June 29th - 30th Althorp Point to Dusky Cove

Johnstone Strait NOT good rules of the road!

June 29^{th – 30th} Althorp Point into Johnstone Strait        Johnstone Strait is known to be quite treacherous with high wind warnings often.  The weather report this morning says High Wind Warning, NW winds at 15 building to 20-30 so we have planned a course that takes us into the Strait for about 13 miles then up into a side channel for the rest of the day.  We start the engines at 0545 to beat the winds.  By 0930 the predicted winds do not occur and we decide to go with the current as the Strait is almost glass calm.  During our short boat confab Odile comes out of the cabin and tosses a small package to Pam.  Inside we find still warm crepes with a little sugar and lime!  Wonderful!  

Shortly after the decision to stay on the Strait Pam notices oil where it should not be.  We shut the motor off to see why oil is squirting out of the oil cap.  We spend 45 minutes trying to find what we think is a lost rubber gasket off of the oil cap.  Pam manufactures one from a piece of rubber from our ship’s projects box.  As she is putting it on the oil cap, to Carl’s chagrin, Pam finds that the cap does indeed still have its own gasket in place.  Carl tightens the cap, checks the oil, revs up the engine to see what happens at pressure and we are good to go.  We had changed the oil the night before and perhaps had filled the reservoir a tad too much.

Approaching Bonwick Island

Onward!  We continue to motor Johnstone Strait and turn into the current at Blackney Passage and wind our way through Swanson and Providence Passage.  We see one Orca and one Humpback whale!  What a treat!  By 2:45 we have made it to a delightful anchorage called Dusky Cove just off of Bonwick Island.  We feast again on oysters and clams, most likely our last for quite some time since most of the areas north of here are closed due to red tide or lack of personnel to test all the areas.

We spend two nights here and enjoy watching the eagles and seals nearby.  Odile sets a crab pot and nets the first keeper Dungeness of the trip.  The next day we dine on B Mondo for lunch.  One of the wonderful things about travelling with Walt and Odile are all of the things that Odile just “whips up” in her galley.  Today she has thrown the rest of the clams into a tasty clam chowder and oh by the way, just finished baking a nice loaf of bread.  To the bread we can add her homemade apple butter.  We are getting spoiled!

Sea salad and kelp on crab hotel

After lunch Carl and Pam head out in ET in search of rockfish.  We are anchored in a rockfish conservation area but about ½ mile away we can fish outside the rca and keep one rockfish a piece. 

We are also testing out Carl’s new toys.  We have downsized the dinghy but he has added a transducer and small chart plotter/fish finder like you often find on fishing kayaks.  We use this to make sure we are geographically outside the rca and at depths that we can catch and release the fish without damaging them. 

We fish along the edge of Arrow Channel.  Pam very quickly catches a nice sized rock sole (flounder).  What a fighter! Then she bags a good sized (18”) yellowtail rockfish.  Carl catches and releases numerous rockfish keeping a 14” copper rockfish keeper. 

Pam decides it is time to read her book for awhile.  We also enjoy watching a very small, old fashioned high sided sailboat sailing wing on wing to catch the light breeze.  They make their way in off the big water and glide slowly past us and our two anchored boats enjoying their day.

 

After a nice meal of 3 kinds of fish and salad we pour over the large chart to make our next day’s plan.  We decide to do a 40 mile run to Blunden Harbour, Morey’s Labyrinth or Skull to position ourselves for a move around Cape Caution the next day depending on the weather. 

Three more crabs are harvested, pots pulled, dinghies pulled as we prepare for a 0645 engines on tomorrow.

Dusky Cove at sunset

June 28th A Day of Rapids Yaculta to Whirlpool

June 28^th A Day of Rapids Yaculta to Whirlpool                     

Lined up in Gillard Passage

We are up early, engines on at 0610 with the goal of being to the Yaculta Rapids at a decent time to traverse a series of three rapids closely spaced.  To do this we study the Ports and Passes, calculate the time to be at the worst rapids (Dent) and go from there.  

This puts us at Yaculta early, yet “passable” and we join a long line of a variety of watercraft and head in.  Yaculta is wide and not too bad.  We have to enter before slack so our boat speed is reduced to 2.1 knots against the current.  This places us well however to approach Gillard Passage.   

Eagles at Gillard Passage

The currents divide in this area.  If you come in on an ebb after going through Gillard Passage you are going out on an ebb.  Gillard Passage often has numerous eagles keeping watch on the water and today we see dozens in the trees.  Once through Gillard we are right into Dent Narrows.  We choose the option of taking the Dent Tug Passage around the small island.  This is often used by tugs pulling log barges and has slightly less current than Dent Narrows.  None of these are to be taken lightly and safe passage is best done on slack. 

We have made it through that series of rapids in about one hour.  Our next destination is Green Point Rapids.  We tour through the Cordero Islands on our way and arrive an hour prior to good passage.  Even after an hour we need to enter the rapids before the ideal time but the passage is wide without dangerous rocks so we go through.  With the current our boat speed increases from 4 knots to 9.5 knots, fun when you know there are not other challenges in the rapids.   

Sea Lions on the rocks awaiting Green Point Rapids

 The reason we are taking Greene Point rapids a little early is to set us up for our fifth and final rapids, Whirlpool Rapids in Wellbore Channel. 

We see a black bear and cub off Fiddelton Point, Sunday Creek.  Then it is through Whirlpool and a nice glide into the protected anchorage at Althorp Point, engines off at 2:15.  This is a record number of rapids for Walt and Odile in a day and it takes good knowledge and use of your resources to time this all correctly and arrive safely. 

We enjoy a nice break, Carl catching and releasing numerous rock fish, Pam and Odile planning the next day’s route and Walt reading.  Another dinner of fresh oysters and Odile’s fresh made clam cakes.  They are delicious!

Power Cat overtaking us Yaculta Rapids

June 27th Laura Cove to Dent Rapids NOT

June 27^th Laura Cove to Dent Rapids  Flexibility is the key when sailing.  Our plan was to travel to Yaculta Rapids, arrive at the slack of the flood and transit through.  We also needed to see if Walt could get his technical issues (with internet and phone) worked out while we still had good coverage.  Alas, after having it all figured out, finding on Amazon the part he needed, confirming with a fishing lodge what their general delivery address was and trying to place the order we found out that there seems to be a restriction on some Amazon orders being sent to the middle of nowhere, British Columbia.  We will try another route but once again, technology wins the battle of wits.  

The most excitement for the day was seeing a mega sized full cedar tree floating by.  Loren and Rick, be glad something like this did not find it's way into the inner waterway at the Club!  

So for the rest of the day we simply travelled to Florence Cove off Hole in the Wall, tie up together and settle in.   Carl and Pam deploy their dinghy so Carl can fish and the rest of us catch up with our journaling, a mix of nicely handwritten (Odile) and electronic (Walt and Pam).

June 26th Lund to Cod Cove Desolation Sound

June 26^th Lund to Cod Cove Desolation Sound

Having enjoyed our breakfast and stocked up on still warm blackberry cinnamon rolls we head out of Lund.  As we start to untie a very large power yacht slams into the dock within feet of us.  The Warfinger (harbor master) is not pleased!  Given the tight quarters now, and a wind blowing us onto the dock we accept a helpful hand from the warfinger and head out of Lund. 

We have a short trip to find B Mondo, Walt and Odile’s boat, anchored in Cod Cove off of East Redondo Island in Desolation Sound.  Once in the Sound we find favorable wind and have our first, real sail.  We shake out the reef in the main sail (that has been in place since before we crossed the Columbia River bar) and hoist both sails and spend the next four hours jibbing back and forth across Homfrey Channel until we see B Mondo at anchor.

Taking down the sails we motor over to and tie up to B Mondo.  Safely setting lots of fenders we climb aboard B Mondo to catch up with Walt and Odile.  This is quite a windy spot and we keep watch on the rocky shore.  We keep drifting more towards the rocks so a quick decision is made to separate and go find another anchorage.  We skip across the Channel and enter Laura Cove, a beautiful, well protected anchorage.  After we raft up to B Mondo we can now relax and really catch up with our friends.

Walt and Odile have harvested fresh oysters at the local oyster bar and found Little Neck clams to dig and they share their bounty with us.  Carl bbq’s fresh oysters, Odile steams a mess of clams and Pam provides salad and street fair fresh herb bread.  Dessert is sharing one of those wonderful blackberry cinnamon rolls. 

We chart our course for the next day agreeing to turn the motors on at 0700 so we can reach a series of rapids at the correct time for passage.  

June 25th The Finnerty Islands to Lund

June 25^th          The Finnerty Islands to Lund   We make a decent start around 0830 for our 35 mile course to Lund.  After a day or so we will slow down considerably.  We had planned 7-10 days to make it from Portland to Desolation Sound to meet up with Walt and Odile, our sailing buddies.  With the two weather hold over days in Port Angeles we will miss our goal by one day, not too bad! 

We are travelling now over water that we travelled with Walt and Odile in 2013 when they crewed for us on our maiden voyage up the coast with ExTerra.  Definitely more than crew, they were the very experienced old salts who helped us very novice sailors learn the ropes of cruising the Salish Sea.  We are forever grateful for their help on that first trip and all the weeks since then when we have rafted together in our sailing journeys. 

Outside of Powell River we stop the boat over one of our earliest weigh points.  At this location in 2013 Carl caught a wonderful ling cod.  We stopped the boat and within ten minutes we were back on our way.  We were not as fortunate this year.  We each had ‘fish on.’  Carl landed a ling cod that was about 2” short of being a keeper and Pam had the “big one that got away.”

Catch of the day at the ling cod "hot spot" LOL

Back enroute we pass in front of a tug, the Inlet Crusader who has been making a very slow, 2 knots over the water tow of a large raft of logs.  Note to self, when you see something that is going that slow for that long look for the tow rope and give them wide berth!

Pam continues her home improvement, sanding rough spots and filling all the screw holes left behind when she removed the original curtain hardware.  Carl motors on towards Lund, more relaxed at the wheel than when Pam is at the wheel.

We collide with the Lund fuel dock (current!), fill up and move to an easy side tie in the Lund Small Boat Harbor.  Lund is the end of the (physical) road and the nautical jump off for Desolation sound.  It is a delightful, yet very busy little harbor.  We buy groceries, a combination of Walt and Odile’s veges and chocolate fix and our supplies that will help Pam continue with conditioning our teak.  We enjoy a relaxing evening beverage in the cockpit prior to a nice local dinner.  

We chatted for an hour with neighbors from Comox and Vancouver BC.  While we visited twilight set in with a wonderful display of color.  We stood on our deck watching the very large research vessel, the Sea Crest, expertly come in, turn, and tie off on the dock.  They were off and gone before we got up at 0700.  Today hit the local bakery, Nancy’s for a light breakfast and fresh baked goods to take to our anchorage with Walt and Odile in Desolation Sound.

June 24th Secretary Islands to the Finnerty Islands

June 24^th Secretary Islands to the Finnerty Islands       This morning finds us waiting for the slack current to scoot through Porlier Passage.  Tides and currents are critical up here.  You need to know when to shoot through passages and how much extra elevation to leave when anchoring so a big tide change does not leave you, literally, high and dry on your anchor.  We time our Porlier passage using the booklet “Canadian Tide and Current Tables.”  We still seem to hit the pass on a higher than slack current which makes for some anxious maneuvering on Captain Carl’s part.  After we make it through and watch many other sailboats slogging through Pam decides to look at another reference book, “Ports and Passes.”  What she determines, (and remembers vaguely in the recesses of her brain) is that Canada tide publications do NOT use daylight savings time so all times given need to have an hour added to them.  Glad we figured this out on our first passage through a current zone!

Raccoon in the oyster bed Secretary Island

Then we settle in for a long day, destination the Finnerty Islands, a small group of islands on the north tip of Lesquiti Island.  Today’s trip up the Georgia Strait takes us along the outside of Valdes Island, and along the edge of the “Whiskey Gulf” military testing grounds.  We keep an ear to the radio to make sure “WG” is not active today.  We have heard stern radio transmissions from military when a boat comes into an active military action in this area.

Entrance Island Lighthouse

The wind is on our nose all day long so it is a long ‘motor’ up the Strait.  When we change course to angle across the Strait Pam hoists the main sail and we get a little boost in our speed.  Lunch is peanut butter sandwiches made more tasteful by adding some of Barb’s Huckleberry Jam.

During our 9+ hours of travel today Pam decides to break out the “Penetrol” that has been on the boat for 3 years.  She will use this product to condition all of the wood surfaces in ExTerra.  Our beautiful teak has had years of damage from small leaks and is in need of some love.  Thankfully the product (a modified linseed oil used to thin paint) does not have fumes and she is able to spend a couple hours bouncing around in the bow of the boat restoring the wood in the ‘head.’

Before

After

       

We pull into the Finnerties around 7:00, set the anchor and bbq our small fish harvest from yesterday.  We are treated to an awesome sunset.  Our son Zach had downloaded a couple movies when he and the kids were on board and we settle in with popcorn and a movie on our “big screen” 8” tablet.

June 23rd Sidney BC to the Secretary Islands

June 23^rd Sidney to Secretary Islands   Off we go through Moresby Pass, Captain’s Passage, and into Trincomali Channel.  I love the variety of names in places.  Today is a short passage, a little over four hours.  Anchored in the Secretary Islands we have the cove all to ourselves. 

Fixing a better anchor hook

Our goal today is to test our new anchor.  We modified the anchor latch while docked in Sydney.  We have upgraded to a Magnus 45, a ten pound increase in weight, and purchased from another member at the Club, Ethan.  The anchor sets beautifully.  

Next task, and another reason for our short trip, is to commission our trusty dinghy ET.  ET is also new (to us).  We purchased her used at Sexton’s Chandlery.  We downsized this year from our original ET and motor and now have an 8 ½’ inflatable and 2.5 horse Lehr propane motor instead of a 9 ½’ and 5 horse.  

New to us ET

This is a combined savings of about 40 pounds and will make it much nicer for us when we heft dinghy and motor off and onto the boat regularly.  Carl worked a nice trade on the motor with Kim, owner of our favorite chandlery Columbia Marine Exchange.  Kim now has our 5 HP Lehr which she will use on her larger dinghy when she sets sail in her 53’ (we think!) Skookum.

Let the fish cleaning begin!

We take a long stroll around the anchorage in ET, Carl fishing for hours and Pam reading.  A small harvest of a flounder, rock fish and greenling.  Dinner this evening is our first BBQ, kebobs from Sidney and a big fresh green salad.  

Sunset at the Secretary Islands

June 22nd Port Angeles to Sidney, British Columbia

June 22nd        Port Angeles to Sidney, British Columbia

We had a long, yet uneventful crossing of the Strait.  The most excitement we had was watching HMCS  (Her Majesty’s Canada Ship) Brandon 710 doing some kind of smoke bomb maneuver.  HMCS Brandon is a Kingston-class coastal defense vessel that has served in the Canadian Forces since 1999.

We decided to clear customs in Sidney.  Lunch consisted of eating the remaining avocado, oranges and tomatoes so we would arrive in Canada sans fresh anything.  Pam docked the boat, realizing that she does not do that very often and needs the practice!  Thankfully the friendly crew of the Van Isle Marina was on hand to take the ropes from Carl.  Carl called Customs; they asked their annual “is you wife Pam on board this year” question and sent us on our way.

Carl in the Custom's phone booth

We took the local bus to town.  Luckily it was the Street Fair day.  We found fresh produce to replenish our tomatoes, avocados and oranges plus lots of other goodies including German food for Carl and Indian food for Pam.  We hit the local grocery store and stocked up on all the fresh items that should keep us well until we are much further north.  We purchased our fishing licenses as we love to fish and crab and eat off the bounty of the sea while up here.  

Sidney  BC Street Fair

Now we are enjoying a quiet evening in our cockpit with Pam catching up on photos and this blog and Carl scoping out tomorrows anchorage.

For Miss Sheila with fond memories

June 18th - 22nd Grey's Harbor to Port Angeles Washington

June 18th – 22nd         Grey’s Harbor to Port Angeles, Washington

Father’s Day we had a nice breakfast at one of the local West Port eateries and then it was time to bundle Zach, Aiden, Sophie and Jim into Jim’s rig for their drive home.  We loved having them and Nana Pam can now relax a bit when we contemplate another grandkids coastal sailing excursion.  We called our son Jacob to wish him Happy Fathers Day as well.

Knowing that we were going to sail through the night we got ExTerra ready for the northerly passage from Grey’s Harbor.  We passed an uneventful night at sea, which is just how we like it.  Carl let Pam sleep an extra hour before turning the helm over to her at 2:30 a.m. so he could go below and get some much needed rest.  We both explored our new radar and chart plotter so we know what all those blinking lights are before we get into a situation where we are calling them those blankety blank lights!

We rounded Cape Flattery, leaving the mighty Pacific and entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca around the break of dawn.  We decided to go right past Neah Bay and head on up the Strait to Port Angeles to settle in and wait out the predicted high winds.  

We settled into our reciprocal slip in the Boat Haven and fairly soon Carl saw our friends Bill and Liv from Rose City.  Recently married they are honeymooning on their boat Mischief, making their way up into Canada as well.  We spotted Mischief in Astoria, you might recall, a few days ago.  Bill had friends from Rose City help him crew up the coast and Liv joined the boat in Neah allowing the crew to drive her car home.  This is often how boats are shuttled up the coast.

We visited awhile, enjoyed a glass of wine and retired for the evening.  The next day Liv returned, asking our help to dock them in the increasing wind.  Mission accomplished and they thanked us by asking us over for dinner on Mischief. 

We also ran into Julie from the Club.  She came up the coast on a friend’s boat.  They ran into some mechanical problems and had to stop the trip so that the boat could be hauled out in Port Angeles and repaired.

We spent the remainder of the day happily completing small boat projects and staying out of the wind.  Regular looks at the weather indicated that gale force winds were still predicted for the Strait so we just kept digging into our “small projects” tub and tackling odds and ends.  A walk to town offered us an opportunity to check out the second hands/thrift/antique stores and grab an ice cream cone.  We found a nice wood piece to finish off a “catch-all” tray for the counter in the head to go with our teak water bottle and toothbrush holder Carl made recently.

At 1800 we went to dinner on Mischief.  We spent a nice couple of hours swapping sailing stories and sharing good food, wine and friendship.  We wish Bill and Liv a wonderful honeymoon on their well found boat.

Another day of high winds, more small projects, a two mile hike (round trip) to do laundry and then to bed to rest up for our crossing of the Strait on Thursday.  

June 17th Astoria to Grey's Harbor

June 17^th                     Saturday we departed Astoria at 0330 anticipating crossing the Columbia River bar around low tide.   0500 found us enjoying the sunrise with a reasonably smooth motor across the bar at around 0520.   

O Dark thirty headed to the Columbia River Bar

Then we set course at 340 degrees for our journey to Grey’s Harbor.  Sophie had a couple of attacks of mal de mar but carried on like a trooper.  She slept a lot, as did Aiden, which is both a sea sickness preventative and restorative activity. 

This sea berth comes in handy!

           

Definitely Coffee Time!   

Since it was a very uneventful passage this was just fine.  We had hoped to see the whales and dolphin we enjoyed in this area last year but we had to settle for two sea lions basking in the haze on a buoy outside Grey’s Harbor. 

Off the Washington coast hoping for whales

West Port marina pulling the crab pot

We arrived an hour early for crossing the bar into Grey’s Harbor so we pulled out the head sail and sailed for awhile outside the entrance.  We managed to wrap the main sail halyard around a spreader so we only used the head sail which gave us a chance to test our new furler.  It works so much more nicely than our antique one did!

Comfy in the sea berth

  Jim found us tied up   on Dock 6.  He enjoyed spending some of his time earlier beach combing and got some nice drift wood and shells.  A favorite meal of grilled hotdogs was enjoyed by all on the boat then Aiden and Sophie tried their hands at crabbing and fishing.  They pulled up a variety of small Dungeness and red rock crab.  We downloaded a movie, hung up our little tablet so everyone could see and enjoyed the movie.  After dinner we finished the movie and then hit the hay.

Entering Grey's Harbor Harnessed and Tethered!