Five Days to Ucluelet BC

 Five Days to Ucluelet

Saturday July 2^nd finds us at the Club’s annual 4^th of July “land cruise” where members gather together and BBQ and share laughter, a nice meal and beverages.  This year the land cruise serves two other purposes, handing out of the annual Club awards and commemorative items since we were unable to hold our Commodore’s Ball, and recognizing the hard work of members who constructed the most excellent patio “roof” that we are all enjoying today.  

Carl received his Commodore’s plaque from CJ and his Rear Commodore Flag, in honor of his year as Commodore.  Carl in turn provided the new Board their Flags.  Carl also awarded the Club’s prestigious Golden Hammer Award jointly to Ron and Pam for their dynamic duo approach over the past two years to find and purchase the roof kit, do battle with the city to obtain a permit, and work together, with Bob’s help, to shepherd 79 members over a 5-month period to construct the beautiful pavilion roof.  Ben worked his landscaping wonders for hanging pots and watering system and Matt wired up new speakers to complement the patio.  Ron made an intricate copper rose and mounted it on a small commemorative plaque to honor Pam’s work on the roof and her year as First Mate.  A treasure!  Carl presented Ron with his own unique gift, an actual hammer, painted gold, and inscribed thanking Ron for going above and beyond on the roof project. 

Sunday July 3^rd – July 7^th Up the Coast to Canada

Sunday dawns and we hop on the boat and depart the home dock for Canada.  On board are our son Jacob and our two youngest grandkids, Emily and Sam.  They have all joined us off and on over the years on the river on some leg of our trip.  It is a real treat.  Emily this year is amazed to recognize that we actually have things like a heater (wall mounted diesel heater), a refrigerator, freezer, stove and even an oven!  I explain that it truly is a tiny, fully self-contained house with solar panels to power what we need.  She points out that we can even sleep people in at least 3 beds!  Sam enjoys sitting out in the cockpit as long as he has someone to cuddle with and he is intrigued with Papa’s “computer,” the helm mounted GO9 chart plotter.  He pokes buttons and Carl explains the information.  He finds a boat on AIS and they talk about how big it is etc.  He spots a long beach full of people fishing and relaxing and happily waves to them all as many waves back. 

Jacob enjoys just getting to sit back and relax except when he helps dock and undock the boat or troubleshoot the “smokey oil smell”.  Livin the dream.  He also sets up and charges Pam’s new headlamp that he collaborated with his dad on purchasing, Carl’s special gift for Pam for her dedication to the Club for the year as well.  Everyone enjoys some time up on the bow, watching the ships and the water pass by.  We make it to the Longview Yacht Club in record time riding an outgoing tide on a still, fast current.  LYC has the welcome mat out as they always do.  Brittney soon arrives, providing the important service of a return ride for her family and Jacob, Emily and Sam depart. It was such a joy to have them all on board for the day.  We close out our evening enjoying wine from our new stainless steel RCYC wine mugs, another part of the Club’s gift that CJ presented to Carl.  

Happy 4^th of July! 

We depart LYC and head towards Tongue Point.  We have done the math, and given the tide cycle, we plan on going to Neah Bay instead of directly to Ucluelet BC.  We will anchor at Tongue Point, then cross the bar around noon, destination Neah, overnight there THEN head to Ucluelet.  We enjoy a nice phone call from Pam’s brother-in-law Craig as we motor along at 8 knots, no wind, just tide and current.  We set the hook in the quiet anchorage with just a couple other boats around.  We realize later that we are drifting so we reset the anchor and lay out more chain.   

July 5^th and 6^th on the ocean - In an odd twist of the tide schedule we actually get to leave the anchorage around 0830 instead of 0400, which is nice!  We ride the fast current out hoping to catch the slack before the flood to cross the bar.  We drift in neutral at 5+ knots to slow down, eventually making another uneventful (the best kind!) crossing of the Columbia River bar.  

Before we leave good cell coverage, I submit our covid information to the Canadian government via their app “ArriveCan.”  It goes smoothly except Ucluelet is not listed as a “check-in” location so I call their helpdesk.  He says I can email my question, since he cannot find the answer and he rattles off an email address that sounds like supercalifragilisticexpealidocious@akjf;jdaje.com.  After he painstakingly phonetically spells out the email address for me it actually comes out phac.emergencyorder-decretdurgencecovid19.aspc@phac-aspc.gc.ca.  I email them and receive a canned reply….so fingers crossed, when we check in in Ucluelet we hope it works! 

We raise the main, reefed already, to help balance the boat and slog uphill along the coast, into the ocean current.  The trip is long, bouncy, yet thankfully, there is not much fog.  The trip up the coast is not as advertised.  It was supposed to be wind waves 1’ and swell 3 feet at 10 second intervals.  It is more like 3’ waves and swell 5 feet at 6 seconds which makes for a very sloppy, bumpy ride.  We motor through the night taking our 3- hour shifts.  The sunset is beautiful.  The seas finally calm, and the last 8 or so hours are pleasant.  Noticeably this year, the ocean is a biological desert.  We do not see a single whale, dolphin or sun fish in our 32 hours at sea.

We get diesel at the Makah diesel dock.  They are open longer hours now and you can even pay at the dock rather than having to hike up to the store, a nice improvement although we forgo our ice cream bars this way. 

We anchor out in Neah and truly enjoy sitting in the cockpit watching the waves and sipping our beverages.  Carl cooks our customary “landfall” dinner, steaks, and we enjoy the evening. 

July 7^th - This morning finds us with another leisurely 0830 departure for Ucluelet.  The large ship traffic in the Strait of Juan de Fuca is non-stop and we parallel a number of container ships until we find a good window to cut straight across the Strait, on the stern of an 823-foot container ship doing 20 knots.  Time to find the local cell towers to make sure we have coverage to phone customs when we arrive.

We arrive Ucluelet around 1600 and tie up at the “52 Steps” dock, the customs dock.  We call Canada customs and Carl provides them our basic information.  On hold…..wait, wait, he then provides our ArriveCan covid “receipt” number.  On hold……wait, wait…..Wait!  Now she says that we are not able to clear customs in Ucluelet, but wait, the local officer will give us a one-time pass and she provides us our number, indicating that we cannot check into Ucluelet again.  “Ever,” we ask in unison.  She stutters, that at least until they are open for customs.  Yikes!  Pam sends and email to the good folks at Wagoner’s Guide, who, in their podcast had indicated that Ucluelet was open to clear customs and we head to town for our customary burger and brew at the Eagle’s Nest pub. 

July 8^th – Happy Birthday Carl!

We hike to town for a morning of breakfast, fishing license purchases, bank, grocery store, and putzing around in the local shops.  First stop breakfast which is excellent as usual at the Blue Moon Café.  She lets us know that the card system is down, pretty much all over town.  We move up in priority heading to the nearest bank to get local cash.  We later find out that this is nationwide in Canada so we are glad that we got our cash.  Next, seasonal fishing licenses and a trip to the Small Craft Harbour office to talk with Kevin Cortes, longtime Harbour Master.  We pay for 2 nights moorage and Carl talks with Kevin about the customs concern.  Kevin indicates that indeed, we are able to check in customs here and that others have but that there seems to be quite different information going out when people call in to report.  He is ”on it” and making phone calls before we leave.  He has always been so helpful when we stop in here. 

On the way back we go past Cam and Laura’s place.  We have known them for over 10 years going back to when we first discovered Ucluelet on a driving vacation.  Cam took us out on his “whale watching and Bamfield tour” and then fishing.  We returned again for another fishing trip, staying at their B&B, then we first journeyed up on our own boat.  We stayed in touch over the years, enjoying fresh berries from their garden and having them over to the boat for dinner.  When last we talked with them, they were considering doing something different.  It appears covid offered the opportunity for them to rethink their situation as their boat is no longer in the harbour and their home does not appear to be a B&B any longer, nor do they appear to live there.  Time goes on…. As do we! 

Tomorrow, we start our trip further up the coast, the goal being to get into Nootka Sound and then mosey back this way over the next month or so.  I will check back in when the cell coverage allows me to post.

Ucluelet BC Carl's Birthday July 8 2022