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DATE: July 30, 2002, Tuesday GETTING READY TO LEAVE We heard "Raven" heading for the gas dock. We got up and I took Ziggy out. Saw the lady aboard "Lord Gulliver" taking her dog out too. Zig attacked as usual. Well, not attacked, but established who the big guy was. Her dog (a Jack Russell too) is a sweet dog, but a fatty though. Not a good looker like Ziggy. They’re heading out today too as so it seems everyone was. CASE OF CHICKEN POX We wait for Susan and Reiner from "Raven" to cruise by after fueling up and then take off. Its soooooo relaxing now having them with us. We just followed them out though following our plotted course as if they weren't here. It's is opening day for the gill netters! It seems like a million of them are out here. Our radar looked like it had the chicken pox. You have to watch for the orange float ball which tells you where the end of their net is and then track it back to the proper boat so you know where to go to avoid getting tangled in their nets. There are so many and they are so close together that it's confusing. LITTLE CROCK POT THAT CAN I made some oatmeal in the crock pot again. Love that little crock pot. Threw a few sliced fresh strawberries on top and drizzled them with some tasty sweet honey – delicious! We've been making the oatmeal with boxed milk and it makes the oatmeal so rich and creamy. I'll try to make some borscht in the crock pot later. That little thing has really come in handy on the boat. I don’t have a recipe but think I can make something up. Also like this handy little sandwich cooker we bought along the way. Made some ham and cheese sandwiches with it and they were great. It grills them and seals the edges which are very handy when at the helm. That thing works like a charm. Another winner. ZIGGY UNEASY I gave Larry a half hour break at the wheel while he ate. It’s going to be a long day today. Lot’s of rain too. Ziggy's a little impatient today. Has gone outside a few times and wants me to hold him all the time. Too needy today. We saw "Lord Gulliver" following us out and passed a couple of other the sailboats we've come to know. Now we are seeing scenery we’ve seen before. It’s still the same wet crummy weather when we saw it before. It was a long day of cruising and pretty uneventful. NO LUCK AT THE INDIAN VILLAGE At the end of the day we neared the mouth of Douglas Channel and headed towards Hartley Bay, a little Indian village (First Nations), to try to get some dock space. No space was available so again, sadly, we didn’t have a chance to see the town but it looked interesting and rustic. "Patience" says it's a dry town full of "ex-Indian alcoholics". They are building a new long house there and several carvers have come from other areas to help. This is the place that "Patience" and "Raven" huddled up during the storm that kept us in Bottleneck for several days on our way north. We all had fenders out on each side ready for whatever to dock. We probably could’ve rafted up to a big fishing boat but then don’t know if the other fishing boats would raft up to us and then we might have trouble getting out early the next morning so we decided to instead pick up some moorings nearby in Steward Narrows. The moorings were made from piles of old car tires attached to a metal plate with an inverted “V” to hook your line through. I drove the boat and Larry threw a rope on the plate and then picked it up with the hook and pulled line through the “V” and then looped it back to the boat. "Raven" had never done this before and wasn’t sure if they had done it right. Instead they picked up the line that was attached to it and looped their line through that. Larry told them it would be stronger and safer to loop it through the metal “V” so he went over in his dinghy and helped them do that. They said had never picked up a mooring before. Amazing considering all the cruising they've done. We took Zig to shore where an old abandoned house float was left. Creepy looking thing. TALKS OF THE SUMMER EXPERIENCES We invited Susan and Reiner over for “tiddlies”. Hate that name for some reason. It's what several of the boaters refer to as cocktails. We talked until 8:00. Good thing I made dinner during the cruise yesterday as I would've been too tired to make it then. We had a lot to talk about like the places we'd been and how the summer went. They liked Pelican Cove the best because they had so much fun in Rosie’s Bar. From there they went on the outside to Sitka from Pelican. They told us the story about "Jade" (sailboat, people from San Francisco) breaking down and having to tow them all the way to Craig. We laughed so much because Darlene, the first mate on that boat, was famous all over Alaska for her good looks. HEARTY PEOPLE UP HERE I asked them what they missed on this trip and they said “nothing”. I couldn't believe it. I tell you, these people that come up here are a hardy group. No complaints out of any of them. I could list several things that I missed and couldn't wait to get when home. STATISTICS I asked if they had any idea or thoughts on how many boaters do this cruise to Alaska every year like we all did. They said that "Patience" told them, "of the boaters in Puget Sound area: 80% cruise San Juan Islands, 10% Desolation Sound, and a great majority don’t venture past the salt water rapids (like Seymour Narrows), 1% make it on other side of Queen Charlotte Sound to Central and Northern BC Coast, and even less make it to Alaska".
I’d still like to know how many went to Alaska this (2002) summer and did the loop not just to Ketchikan. Susan says a lot of boaters will just go to Ketchikan to say they did it.
DATE: July 31, 2002, Wednesday SLEEPY We woke at 6:30 AM on the dot because
a fishing boat went by making wakes and lots of noise, otherwise we’d be
sleeping snoozing. We called each other on the radio and decided all
agreed to leave in a half hour at 7:00. I quickly took Zig to shore. He
was like milking a cow this morning to get him to go, but he finally did.
He’s a trouper.
It's flat as a pancake out. The clouds are streaky and hanging low but the visibility is good. There are patches of sunlight in the distance illuminating a seiner boat miles out. Might be possible to have sun today? Hmmm, I wonder. SMOOTH ENOUGH FOR COOKING Last time we came through Douglas Channel it was really rough and windy. It was after we had been in Bottleneck for 3 days and "Kluane" was following us trying to keep up in their slow little boat (great people). This time there were only flat ripples across the seas. I spent most of morning in galley. Cooked a rhubarb crisp from the Cooks Afloat book and it took almost double the time – not 35 minutes as the recipe said. Made a quiche, too, same as their Salmon quiche but without the salmon. Think I could improve on those recipes as they weren't too tasty.
RESCUE BAY EMPTY We got to Rescue Bay about 3:00 PM. We heard several other cruisers on the radio as we were coming down Jackson Pass: "Thatcher" and "Grand Impulse" (who didn’t want anyone to hear their radio number so "Grand Impulse" said switch to the Alpha number). Funny as later "Raven" and I admitted we tried to listen in but couldn’t find the right alpha channel. We laughed later about it as that's what you do on those long days in the boat, eaves drop on the radio. We also heard "Up Spirits II" too, the Canadians, who told someone they were coming into Rescue Bay too that day. So we thought that Rescue Bay was going to be packed but when we pulled into the Bay it was completely empty. Then we started wondering where everyone went, did they find another spot or go on to Shearwater? I found out that "Raven" has the same crazy thoughts that we have when we're in an anchorage by ourselves. They too wonder where everyone is and did they figure the weather out right, etc. It’s really funny and made me feel better. I got the kayak out to take Zig to shore and accidently dropped my 2 way radio in the water when I took my jacket off (as the sun finally came out and it got hot)! Now I can't call Larry when I'm out. Dang it! WOLVES!! The weather was warm and the water was flat and as I said, we actually got a little sun. I went by Raven’s boat and they wanted to play “Mexican Train” so we said we'd come over about 4:00. I tried to let Ziggy get some exercise on shore while I paddled. He had a rough going of it though on those barnacle covered rocks but seemed to love it nevertheless. As I was rowing back to the boat, another boat came in called “Fiddler”. He was yelling at me and finally I figured out he was warning me that for the past couple days he has seen wolves on the shore where I took Ziggy. I thanked him for the warning and then wondered why then did he keep taking his dogs to shore there later. GOOD MOOD We went over to Raven’s and played
“train” for two hours. It was fun and they are very nice good people. We
like them a lot. We came back to the boat and had dinner. I was so tired
I went to bed at 7:30. Larry took Zig out and he came to bed too. We’re
getting up early so we can leave at 6:30. These people are goers.
Tonight we were discussing that if the weather is good we’ll leave
Shearwater and go all the way across the Sound in one day. Glad we have
them with us. Larry is in a 100% better mood. I guess we would’ve done
more adventurous things on this trip if we had stayed with these people.
It’s hard to do things on your own. DATE: August 1, 2002, Thursday
LOOKS LIKE A GOOD DAY We were all up at the crack of dawn. I was so tired though that I could hardly get up. Larry took Zig out for me and I drank coffee trying hard to wake up. I put the oatmeal on in the crock pot. Raven had their generator on. The bay was so quiet and calm except for that. We could see heavy clouds above but it looks like we’ll have sun and mixed clouds for our travels today. Weather reports say almost no winds on outside (ocean). We decide to take Reid Passage and go out in the ocean to make it shorter and easier day and take advantage of the calm seas. We follow Raven out. This area is very picturesque because the landscape is unusually flat from what we've been seeing for the last several weeks. The hills rise up in the background in a gentle roll to soft kind of knobby round tops. This would be a great place to come and cruise if you just want to have some peace and quiet except for all the chatter on the radio. Oh, and of course there's no grocery stores or restaurants nearby, so you're on your own. The turn around Ivory Island and the Pacific was very flat with only mild swells. We see some other boats heading our way. The ferry heading to Bella Bella passes us and later a sailboat from Oregon who was completely oblivious to it coming behind her and got a big scare. BAD WATER AGAIN We get to Shearwater again and luckily there’s plenty of room on the docks. We head to the fuel dock first to fill up on diesel and water. We filled the water tanks really slow this time hoping it would filter the water clean this time. We found out the next day that it didn’t as the toilet water is brown again. This place! FAMILIAR FACES We docked in almost the same place we did before. "Raven" is in up ahead. "Up Spirits II" is here and the old schooner "Violet" came in. "Thatcher" was here with "Grand Impulse" as usual. We had lunch at the restaurant, halibut sandwich on a stale dry crappy bun. Stopped and chatted with Raven for awhile and finally, finally, Grand Impulse came by and finally said "hello". Arrogant type of guy. He and Thatcher took off. Don’t understand that guy. I took a nap and Larry washed the boat. We went over to Raven’s for a glass of wine and then to dinner at the restaurant again. I had salmon and Larry had halibut. This time it was OK. We played “Train” back on the boat until 9:30. Raven lives in Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island, and said they love it (we now live there and love it). They told us of all the things they do there: of their walking group, book club group and the great town community theatre that they "go to all the time". FULL UP NO SPACE AND STORM PREDICTED Lots of boaters arriving now and searching for some dock space. The docks are completely full. Everyone is looking for a safe place to hunker in as a Front is heading this way. One sailboat has to anchor out in the harbor. A “Bernie” boat (Nordstar) came in late and rafted up to a small boat and we could hear him talking late into the night and then he started up again early in the morning, then quickly fueled up and left. We're not sure if we’re leaving tomorrow as a Front is coming in and the winds and waves sound strong at Queen Charlotte Strait. We may stay tomorrow. We’ll see in the morning.
Photos Along the way
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Later
cooked a Cornish game hen in the crock pot for Ziggy, his highness, I
mean, then deboned it and saved the meat to give him in batches over the
next few days. Cooked up some cornmeal in the leftover juices with sliced
carrots, onions and celery for a corn meal loaf. Ziggy really liked that.