6. The water was calm and the skies are overcast. The first leg of
today's journey took us through ferry-land. In less than 20 minutes we
had espied four ferry boats. We were grateful for the new Standard
Horizon radio that provides AIS. It is great to be able to see all the
boats on one screen. Since we were transiting some fairly narrow water
(including Wasp Passage), we found ourselves playing a game of "dodge
the ferry". We called in to Canadian Border Patrol and used our NEXUS
passes to pre-clear. We were arrived at Bedwell at the appointed hour of 10 am and were told that
we were free to continue our trip if a Custom's agent was not on the
dock to greet us. No agent, so we took a few photos of an otter taking a
sunbath on the dock and continued on our trip. Quite different from
last year when we drew the short straw and got the thorough search.
Leaving Bedwell we found the wind had picked up and white caps were beginning to form. Luckily for us, the wind was from the south and the following seas were very kind. We made great time, doing 9 knots much of the way and arrived at Gabriola Pass just before the tide turned to ebb. We had an uneventful trip through the pass and snugged into Kendrick Bay hoping for more clear weather in the morning! This is the home of the West Vancouver Yacht Club Out-station So far the weather forecast is very promising.We have the alarm set for 5:00!
I will try to add some photos when we have more than 1 bar of service!
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Starting off - At last!
After what seems like months of preparation we are finally off on our
grand adventure to Alaska. This year we are making our way north on our
own. We will miss having Larry aboard - his extensive experience and
penchant for teaching mated with his good company made him the perfect
person to have along for last year's journey. Did I forget to mention his breakfasts? While we know that we
have sufficient experience to make this journey, both Barrie and I have a
case of the nerves. Maybe that will all settle out once we are
underway.
Getting out of our home berth requires a fair amount of planning. We need at least a 6 foot tide and it helps to have slack water. The entrance to Lagoon Point is very narrow with rock jetties on both sides. With that in mind, our departure was planned for 3 p.m. Susan Walker made a special trip from Oak Harbor to see us off - bringing wine and granola. Then Roy Dunbar and Suzanne Dobrin came by, They took photos, untied lines and drove our car back to our house. As we left the dock a text message or two came in. Clearly there is no turning back. Our new neighbors (across the street from our dock) provide a care package including fresh eggs (which I had to hard boil since raw poultry is currently banned from crossing into Canada) and chocolate bars with pictures of Alaskan bears.
We headed north along Admiralty Inlet in beautiful sunshine. Shortly, my cell phone rang and it was my dad Ray calling to say he was watching us from his living room window. We talked for a bit and then a few more minutes with Georgia. All in all, a mighty fine send off.
The Strait of Juan de Fuca was smooth as glass and we made good time to Hunter Bay on the east side of Lopez Island. We dropped anchor just as the sun was going down and then spent an hour trying to sort out why things that should be working weren't working! Turns out we had the gps cord and the nav cord reversed. When we straightened that out, the autopilot worked! Also, re-read the directions on the new bluetooth headsets and finally figured out how to turn them on and off and how to do intercom pairing. Of course we had the anchor down before we figured out the communication devices. Yikes! There are way too many electronic pieces. Maybe the old days of paper charts and rulers and dividers weren't all bad.
Getting out of our home berth requires a fair amount of planning. We need at least a 6 foot tide and it helps to have slack water. The entrance to Lagoon Point is very narrow with rock jetties on both sides. With that in mind, our departure was planned for 3 p.m. Susan Walker made a special trip from Oak Harbor to see us off - bringing wine and granola. Then Roy Dunbar and Suzanne Dobrin came by, They took photos, untied lines and drove our car back to our house. As we left the dock a text message or two came in. Clearly there is no turning back. Our new neighbors (across the street from our dock) provide a care package including fresh eggs (which I had to hard boil since raw poultry is currently banned from crossing into Canada) and chocolate bars with pictures of Alaskan bears.
We headed north along Admiralty Inlet in beautiful sunshine. Shortly, my cell phone rang and it was my dad Ray calling to say he was watching us from his living room window. We talked for a bit and then a few more minutes with Georgia. All in all, a mighty fine send off.
The Strait of Juan de Fuca was smooth as glass and we made good time to Hunter Bay on the east side of Lopez Island. We dropped anchor just as the sun was going down and then spent an hour trying to sort out why things that should be working weren't working! Turns out we had the gps cord and the nav cord reversed. When we straightened that out, the autopilot worked! Also, re-read the directions on the new bluetooth headsets and finally figured out how to turn them on and off and how to do intercom pairing. Of course we had the anchor down before we figured out the communication devices. Yikes! There are way too many electronic pieces. Maybe the old days of paper charts and rulers and dividers weren't all bad.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Echos
Time to start blogging again about "Chugging to Alaska"! In less than a month we will head north -- destination Glacier Bay and beyond. This trip is the continuation of our dream to see Alaska from the decks (and pilot house) of "Chug" our 42' Kadey Krogen trawler.
Barrie and I have spent the winter working on the boat and she is well-prepared for the trip. When we bought the boat 2 years ago, we knew she had good bones but she also had a fair bit of deferred maintenance. Chug is now sporting new awlgrip exterior and fresh bright work inside and out. The pilot house windows, portholes and stanchions (and even the flying bridge) have been re-bedded. Some upgrades to the engine room and a new propeller. The list goes on. It is nice to have everything attended to (we hope) before heading north so we can focus our attention on the scenery and wildlife.
Barrie and I have spent the winter working on the boat and she is well-prepared for the trip. When we bought the boat 2 years ago, we knew she had good bones but she also had a fair bit of deferred maintenance. Chug is now sporting new awlgrip exterior and fresh bright work inside and out. The pilot house windows, portholes and stanchions (and even the flying bridge) have been re-bedded. Some upgrades to the engine room and a new propeller. The list goes on. It is nice to have everything attended to (we hope) before heading north so we can focus our attention on the scenery and wildlife.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)