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DATE: August 5, 2002 DESTINATION: Lagoon Cove PICKY DOG Well, Ziggy doesn't like Greenway Sound's "poop deck" which is basically a gravel patch. He absolutely refuses to get his paws on it. I don't blame him. So we wait until it stops raining so I can take him to a small patch of grass I was able to find on the shore. STRONG CURRENT We all decide to head out for the next stop. There's a strong current and Larry has some trouble leaving the dock because the current is pushing us right back tight to the dock. He backs out but is coming close to another boat behind us so I call to warn him and he pulls back to our spot but up farther to try again. We get out OK but not without the owner coming out of his boat and onto the dock to give us a crummy look. I say a "strong current" and he says nothing just this disgusted look. What a jerk. We head South following Raven. They decide not to go in to look at Echo Bay as we discussed. Maybe they forgot. We couldn’t hail them on the radio so we just followed along and didn't go in to see the anchorage. LAGOON COVE The scenery in this area has some nice cliffs and one nice waterfall but the hillsides are badly scared with over logging. It took us about 5 ½ hours to get here from Greenway Sound. Susan called ahead to get dock space as we've heard it gets crowded. It's a popular stop for boaters. They had enough room to reserve a spot for only one more boat so she asked if we could raft up to them. They said "No problem". COMEDY DOCKING As Raven approached the dock one of
their fenders fell off and we turned around to retrieve it. The space
that was planned for them looked very small leaving their bow sticking way
out off the dock. A couple men on the docks waved them back in to this
precarious spot and then we rafted up to them in an even more precarious
spot and we too were hanging out over the end even farther. We all did
quite a bit of fendering and line tying to get settled. It was like
nothing we all had even done before but the folks were friendly and
helpful and confident. We could tell they do this all them time. The
owner and some other people got right on Raven's boat helped to get both
the boats in. It was really comical. This went on all afternoon as more
and more boats came in and they managed to squeeze and hang them in, one
after another. I don't think they turned anyone away. I just can't
describe it. It was like we were all tied together holding each other in
and snug as bed bugs though you didn't know each other you soon become
friendly and were having so much fun and laughing. You felt very welcome right off the bat. The owner said it was BC (British Columbia) Day, and Lagoon Cove was celebrating by having a pot luck on the dock at 6:00. He said that normally it's just cocktail hour on the docks but not tonight. Sounds like fun especially after all this lonesome cruising the last few months. I searched my cook book to figure something out and Larry took Ziggy ashore. SUMMER CAMP FOR ADULTS It’s a cute little place and very rustic. There are no roads of course and only way things get here is by boat and of course in the winter and off season it's pretty unpopulated though there is a winter caretaker. The place is whimsical and designed to make it much like summer camp for adults with clever comical signs everywhere. The docks are little and narrow and everyone is jammed packed but no one minds, in fact we all love the crazy idea. Everybody is friendly and sitting around talking to each other, and some are out crabbing and shrimping. It’s much like visiting grandma’s house.
There are hiking paths for people and dogs that lead up into the woods and out around the hill to view "hole in the wall". There's also a huge old cedar tree with a big tire swing on it that everyone seems to enjoy trying no matter how old. There are lots of bears here in this area and I was warned as I headed down the path. They said to just make lots of noise as you walk. So you feel kind of silly yelling out goofy things as you hike like "hey, hello there bear, I'm heading your way'" and etc.
They have burn area to get rid of their burnable trash as there is no trash pick up in these neck of the woods (took far from civilization) and the water is supposed to be clear creek water, totally pure and clean.
We had another game of dominos later that night. Susan won again for the second night in a row. I think I came in last for the last 3 nights in a row. This place has so much more personality than Greenway Sound. Well, here we are back in civilization with millions of boats again and you can't go anywhere without calling ahead to get spots on the docks.
DATE: August 6, 2002 DESTINATION: Lagoon Cove Well, woke up to sound of something like someone pouring buckets of water into the dock water by the boat. Larry thinks it was one of the boats flushing their toilets. Geez, it was loud and a lot of water if so.
We are assigned a new location on the dock at Lagoon Cove so we don’t have to raft up anymore. Again, we have lots of help to get us squeezed in to our next spot. We watch as another boat comes in and can barely fit but they pull her in and tie them up. Craziest thing we've ever seen. Everyone puts in a helping hand on the dock. We met a nice couple from Seattle who have a Grand Banks (GB) anchored out. They said they've planned the GB Rendezvous for the last two years. We talked to them for a long time and exchanged cards. They said we should come up to Seattle at Christmas time and see the boat parade. Also said Opening Day in Seattle is really something. We talk quite a bit on the dock to people. It's a very sociable place. I made blueberry pancakes with blueberries that I bought in Shearwater. They are delicious blueberries and have lasted for a long time. Susan and Reiner came by to see if we wanted to go on the hike. We put on our hiking shoes, got Ziggy and headed out on the trail over to blow hole. It's an uphill climb for quite a way. There's not much to see when you get to the other side though. OWNER'S PROPERTY The weather is nice finally. We head back on the trail and then walk around the owner’s house. They have lots of clever signs directing you here and there. Their house is simple and nice and situated high on a grassy hill. You can't help but admire their nice flowering gardens, fruit trees, and vegetable gardens that are growing lettuce, beans, squash, etc. They have little picket fences and gates and arched ways into the different areas of the gardens. In the back of the house they have a grassy knoll with a campfire pit and make shift benches but out of logs. Down below is a horseshoe area. All this overlooks the inlet where other boats are anchored if there wasn’t enough room for them at the docks. Near the end of the property is an old metal drum with a lid on it that is smoking with trash burning in it. All the boaters can use it to dispose of their trash. They also have a very interesting totem pole that has many pieces of junk attached to it like gas pump handles and corrugated metal roofing shaped to represent the wings of an eagle at the top. It is comical. Down the ways a bit is the “Exercise
Station #4” (we never found exercise stations #1, 2, 3). It's just a
pile of wood and a couple of axes by the side. I guess their hoping
you'll split some wood for them which everyone does to help out. Larry
and Reiner both gave it a try.
We walked back to the boat to sit on the boat and get some sunshine and rest after our hike. It’s the first time really that we’ve been able to enjoy the outside of the boat this whole trip. We sat up above and Larry took a nap on the chaise. I made something for what they call the “mandatory cocktail hour” but when it came time to go Larry didn’t want to because we didn’t want to put Ziggy in the cage. So we stayed on the boat. I liked the idea too because it was nice to just sit out on the boat and get some rest.
(August 2008) END OF THE ALASKA LOG Well, I can't believe it, I've finally, after six years, reached the end of our Alaska Journal. I thought we'd never get it posted. I kind of ended my written log after Lagoon Cove. It seemed like we were back to civilization or close to it and there didn't seem to be a point in continuing the log. I wondered to myself how to end this wonderful journey but then I happened across our last group email. We sent a few emails to friends and family during the trip. Some how I found it, the last one, saved in a file. It was sent out at the conclusion of the summer and I thought it would be worth posting. It takes us from Lagoon Cove back to Ganges on Salt Spring Island just one stop short of where we planned to put the boat away for the end of that memorable summer. OUR LAST EMAIL We stopped at a place called Greenway
Sound which was just a floating u-shaped dock with nothing but a
restaurant. Everyone just docked there all day and waited for evening to
have dinner at a "restaurant". We ran into another Santa Barbara boater
there that we had run into a couple times in Alaska. His name was Elmer
Bernstein. I should say we have bumped into him more than once usually
when he was out away from his boat hiding from his skinny wife while
sneaking ice cream cones. He has written and writes musical scores for
Hollywood and his most famous are The 10 Commandments, Magnificent 7,
The Great Escape, and The Man with a Golden Arm not to mention
so many more. He has two new movies coming out this fall, one
called Gangs of New York. He was the most unlikely boater we met
during this whole trip but he really got around with no qualms (by the
way, he was in his 80s so there's lots of life left in all of us to do
this boating thing or whatever you may want to do).
WE PARTED COMPANY AFTER CORDERO LODGE After Lagoon Cove, our last stop, with our friends, Susan and Reiner, from Raven, was another floating dock called Cordero Lodge. It too was another dock with nothing but a restaurant but this one served German food. After filling up with sauerbraten and red cabbage that night, we had our last game of dominos on Raven and the next morning said goodbye to our friends who were are partners for some of this wonderful journey.
Codova Channel Photos
Heading South through Desolation Sound, we stopped at places we had visited on our way up in the early spring. It was totally different now. Before, we were the only boaters, and now we were lucky if we could get dock space. We now found it necessary to call ahead and make reservations a day ahead to ensure a spot. Now there were noisy boaters and screaming kids and loud planes. It was different.
We finally got to Campbell River and our first real civilization for weeks. It was a strange shock, getting back to civilization after all these months of quiet. GOODBYE AND HELLO We now realized we had to say goodbye to quiet nights in which the only sound would be the sound of a small ripple in the water from a resident seal or the swish in the air of an eagle's wing, or the cackle of a raven, or sometimes maybe the howl of a wolf in the empty night. Now instead we said hello to the roar of a nearby highway, jet streaked skies and wake making fast loud powerboats and ferries, and teenagers playing senseless music louder than eardrums permit. We said goodbye to lovely old uneven wooden planked docks and forest paths to say hello to asphalt highways and parking lots with tidy painted lines to keep cars and people organized. We said hello to signs everywhere telling you where to walk and where to not walk, where to put your trash, and where to take and not take the dog. Too many signs telling you what to do and how fast to go and on it goes. How did we manage before all this instruction?
We now say hello to dock staff
that now take your lines, pull you in, plug you in, take your trash away
and look for a tip. But now we can watch satellite TV, listen to the
stereo, run the water heater, stove, oven, and refrigerator all at the
same time and not blow a circuit. Now, we say hello to the Mega
Store with more choices and quantities than a human ought to have. Wow,
fresh mangoes, avocados, fresh basil, tomatoes, 5 different kinds of
lettuce, oranges that aren't green, cucumbers and shopping carts with
wheels that you can actually wheel back to the boat! We said goodbye to quiet
evenings when the norm was to read a book, write in a journal or just
watch the amazing surroundings of your anchorage and now we say hello
to Fox Network News, HBO, Sex and the City and all the rest of the crap.
Nothing has changed in the world news. People are all still bombing and
killing each other and the perverts are still stealing children and
molesting them. The news is shocking, depressing and redundant and the
game is the same as when we left. At the next to the last stop of this journey, we are sitting in a favorite port, called Ganges on Salt Spring Island (remember it?), a place to eat good food, and shop in cute stores, and talk to the other boaters. Our boat looks a little warn, the fenders are dull, tarred and green with slime, and the boat has beard of salty crust on it, but we still get compliments from people who say she's beautiful. It served us well and we love her. She kept us safe and was a trusty friend. When we get back to Canoe Cove, we have a nice little boat house reserved for her to keep her safe and protected from the coming winter storms but not without spending a week polishing and cleaning her before we leave her getting her back to her previous glory. FUTURE PLANS, ALWAYS DREAMING We decided we're going to keep her here in the Pacific Northwest one more summer to do local boating and then put her on a freighter next fall headed for Fort Lauderdale. We plan to cruise the East Coast the next two summers taking her all the way to Maine and then South to the Hudson River, through the canals to the Great Lakes to Chicago, down the Mississippi, through Tennessee to the Gulf of Mexico. That's another journey in mind, to ponder, to dream about over the winter and next summer. THE AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL PACIFIC NORTHWEST So as we sit in this beautiful harbor again, we are reminded that this is the very same place we were when we left on this journey way back in April. We knew nothing but were excited heading out looking for an adventure. Dressed in wool socks and warm jackets and mittens, we pulled our lines up. We were excited to be heading north and wondered what this journey had in store for us as we watched the snow and icy hail drop before our eyes. And now, ironically, here we are again in the same place, but now sitting here in shorts and covered in sticky sunscreen, enjoying the hot summer sun atop the deck of the Knotty Dog while listening to Irish Folk fiddlers and singers making music across the water. What a summer and what a place this Pacific Northwest!
Garbage disposal
Fresh air
WHAT I DON’T MISS FROM SANTA BARBARA: Traffic
WHAT I WON’T MISS FROM ALASKA: Sore joints
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Up on shore the owner has his tool
shed which is wide open. I guess if anybody needs to fix anything it's
there for their use. He doesn't worry about anyone stealing anything
here. This tool shed is where we set up the pot luck and they have a
"library room" where you can trade books for other books that people have
left. The is asking for boater's favorite recipes so they can make a
Lagoon Cove Recipe Book and offer it for sale next season. I fill a card
out with one of my recipes and sure enough when we came back a couple
years later it was in the book!
It seemed like everybody showed up
for the pot luck. There was lots and lots of food and everybody loaded
their plates up. The owner cooked a ton of Dungeness crabs and shrimp
that he caught that afternoon and people were throwing their shells over
into the water off the docks. Everyone was having a fun time. This place
is open all year round if you can imagine for whoever wants to stop. 
The owner’s wife’s voice kind of
booms over the place with her Romanian accent. Very nice though. We've
been trying to get through on their phone service to call our next stop
for dock reservations. We haven’t been able to get through to Cordero.
We’re thinking we’d like to get in at Cordero or Blind Channel. We've
heard that Cordero’s got a good German restaurant but so does Blind
Channel. Bind Channel has more to do with hiking trails, etc. Reiner
says the current really blows through there at Blind Channel and it makes
for difficult docking. 
WHAT I MISSED FROM HOME:
WHAT I’LL MISS FROM ALASKA: