CLIFF & ORMA'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

September 4 -- Postlude

2008-09-04T22:42:00.000-07:00

As we were planning our trip last spring, we felt badly that we would miss summer at home. As it turns out, we came home to summer after missing it on our travels. Now that we are here, we are in no hurry to move back into the house. The transition will be gradual, and soon enough we will be at home looking for something still on the boat, or vice versa. As long as the weather stays good, we will stay close to the water.

As we look back over the past three months and 2,000 miles, we have a sense of accomplishment and a new understanding of the northwest coast of this continent. Words that come to mind to describe the landscape: vast, imposing, empty, powerful, majestic, daunting; to describe the people of this sparsely populated coast: adventuresome, brave, tough, hard-working, friendly; to describe the water of the Inside Passage: dark, predictable, challenging but do-able; the weather: cold (no surprise), wet (disappointing), spectacular (occasionally).

We met many very nice people along the way and hope we can continue to be in contact with some of them. Many of them do the trip to Alaska every year. Once is enough for us—having “been there, done that”, we would stay south of Cape Caution on future sailing adventures. While faraway destinations have their appeal, home is better. We can see mountains and wilderness from our marina on Indian Arm. Within an hour’s sail north “up the Arm” we have majestic waterfalls and bears on the beach, or if we motor an hour west we can dock and walk in sophisticated downtown Vancouver.

Our next boating challenge will be one of separation, as the time looms ahead when we have to sell our old friend Skylark II, and become full-time landlubbers. As we look over our logs, photos, and the journals we have posted, we realize that we have a rich treasure chest of boating memories. Thanks for sharing the trip.

September 2 -- Welcoming Committee

2008-09-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

The flood tide gives us a boost as we motor in calm air on smooth seas along the Sunshine Coast, past Sechelt and Gibsons, around Bowen Island, and into English Bay. The skyline of Vancouver rises to meet us in fairer weather than on the day we left. We cross under Lions Gate Bridge, pass Stanley Park on the right and the yellow North Shore sulfur piles on the left, wind our way through anchored freighters and barges and around a tugboat doing circles (trying out his engine, we heard him say on the radio), and come alongside a small dock.

Today is the first day of school, but it is a short day, so we have arranged to pick up two of our granddaughters, (plus two cousins and a friend) at Lonsdale Quay. They join us for the last hour as we head in to our marina. The girls have had a great summer with trips to Ottawa, camp, and Europe, and have much to tell us. It is so good to see them again!

Burrard Inlet is quiet – you could never tell it is a major seaport – and the Second Narrows train bridge lifts at our request. We slow down to prolong the trip, and the kids take turns being towed in the dinghy, behind the sailboat. As we round the point and come in to Deep Cove, our neighbour on Prairie Otter blasts his horn to welcome us back. We slide in to our slip, and tie up. We are home.

September 1 -- Almost Home

2008-09-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

We start out on the last leg of our journey, but in Georgia Strait we discover that the predicted northwest wind is actually southeast (and of course we’re traveling southeast) and the water is rather choppy. The sun is still shining, so why would we fight the wind and waves all day when we don’t have to get home tonight? Instead, we pull in to Smuggler Cove, and spend our last night in the same anchorage in which we spent the first night of the trip. We go ashore for a hike on the trails of this marine park, and Cliff enjoys running into Amanda, a woman he worked with 10 years ago.

Later, we have a delicious barbecued salmon dinner in this peaceful anchorage, with a spectacular starry sky and brilliant phosphorescent water. We throw breadcrumbs to the fish and see their sparkly outlines as they come to snap up the treats. We even flush the heads (into the holding tanks of course) in the dark and watch the lights flash in the plumbing pipes! Yes, yes, we know -- there is not a lot to do on a sailboat at night.

August 30-31 -- Friends at Pender Harbour

2008-09-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

We leave Grace Harbour with Tangleberry, bound for Pender Harbour. We can make it home tomorrow with only this one stop, if we choose. It is a beautiful, sunny day, with a northwest wind, and we sail for a few hours. It finally seems as if summer has arrived! It is so nice, in fact, that we radio Tangleberry to let them know we are slowing down to take advantage of the lovely weather for a few more days. They continue on, intent on getting home tomorrow. We pull in to Blind Bay at the entrance to Jarvis Inlet and scout around for a while before dropping the hook in Ballet Bay. Next morning, Cliff makes pancakes before we motor the short distance to Pender Harbour, where we tie up at the VRC outstation dock. It is Labour Day weekend, and we expect it to be crowded, but we have the dock to ourselves for 24 hours. We noticed a sign on the way in inviting boats to tie up and tour the open house in a beautiful development, so we dinghy over for a look. The house we see is a dream—waterfront property with moorage and a view to die for, through arbutus trees and past small islands to Georgia Strait and the Vancouver Island mountains in the distance. Oh, for an extra $1.25M.

Continuing our dinghy trip, we buzz through a narrow channel down to the end of Gunboat Bay , where our friends Richard and Alisa have a lovely summer property. We catch them at the cottage and have a good visit, then Cliff and some other men help Richard put away all the canoes, kayaks, sailing dinghies and other toys for the winter. Winter!! We’ve just found summer! We make a quick sidetrip to the IGA in Madeira Park for groceries, then extend our visit over dinner with Richard and Alisa at the Garden Bay Pub.

August 27-28 -- In Desolation Sound

2008-09-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

It’s not a bad day, but there are strong southeast winds in Georgia Strait. We plan to stay in Desolation Sound until the storm blows over, then we will make a beeline for home. We have a leisurely morning and motor over to Refuge Cove for a few groceries. Tangleberry fuels up and finds a floating hamburger stand for lunch, but we hoist the sails and actually sail for a couple of hours to Melanie Cove, where we raft up, barbecue salmon, and play hearts.

In the morning we dinghy ashore and hike with Grahame and Shirley a mile or so up the Unwin Lake trail. It is quite a climb and good exercise after many hours on the boat. We make lots of noise and don’t see any bears—just thick forest, big trees, dense undergrowth, and a peek-a-boo view of the lake.

Later in the day, we motor to Okeover Inlet and anchor out in front of the Laughing Oyster Restaurant, where we have a reservation for dinner. We had hoped to stay at the government dock here, but it is full and not very well protected from the north wind blowing. The rain is coming down hard now, but we suit up and climb in Grahame’s small dinghy for a ride to shore. We are a soggy lot as we arrive at the restaurant, and we wonder if the Laughing Oyster is laughing at us. After a good meal, we return in even harder rain to our boats, up anchor, and move in the near dark to a more protected bay a couple of miles north.

The night is very quiet, but in the morning we hear the flag flapping, indicating that the wind is turning south and we had better move. . This time we sail a short distance to Grace Harbour, a scenic and sheltered spot , where we raft together with Tangleberry on Skylark’s anchor. The bay is quite full with boats waiting out the strong southeasterlies in the forecast. The front comes through around noon with lots of rain, but not much wind in the harbour, and after the storm passes the skies clear to give us a beautiful afternoon. We dinghy ashore to an old homestead site, where we pick blackberries, apples, and plums from an ancient orchard. With plenty of bear scat around, we watch our backs all the time and don’t stay too long. Later, we enjoy Shirley’s delicious fruit cobbler with coffee and a game of hearts on Tangleberry.

August 26 -- Through the Rapids

2008-09-04T09:56:00.001-07:00

We have another beautiful, clear, still night, but awake to thick fog. We follow last night’s GPS trail out to the channel, where the fog clears and we zoom along with the flood tide through Wellbore and Green Point rapids. We have to cut the motor and dawdle along for a couple of hours so we don’t arrive much before slack at the stronger Dent and Yuculta rapids. Just before the rapids, we meet Tangleberry , and we travel together the rest of the day. By now the weather has deteriorated, and we have a wet, bumpy ride down Calm Channel, until we turn in at Squirrel Cove, Cortes Island, to raft up, share dinner, and compare notes about our adventures since we parted in Prince Rupert.

August 24-25 Gunkholing in the Broughtons

2008-09-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

After a leisurely Sunday morning, we browse around the Broughton Archipelago, a group of islands and islets, mostly low and rocky, We make our way past the fishing resort/marina at Sullivan Bay with its many luxurious floathomes, and Pierre’s Echo Bay Marina where we stop for a chat and a few groceries. Then we continue on to Waddington Bay, a beautiful spot fully enclosed by small islands, where we anchor for the night. Darkness comes early, letting us see a wide expanse of glittering sky crossed by the Milky Way, enhanced by a few magical falling stars. Can this be the first time in three months we’ve actually seen a dark, clear night and a starry sky?

We awake Monday morning to light rain, but no fog, and motor an uneventful 54 miles via Minstrel Island and Chatham Channel. Johnstone Strait is benign, but we are glad to leave it and duck into Sunderland Channel just as the waves start to build. In Forward Harbour, after a couple of unsuccessful tries we get the anchor hooked in 65 feet of water. Cliff will get his upper body exercise tomorrow morning when he cranks up 200 feet of chain!

August 22-23 -- New Friends and a Big Fish in the Broughtons

2008-09-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

The weatherman is calling for more strong southeasterlies, so we plan to stay in the Broughtons for a few days. Before we move to a more secure anchorage, we go back to the entrance to Wells Passage and put out the fishing line in the spot where we noticed several boats yesterday. After an hour without a bite, we turn to leave, when suddenly the line jerks and Cliff reels in a lovely 20-pound red spring salmon! What a thrill!

Back at the new anchorage, stern-tied in a tiny cove at the end of Tracey Harbour, Cliff cleans and butchers the fish, and Orma packs the pieces in plastic bags, filling the freezer. With about three pounds of salmon steaks still left, we go bearing gifts to two neighbouring boats.

First , we knock on the side of Teal, a 78-foot restored 1928 Alaska Fisheries Patrol boat. Kit and Carl receive the salmon steaks with great enthusiasm and invite us aboard for a tour. They are new owners of this beautiful classic, lovingly restored and updated, with brass and teak, beams and engines bright and shining.

Next we call on Mike and Lee on Santa Margarita, a Catalina 40 which they have just bought recently after retiring from a fishing career on their seiner, the Bruce Luck (seen in the background on the old Canadian $5.00 bill). Salmon is nothing new to them, but they still seem pleased with the gift.

After a still night, morning brings clouds and rain. We can see the treetops blowing in the wind, but we are well sheltered. Santa Margarita moves into our cove after spending a restless night swinging around farther out in the bay. We dinghy ashore to explore a disused logging site and walk along the logging road, happening upon bear scat and making lots of noise. We find a parked WFP pickup truck, unlocked and ready to go, although it doesn’t appear to have been used recently. Later in the day, we concoct a rice dish to take over to Teal, where we share their freshly-caught crabs and a potluck barbecue, enjoying instant rapport and lots of laughs with the two other couples. It is a sad truth that most cruising friendships begin instantly and end as soon as your routes diverge. We hope that these folks will keep in touch and we can get together again someday.

August 20 - 21 -- Around Cape Caution Again

2008-09-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Our stay at the dock in Shearwater proves comfortable and useful, if a tad expensive. A brief squall blows through overnight, but we are well sheltered. Cliff does some maintenance jobs, I conquer laundry and grocery shopping, we fill up with fuel (we wonder why our tank takes 15 percent more fuel than it should and the 10 litre jug requires over 11 litres to fill?) and we are ready to hit the road again. Grahame and Shirley advise us that groceries and fuel are more reasonable just across the way in Bella Bella. Oh well.

We motor down Fitzhugh Sound in calm weather. A pod of humpback whales in the distance surprises us with a great show of huffing, puffing, and breaching. We motor all the way to Pruth Bay, where we turn right and travel an hour out of our way so we can enjoy some fishing in Hakai Pass and take the trail to the beach tomorrow.

Tomorrow dawns, we hear the weather forecast, and realize that this is the day to round Cape Caution. The next weather window is several days away, so we give away the west coast beach hike and turn on the motor at 6:00 a.m. to start heading south in thick fog.

The fog dissipates as the sun rises and is gone by the time we reach the ocean swells in Queen Charlotte Sound. The mainsail holds the boat fairly steady and we ride a roller coaster for a while. We see more other boats than we have seen for a long time. The flotilla is heading south now and we have caught up with rush hour. A couple of cruise ships appear in the distance, and we remark on how few we have seen during this whole odyssey. We had expected to be dodging them all the time.

Around noon the water smoothes out and we skim past Cape Caution. A whale surfaces very close to the boat – almost close enough to reach out and touch – then dips, surfaces again, and disappears before we have time to be concerned by his proximity. We decide not to cross to Vancouver Island, but stay on the mainland side of the Sound, and eventually after 81 miles, we reach Wells Passage where we find a snug anchorage, make dinner, and go to bed early.

August 18-19 -- Storm Shelter in Shearwater

2008-08-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

We catch up with Grahame and Shirley in Shearwater, shout greetings across the water, and part company once again as they forge ahead and we tie up at the dock to wait out another predicted big blow. We are lucky to have arrived early because the docks are full by afternoon in anticipation of very strong winds. Shearwater, mainly a fishing resort, has a nice restaurant, a good laundromat and grocery store, marine supplies, fuel and propane, and wireless internet. We will make good use of the time tomorrow, while we wait for weather. Today we relax and visit on the dock, then treat ourselves to a steak dinner at the restaurant.

Tuesday morning dawns clear and calm, but the weather reports still call for storm force winds and we stay hunkered down. We are invited to a “Bring on the Storm” party on Oso Blanco, a gorgeous Nordhaven yacht, but except for a light breeze and some rain, we still don’t feel the storm. It is reportedly blowing hard out in the open, though, so we are glad to be here. At the party we meet lots of nice folks who cruise in big motor yachts from points south to spend the summer months in Alaska every year, despite the weather, which they tell us has been unusually cold and wet this year. We are definitely novices in this cruising community. Cliff spends an hour inspecting Osso Blanco's immaculate and enormous engine room with the owner. This yacht, built with capacity to cross oceans, uses only 8 gallons of fuel per hour. Another captain in the group says that his yacht burns 20 gallons per hour at cruising speed! We are out of our element here!

Late in the day a small sailboat rafts alongside our boat. (Yipee – we’re no longer the only small boat at the dock!) It turns out to be the young fellow from Bella Coola we met way back at Eucott Hot Springs who took our picture for his charterboat brochure (http://www.sailbellacoola.com/).

August 16-17 – Spectacular Fiordland

2008-08-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

The fog is thick again, but we have a long day planned, so Skylark leaves Hartley Bay at 08:15 with the help of radar and GPS charts. Lyla and Renova plan to take a different route, so we exchange hugs and boat cards and hopes that we will meet again along the way. They help us cast off, then wave until they disappear in the fog.

By 11:00 the fog is gone and we have another beautiful day. We take a less-travelled route down Finlayson Channel, through Hiekesh Narrows and along Sheep Passage to our chosen anchorage at Windy Bay. We are alone in this beautiful ocean lake, the only sounds the splash of jumping fish, the chirps of eagles, and the cries of loons. The warm breeze carries the sweet cedar scent of the forest, and as night falls a full moon rises, silhouetting the majestic mountains around us.

Again today, Monday, we awake to a shroud of fog, but we will wait. We have taken this route to see spectacular Kynoch Inlet, which the guidebook tells us has “wild and magnificent scenery, high snow-covered ramparts rising 3500 feet above its shores . . . a startling vertical rock cliff rising to the sky … beautiful waterfalls tumbling into the inlet . . “ Not until 13:00 (1:00 p.m.) does the fog burn off, and as we enter Kynoch Inlet, the curtains open on a majestic stage of mountain grandeur. We are so privileged to be in this beautiful place, seen by so few.

We cruise slowly around the inlet for a couple of hours. We take many photos, have lunch on deck in the warm sunshine, and then must continue on our way to arrive at our next anchorage before nightfall. The water changes from smooth to choppy and back again, depending on the strength of the headwind, and we continue motoring south down Mathieson Channel. We see our first boat in twenty-four hours late in the afternoon, and as we get closer to our anchorage, we see a few pleasure boats from Shearwater/Bella Bella out for Sunday afternoon fishing trips. Thick fog blows in from the ocean in the evening, and the last hour is a bit tense as we pick our way blindly, except for radar and GPS, through tricky Percival Narrows and into Oliver Cove, arriving just before dark.

August 15-16 – Sailing Buddies

2008-08-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Shirley and Grahame decide to leave Prince Rupert on Monday to start on their trip south, but we prefer to wait out the weather in the relative comfort of the marina. After three more rainy, windy days, rafted three deep at the dock, we finally free our lines and head out, traveling in company with Pierre and Danielle on Lyla, and a young Camppell River couple, John and Naomi, on Renova. The weather clears up, giving us a beautiful trip down Grenville Channel. Our first stop is at Kumealon Inlet, a lovely, serene anchorage where we are the only boats. We barbecue salmon and spend a pleasant evening together on Skylark.

In the morning, we are enveloped in thick fog. To help find his way back, Cliff takes the GPS with him as he goes out in the dinghy to retrieve the crab trap. We are rewarded with two good-sized crabs, which Cliff cleans and Orma cooks and shells so we can have crab salad for lunch.

At about 10:00 the fog lifts and we continue motoring south to Hartley Bay. The weather is still beautiful, so after the boats are tied up we all take a walk along the boardwalks of this quiet town, then have a late dinner and an early night.

August 7-14 — Will we ever get out of Prince Rupert?

2008-08-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

We had no intention of staying so long in P.R., but again contrary weather forces us to stay at the dock. To help pass the time, we decide to rent a car with Shirley and Grahame and travel inland to parts of BC we have never seen. The first day, we drive along the mighty Skeena River to Terrace, where we visit the Saturday morning farmers’ market, then continue to Kitimat, a sterile company town with an enormous aluminum smelter. The cold wind and rough seas buffeting the town dock, situated at the end of the long Douglas Channel, confirm our decision not to take our boat to Kitimat . The day is gray and rainy. We have reserved rooms at a hot springs resort which turns out to be quite run-down, but the pools are nice and the dinner surprisingly good.

Next morning, when the cook himself tells us, “We have no sausages and I wouldn’t order the ham,” we decide to drive back to Terrace for breakfast at McDonald’s. After a quick perusal of Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart , still looking for a prawn trap to replace the one that got squashed, we check the roadmap and drive 100 km north along a secondary (but paved) road to the Nass River Valley and the native settlement of New Aiyansh, the capitol of the Nishga Nation. The clouds break apart enough for us to see huge snow-capped mountains, cascading waterfalls, and a view of the wide, fertile Nass Valley. We stop for a look at a large lava field and memorial park commemorating a volcanic eruption 250 years ago which buried two native villages.

The town of New Aiyansh is active and well-kept, with very impressive band government buildings and facilities. The natural surroundings are beautiful, and the residents are friendly and proud of their home town. We spend quite a bit of time in their tourist info building before starting the scenic drive back to Prince Rupert.

August 6-7 – Across Dixon Entrance, back into Canada

2008-08-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

We had hoped to visit Misty Fjords before leaving Alaska, but the weather is forecast to change in a couple of days and strong winds are predicted. Right now the winds are light and the time is right to cross Dixon Entrance, so we leave Ketchikan at the crack of dawn and glide on smooth, quiet water, down the usually hectic Tongass Narrows toward the open sea. Spectacular snow-capped mountains and islands upon islands stretch across the horizon. In the far distance, we can see Dundas Island, our destination for the night.

Our crossing is very pleasant, motor-sailing on gentle seas for most of the way. For the last hour, the wind strengthens and we bounce around quite a bit. Just before we arrive at the anchorage, we see whales blowing.

We have a new toy, a small GPS attached to our laptop which shows our boat’s position on the worldmap electronic charts. We felt that $1200 was too much to spend on the chips to put electronic charts on our main GPS for this one-time trip, and we do have a complete set of paper charts from which Cliff transfers waypoints to the GPS. But now we have an electronic chartplotter for anywhere in the world!! We set up the computer, zoom in on Brundage Harbour, Dundas Island, and find our way into a beautiful anchorage protected from wind of any direction. We have been in radio contact with Tangleberry, who are coming from a different direction, and soon they arrive in the same anchorage. They row over for a game of Hearts and Shirley wins AGAIN! We are thankful for our screened-in cockpit, but the pesky blackflies are tiny and we have a few bites to show for our visit to Brundage Harbour.

We have a very still day for the second day of the crossing, complicated only by thick fog most of the way and an opening for commercial fishing which increases traffic over and above the many recreational fishermen taking advantage of the calm water. Having radar is very reassuring, however, and the fog lifts by the time we are in our final approach to Prince Rupert.

As on our way north, the Yacht Club Marina is fully booked, so we go back to Rushbrook and are lucky to find a place at the dock. Fortunately wind and current are in the right direction, and Cliff does a masterful job of parallel parking between two fishing vessels. Grahame rafts up alongside, and we check in with Canada Customs. The Alaskan adventure is over, and we are back in Beautiful British Columbia. However, we still have many miles to travel until we see our home slip in Deep Cove, Vancouver.

August 4-5 -- Ketchikan in the Sunshine

2008-08-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Beautiful weather again as we motorsail down from Meyers Chuck to Ketchikan. We make great time with the wind and tide boost, and can’t resist the urge to stop for an hour or so of fishing when we see lots of boats just outside the entrance to Tongass Narrows. We’ll find some room somewhere in the fridge for more fish! Sure enough, in a short time we have one smallish Pink, and then one BIG (15 lb.) Coho!

We motor the rest of the way to Ketchikan through a building northwest breeze, opposing tide, and large standing waves, making an exciting entrance when combined with dodging harbour traffic and seaplanes landing or taking off every two minutes. We tuck around the stern of a cruise ship and blow into Thomas Basin Marina, thankful to see our Washington friends waiting to grab our lines as we land in the berth past the one assigned to us!

Tangleberry has arrived here a day ahead of us, so we reconnect with Grahame and Shirley and have salmon barbecue and belated birthday cake together.

We want another day in Ketchikan, which is much more attractive in the sunshine than it was when we were here on the way north. We have a good time shopping and walking around the busy cruise ship area, and then take a tram ride up the mountainside for a lovely view and a walk through the city park. We return on a path down Married Men’s Trail, the route that bypasses Creek Street, which was lined with brothels until they were outlawed in 1954.

While on our walk, we meet a delightful couple from Seattle, and strike up a conversation which continues at full tilt through the walk, back to the boat, and for another hour or so. We hope they will keep in touch, as we gave them our card but forgot to get one from them.

August 2 – The Bears of Anan

2008-08-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

Having been turned away from the Anan Bear Observatory on our way north, we have learned the hard way that a permit is required to enter this area. A phone call early three days before nets us the required admission, and we are looking forward to a great day. We leave Berg Bay early and motor eighteen miles to Anan, where we anchor bow and stern in shallow water on the mud flat. We motor ashore and pull the dinghy high up on the beach to allow for incoming tide. The sun is shining and we have a beautiful day.

Hundreds of eagles sit on the beach watching the spawning salmon enter the mouth of Anan Creek. They must already have had their fill, as not many are flying around or diving for fish at the moment.

We check in with the park ranger, a pretty young woman, who gives us the standard warnings about bears, then we walk along a boardwalk trail along the creek, through beautiful thick forest, stepping over and around bear scat. After half a mile, we reach the observation tower and bear blind, where we are close to the place where the bears are catching salmon in the rushing river. One has to feel sorry for the salmon, having struggled and fought their way this far upstream, only to be snatched out of the water by a greedy bear who takes one or two bites and then goes for another fish. After a couple of hours watching the fish fight their way up the waterfalls and the bears grab all they want, we walk back downstream and see seals and eagles also enjoying the bounty of the sea.

Now we can see the gorgeous scenery that was obscured by clouds and rain on the way north, and we have a beautiful trip to Meyers Chuck, where we find a place at the dock and enjoy a very sociable time with other boaters and residents of “the Chuck”. The sunshine makes such a difference and Meyers Chuck is bustling with the activites of summer cottagers and local fishermen. We walk along the trail connecting the properties, stopping to chat with the friendly folk who are fortunate enough to have homes in this beautiful spot.

Most cruisers are now heading south, and we meet several Washington boats whom we will no doubt see again along the way. The fishing is very good just outside the bay, and there is great excitement as cruisers come back from short excursions in their dinghies to show off their catch. One couple, Jay and Benita on Moon Angel, have too much fish for their freezer and are canning the extra. This couple is from St. Marks, Florida, and are good friends of Steve and Gail Tribble (“Misty Bleu”), who were our cruising buddies in Venezuela and we visited in St. Marks.

We stay in Meyers Chuck for another day, expecting to see Shirley and Grahame, but they don’t show up, so we have a quiet day reading and relaxing. The weather has turned cool again.

August 1 – Happy Birthday, Cliff

2008-08-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

As we are preparing to leave the dock in Wrangell, a young fishboat crewman brings us a beautiful sockeye salmon. Now we have salmon and halibut in the refrigerator, have done laundry and grocery shopping, filled diesel, gasoline, propane and water tanks, and are ready to go. The weather is cloudy, mild, and DRY as we retrace our path to Berg Bay.

Except for the bugs, we are alone in the anchorage at Berg Bay. Using the salmon head for bait, we set out the crab trap, and a couple of hours later we bring in a beautiful big Dungeness and about twenty baby flounders. The flounders are returned to the sea; the crab goes into the pot.

We celebrate Cliff’s birthday with a delicious dinner: crab legs, barbequed salmon, fried potatoes, peas and squash. No birthday cake, though.

July 29 - 30 – Starting South

2008-07-31T17:34:00.000-07:00

We arrive back at the boat in the pouring rain, but things are fairly dry inside and the propane fireplace quickly warms us up.

In the morning we are happy to see our friends Grahame and Shirley on Tangleberry pulling into the slip beside us. It is good to see them again, having been on our own since Prince Rupert, almost a month ago. Grahame’s sister, her husband, and teen-age granddaughter have been with them for a couple of weeks and are catching the ferry here to return to their vehicle in Prince Rupert. We join them all for their last dinner together at a restaurant on the waterfront.

Finally, in the morning, we say goodbye to Tangleberry and their guests, and we leave Petersburg, starting the long trip home. G&S will go north for another day, hoping to see whales and icebergs, then will probably catch up to us in a few days.

We motor south through Wrangell Narrows in pleasant weather, and have a choppy trip into Wrangell Harbour. Our jib furler is acting up – one more job for Cliff to do tomorrow in Wrangell while Orma spends time at the cleanest laundromat north of Port McNeill.

After a delicious dinner of Oven Baked Sesame Halibut with Cranberry Salsa (ask us for the recipe) we have a game of crib and Orma writes the blog while Cliff tries to finish his Michener book.

July 27 – 28 – From Juneau to Petersburg, via Sitka, by Ferry

2008-07-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

The return voyage to Petersburg takes 24 hours, thanks to a side trip to Sitka, a small town out on the Pacific coast. If the big cruise ships do visit Sitka they have to travel outside in the open seas, but the ferry takes the same route as small vessels through Peril Strait and the turbulent Sergius Narrows. Cliff, who is reading Michener’s “Alaska”, is especially interested in visiting Sitka, the nineteenth-century Russian capitol. Since the ferry waits in Sitka for four hours to ensure transiting the narrows at slack tide, it is possible to go ashore and visit the town. The only problem is that, today, this wait occurs between 3 and 7 in the morning and Orma decides she would rather stay in bed in the comfy cabin we have secured for this trip.

Cliff joins another enthusiastic fellow and they explore the streets and alleys as dawn comes up over the dormant volcanoes and island-studded harbour surrounding this very attractive town of 2,000 inhabitants. Since the original colonial outpost was constructed of wood, very little in the way of buildings remains, but the main sites are reserved as parks and a small orthodox church still dominates the main street.

A naturalist placed on the ferry by the Tongass National Forest provides commentary about the flora, fauna, and geology of the area. As well as local residents, the clientele on the ferry is made up of adventurous individuals backpacking through Alaska, folks with campers or motorhomes driving on and off at villages along the way, seniors on bus tours, and teenagers from Chicago on a 46-day bus, hiking and camping trip. The fellow Cliff walked around Sitka with was the still-smiling, very special bus driver for the teens.

We are sorry when this interesting vacation from a vacation comes to an end, but are still pleased to get back to our home away from home.

July 25 - July 27 – By Ferry to Juneau

2008-07-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

The trip from Petersburg to Juneau takes about 13 hours on the Alaska State Ferry, Taku. Unfortunately, the fast ferry which goes in half the time has been diverted to Haines for the state fair. The cabins are all taken, so we stay up for the night in the comfortable recliner lounge, blankets and pillows provided. Orma watches a movie for a while, and neither of us sleeps much. The cloud cover is almost down to the waterline, so daylight doesn’t bring much scenery our way, but there are interesting passengers and pretty good ferry food and the time passes quickly. There are a few whale sightings along the way, and we scour the beaches with binoculars for any sight of bears, but see none.

We are met in Juneau in the pouring rain by the car rental guy, and make our way to Sepel’s Hallow B&B. We do a quick drive-by of Mendenhall Glacier, then drive into the city for dinner at Hangars on the Wharf. This is a lively, Friday-after-work place, and we enjoy observing the contrast between well-dressed businessmen (suits and ties, no less), and more typical Alaskans with long hair, bushy beards, plaid shirts, jeans with suspenders, and gumboots. Juneau, a city of 30,000, is the state capitol and therefore attracts a lot of lawyers and accountants. Like most of the other towns in this part of Alaska, it is not accessible by road. If you want to bring your car, you have to bring it on the ferry.

Saturday morning, after a big breakfast, we drive again a short distance up the road to Mendenhall Glacier, this time hiking along some of the trails and enjoying the brief and rare blue sky. Then it’s back to town for lunch, a browse through the cruise ship shops and docks, a visit to the state legislature, the state museum, the mining museum, the coast guard station to watch the docking of the USS Juneau, a quick survey of all the marinas in town, a stop at Wal-Mart and Fred Meyers, and dinner at the Mongolian Grill, before returning to our B&B for a good sleep. We are told by several people that it has rained for 24 days straight until today.

At the legislature we see the rare 49-star US flag. Alaska was granted statehood in 1959, only a few months before Hawaii and not many of these flags were produced.

Sunday morning is cold, rainy and windy again. We find our way to Glacier Bay Baptist Church for a good worship service and friendly people. For lunch we join a couple from Athens, Georgia, who have driven in their motorhome to Skagway and come on the ferry to Juneau.

After lunch, we visit the McCaulay Creek Fish Hatchery and are fascinated by the aquariums and the tour commentary. The fishing industry is alive and well in Alaska. Millions of fish hatched and released here return every year to donate eggs and milt for millions more hatchlings It is one of the miracles of creation that these salmon are so imprinted with the exact location of their birth that they can travel thousands of miles back to the same place to breed and die.

July 21 - 25 – Waiting in Petersburg

2008-07-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

After making the decision to park the boat for the time being, we are much more relaxed. The weather has improved, too. While we intend to leave on the Alaska State Ferry for Juneau on Monday, we find it impossible to locate any accommodation in Juneau until the weekend, so we change our ferry reservations to Thursday night (actually Friday morning at 3:00a.m!). In the meantime, we enjoy the quaint town of Petersburg and its environs.

Petersburg was founded by Norwegian immigrants and still retains some of its Scandinavian flavour sporting tidy waterfront homes, some on pilings, many decorated with traditional rosemaling. In the harbour there is never a dull moment, with fishboats, cruising boats, ferries, and large yachts coming and going. Children fishing on the dock pull in buckets of herring to be used as bait for catching bigger fish. A delightful book store, several chandleries, “Locks by the Docks” where Orma gets a hairdo, a popular library which offers free internet, good grocery and hardware shops, mediocre restaurants, and very friendly people all help to pass the time.

On a rare dry day we take the boat south down the island to the mouth of the LeConte Glacier, the southernmost tidewater glacier in North America. We encounter chunks of ice (“bergy bits”) floating or hung up on the shore all along the way, and as the sky clears we catch views of the glacier in the distance. The entrance to the bay is very shallow and too clogged with ice for us to get close, although aluminum jet-drive tour boats from Petersburg seem to have no difficulty. Across Frederick Sound we enter a quiet anchorage at Ideal Cove, then take the dinghy just outside the cove to jig for halibut. In five minutes we have a fish up to the boat, but it gets away just as we are about to net it. Many nibbles and forty minutes later, we have a halibut in the boat! By this time, the wind is biting and so are the small flies, but Cliff toughs it out, filets the fish on the deck of the big boat, and we have our first halibut dinner of the trip. There is enough fish in the freezer for several more meals, too.

Returning to Petersburg Harbour the next day, we find the current challenging and docking is difficult, but with a little help from neighbours we tie up again. We meet new cruising friends, Cindy and Darren, on Orion, from Port McNeill. Next morning we manage to paint the canvas with a new coat of waterproofing (60F and no rain at the moment is as close as we are going to get to the label’s instructions for 70F and no moisture for 24 hours). The day is quite lovely – we go for a long walk and have fish and chips outdoors for dinner—but by the time we leave for the ferry in the middle of the night, it is pouring out again.

July 20 – Decision Made--Turnaround Point for Skylark

2008-07-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

We are getting tired of motoring along in the cold rain and fog. The long-range forecast still calls for rain every day and highs in the low 50’sF. It will take us two and a half more days to reach Juneau, and at least as long to come back this far, into the prevailing south wind. Having come this close, we’d still like to see Juneau, but there’s an easier way to get to Juneau from Petersburg. It’s called the Alaska State Ferry.

We are still trying to make up our minds on Saturday night, but when we hear the rain and see low clouds and fog on Sunday morning, we motor out of Portage Bay and turn south. Our trip back to Petersburg is punctuated by our first ICEBERG sighting, the appearance of a small humpback whale, and the antics of a group of seals playing on a marker buoy.

We are tied up at the dock in Petersburg once again, and have made reservations on the ferry tomorrow, overnight via Sitka to Juneau. The rain is pounding on the roof, but we are warm and cozy, full of crab, and looking forward to a different adventure tomorrow.

July 19 – 20 – Portage Bay

2008-07-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

Anxious to push north, we leave Petersburg dock early Friday morning for our planned destination, Hobart Bay in Stephens Passage. A brisk south wind and fair tide carry us along Frederick Sound, and we are excited to catch a glimpse of breaching whales and a distant view of Baird Glacier, but soon the wind is brisker, the waves are larger, and we have second thoughts about our itinerary. Should we head out across the wide sound and into Stephens Passage, or bail out at the north end of Kupreanof and go into Portage Bay for the night? When we are in the lee of K. Island, all seems benign and we wonder if we are being too conservative, but caution prevails and we turn left into the narrow entrance to Portage Bay. We find ourselves all alone in this big, enclosed bay. There is excellent holding, and lots of swinging room – and boy do we swing, all night. The SE wind funnels up two wide valleys, into the narrow bay, and howls all night. The shallow water and current opposing the wind create a rough chop, giving us a rocky night and bringing back memories of the breezy anchorages of the Caribbean.

Next morning, the wind gradually abates, the clouds rise and we see occasional bursts of sunlight. Around us there are dozens of crab traps – we wonder how we missed them in the rough water yesterday – so we put out our crab trap late in the afternoon when the water is smooth enough to put the dinghy down. Two hours later, we retrieve the trap. Hanging on to the top, one enormous starfish (I thought it was an octopus at first) and inside, four crabs, one an extra large keeper. We look forward to crab for lunch tomorrow!

July 15 – 18—Petersburg, Alaska

2008-07-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

We spend another day in Wrangell, catching up on emails and blog, then leave at 0800 to catch the right tides for transiting Wrangell Narrows, a very skinny and scenic pass between Mitkof and Kupreanof Islands. We meet one of the Alaska State Ferries but fortunately there is a wide spot where we can pull over and let her pass. The red and green markers all along the 20-mile passage remind us of the Intra Coastal Waterway on the US east coast.

At the north end of the narrows, we arrive at the busy town of Petersburg, home of one of the top fishing fleets in the world. Cruising and fishing boats are interspersed at the dock, and we find ourselves between a nice sailboat we met in Wrangell and a working fishboat which arrives later in the day. Large fish processing plants, where the boats come to unload, are on either side of the marina. There is definitely a fishy smell in the air, and the water around us is yucky, to put it mildly, but we have seen many dead and dying cannery towns along the way, so it is good to see a healthy economy built around this natural resource.

We plan to stay just one day in Petersburg, but next morning we discover an electrical problem which requires an extra day at the dock. A well-stocked marine hardware store at the top of the dock has available all the supplies we need, so Petersburg is a convenient place to do the repairs.

July 13 – 14 – Wrangell, Alaska

2008-07-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

For once we raise the anchor without getting wet, and the fog lifts as we leave Berg Bay. Blue sky begins to break through, and the tops of mountains emerge out of the clouds. The little town of Wrangell sparkles as we arrive at the dock. We do our chores as quickly as possible, check in at the marina office (moorage is only 30 cents/ft. here) and walk into town.

Most shops are closed today, Sunday, but we notice a bright, clean Laundromat, a large supermarket, and a big hardware/marine store. There are bright murals painted on the sides of buildings, and people walking in the sun are smiling and friendly. We check out the hotel restaurant for tonight’s farewell dinner, then continue walking to a spot marked “petroglyphs” on the map.

We find an area of black rocks on the beach, unmarked except by other people looking around, and we join the treasure hunt, discovering here and there the carvings of an ancient culture. Their date is unknown –- anywhere from 1000 to 10,000 years old – and they have survived because they are on a beach of soft shell bits rather than sand, a beach that sustains little wave action.

The rain begins again as we walk back to town. Fortunately, we closed up the boat and most of us brought rainjackets just in case. We stop at the Stikine Inn for a delicious, Alaska-sized dinner.

Monday morning Rick and Sharon fly out on Alaska Airline's "salmon thirty salmon" to Juneau, and we get on with a work day at the dock – laundry, groceries, boat cleaning inside and out, an oil change and the persistent little repair jobs that keep coming up. We had hoped to get the blog up-to-date, but we run out of time and will stay another day in this friendly, relaxed, no-nonsense little town.

July 12 – Anan Bear Conservatory won’t let us in.

2008-07-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

We chug along on a slow, relaxed, flat calm rainy morning, towards Anan Bear Conservatory. It sounds really neat from the guide book – walk the boardwalk to the waterfalls to see the bears catching fish in the river, have a guided tour by park rangers, etc. We arrive in the rain (“wouldn’t this be beautiful in the sun?!”, we say). The anchor is not holding well, so Rick and Sharon don their rain gear and go ashore first, while we stay with the boat. They return sooner than we expect, with the sad news that because we don’t have the necessary permit and the park is fully booked, we can’t go in. Our guide book failed to mention that necessity. The several seaplanes we have seen flying in tourists from Ketchikan or Wrangell must have bought up most of the permits. It’s a big disappointment, but a lesson learned, and now we will be sure to apply for permits ahead of time. Fortunately, the stop was pretty much en route, so we motor slowly, dragging the fishing line, along a narrow channel to our anchorage at Berg Bay.

July 10-11 – Meyers Chuck and Santa Ana Inlet

2008-07-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

We make a last trip to town in Ketchikan to see if we can replace our squashed prawn trap, (no luck) then stop at Safeway to top up our groceries. The sun is coming out, and we are happy to get away from the dock to continue our northward journey.

We decide to troll around the point into Ernest Sound, and after a half an hour, we finally CATCH A SALMON!! -- just the right size for dinner. That will be salmon dinner two nights in a row. We usually catch fish with Rick and Sharon at Lake of the Woods, and we are pleased to return the favour here in the Pacific Ocean.

Our anchorage at Meyers Chuck is in a beautifully sheltered bay, surrounded by a surprising mix of shacks, cottages, and big houses. There is a large government dock with plenty of room, but we decide to anchor out, and we have a delicious salmon feast to celebrate our 43^rd anniversary.

On Friday, we awake to a cloudless, warm morning. Cliff goes for an early morning row in the dinghy, and meets a lady at the dock who is selling cinnamon buns. What a treat to have for breakfast in the sunshine on the deck.

We fish along the shore and again catch a salmon and a small rockfish. That will be salmon dinner three nights in a row! Tomorrow we’ll have pork chops.

Tonight’s anchorage at Santa Anna Inlet is pristine and beautiful. We bushwhack through the rainforest, shaking bear-scaring noisemakers as we go, to Lake Helen, a short distance inland, and get back to the boat just before the rain begins again.

July 8 – 9 -- Crossing Dixon Entrance. Alaska at last.

2008-07-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

After a stormy, uncomfortable night at the dock, it’s another cold, drizzly day. goodbye hugs and We creep out of Rushbrook Marina at O-dark-thirty, withwaves to a sleepy Tangleberry crew. Venn Pass out of Prince Rupert is a tricky, but well-marked shortcut, and we are pleased to see fishboat traffic we can follow heading out in front of us. Cruising friends Pierre and Danielle on Lyla are not far behind.

We are almost out of cell phone range when Cliff phones US Customs and Immigration requesting permission to stop overnight at Foggy Bay, AK, before clearing in at Ketchikan.

Dixon Entrance is the most daunting piece of water we have had to traverse, being open to the North Pacific for twenty-five miles. The swells and chop today are not bad, and we motorsail across with no problems. We sing “O Say Can You See” as we cross the border, and we are in Foggy Bay, a quiet anchorage, by lunchtime. On the beach, rooting for food, we see a big brown bear (relative of a grizzly), and later a smaller black bear. We have an afternoon snooze, an early dinner, play a game of Scrabble, and hit the sack early.

Next morning we complete the trip to Ketchikan. For the first while the water is rougher than yesterday, a most inopportune time for our holding tank to back up. Fortunately the seasick pill I took holds until the mess is cleaned up. Then the pass narrows, the water smoothes out, and we motor in comfort to Tongass Narrows.

Suddenly, OH MY GOODNESS!, there are cruise ships and seaplanes and ferries everywhere in this narrow channel! An official-looking inflatable roars along beside a cruise ship, machine gun manned, daring anyone to make a threatening move. Vancouver Harbour was never like this! We approach the fuel dock but have to wait our turn, it starts to pour, we are in the seaplane runway, the noise is deafening – give us Dixon Entrance anytime!! Our friends on Lyla cross behind an arriving cruise ship to find themselves in front of one departing! Lyla almost becomes sandwich meat.

We are finally tied up at Bar Harbor Marina having a relaxing cup of tea, when the US Customs officer arrives to check us in. “Are you the gentleman who woke me up at 4:30 a.m. yesterday to ask for permission to stay in Foggy Bay?” he inquires. Oh, oh, this is not starting well. But he turns out to be an exceptionally nice customs officer, and doesn’t even ask if we are bringing in contraband beef or citrus (we are). Pierre and Danielle had not asked for permission to stay in Foggy Bay, and they had their knuckles severely rapped.

Ketchikan is built on a steep island, so it is about four blocks deep and ten miles long. We are surprised to see how far along the shore development stretches. The town capitalizes on its gold rush history, still having many older buildings and new ones sporting false fronts and hitching posts. The long walk from our marina to town is along a commercial street, but once we reach the downtown cruise ship area, we think, “Hey, we’ve been here before!”-- Virgin Islands, Nassau, Puerto Rico, Grenada, etc. The only difference is the weather and the name embroidered on the t-shirts!

We treat ourselves to a salmon dinner at Annabelle’s and hike back through the rain to the boat.

July 3 – 7 Rushbrook Marina, Prince Rupert. Rick and Sharon join us.

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Rushbrook Marina caters mainly to commercial fishboats, and they are jammed in, two or three deep, all along the dock. It seems most of those on the inside are derelict, and more than half have “For Sale” signs posted. The active and/or liveaboard boats all seem to have big dogs, so we walk the dock very carefully. One night a boat three docks away burns to the waterline. We can’t believe we slept through the entire event! Another morning Cliff witnesses a police incident where a fisherman is threatened with taser, thrown to the ground, handcuffed, and arrested for assault. We are in the wild and wooly north!

The rain settles in again. We take a cab to a grubby and expensive laundromat , getting that job out of the way for another couple of weeks. We return to find a big eagle sitting on the top of our mast – very picturesque, but he could make a mess and do some damage to the antennas up there, so we shoo him away.

Another day we go grocery shopping at Safeway. A cab brings us back to the dock, but we still have to carry the bags down the long, long, walkway to our place on the last finger. Fortunately the tide is not low when we arrive. The ramp from the top can be almost vertical at the bottom of a 26-foot ebb.

Rick and Sharon Bowering fly in from Winnipeg, arriving in pouring rain. It is great to see them and we look forward to ten days of cruising together. In the meantime, we are waiting for weather and parts, so we make like tourists in Prince Rupert.

A visit to the North Pacific Cannery Museum involves a walk to town, a 30-minute bus ride to Port Edward, and a three-hour stay at this very large, very cold, very empty, very interesting display. According to the tourist brochure, “Built in 1889, today the North Pacific Historic Fishing Village is a National Historic Site. It is the most complete cannery that remains of these remote villages that once dotted the West Coast. Experience mouth-watering food, dining, cozy lodging, wildlife, and beautiful scenery, with live performances, tours and exhibits in this wooden cannery village suspended on pilings over an estuary of the Skeena River.”

We arrive hungry, to find on Saturday nothing but the buildings open, almost nobody around, no food, no live show, and no return bus for four hours! We have seen it all after a couple of hours, so break down and order a $40 cab to take us back to town. We meet Grahame and Shirley in town and have an early supper of fish and chips.

Sunday morning we make our way to the Baptist Church to experience a great service, excellent sermon, and very friendly people. They invite us to lunch (their “Sandwich Sunday”), where we have and chance to visit and glean some local knowledge.

Later, we visit the beautiful Museum of Northern BC, with its impressive artwork. Many First Nations people also visiting the museum, and we discover that there is an elder’s conference happening in P.R. Richard Baker, an artist from the Capilano Reservation, invites us to attend the banquet, but we decline, a decision we may regret when looking back.

We spend quite a bit of time at a funky little internet café (“Cowpuccino’s”) using their wireless connection.

Early Monday morning we hear Sharon’s cell phone ring, and with much excitement hear the news that they have a new granddaughter and we have a new grandneice, Cadence Leora, born to Matt and Nicole a few hours ago.

Later in the day, Cliff tracks down the courier delivery, to find that it won’t arrive Monday – maybe Tuesday, or maybe Wednesday . . . . Since the weather forecast is favorable for crossing Dixon Entrance on Tuesday, we decide to jury rig the sail parts, abandon the high-speed courier parcel – maybe pick it up on the way back—and leave early Tuesday morning.

Tangleberry is still rafted to us, so we switch places at the dock to be on the outside for an early morning getaway.

July 2 – Foggy trip to Prince Rupert

2008-07-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

We awake to thick fog. We leave the anchorage following our “breadcrumb trail” (GPS record of our path in last night) and with the help of our radar and Grahame’s AIS, which identifies large ships in the area, we pick our way through traffic and islands to Prince Rupert Harbour. The fog lifts as we come in, and we see our FIRST cruise ship (we had thought we’d be ducking them all the time!) at Prince Rupert dock.

Moorage is hard to come by in P.R. We have reservations at Cow Bay Rowing and Yacht Club, but the space they offer, on the outside of the breakwater, doesn’t look good. We move on to Rushbrook, ½ mile out of town, where we are lucky to find a boat just pulling out. We get one place at the dock, where we raft up with Tangleberry.

We take a quick walk to town, where we find a well-equipped marine store and pick up some things we need – no sail slugs though. Cliff returns to the boat to do some work, and the rest of us browse around town.

Prince Rupert has suffered “cloud failure” – it’s a bright sunny day. We still feel chilly and are wearing jackets, but the local girls are out in shorts and tank tops, grabbing summer while they can. The town is clean, attractive, and spiffied up for the cruise ship season. Lots of tourists are out walking. We have a delicious dinner at the Cow Bay Café. Civilization feels good.

July 1 -- Happy Canada Day

2008-07-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

We leave Hartley Bay in sunshine and have a great ride up Grenville Channel, riding the flood tide all morning with a south-east breeze. We sail under mainsail alone on smooth water for over an hour at speeds approaching 9 knots, gybing every 15 minutes or so as the wind shifts back and forth. Finally we have a hard gybe, breaking three plastic sail slugs (things that attach the sail to the mast), so the fun ends and we motor the rest of the way to Lewis Island anchorage, just 20 miles from Prince Rupert. We will order new sail slugs from Vancouver and have them couriered to P.R.

This will be our last evening anchored with Tangleberry, so Shirley and Grahame row over and we have barbecued hamburgers on Skylark, enjoying the quiet, broken only by distant booms of fireworks in Prince Rupert.

Monday, June 30 – Majestic Mountains and Hartley Bay Hospitality

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We still have blue sky and sunshine. The scenery today is breathtaking as we motor up one side of Gribble Island and down the other side along Verney Passage. After a while we stop counting major waterfalls. The breeze comes up and we sail for an hour or so, then we take a right turn into the native village of Hartley Bay, famous for having rescued the passengers on the ill-fated Queen of the North a couple of years ago.

We decide to stop early today and stay here. When the fuel pump attendant returns after siesta, we are pleased to discover that there is no charge for moorage or power at the dock. This is a first!

We walk through the village on well-maintained boardwalks. Transportation here is by ATV, golfcart, motorbike, bicycle, or foot. We go to the home of a lady we have been told sells bread. Belle invites us inside for a nice visit, and tells us about her family. She says many of the young people leave for Prince Rupert and get into drug problems there. Those we see in town are bright and attractive.

The town children enjoy the summer weather and are having fun in the water, jumping off the dock, the roof, the raft, and even Grahame’s boat.

We had yesterday’s catch for dinner on Skylark, and later took a run – because the black flies were so bad – through town to take some photos. We are thankful for the screened-in cockpit on our boat.

Sunday, June 29 – SUNSHINE at Bishop Bay Hot Springs

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What a difference the sunshine makes! Now we can see the magnificent mountains, snowfields, and waterfalls. We motor by Butedale, another ghost town once an industrious cannery, and are shocked by the dilapidated ruins falling into the sea. The location is gorgeous, next to a beautiful waterfall, but only a resident caretaker lives at the site. We wonder what there is to take care of! We take pictures of our boats in front of the waterfall, then continue on to Bishop Bay Hot Springs.

We have the place to ourselves at first, so we tie to the government dock and sprint over to the hot springs. Today for the first time the sun is hot and we don’t need to be warmed up, but the water temp is just right and we have a long soak, enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

More boats arrive until there are six of us tied to this little dock for a very sociable time. Cliff and I take the fishing rod in the dinghy over to a nearby waterfall, and have fun catching rockfish for crab bait and a ling cod for us.

Late in the evening, we sneak back up the trail for a late night hot tub. We are starting to really notice the lack of darkness at night, and it’s only going to become more pronounced as we go farther north. I don’t think we will be enjoying any asteroid showers or northern lights on this trip. We draw all the curtains and shut the doors to make it dark enough to sleep. Fortunately, the nights are cool.

At three in the morning, the wind picks up and I lie awake wondering if the dock can hold all these boats. Then we hear a horn blast and leap out of bed to see Grahame standing on deck trying to attract the attention of the folks in a little sailboat, which is dragging anchor. He had been up checking the docklines when he noticed the anchored boat moving across the bay. Eventually the boaters wake up and reset their anchor, and the rest of us try to go back to sleep.

Saturday, June 28 – Klemtu

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It’s another gray day, but not as wet as yesterday. We motor through narrow Jackson Pass and stop for a visit at the native village of Klemtu. We’re pleased to discover cell phone coverage here and take advantage of the opportunity to call our kids. Just above the dock a resident is tossing out fish scraps, and we count ten or twelve eagles swirling and swooping above us. Julie can hear the eagles screaming in the background all the way from Calgary.

Docked alongside us is a lovely trawler, “Solitude”, and we discover that its captain is Brian Krumbach, a NAIM colleague of Diane and Byron Grant. Brian is in Klemtu to take the funeral services of an elder who has died of cancer. We find the townspeople very talkative and friendly.

We motor on through fog and mist to our anchorage at Khutze Inlet, where we raft together, using our anchor and Tangleberry’s sternline to shore. Like many anchorages here, the shoreline is very deep and sloping, so the line tied to a tree on shore holds the anchor tight.

Friday, June 27 – More of the Same

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Quiet night, quiet day. We don’t see much through the low clouds except tree-lined shores and waterfalls pouring into the channel. Imagine the scenery we are missing! Anchored in Rescue Bay.

Thursday, June 26 – The wettest day yet!

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After the pleasant weather yesterday, we awake to drizzle and fog. We pick up our crab trap (one non-keeper) and motor back down Dean Channel. At times Tangleberry tucks in behind us as we follow radar through the fog, and at other times we follow Tangleberry through tricky Gunboat Passage, because they have a deeper keel (if they don’t hit a rock, we won’t!), and a GPS chartplotter which shows our precise location on the chart. We turn on our anchor light because we have seen a couple of very low-flying airplanes, and we want to make it easier for them to see us.

We stop briefly at Sheerwater, a fishing resort and marine repair facility, to use our cellphones, then motor across for a look at Bella Bella. It doesn’t look very inviting, so we continue on in the rain and fog to our anchorage at Kynumpt Harbour. Our canvas dodger is saturated and water is dripping into the cockpit.

When the sun comes out again, I will apply another can of waterproofing.

To avoid a wet dinghy trip between boats, we decide to raft together in the anchorage and have dinner together on Skylark. But the anchorage is just off the main channel, and when the BC Ferry, Northern Adventure, goes by, we rattle together quite violently. We fear there may be cruise ships going by overnight, so after dinner we move away and anchor on our own.

Wednesday, June 25 – Eucott Hot Springs

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We wake up to clearing skies – at least enough to see the tops of the high mountains surrounding Ocean Falls. We walk a mile or so with Shirley and Grahame and friends to Martin Valley, the residential community of Ocean Falls. Several homes are maintained and lived in. At Audrey’s Greenhouse we buy some fresh lettuce and chives, and on the way back we pick beautiful bouquets of wildflowers. As we prepare to leave the dock, we realize the flowers are dropping a carpet of bugs in the boat, and we quickly donate the bouquet to the outdoor windowledge decor of The Shack.

On the advice of Grahame’s friends, we decide to detour up Dean Channel to have a soak and spend the night at Eucott Hot Springs. On the way we stop to take pictures at Alexander McKenzie Rock. A monument stands at the place he marked his arrival at the Pacific Ocean 235 years ago. Surprisingly, his inscription is still quite readable.

Eucott Bay could be set in Banff National Park, with glassy water reflecting the surrounding snow-capped mountains and glaciers, and right by the shore is an odor-free hot spring which has been roughly encased by concrete and boulders.

We sprint into our bathing suits, throw on jackets and pants because the air is still cold, and dinghy over. Two young men from Bella Coola fill us in on some local detail, then take our pictures, with our boats in the background, for their sailing charter business

brochure. As we soak in the warm water, we all agree that we have arrived!

Tuesday, June 24 – Ocean Falls

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It has rained all night and we are shrouded in mist as we leave Oyster Bay. Our prawn trap is a few miles away, so we follow yesterday’s GPS track back to the spot where we dropped it. Cliff goes to it in the dinghy and starts pulling it up, only to meet with such great resistance that he yanks with full speed on the outboard. Still it doesn’t budge, so we manoeuvre the big boat over and attach the prawn trap line to the anchor windlass. With great difficulty we finally get in all 400 feet of line – and at the end, still attached, is the prawn trap, broken and squashed as flat as a pancake! Another donation to King Neptune!!

Cliff spots an Orca spouting near the mouth of the inlet, but it quickly disappears from view. Later, a school of porpoises dance and play alongside the boat.

It’s a long motoring trip up FitzHugh Sound, past what must be wonderful scenery, hidden by the clouds. Having radar to identify targets in the fog is very comforting, but all we see is a seaplane, which bursts through the clouds at almost mast height. Eventually we come into Fisher Passage and turn up Cousins Inlet to Ocean Falls. When Cliff worked for Crown Z, he often did business with Ocean Falls people, so he is naturally very keen to see the townsite.

Ocean Falls was once a thriving mill town with a population of about 5000, built in this location because of the unlimited power and water available. In 1973, Crown Zellerbach abandoned the operation. The government tried unsuccessfully to run it until 1980, when it too gave up and left the settlement to become the coast’s largest ghost town. Much of the town was bulldozed, but most of the downtown was spared and many houses were left standing, to remain as homes for the hardy 40 or so permanent residents and summer cottagers.

We arrive on typical rainy Ocean Falls day and are greeted by Sally, the friendly dockmaster, who directs us to the boaters’ shack which offers two computer stations, free wireless internet, (open 24/7 – I guess there is no thievery in O.F.), a book exchange, games, tables and chairs. We make reservations for dinner at a logging camp down the road, then kick back until suppertime.

Dinner is served cafeteria-style, and true to logging camp custom, is generous and tasty. The price of $23 includes all you can eat of salad, main course, (crab-stuffed fish, chicken, veggies and rice, )dessert, and drinks (non-alcoholic). This is the only restaurant /accommodation in town, and it serves seasonal workers, those who fly in on business, backpackers, fishermen and tourists, if any, who arrive by BC Ferry, boat , seaplane or Pacific Coastal Airlines goose.(

It has finally stopped raining, so after dinner we go for a walk. through the desolate downtown and along a rough road to the dam, which still supplies power to Ocean Falls, Bella Bella and Shearwater. I worry about bears on the trail, but we don’t see any. Everywhere there are masses of wildflowers, and remnants of a previous era being reclaimed by nature.

(Ph(

Monday, June 23 – Gunkholing in Fish Egg Inlet

2008-06-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

We don’t like the weather forecast and decide to stay, but Grahame, the diehard sailor, goes looking for wind. Our plan is to meet tomorrow at Ocean Falls.

In the dinghy we go to pick up the prawn trap. With the help of the handheld GPS we finally find it. We’re getting really good at catching starfish! For the rest of the day we poke around the many bays of Fish Egg Inlet, choosing the farthest end for tonight’s anchorage. We catch a few small rockfish for crab bait, but apparently the crabs aren’t hungry.

Our anchorage in Oyster Bay has a small waterfall coming in, and bits of foam float through the bay. We are absolutely alone, miles from any civilization, and except for one commercial prawn boat, have seen no other traffic all day.

The symphony on the radio, the rush of the waterfall, and the cry of a loon provide beautiful music for an enchanted evening

Sunday, June 22 – The Dreaded Cape Caution

2008-06-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

The water is like glass as we leave Miles Inlet. Unlike the Caribbean, this coast has so many nooks and crannies that most anchorages are absolutely calm and protected.

We encounter large, short swells from the open Pacific as we get out into the Strait. It feels like riding a rocking horse. Cliff hoists the sail to help steady the boat, and as we round Cape Caution the swells subside, allowing a superb sail for a few hours.

Our destination is Fish Egg Inlet, where we choose Green Island Anchorage. We drop the prawn trap before we enter the inlet. Hope springs eternal.

We have the anchorage to ourselves until late in the day when two more boats enter. This very photogenic spot lends itself to some artistic attempts.

Shirley and Grahame come over for dinner and beat us at Hearts again.

Saturday, June 21 – Across Queen Charlotte Strait

2008-06-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

We have a beautiful day to cross the Strait. It’s a little foggy at first passingPultney Point Light, but later the sky clears and we have a great trip.

Back on the mainland side, we enter beautiful Miles Inlet for a quiet night.

Thursday and Friday, June 19 and 20 – Port McNeill Dock

2008-06-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

We’ve had the luxury of three nights at the dock – electricity, heat, water, and all the conveniences of town. Port McNeill is very boater friendly, having nice restaurants, IGA, Rona, a very good Laundromat with free internet, a drug store, beauty salons, and other stores just across the street from the dock. We took full advantage and spent two busy days there.

On the advice of Grahame and Shirley, at Rona we purchased a Sirius radio and subscribed to the service for the next three months. Now in the most remote inlets we can receive, via satellite, a hundred radio channels with a wide selection of music, news, and talk shows. What a treat! We listen to CBC in the morning to hear what is happening in the world, and can even find out what the weather is in Vancouver.

Finally the jobs are done and the weather sounds favorable for crossing Queen Charlotte Strait in the morning. The sun is setting at 10:00 pm and we take a lovely sunset shot from the dock.

Wednesday, June 18 – Goodbye, Lagoon Cove; Hello, Alert Bay and Port McNeill

2008-06-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

There’s lots of socializing on the dock at Lagoon Cove before the general exodus of boats following the fair weather report. We pick up our crab trap, which reveals several small female crabs, no keepers, and a supergiant starfish who obviously ate all the bait. We cast envious looks at the marina’s morning prawn catch, wishing we could stay for another afternoon happy hour. We buy a shirt, a cookbook, and a new salmon lure, pay our moorage (.75/ft., the going rate) and depart for a smooth passage across Johnstone Strait to Vancouver Island.

En route to Port McNeill, we visit Alert Bay, a charming native town on Cormorant Island. Across the street from the dock, we find a cemetery studded with totem poles looking out to the Strait.

We walk a mile in sunshine from the municipal dock to the U’mista Museum. The museum holds a fabulous display of artifacts, mainly ceremonial masks which were seized by the government during a period in the early 1900’s when potlatches were outlawed in an attempt to “civilize” the Indians. In more recent years, the carvings have been returned from museums around the world and are housed in a lovely building in this remote little village.

We see no other tourists in town today, although some of the Alaska cruise ships do make a stop here. We buy ice cream cones ($1.50) and walk back to our boats, browsing through the shops and taking advantage of photo ops along the way.

As we depart the Alert Bay Municipal Dock and take the short trip across to Port McNeill (50-36 127-05), we look forward to dinner out and a last shot at civilization before we get into the real boonies. It will be about two weeks before we see the next main town, Prince Rupert (54-15 130-11).

June 17, 2008 -- Lagoon Cove

2008-06-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

The men are up at 0530 to listen to the weather, intending to run up Johnstone Strait before the wind comes up. The report indicates that the wind has beat us to the draw, already blowing 20 knots, so it’s back to bed with plans for a quiet day on the anchor. A new report at 10:00 indicates that it’s now calm, so we motor down Sunderland Channel and into the Strait on water smooth as glass.

After 15 miles, we’re back into the channels, where we encounter foul current (tide against us) of up to 4 knots, making it a slow trip. But Lagoon Cove (50-34 126-17), our destination for the night, is well worth the effort.

Bill Barber, owner of Lagoon Cove Marina (his “retirement project”), warmly greets us and makes space for us to raft up at the dock. This is a great marina --- friendly people, nice amenities, a generous spirit, and lots of fun. A book exchange, internet station, firepit, crab cooking shack, garbage burning barrel, unique exercise station, are all part of the deal. We attend the 5:00pm happy hour in the workshop – the marina supplies the morning catch of fresh prawns and the rest of us bring appies to share. Bill tells his hilarious bear stories and we all have a good time despite the heavy rain outside.

We are starting to see the same boats along the route and meeting cruisers, like Buffy and Dennis, energetic oldies on Kittiwake, a hot J-Class 50, and Eileen and Jerry on Lahaina, Hawaiians who leave their Sabre 50 here and come to cruise the wilderness for six months each year.

Most amusing boat name so far: Windy Spirit, with dinghy, Little Fart.

June 16, 2008 -- Forward Harbour

2008-06-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

The scenery is beautiful, and the weather is calm, cool, and drizzly. We traverse two more sets of rapids with no problems, but since weather forecast is for gale force northwesterlies in Johnstone Strait, we pull into Forward Harbour (50-29 125-45) for the night. We raft with Tangleberry, have dinner together, and play Hearts while we listen to the downpour outside.

June 15, 2008 -- Through the Rapids

2008-06-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Today our timing is critical as we must go through the Yucultas Rapids at precisely slack tide, which lasts about 10 minutes. The current at maximum flow in this area runs from 10 to 14 knots. We run at 6 or 7, so there is no contest!

In 1792, the early Spanish explorers Galiano and Valdes reported in their log:

The Indians came and accompanied us (The Sutil and the Mexicana) in their canoes serving as pilots. We seized the opportune moment and were shortly beyond the most critical point, but the tide which had not stopped except for a moment, began to acquire force and reached the Sutil. It took away her steerage-way and began to carry her along . . . .then a new eddy carried her off through the canal where the currents were violent and the whirlpools frequent and so strong that one, which the Sutil could not avoid, turned her around completely three times, at such a lively rate as to be surprising. . . . In spite of the danger in which the Sutil so unexpectedly found herself, a scene never before witnessed by any of those present, it unavoidably caused great laughter, not only among those who were in danger, but among those who were momentarily expecting to be.

While waiting for the slack, we see dozens of eagles circling and picking up small fish caught in the tidal eddies. Because the depth sounder shows lots of big fish below us, we again try trolling, but still no luck!

Through the first set of rapids, we go in to the new community dock at Stuart Island (50-23 125-08). Sadly, the friendly Big Bay Resort no longer exists, but the new dock, though basic, is very pleasant.

June 14, 2008 - - Cortes Island, Desolation Sound

2008-06-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

Tangleberry, the boat we are traveling with, is a lovely Hanse 37 with a self-tacking jib and mainsail stack pack, making it much more convenient to sail than our boat, so we motor along in light winds and take pictures while they sail.

We pass a native village and anchor in beautiful Squirrel Cove, Cortes Island (50-08 124-55). In the summer season this harbour sees dozens of boats anchored, but today there are only a few.

Cliff passes time jigging for bottom fish. We have installed a downrigger for salmon trolling and today spent a few hours learning to use it. Unfortunately we lost quite a bit of gear and caught nothing – but we did learn a few lessons!

June 12, 2008 - - Pender Harbour

2008-06-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

Another lovely day. We enjoy motoring close to shore, admiring the beautiful waterfront real estate and wondering what it would be like to live there. Our stop for the night is Pender Harbour (49-37 124-02), where we moor at our club’s out-station dock.

We dinghy to Madiera Park for a few items of groceries I have forgotten.

We will wait here for our friends Shirley and Grahame Shannon on Tangleberry, who left home port two days behind us.

June 11, 2008 - - Leaving Vancouver

2008-06-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

We leave our dock at Deep Cove, North Vancouver, on a dreary Wednesday morning, for a three-month cruise, hoping to go as far north as Juneau, Alaska.

Waiting for the Second Narrows railway bridge to open brings back memories of traveling on the Intra Coastal Waterway to and from our trip south in 1999 – 2006.

While fuelling up in Vancouver Harbour during busy morning rush hour, we see seaplanes zipping in and out, the seabus delivering commuters from the North Shore, cruise ships swallowing up Alaska-bound tourists, tugboats and freighters hauling loads, and yachts silently waiting in their slips for the season to summer up.

The clouds clear as we motor along the Sunshine Coast to our first anchorage at Smuggler Cove (49-31 123-58).

Roger and Carol on Heart of Gold row over to help us sterntie. We enjoy sundowners and visit with them over the next two days.

The sky is still light at 11:00 p.m. What will it be like in Alaska?

June 10, 2008 - - Skylark is Alaska Bound

2008-06-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

We have spent the last three months working on Skylark to get her ready for the next big adventure. It has been almost 2 years since we arrived home in Vancouver after our 7-year Caribbean cruise, and now it is time to explore another part of the world..

We took advantage of our area’s 14-ft tide range and put Skylark on the tide grid at our club in downtown Vancouver, changing the zincs, checking the seacocks and cutlass bearings, and determining that the bottom paint was good for another year. This saved us the cost of a haulout at the boatyard.

We did a one-week shakedown cruise to Victoria in order to ensure that all systems were go and to deliver Cliff to the 50th anniversary reunion of his Oak Bay High School class of '58. We had a great trip and felt good about the condition of the boat.

Thanks to the encouragement of our friends Juliet and David Fosh (Reflections of Hayling),who took this trip three or four years ago, kindly leaving us all their charts and guide books, we have decided to do one more relatively big cruise on Skylark. We are scheduling three months for a trip to Juneau, Alaska. We've packed lots of jeans, sweaters, sweatshirts, and foulies, but somewhere at the bottom of the pile are a couple of pairs of shorts and T shirts in case we get lucky. And we do have bathing suits on board so we can take advantage of the isolated hot springs along the way. We have also agreed that, if we don’t see the sun for weeks on end, we will happily turn, head for home, and go to Alaska some other time ..... on a cruise ship.

We will be out of cell phone range for much of the trip. We sold our Globalstar satellite phone last year and we don’t have SSB, so communication with our family and friends will be a challenge. Don’t expect that this blog will arrive on your computer on a daily basis. Since there are not many towns, the internet cafes will be few and far between.

To keep family abreast of our whereabouts, and to provide some security, we have invested in a device called “SPOT” www.findmespot.com . It is a palm-sized unit that communicates directly with a satellite and allows us to send our location (or distress signal) without depending on cell phone service. The recipient can click a link on his computer and see exactly where we are on Google Earth.

So sit back, relax, and travel along with us, NORTH TO ALASKA!

August 16, 2006 -- The Final Chapter. Skylark is Home!

2006-10-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

After a month of heat and humidity in Solomons, Chesapeake Bay, the time at last came to ready Skylark for her trip via CanAm Trucking Co. to Vancouver. Preparations involved removing and stowing everything from outside the boat -- radar, solar panels, outboard motors, barbecue, dodger, dinghy, and, with the help of a crane, the mast. We scrounged carpet remnants to wrap the mast, and after a day-long struggle to remove the spreaders we were fianlly able to finish the job. We had to catch our flight before the boat was loaded because the truck was delayed a couple of days, but the marina was very helpful and they managed just fine without us.

We spent our last night in the East with Rob and Molly in Silver Spring, Maryland, and on August 8 caught a crack-of-dawn flight out of Baltimore, arriving in Seattle about noon. From there we rented a car and drove the three hours home. There was a definite sense of doors closing behind us as we flew home from the boat for the last time and permanently put away items previously hauled back and forth.

Three days after our homecoming, we had a visit from Venezuela cruiser friends Karl and Mary Lou (Starlight Dancer) and Sandra and Skip (Wind Dancer), who were returning south by motorhome from a road trip to Alaska. We're hoping we will have many more such visits from the great friends we made during our travels.

Skylark arrived on the truck on August 16, a week after our return, and we spent the next ten days on the hard putting the boat back together and cleaning her up after the long trip. The cooler weather made it so much easier to work all day, and we enjoyed the luxury of being able to go to the comforts of home after a hard day's work. Our granddaughters, Katie, Sarah, and Jill, (10, 7, and 5 years old) were excited to welcome the boat back and proved to be hard and willing workers with a polishing rag. Replacing the mast at this end was a challenge, and we concluded that it must be a much less common task here, where boats are not hauled and stored every winter. Eventually the boat was ready for splashing and was reintroduced to the cold Pacific after seven years in warm Atlantic and Caribbean waters.

In September we drove to Calgary for the arrival of our sixth grandchild, James Samuel Peters, 7 lbs. 9 oz. He came into a very busy household, with sister Jenna (5) entering kindergarten, brother Luke (3) starting pre-school, dad Grant beginning his cardiology practice, and mom Julie trying to hold it all together!

Skylark has found a permanent home at Deep Cove Marina in North Vancouver (49-20N 122-56W). Although a 45-minute drive from where we live in Port Moody, it is close to our son's house, and is in a beautiful scenic area on the edge of the wilderness. As soon as we leave the dock, we are in Indian Arm, a mountainous fjord with a few water-access-only homes, salmon fishing, crabbing, waterfalls, and fabulous scenery. The weather has been unusually sunny and warm, and we have had many lovely day trips up "the Arm". Occasionally we have dinner or stay overnight on the boat, enjoying the beautiful autumn weather on our floating holiday home.

Slowly we are adjusting to normal life, finding our days full with home improvement projects, boat jobs, and time with family and friends. As we close this unique chapter of our lives, we are very thankful for the past seven wonderful years of adventure, new friends, good health, and safety, and for rich memories to last a lifetime.

July 10, 2006 -- Decision Made. Skylark has Landed.

2006-07-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

We intended to retrace our steps all the way back to the Toronto area, we really did! But we found it was getting to be drudgery to push on every day, and we were tired of it. So when we arrived in Solomons, we checked out the marina and haul-out facilities, found them to our liking, called the trucking company, and made arrangements to load Skylark on a truck here. Confirming our decision, we discovered that the Erie Canal is shut down indefinitely, because of major damage from flooding during the aftermath of Alberto. We were fortunately not earlier on our schedule and trapped inside the canal, as some boats were.

Since the truck can not pick us up for four weeks, we have time to visit a number of friends in the area. Rob (Cliff's brother) and Molly, who live in the Washington DC area an hour and a half away, have kindly loaned us a car to use -- an unimaginable luxury for cruisers -- and we are happily docked in a hotel marina with a lovely pool, tennis court, and other amenities while we wait. We expect this time will pass very quickly as we do some boat jobs and visit friends.

Preparing the boat for trucking involves removing the mast and wrapping it and the rigging in a way that will prevent damage to either, then having the boat hauled, detaching all the detachable stuff on the deck and stowing it inside, pressure washing the hull and waxing the topsides and stainless. Most of the work has to be done on the last day or so before the truck arrives. Having done it once at the other end, we know it is a big job.

Last week we drove to Charlottesville, VA, to visit John and Susie Gainer. John and Cliff shared an apartment in Buffalo over forty years ago. He has recently retired from his professorship at U of V and is now developing a new drug which has been shown effective in saving lives of trauma victims by speeding up oxygen delivery of the blood to vital organs. Getting approval from FDA is a long, slow, tortuous process, and we wish him godspeed in this huge undertaking.

Our friends Tony and Bente on Side By Side finally made it to Washington DC, so we drove in to the city to see them. Washington is a great walking city, and their marina is right downtown, so we enjoyed lunch and a stroll to the National Art Gallery. It is a two-or three-day trip by boat up the Potomac River to get to DC, so it is much easier for us to go by car.

Last weekend, Rob and his 8-year old twins joined us for a cruise to Piney Point, up a little river near the mouth of the Potomac, where friends have a summer cottage. We were able to tie up at a neighbor's dock after bumping our way in through the shallow water. Ray and Betty Jo treated us to some famous southern hospitality with a wonderful steak BBQ and a big pancake breakfast, then sent us home with a dozen steamed crabs, which we enjoyed for our anniversary dinner the next night. The twins found the trip a bit tedious, relieved by the occasional spotting of a dolphin and the entertainment of their DVD player, but sleeping on the boat was the highlight of their trip!

Later today we will drive south to Norfolk for a visit with Will and Charleen (Top Cat) and Lynne and Lois (Spice Island Lady), all ex-Venezuelan cruisers. We are looking forward to seeing them again, and driving through this scenic part of the country, on good highways, through beautiful green farmland and pretty, old towns with colonial buildings.

We are still having a good time -- but we are counting down the days until we will be home and settled again. We have not yet found moorage in the Vancouver area for Skylark, but we're following up leads and believe something will turn up. Stay tuned!

July 4, 2006 -- Last Days on the ICW

2006-07-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

We are writing from Solomons Island, Maryland, where we "landed" on the Fourth of July, just in time to meet up with the Rob Bowering family to watch the big fireworks show. However, as we were having dinner in a restaurant, we noticed the sky getting black and the wind rising. Cliff rushed back in the dinghy to Skylark, managing to get the windows closed and the awning down before the storm hit. Between cloudbursts the rest of us ferried back to the boat, where we sat watching God's fireworks as the rain poured down and the sky lit up with lightning flashes. Needless to say, the fireworks show was cancelled. Who wants to be on a barge with a load of explosives in the middle of a lightning storm? We saw the lightning strike a house near us on shore. Since that night, neither our TV nor our radar have been receiving images, and we wonder if the lightning strike had anything to do with it. Funnily enough, when we were here in Solomons, heading south in 1999, we saw their Fourth of July fireworks on October 31, after they had been postponed twice!

Our last days on the ICW were lovely -- an easy trip with fine weather, through the very pretty, unfortunately-named, Great Dismal Swamp. The route is a long, straight, narrow canal, lined on either side by tall oaks, mimosas, wild roses, and dense vines, officially part of the Underground Railway, the route used by slaves escaping to the north before the Civil War. It is impossible to imagine how anyone could make their way through the swamp, with its boggy marshes, poisonous snakes and nasty biting insects, but travelling through by boat is serene and picturesque. (Mind you, we did have to keep the screens down or be bitten mercilessly by yellow flies and horse flies!) It required close attention to stay in the middle of the shallow channel in order to keep the keel off the mud, and the mast spreaders out of the overhanging trees.

We stayed overnight at the South Carolina Welcome Centre, which welcomes car travelers on High(way 17, and boat travelers on the canal, providing a free dock with nice facilities and very friendly greeters. At the dock we barbecued ribs and enjoyed an evening of Mexican Train dominoes with Marcia and Alan on Free Spirit.

Transiting the canal involves going through two locks, up eight feet at one end, and down eight feet at the other. At the north end, we lowered into the Elizabeth River, and motored our way through the big port city of Nofolk, Virginia. Across the big sound, Hampton Roads, we bow and stern-anchored at Hampton with the help of ex-Venezuelan cruiser friends Bill and Sharon on Makai, who invited us to join them and two other couples for a steak BBQ on Canadian boat Rhapsody (the boat we told you about which was tornado-struck in Charlotte.) We had a delicious dinner and met new friends Kin and Lily, who have a daughter in Vancouver. We hope they will visit us when we get home. We are going to miss this part of cruising -- meeting new and interesting people every day.

We were tempted to stay in Hampton for a few days, but decided to keep pressing on, motoring all day up into Chesapeake Bay,finally entering through a narrow channel into the mouth of the Little Wicomico River, where we anchored in "summer at the lake" surroundings -- lovely cottages and homes on huge lawns sweeping down to the water, with many cottagers enjoying the holiday weekend water-skiing, tubing, sea-dooing, etc. Cliff had hoped to dive the bottom of the boat, but quickly realized that the murky water was full of sea nettles, large jellyfish with a nasty sting. We have been surprised to discover that there is no swimming in the entire Chesapeake because of these critters! At dusk on this night (July 3), many of the cottages set off very respectable fireworks displays, which we enjoyed from every direction.

Finally on July 4, we crossed the mouth of the Potomac, and made our way up to Solomons.

June 28, 2006 – Summer Weather?

2006-06-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

We left Wrightsville Beach early Sunday morning with Seaview. The sky was dark and overcast with rain predicted. There were three bridges on the route with restricted hours for opening, and it kept us hustling to make each of them without having to wait up to an hour for the next openings. With the help of a favorable current and a little leeway by the bridge tenders, we were lucky to get through them all with minor delays. About noon it started to rain, and the boats were deluged with frequent squalls, sometimes with zero visibility, and thunder and lightning crashed all around. Fortunately, we are able to completely enclose our cockpit, so we stayed dry and warm, but Keith had to steer Seaview out in an open cockpit, where he was cold and soaking wet. Not fun! They decided to stop at a marina early in the day, while we continued on to an enclosed basin in an upscale housing development, where we anchored for a very quiet night.

Again on Monday we motored through a dark, drizzly day, and found a remote creek to anchor in overnight, before crossing the exposed Pantego Sound on Tuesday morning. Since the forecast was for increasing winds on Tuesday, we crossed the Sound early in the day and had a good trip with a brisk sail. After the crossing, we decided to go to a marina in Belhaven, NC, where we could do internet and laundry and walk ashore into town. With some difficulty in the stiff breeze we managed to tie up alongside the marina dock about noon, and Cliff was having second thoughts about the wisdom of being there.

At about three in the afternoon, a storm came in, and we experienced perhaps the worst weather of the entire trip, with torrential rains, 50 knt wind, and huge whitecaps coming over the breakwater and crashing into the boats at the dock. A couple of boats were damaged and a Nordhaven cruiser snapped off two pilings and a finger dock. Because Skylark was tied alongside on the downwind side, we survived intact, and while the storm raged, I was inside the big colonial inn at the marina, not on the boat. After four days of rain we were ready to put the boat on a truck sooner rather than later and head for home and a pleasant northwest summer. Of course there is the problem that we haven't found moorage in Vancouver yet!

We managed a day without rain yesterday, and so far today it has been dry, but hot and muggy. But as I write, there is thunder and lightning around us. We are in the Elizabeth City town docks, the “Harbor of Hospitality”, and again we are wondering if we wouldn’t be better out on the anchor. This eastern summer weather is the pits!

June 24, 2006 – Good Service in the Land of Plenty

2006-06-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

The alternator problem Cliff fixed in Georgetown only stayed fixed for two days, failing again just as we arrived at Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington, North Carolina. But no problem -- after a call to the Seattle manufacturer, we had a new alternator delivered to a nearby UPS depot, installed, and working, within 24 hours!! What a difference from waiting weeks and months for boat parts in foreign countries!

At about the same time as Skylark’s alternator was failing, I (Orma) noticed that the eyesight in my left eye had suddenly disappeared. It took only one phone call to an ophthalmology clinic to be connected to the retinal specialist on call, and by noon that day, after having been diagnosed with a detached retina, I was having a pneumatic retinopexy, an office procedure involving a cryogenic probe to repair the retina and the insertion of a gas to form a bubble to push the retina back in place. Follow-up involves keeping my head tilted at a specific angle to hold the bubble in place for the next five days, and a check-up in a week to make sure healing is taking place. A return visit to the Dr. the next day resulted in his go-ahead to continue the trip with a referral to a colleague for an appointment in Norfolk. Fortunately, between our BC Medical coverage and BCAA Travel Insurance, all the medical expenses will be covered.

The anchorage at Wrightsville Beach was a fun location with lots of action involving water-skiing, tubing and boogie boarding, with fizzboats and jet-skiis buzzing by. Within easy walking distance of the excellent dinghy dock there were groceries, restaurants, and the ocean beach. With our rental car we were able to go sightseeing in Wilmington, a historic southern city with gracious antebellum homes and shady oak-lined streets.

Two boats from our past showed up in the anchorage – Blind Date, with Ashley and Carol, whom we had met in Venezuela, and Seaview, with Eva and Keith, the couple we met in the Turks and Caicos. We’ve met several other boats who are also late northward-bound cruisers, and we are enjoying bumping into them every now and then in various marinas and anchorages.

June 20, 2006 – Grounded on the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW)

2006-06-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

We had forgotten that doing the ICW is not a piece of cake. Unlike passages at sea where you can set the autopilot and read a book while you travel, the ICW requires constant attention. A maze of rivers, natural channels, and dredged cuts, protected from the Atlantic by barrier islands, the ICW is generally shallow, narrow, and twisty, and it is necessary to keep one hand on the wheel, a finger on the chart to mark the spot, one eye on the depth sounder, and the binoculars handy to spot the next red and green channel markers.

Sometimes the route changes from a very narrow channel to a river mouth that is miles wide, with strong currents and many shoals, and spotting the markers can be like playing ‘Where’s Waldo?”

The Corps of Engineers does not have the budget to keep the ICW dredged, and with the decline of commercial traffic using the route, many sections will probably not be passable at all in a few years.

We found out the hard way the folly of traveling at low tide when we got stuck in the mud in the channel by Jekyll Island. Fortunately, the mud is soft, and we were able to get off by getting down the dinghy and 9.9 hp motor, attaching a line, and pulling the stern out to the deepest area, about six inches deeper than our keel. Unfortunately, we were too busy to take a picture of this embarrassing moment.

Much of the trip takes us through a wilderness of marshland where there is no sign of civilization and very little boat traffic. Last night we anchored in the South Santee River, all alone in the middle of miles of marshland. Surprisingly, we were still able to receive good TV reception, and we watched the local Carolina Hurricanes beat Edmonton in the last game of the Stanley Cup finals. This morning an alligator swam by the boat. We see many beautiful birds, pelicans diving for fish, and dolphins swimming slowly by. For the first time, we have been traveling with all the screens down to defend ourselves from the insect population. We have been pleasantly surprised with the weather, generally sunny with cool breezes across the water, and the nights are very comfortable.

Closer to the centers of population there are beautiful homes with sweeping green lawns and enormously long docks along the tidal riverfront. We personally wouldn’t choose to build a multi-million dollar home on a muddy, alligator-infested, buggy swamp, but the pretty views, pleasant weather (except for summer storms!), good fishing, proximity to the ocean beaches, and thousands of miles of wilderness to explore, contribute to the lure of the low country for the many who choose to live here.

We are in a marina today due to another mechanical problem, which Cliff has now repaired. A shrimp boat has just docked upwind of us, and it is smelling pretty fishy. Yesterday we bought some fresh shrimp at a dock and ate our fill at dinner. Somebody please tell us that shrimp are not really bad for cholesterol!

June 18, 2006 – Visiting Friends and Meeting Alberto

2006-06-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

Two weeks without a computer leaves a big gap in the journal and means there is lots to catch up on. Our computer died an orderly death four days after the one-year warrantee expired. At the time we were at a marina in Daytona Beach and had a rental car, so we were able to take the computer to an excellent service depot. After several phone calls to Toshiba, we were successful in getting them to agree to pay for the repair, which was major. We took a day off to drive to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, where we toured the huge complex, saw a fabulous IMAX movie about the space station currently circling the earth, touched a moon rock and revisited the historic moon landing of 1969, and ran out of time before we saw all we wanted to. We left the computer in Daytona for repair while we continued north, then had it Fed-Exed to Savannah, where we picked it up on Friday. It’s like being reunited with an old friend.

Speaking of old friends, we have had a very sociable couple of weeks. After leaving Daytona, we traveled to Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach, where we left Skylark in a marina and spent the night with Denny and Linda Andrews, former cruisers whom we met in Luperon in 2000. The next day we left Florida and motored to Brunswick, Georgia, where we took a marina slip for three nights so that we could drive across to the Tallahassee area to see friends Steve and Gail Tribble, with whom we had shared many happy hours in Venezuela. We enjoyed seeing their lovely home on the St. Mark’s River and taking a Saturday afternoon cruise on the river with them. We saw manatees, a raccoon, an owl, and many beautiful birds and flowers, but no alligators.

It was a pleasure to attend church with Steve and Gail on Sunday, but we were all getting concerned about the tropical storm Alberto which was heading our way, so we left promptly to drive back to Brunswick, and they set about to secure their home, in a vulnerable spot on the river, and their boat Misty Bleu, which they had left at a marina on the Gulf Coast while they came home to meet us.

Alberto was projected to hit on Tuesday, but on Sunday night when we got back to the boat, a squall was blowing hard from the south, and the boat, on a dock exposed to the south, was bouncing around quite badly. We secured it with extra lines and rode out the squall, but first thing next morning we moved around to the opposite side of the dock. Good thing, too, as when the storm finally arrived Tuesday afternoon, Brunswick was in the centre of its path, and the wind blew from the south at 40+ knots for several hours. The boats still on the outside dock took quite a pounding, but we were fine and even managed to enjoy some cable TV while the storm raged. It was just a storm, not a hurricane, but it was nasty enough to increase our resolve to move north ASAP. A group of our friends (boats Side by Side, Makai, Living Well) who were a few days ahead of us were in Charleston when the remnants of the storm descended on their marina as a tornado!! Some of the boats were damaged, and one man was thrown from his boat into the water, but fortunately there were no injuries.

We were happy to finally start out again after six nights, rather than the intended three at Brunswick Landing Marina, determined to anchor out whenever possible from then on. After a pleasant day winding our way through the twisty ICW and crossing a couple of major sounds, we turned up Kilkenny Creek to find an anchorage. Just as Cliff was dropping the hook, a man called out to us from the dock of his lovely waterfront home and invited us to come and tie up at his dock. “We can’t let you canucks go by without extending some southern hospitality!” he said. He was a very pleasant retired Delta airline captain, and we had a good chat with him on the dock, then walked through the lush, rural countryside to a nearby restaurant for a shrimp dinner.

After a very quiet night, we left in the morning mist for the short trip to Savannah, admiring the gracious southern waterfront homes along the way. In Savannah, friends Frank and Paulette Bomberger, also fellow Venezuelan ex-cruisers, picked us up from Isle of Hope Marina and gave us a tour of their lovely city (including the obligatory stops at West Marine and a supermarket), and showed us Frank’s interesting place of employment (Global Shipbuilders), where he manages the refitting and repairing of megayachts. Then we went to their beautiful new home for dinner and a good time of visiting and reminiscing. While we were there, Pam and Chas phoned from Grenada on video-Skype, and we had a great time laughing and talking together. Pam and Chas are looking for housesitters for a couple of months this summer – is anybody out there interested in having an extended vacation in Grenada??

On Saturday we motored and even sailed a little to Beaufort (Bewfort), South Carolina. After an unsuccessful attempt at anchoring off the town, we went along to Factory Creek, and as we approached the anchorage, we recognized the lovely classic yawl Fairwyn, a boat that left Vancouver Rowing Club in 1999, the same week we did! Stephen and Nancy Carlman headed south in Fairwyn to Mexico, through the Panama, and toured Central America, Colombia, Ecuador and the Western Caribbean, so we never connected down south, but what a surprise to meet up with them in a little creek in South Carolina seven years later! They intend to spend a few years yet on the water, and are planning to take their boat to its birthplace, Halifax, for its fiftieth birthday next year.

May 27, 2006 – Welcome to Florida!

2006-05-31T20:21:00.000-07:00

Well, the day had to come - the day we left "the tropics" and sailed toward the land of high rises, expensive marinas, and a holiday weekend filled with thousands of boats buzzing around raising huge wakes.

With a good weather forecast for calm water and light winds, we left Nassau with Bee Weems, but as they travel much faster than we do we could only maintain radio contact for a little while. After about seven hours of motoring, we arrived at the Chub Cay in the Berry Islands, where we were dismayed to find the marina closed and a dredge working all night on a major construction project. Not a picturesque last night in the Bahamas!

At daybreak we continued the long, tedious motoring trip, with only a two-hour dinner stop at the abandoned, but still impressive, Great Isaac Light. Thanks to the Gulf Stream and heavy large-ship traffic, the 24-hour trip from Chub Cay to Florida was like a real-time video game. Cliff spent the entire night glued to the radar screen, monitoring as many as five targets at a time within the twelve-mile circle. He resorted to calling two freighters (who answered) and one cruise ship (who didn't) to work out the strategy for passing. The other navigational challenge was how to take best advantage of the 3.5 kt current of the Gulf Stream, but not arrive at the port entrance before dawn. We saw lots of lightning and skirted several squalls.

At about midnight, Cliff discovered that the topping lift (the cable that holds up the boom when the sail is down) had broken. There was very little wind, but we had the mainsail up for its steadying influence so there was no immediate problem other than the sail drooping a bit. If we had to drop the sail in a hurry though, there would be a problem. So Mr. Fixit and his apprentice turned on the deck lights and had a temporary fix accomplished in no time. Fortunately, because the seas were oily calm, it was easy to do the job while we were underway. It was amazing to see the GPS showing a speed of 8 kts with the motor ticking over at idle as the boat slid through the water with little perceptible motion. The night flew by.

We arrived in Lake Worth, West Palm Beach first thing Saturday morning and then had a frustrating search for US Customs and Immigration. We found the former but not the latter. We were able to get an arrival number over the phone, which was good for 24 hours, but no information about where to find a working customs officer on Sunday. The US talks a lot about homeland security but they don't have much follow-through, at least with cruisers. Maybe they know we are a pretty low-risk bunch.

We were also looking for internet access and a particular ICW guidebook which we loaned to another boat six years ago and never got back. We went into a luxury marina looking for the book, but their store was closed for the holiday. However, we did land a good deal – for $10 we were given access to all the facilities available to megayacht crew members – an air-conditioned lounge with TV, computer for internet and access to wifi which reaches out to the boat, free fancy coffees, newspapers, etc., along with lovely washroom and shower facilities. It would almost be worth staying longer! For other cruisers heading this way, consider anchoring across from Rybovich Marina in Lake Worth to take advantage of this deal.

Our friends on Bee Weems called on the radio with the information that US Customs would be set up at a nearby marina at noon on Sunday, so we decided to stay an extra day in Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, to complete the clearing-in procedure. The dinghy trip to the marina was more challenging than many ocean passages we’ve made, navigating choppy water, dodging huge fast boats, and crossing their big wakes. The traffic jam of boats near the marina was unbelievable, making us glad we hadn’t tried to take the big boat there.

Tomorrow we will start the long trek north, back to Canada. Our re-introduction to the Intra-Coastal Waterway with Memorial Day weekend boat traffic is a real culture shock after the gentle pleasures of the West Indies. We are anchored right across from a marina where we spent a night six and one-half years ago on our way south, and we are reminded how blessed we are to have seen so many countries, had so many wonderful experiences, and met so many great people on our adventure. We still have a long way to go before Skylark is back in Vancouver, but it does seem that the exotic part of the trip is over.

May 24, 2006 – A Visit to Atlantis

2006-05-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

We left Warderick Wells with Side by Side on a cloudy morning after a drizzly night, and motorsailed for six hours north to Alan’s Cays. Anchoring was tricky in the strong current between islands, and Cliff had to set and reset a stern anchor before he was satisfied with our location. This island is home for many iguanas, so we didn’t go ashore, but it was interesting to watch tourboats from Nassau bringing boatloads of tourists to see those ugly creatures, take photos, then jump in their boats and zoom out again.

We are not seeing the beautiful blue skies and turquoise waters on this leg of our trip, because the weather has continuously been gray and cloudy. The cooler temperature is definitely more comfortable for traveling, but the scenery is certainly not as photogenic. I guess it makes it easier to leave all these beautiful islands behind us.

After a last evening playing cards with our friends on Side by Side, we said goodbye and left Alan’s Cay to make our way to Nassau. Gray skies, no wind, motored all the way.

This would be Skylark’s first visit to Nassau. We had been warned that anchoring out was difficult in strong currents and poor holding in Nassau harbour, so we splurged and went into Hurricane Hole Marina on Paradise Island, just a short walk from the spectacular Atlantis Resort and Casino. This huge resort, built on an underwater theme, is a combination of tacky, garish, and spectacular. The grounds feature lakes, pools, streams and waterfalls stocked with tropical fish including huge eagle rays, colorful reef fish, and nasty predators, with underwater tunnels to walk through and feel part of the scene. In one window an enormous Nassau Grouper stayed almost immobile and posed for photos. I looked right down his mouth and wondered how Jonah felt when he was swallowed by a huge fish like that! The underground Dig area features windows looking at scenes of the lost city of Atlantis.

For the young-at-heart there are some amazing waterslides, as well as beautiful swimming pools and the white sand of Paradise Island Beach

The resort’s buildings feature ceiling mosaics, fantastic glass sculptures exploding from fountains, artwork and carvings on a massive scale, as well as the huge, smoke-filled, gaudy casino.

All of this is surrounded by a marina village with shops and huge yachts lining the maze of canals. We inquired about small yacht space, but they had no vacancy (they said) that day. Our spot at Hurricane Hole was just as conveniently located, but if we had been spending more time it would have been fun to stay one night and take advantage of all the resort’s facilities.

We had noticed a classy, smaller powerboat (a “Z – Boat”) anchored near us in both our last anchorages, and they were docked next to us in Hurricane Hole, so we finally got to meet the couple on it. We hit it off right away with Cathy and Peter on “Bee Weems” and spent as much time as possible comparing notes and visiting with them. They are from Seattle, but live in Annapolis now where they have a business called Weems and Plath, manufacturers of fine nautical instruments, kind of the Lee Valley for boaters. We look forward to calling on them when we get to Annapolis.

May 22, 2006 – Georgetown to Warderick Wells

2006-05-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

We continued to enjoy Georgetown and stayed for a few more days, hoping that friends from home might join us for a day or two, and waiting for Side By Side, good friends from Venezuela, to catch up with us. Our friends from home didn’t make it, and just as well, as the weather turned nasty for a few days. A cold front came through, bringing with it periods of strong wind and heavy rain. Fortunately, our anchor held tight and we got nothing more than a good washdown and some bouncing around. We moved across to the west side of the harbour, closer to town, for protection from the westerly wind, and took advantage of the location to finish up our shopping and provisioning, then when the wind dropped, moved back again to the more scenic east side.

Side By Side arrived, having had a miserable night at anchor with 57 kt. winds, then a trip into 40 knots of wind on the nose to get into Georgetown. We were so pleased to see them, as it had been over a year since we last connected in Puerto la Cruz. Since they arrived a week ago, we have enjoyed several evenings of movies and games, and have eaten far too much at potlucks and birthday parties.

We were sad to say goodbye to Keith and Eva, who are still waiting in Georgetown for the part we unsuccessfully tried to bring back for them when we returned from Vancouver. Eva is a very hot volleyball player, and it was fun to watch her high energy games on Volleyball Beach.

One evening before we left, two men came by in a dinghy and invited us to a wedding, taking place an hour later on their boat. The captain of the boat had obtained, over the internet, a license to perform marriages, so that he could perform the ceremony for his friends who were vacationing with him and wanted to be married on the boat. I guess at the last minute they decided they should have some witnesses, so they threw an impromptu party. It was quite amazing to see that two people could get married so easily, and we can’t help wondering how legal it would be. Anyway, we said a prayer for their happiness, and enjoyed meeting some new and interesting people.

On our last night in Georgetown, Keith and Eva hosted a potluck for eight on their big catamaran, Seaview. The downside of owning the biggest boat is that you get to host all the parties! There we met Margie, a new widow, who has chosen to stay on the boat to continue cruising with the help of her daughter. I wondered how she managed on her own, and she answered that she could read manuals as well as any man. We were sorry that our acquaintance would be so short, as she was lovely and very clever. She was intending to go south to Luperon (D.R.) for the hurricane season.

On Saturday morning we left Georgetown with Side by Side (SxS), and had a lovely sail in cool, cloudy weather, 35 miles up the east side of the island chain, where we entered Little Farmers Cut, and anchored behind the island. We went ashore to walk around this picturesque, tiny community (population 50), where the people were friendly, attractive, and optimistic about the future of the Bahamas.

Sunday gave us an even better sail on a beam reach in flat calm water, where we averaged 6.5 knots even with light winds. When a line of black clouds and squalls overtook us, we dropped the sails and motored the last two hours to Warderick Wells, Exuma Land and Sea National Park. This was one of our favorite stops on the way south, and it is still just as beautiful. The sunset was spectacular as we dinghied over to Side By Side last evening. Today we went to park headquarters where we checked in, exchanged books, and signed up for internet, before meeting Tony, Bente, and Dorothy (SxS) for some snorkeling on the reef.

We are feeling very ambivalent about our trip as we get closer to home. We are now on a track where we meet other cruisers heading in the same direction, so the trip has become more sociable again. But the weather is pushing us along, with hurricane season officially opening June 1. Still, we hate to hasten the end of our cruising experience in these beautiful tropical islands. We have one more night at anchor en route to Nassau, then two more before crossing the Gulf Stream to Florida.

May 14, 2006 -- Mother's Day in Georgetown

2006-05-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

We decided to leave the boat in Georgetown while we took a quick trip home to Vancouver. Our flights worked well and we were able to get all the way home in one day. Vancouver felt very chilly to us for the first week, but the weather was starting to warm up by the time we left and we felt a little sad to be leaving at the prettiest time of the year.

While we were home we attended to business (like income tax) and had good visits with family and friends, did a bit of gardening, and scrubbed the winter moss off the deck (scrubbing the deck is not just a boat thing!) Our church celebrated its fiftieth anniversary while we were home, and we were happy to be there to see old friends and join in the activities.

The two weeks passed very quickly and now we are back in Georgetown, Bahamas, enjoying the HOT weather, intending to move along any day. The night we arrived, our friends Keith and Eva on "Seaview" invited us to dinner along with Ron, Donna, and girls from "Moon Beam III". It was so thoughtful of them and much appreciated after a long flight.

We attended the special Mother's Day church service this morning at St. Andrews Anglican, then came over to St. Frances resort for hot dogs and internet time. We'll go to the beach later to cool off.

The next update will probably come from Nassau.

April 19 – Georgetown, Bahamas.

2006-04-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

Coming back to the Georgetown area, we are surprised at its spectacular, stark, un-self-conscious beauty. No wonder it is the final destination for many cruisers, some who stay right through the hurricane season, and others who come back year after year from their homes in the eastern US. The bright turquoise water and white sand beaches of Elizabeth Harbour are so brilliant that I keep reaching for my sunglasses – only to find that I am already wearing them. Georgetown cruisers have a very active social life, with games, sports, concerts, Bible studies, and other social events organized and announced every day on the radio net.

We have been to town today to check in ($300 USD!!), pick up our email, and get groceries. Then we moved the boat across the bay to another anchorage near Volleyball beach and a new little resort that has free internet. We walked through the resort to the beach on the other side of the island, a vast expanse of sand and blue, with nobody on it, where we swam in the clear water and gentle surf.

Later, we went to our first dinghy-drift, twenty-five or so dinghies tied together, drifting in the breeze, sharing hors d’oevres (how do you spell that?), stories and laughs. When the pod of dinghies needed repositioning, a couple of boats would start their motors and push in the right direction. It was a fun way to watch the sunset and get to know some other cruisers here.

Tomorrow we will decide whether to stay for a while and leave the boat here while we take a quick trip home, or if we will hurry with the boat to Florida and fly home from there.

Thursday, April 20 – We dinghied to the internet spot today (note the view!), got the first flights we tried on American Airlines (a miracle!), made arrangements to leave the boat on a mooring ball in a hurricane hole, and expect to be ready to leave for a two-week trip home on April 26. That gives us five days to enjoy this lovely place, and for Cliff to get a few coats of much-needed varnish on the toerails. When we return in mid-May, we will have to move fast to keep ahead of hurricane season, which officially starts June 1.

April 15 - 19, 2006 – Turks and Caicos to Georgetown, Bahamas

2006-04-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

We hit a bad patch of weather in the Turks and Caicos. We had hoped to leave early in the week, but a cold front closed in and we had to stay put. One day I (Orma) drove the rental car into town to do some grocery shopping, and was inside a store when the Skies opened. After waiting forty-five minutes (these islanders have attitude, and they’re not about to help you carry your groceries!) I ran to the car, threw in the groceries, and made my way back through the flooded roads to Sapodilla Bay. Cliff picked me up in the dinghy, and we were both good and wet by the time we got back to the boat.

While I was away, Cliff watched a dramatic scene unfold, as the police boat came by towing a Haitiian sloop packed with refugees trying to escape to a better life. Hundreds of Haitians arrive every week and most are apprehended and sent back, but many escape into the bushes where they eke out an existence until they are caught or somehow get legal status to stay. The TCI citizens (Belongers), who guard their island ownership fiercely, are feeling quite threatened as they begin to be outnumbered by these desperate souls, who have nothing to lose.

We left Sapodilla Bay the next day in a rainstorm (bad timing!) to motor back to Caicos Shipyard and Marina to fuel up in preparation for the next transit. With the stormy weather, Sapodilla was becoming uncomfortable anyway, so we decided to stay at the dock for a couple of days. There is nothing attractive about the shipyard, and we were glad to leave there on Saturday morning in the company of Eva and Keith on Seaview.

We traveled just a short distance (3 hours) that day, to West Caicos Island, where a Ritz Carlton resort is under construction. We had happened to pass by the development office earlier in the week, where one of the marketing guys told us that their marina basin is finished, but the docks are not built yet, and suggested that we drop in to take a look. We were happy to leave the rough water on the west side of the island and enter the narrow channel into the empty and flat calm marina. On Saturday afternoon of Easter weekend there were no workers around and we had the place to ourselves. Eventually a watchman came by in a boat and tried to get rid of us (“They don’t like no-one coming in here!”), but fortunately we remembered the name of the developer, and there was no more hassle. Keith and Eva also came in, and after a visit with coffee and cookies in the cockpit, we all had a wonderful, quiet, dark night.

We watched the Easter sunrise from the marina, then started out on a long passage from West Caicos to Rum Cay in the Bahamas. We said goodbye to Keith and Eva, who were headed a different way, and motor-sailed all day and into the evening, seeing nothing but deep blue water and clear skies. The seas were beautifully calm, so we were able to read, Cliff wired some speakers in the cockpit, and I gave myself a guitar lesson. With the new cockpit speakers, we could listen to music and story tapes to help pass the time. In the late evening, the lights of another sailboat appeared, and there was “Doubletake” again, our traveling companions for yet another night passage, as when we were en route from D.R. to T.C.I.

It took twenty-seven hours to get to Rum Cay, where we tip-toed through the coral heads and into a lovely anchorage, tidied up the boat, had a quick swim and a shower, then crashed for a couple of hours of sleep. Later, David and Pam (Doubletake) picked us up in their dinghy and we all went to shore for a Bahamian lunch of chicken, peas and rice, and salad, provided by the ladies of the Baptist church as a fundraising event. Rum Cay has a population of about 100, so there was not much to see in town. We walked around for a while, but it was very hot and we were all too tired to stay long, so it was back to the boat for an early supper and a good night’s sleep.

Once again it was an early start the next morning for the 50-mile trip to Georgetown, Bahamas, in order to arrive with good light at our reefy, shallow destination. With our new GPS we were able to exactly retrace our route to leave the Rum Cay anchorage safely, even though the early morning light wasn’t too good for spotting coral heads. We had another day of motoring, with a little lift from the sails, but this time we were in sight of land all the way, and other sailboats passed now and then, heading east in much better conditions than we had six years ago on this particular passage. On days like this, having the end in sight seems a mixed blessing.

April 6, 2006 – Turks and Caicos Islands Again

2006-04-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

The trip from the Domican Republic to TCI was as pleasant as it had been miserable going the other way over five years ago. The weather was very calm, so we motor-sailed most of the time. As we rounded the point, we were able to call Moonbeam III on the VHF to tell them how well the motor was running. Our first stop was at Sand Cay, 30 hours away. Through the night we watched a lightning show over the DR mountains. As usual, Orma dozed while Cliff watched. Sometime in the night was saw a boat light in the distance and watched as it maintained a parallel course through the long hours. As dawn broke, we saw that we had a companion sailboat heading for the same destination. We spoke briefly on the radio to “Doubletake” out of Boston, who had left Boqueron PR to sail directly to TCI. It was nice to have the company for the last part of the trip to Sand Cay, and after we had all had a chance to have a sleep, we went to their boat for drinks and a visit.

We realize now that we are back in the Atlantic, that there is nowhere in the Caribbean with crystal clear, turquoise blue water like TCI and the Bahamas have. There is no need to go further south for beautiful beaches! The bottom at 50 ft. depth was easy to see. Sand Cay, with a long, white beach, surrounded by turquoise ocean, was exquisite.

To arrive at Sapodilla Bay, Providenciales, in good light, we left the anchorage in the dark at 4:00a.m., crossed the Turks and Caicos Passage, and arrived on the Caicos Banks at 8:00. The water here is very shallow – from 6 to 8 feet – and studded with coral heads, necessitating a close watch even on the charted routes. But the water is so clear that it is easy to see anything in the way, and it was so calm that it hardly felt like we were moving. Orma took advantage of the time to defrost the fridge and do some cleaning.

It was fun as we approached Provo to note the changes and see the development occurring along the shoreline, but Sapodilla Bay looked much the same, and it felt like a homecoming to return to this familiar area.

It is now Monday afternoon. We rented a car for three days and have enjoyed cruising the island, seeing old friends, and revisiting the places where we spent a good part of three summers. We attended Bethany Baptist on Sunday morning, where we received a warm welcome.

There is an amazing amount of development taking place along Grace Bay, with luxurious condos filling in almost every vacant space. Fortunately, the beach is not private and there are beach accesses every quarter mile or so. Everyone tells about the real estate boom, and the mood seems quite upbeat, but we do not regret our decision to return to Canada rather than become permanent residents of the TCI.

April 4, 2006 – A Friend in Need

2006-04-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

With a forecast for improved weather, we decided to move from the very grubby anchorage in Samana to a beautiful little island, Levantado, about three miles offshore, to use the watermaker, clean the propeller, and stage for our passage to the Turks and Caicos.. We had noticed this island with its beautiful beaches on the way in, and it looked like it had a good anchorage on the eastern end, off the beach, protected from the prevailing winds. Two Norwegian cruiser families we met in Samana had departed Saturday for the same destination, so we knew we wouldn’t be alone for the first day at least.

Because the engine had been running a little too hot, Cliff had boiled out the heat exchanger, hoping that would solve the problem, but by the time we had motored to the island, the engine was boiling. We arrived in time to say goodbye to our Norwegian friends, who told us it was a lovely spot, but “pretty rolly”. We had no choice but to drop the hook and roll with the punches – or waves, in this case -- and get to work trying to fix the overheating problem.

While the engine cooled, we took the dinghy ashore to this perfect little tropical island, and were surprised to find it gussied and groomed. We soon realized that it was a cruise ship getaway island. The lawns were mowed, the walkways paved, the beach raked, and there were numerous little beach huts and shops scattered throughout. The final give-away was the huge buffet dining area back in the trees. We were alone in the anchorage through the dark, rolly, rainy night, but Monday morning arrived shining its sun on the beautiful tropical palm-lined beach. Except for local fishermen who rowed or sailed to the nearby reef to cast their nets, the day was quiet until the Norwegian Sun anchored a mile or so off, and the local boats ferried passengers ashore.

Cliff spent Sunday afternoon and all day Monday sweating in the engine room, trying to figure out what was causing the overheating. Several times we thought we had found the problem, only to be disappointed when we tried out the still-overheating Perkins. Finally, by Monday night he was “cautiously optimistic”, and we lifted the dinghy and motor and prepared for a daybreak departure.

On Tuesday morning we started out before dawn, motored two or three miles, and were dismayed to see the engine almost at boiling point again. Obviously, we couldn’t start out on a long passage to the Turks and Caicos, so once again we turned around, hoisted the sails, and limped back in to port.

We considered going back to Isla Levantado, but decided that because we may need to hire a mechanic or find some parts, we should return to Samana. As we approached the anchorage, we saw a catamaran with a Canadian flag, and who should it be but our friends, the Tueles, on Moonbeam III. Not only is Captain Ron a ferryboat captain, he is a licensed helicopter mechanic and has a great deal of experience with diesel engines, and he loves getting his hands dirty in the engine room! So Donna, Alex, Janessa and I went to town while Cliff and Ron spent the day in the engine room, cleaning, checking, and flushing out everything in sight. Meanwhile, Donna and the girls gave Orma some much-needed help with the blogspot at the Internet Café.

It was Ron and Donna’s thirty-second anniversary, so the guys washed the grease off and we all went out for Chinese food. The meal was a bit rushed, as the men couldn’t wait to get back to the boat to run the engine, and PTL, after the final trial at 10:00pm, it ran cooler than it has for the last two years!! Finally we could get on our way the next morning. Ron and Donna left the harbour at 3:00 a.m. to travel along the coast to Luperon, and we pulled out at 6:00 a.m. to head north to the Turks and Caicos.

March 25, 2006 – Across the Mona Pass to Samana, Dominican Republic

2006-04-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

Cliff worked hard for a couple of days installing the new GPS, but finally we were ready to travel. The weather window was forecast to hold for another day, so we decided to cross to Samana, on the east coast of the DR, a 24-hour trip, rather than go all the way to Luperon, a further 16 hours along the north coast.

The south wind and calm seas gave us a wonderful sail for the first 11 hours, but at about 9:00pm the wind dropped and we had to motor through the night. We had a fabulous, easy, dry trip, and dropped anchor at St. Barbara de Samana after 143 miles, tired, but pleased to have the Mona Pass behind us.

The Samana harbour is enclosed by a graceful, arched walking bridge that connects a small park to the mainland. An imposing hotel under construction on the hill overlooks the bay. The town was razed by the Trujillo dictatorship and 1949 and rebuilt in 1972 around the waterfront. The waterfront is attractive but poorly maintained, and the water is filthy, thick with garbage and mud. One dinghy dock is almost too high to climb on to from the dinghy, and the other is alongside the commercial boats, requiring a scramble up and over to the government dock.

The weather changed dramatically as a front moved in, and we have had some heavy rains and windy,cool, drizzly conditions all week. We are safe and comfortable, though, and the extra days here have made it possible for Cliff to install a propane solenoid and cross off a few more projects on his job list.

By choosing moments between cloudbursts to dinghy to town, risking life and limb climbing over fishboats and up onto the muelle (dock) to go to the internet café, Orma has been able to get her journal (15 months’ worth) up to date and almost ready to publish on the blogspot. From now on, we hope to post short weekly updates and avoid any more marathon sessions at the computer!

March 19-25, 2006 -- Boqueron, San Juan shopping, and Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico

2006-04-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

Boqueron can best be described as “funky”. It is a small town on a long beach, whose chief purpose is to be a weekend party place. The narrow main street is lined with the usual restaurants and t-shirt shops, and with open stalls selling oysters and clams. Fortunately, were anchored far enough out that the party noises didn’t keep us awake at night.

The weather has been benign, so there are many cruising boats taking advantage of it and arriving from the west, across the Mona Pass. We shared time and stories with a number of them who are looking for info about points south, where we have been and they are headed. A South African couple gave us some fresh mahi-mahi they had caught on the way across. We enjoyed several visits with Peter and Connie on “Justoo”, from Kelowna. This seemed like a particularly nice bunch of boaters, and we wished we were all traveling the same direction. We did bump into one couple, Elizabeth and Ken on “Jade Moon”, whom we had known in Puerto la Cruz, who are going our way. They will be a week or so ahead of us, but we may catch up to them again in the Bahamas.

We arranged to rent a car for three days for the reasonable price of $120, which included a pick-up and drop-off from Mayaguez, the nearest city, about 40 minutes away. What a treat to find Wal-Mart, Sears, Penny’s, etc., in the Mayaguez Mall, and big supermarkets for stocking up on groceries. We were disappointed in the fresh produce, but everything else was great. We ate lunch and indulged in the salad bar at Ponderosa, and enjoyed practicing our Spanish again. Most people here speak English, but Spanish is Puerto Rico’s first language.

The closest West Marine store is in San Juan, so we drove the distance over excellent toll roads and freeways, enjoying the mountainous Puerto Rico scenery en route. It took us a while to locate the store in the maze of on-ramps and off-ramps, and necessitated a stop at the huge Mall of Las Americas, much to Cliff’s chagrin. We didn’t linger there, though, as it was Cliff’s turn for a shopping day. His shopping days are much more expensive, though, and we left West Marine with a new GPS, cockpit stereo speakers, new spinnaker sheet, and more.

Our final day with the car was spent touring more of the countryside, and finding our way to the Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest radio-telescope. Of necessity, it is located in a remote area in the mountains accessed by small and winding roads, so it is surprising when you arrive to be greeted by such a massive complex. Photos don’t really do justice to the scale of the place. Suffice it to say it looks just like it did in the movie “Contact” with Jodie Foster, or “Gold Eye”, the James Bond movie.

March 13–25, 2006 -- Culebra and Vieques, Puerto Rico

2006-04-10T11:49:00.000-07:00

We left St. Thomas early in the morning, in hopes of catching the remains of the night lee (the offshore calm that results from the cooling of the land), but to no avail, as the wind blew strongly and we had a another rollicking sail across the 24-mile channel. We entered Ensenada Honda, Culebra, Puerto Rico, very carefully, paying close attention to the buoys and ranges marking the channel. The quaint little town of Dewey, Culebra, as well as having a large and very sheltered bay, has the advantage of being a convenient place to check in with US Customs and Immigration. A short walk to the island’s airport took us to the Customs office and a pleasant officer who stamped our passports and sold us a new US cruising permit ($19USD), good for a year anywhere in the US.

After a showery night, up and down closing and opening windows and hatches, we headed out to Vieques, 22 miles to the south. Again, the seas were challenging. The captain keeps promising it is going to get better!

When we came this way five years ago, most of Vieques was still used as a US Navy shelling range and was not particularly hospitable to cruisers. Since then, it has been returned to civilian use, and the very beautiful bays and beaches are now available to us. Shell-gathering takes on a whole new meaning here, though, and going ashore in the previously restricted areas is not recommended.

We crept into one of these bays after our rough trip from Culebra, thrilled to find absolutely flat water over a multi-hued lagoon, about two miles long. There was not a building in sight, and only one other boat, some distance away. The absolutely calm, quiet, and dark night gave us a wonderful sleep -- but, to quote the guide book, “After munitions cleanup, taking perhaps years, you can look forward to rampant development to spoil these beautiful coves more than bombs could.”

Our next stop was off the small town of Esperanza, where we took a free DNR mooring in very shallow water just off the beach. We rowed the dinghy ashore to explore the town, found free internet at the library, and walked and had a swim at the next beach, a mile-long halfmoon of white sand, where again we saw many groups of college-age kids enjoying a spring break vacation.

We were up before dawn to take advantage of the night lee on the crossing from Vieques to the big island of Puerto Rico, and this time we got lucky. The wind was light for the crossing, and the breeze which came up as we motor-sailed along the shore was behind us.

The south coast of Puerto Rico is very beautiful, with many reef-protected white-sand beaches and wonderfully sheltered hurricane-holes. Our next anchorage was Salinas, one of these almost fully-enclosed hideaways. This cruiser-friendly spot makes it easy to want to stay. We took full advantage of the shore facilities, doing our laundry for $1 per load (compared with $16 Euros in Martinique!), getting a new load of reading material from the book exchange, and finding a sailmaker who did some same-day repairs on our canvas.

We found a restaurant called “The Cruisers’ Galley”, where they had excellent food at great prices, and free internet, where I spent most of a day working on our blogspot. All this with free coffee and freshly-baked cookies, and two big slices of saran-wrapped banana bread to take home!!

Salinas was a friendly stop for meeting other cruisers. We took an instant liking to Gerry and Terri on “Gymnopodes”, from Saskatoon. They were headed south, but we had lunch together and a good visit.

We paid a return visit to Gilligan’s Island, a favorite from our trip south in 2001. The calm, clear water, spectacular scenery, and uncrowded conditions were still the same. As we were there on a weekend, there were lots of families arriving on the small ferry or bringing their own motorboat to enjoy a picnic on the little island park.

We had a wonderful swim in the clear water of the mangrove channels, and swam and walked along a gorgeous beach a short distance away.

Feeling some pressure to get to Boqueron to do some chores and be ready for a weather window to cross the Mona Pass to the Dominican Republic, we stayed just one night at Gilligan’s, then had an easy motoring trip to Cabo Rojo, at the the south-west corner of Puerto Rico, where we turned north and went into the anchorage in the wide bay at Boqueron. As we were rounding the Cape, our 12-year-old GPS gave an incorrect latitude and longitude reading for the first time. It had been giving us a few problems for a while, but this mistake was unforgivable, and we decided the GPS would have to be replaced. It is an integral part of our auto-pilot and radar systems, and an indispensable aid to paper charts for navigation.

March 5, 2006 – The Virgin Islands

2006-04-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

We entered the British Virgin Islands through Round Rock Pass at about 0700, having crossed the Anegada Pass without taking a drop of water on the deck -- a pleasant change from the drenchings we've received on every previous leg of the trip north. By 0830 we were happily tying up to the dock at Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor, to sleep for a few hours before checking in with Customs and Immigration.

The following day, after a good night’s sleep, we took advantage of the marina facilities to have showers, wash down the boat, fill our water tank, get some groceries, and browse the boutiques. Although this is still the British Virgin Islands, it feels comfortable to be back in “american” culture.

Similar to the Gulf Islands in area, the Virgins rate among the best sailing locations in the world. The distances are not too great, the breeze is constant, there are many beautiful bays and beaches, and abundant facilities catering to boaters. It is our third visit here, the first twenty-five years ago, when we bareboat chartered with Rick and Sharon. Little did we know then that we would be back with our own boat!

We feel this time a bit like horses returning to the barn – heading more or less in a straight line, without much unnecessary dallying. In Virgin Gorda Sound we retraced our 25-year-old steps to Bitter End Yacht Club, where we had Orma’s belated birthday dinner. We visited friends of friends who have a home on Little Bay, a beautiful property which has been in their family for years. They were recently offered $16 M for the land, but they are not selling.

After a lovely sail down Sir Francis Drake Channel, we entered Trellis Bay and squeezed into an anchoring spot amidst the myriad of mostly occupied mooring balls available for rent. Most bareboat charterers like the convenience and security of a mooring ball, and don’t mind paying the $25 every night. And there are thousands of bareboat charterers in the Virgin Islands! Our anchoring spot was close to the beach, right off De Loose Mongoose, a little restaurant which beamed free WiFi into the anchorage. For the first time since Margarita, we did emails and used the internet from the boat.

In Roadtown Harbour the next day, we had lunch ashore while we waited to have a propane tank filled, then motored over to West End and took a mooring in the crowded bay at Soper’s Hole so we could clear out with BVI Customs. While we were ashore, a front came through with 30-knot gusts of wind from the west (into the Bay). We had a wet and wild dinghy ride back to Skylark, and an anxious time as the closely-packed boats swirled around in the wind. No harm was done, and things settled down during the evening. We were happy to be on a mooring that night.

Crossing into the US Virgin Islands, we checked in at Cruz Bay and enjoyed a New York deli lunch in a smart new mall. In the USVI we saw many American kids working and/or vacationing. We think many of them were on a spring break from college. Because it was a busy, crowded bay, with many ferries coming and going, we decided to move on. The wind and weather in the islands was NE 15 – 20, seas 6 – 9 ft. in northern swells, so the water was pretty rough off the north side of St. John’s, and the lovely bays there were off limits that day.

We knew that Tom and Carole (Moonrise) were in the area. They are one of the couples we met when we were all heading south down the east coast of the USA over six years ago, and we have bumped into them all up and down the islands and in Venezuela and Bonaire. When we called their name on the VHF, sure enough they responded, and we had a chat on the radiol. Unfortunately, they were in a bay upwind of us, and we didn’t want to go back in the rough seas.
We proceeded on to Christmas Cove, a picturesque, protected, and quiet spot, which we enjoyed as much this time as we had six years ago on our way south. We wonder why the charterers haven’t discovered it – maybe because there are no mooring balls planted here.

Friday, March 10, From the log: “Quiet night in a pretty anchorage. Motorsailed to St. Thomas in a strong easterly (jib alone) to the port of Charlotte Amalie, and anchored off the town. Only one cruise ship in today, but still the town was busy and traffic was fierce, such a change from our first visit in 1981, when the place was just a sleepy village.”

We spent two more days in Charlotte Amalie, watching cruise ships come and go, and browsing in the many touristy shops along the waterfront. Since we are not in the market for gold, jewels, or t-shirts, we didn’t buy much. Internet at an internet café is very expensive here -- $6 USD for 15 minutes – so we picked up our email, but didn’t spend more time than necessary on the net.

On Sunday morning we walked a few blocks to a large church. We arrived at 0940 to find that the service had started at 0900 -- but no problem, as it lasted until noon! We met some friendly people there and enjoyed a lively service. After church we went to a French restaurant for a delicious meal – maybe the best we’ve had on the trip! – then walked uphill through some beautiful old residential areas. Back at the boat, we lifted the dinghy in preparation for an early start in the morning, and had dinner aboard, enjoying the nighttime view of the hillsides studded with sparkling lights, truly a sight to remember.

March 5, 2006 Crossing the Anegada

2006-04-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

We are in the British Virgin Islands at last! Cliff was right again, and by waiting an extra week, we had a windless and almost flat crossing of the dreaded Anegada Passage. We left Nevis yesterday morning about 9:30 and motor-sailed on a port tack on a light breeze from the southwest, a very unusual direction in the easterly Trade Winds belt. We reached the island of Saba at about 4:30 and considered stopping for a few hours to break the trip, but in the end we just motored along the coast to have a look, and then continued on.

Saba is a small Dutch island which rises straight up out of the sea 3000 feet and has no beaches or flat areas for settlements along the water. Very steep roads climb up to the two small towns, Bottom, which is at about 1000 ft., and Windwardside, which is at about 2000 ft. At a place called Ladder Bay there is a concrete stairway made up of 800 steps, climbing up to the road. We saw a number of young people swimming off the rocks at the bottom of the "ladder" -- possibly students from the ubiquitous American Medical School, located up in Bottom.

As we continued on we were able to make and eat dinner underway, enjoy the beautiful sunset on the Anegada, and even sit inside passing the time playing computer games in the dark. There was no moon, but the stars were brilliant, with the brightest stars making startracks on surface of the smooth, shiny seas. The waves glowed with phosphorescence, sometimes even outlining fish swimming below. During the night the radar showed only occasional distant targets, and Cliff changed course a few times to dodge squalls which appeared on the screen.

February, 2006 -- Nevis

2006-04-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

We are sitting off the beautiful little island of Nevis, enjoying the pleasant weather and balmy breezes. Today we have a sizable swell and a partly cloudy day, very comfortable for working outside. Orma has been doing some canvas repair and Cliff is putting a coat of varnish on the handrails and windshield. We are pointing at a beautiful beach a couple of miles long. Right in front of us a coconut grove runs along the beach.

Scattered further along this fabulous beach there are some beach restaurants and then a beautiful Four Seasons resort hotel. Last week there was quite a bit of water activity from the hotel -- waterskiing, banana boating, etc., but this week it is very quiet. We hear that a Ritz-Carlton is planned for this beach as well. A five-minute dinghy ride takes us into the town of Charleston, very old and quaint, where we can do internet, get groceries, and people watch.

There are about twenty or thirty boats, many of them charters, anchored along the beach, as well as two huge private yachts, a small cruise ship (SeaDream Yacht Club), and the SeaCloud II, a sailing cruise ship. We saw in a yacht magazine a listing for chartering the dark yacht in the photo, slightly smaller than the white yacht in the foreground and minus the helicopter. The weekly rental for yacht and crew, not including food and fuel, was $40,000 USD, which we thought was pricey, but not exorbitant for up to 12 passengers. But when we looked again, we had missed a zero and the charter price, exclusive of food and fuel, was actually $400,000 per week!!

There is an American Medical School here (as on many of the islands) and we have noticed many American and Canadian ex-pats who live on the island in big winter homes for wealthy snowbirds. There is also a big new Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) complex, from which we get perfect TV reception when we can stand to watch it. We think Nevis would be quite a nice place to own a home.

Nevisians take great pride in their country, its history and culture. We went inside an Anglican Church, still active, which was built in the early 1600's when it was a British colony, and saw gravestones in the cemetery dated as early as 1647.

The island is very clean -- there are litter wardens and a $500 fine for littering -- and for a population of 9000 we are amazed at the facilities they have -- a beautiful hospital, a nice library (where we did internet and email), a large new old folks home, two high schools, 50 churches, and many supermarkets, shops, and tourist facilities. It is politically a part of the country called St. Kitts and Nevis, but half the population of Nevis wants to separate.

The economy used to be sugar-based, but they no longer farm sugar and are now dependent on tourism and off-shore financial services. Several of the sugar plantations, dating back to the 1600's and 1700's, have been turned into luxury plantation house hotels. Yesterday we took a load of laundry to a place on the beach. Today we went back to pick it up. We were a bit concerned about landing the dinghy on the beach in the swell, but I guess we're getting good at it because we had no problem. The cost to wash and dry two loads was $35 USD. The price seems atrocious, but it is a necessary part of the cruising budget. We hand wash a few items on board, but it takes a lot of water and time and never seems to do a really good job.

We had a fun dinner and games night with the Moonbeam III family on Sunday. They are going to St. Martin now and sadly we may not connect again -- but you never know. We will keep track of them on their blogspot.

We had hoped to be in the Virgin Islands by now, and we actually started out last Saturday, but by the time we got to St. Kitts (2 hours) we decided the wind was too strong to fight all night on the Anegada Passage. Once you leave St. Kitts there is nowhere to stop if the conditions are bad except for the island of Saba, which is very steep-sided and has little protection from the waves. So we stayed overnight in the main harbour of BasseTerre then came back to Nevis, which is much nicer. The weather forecasts since then have still predicted brisk winds and seas, although after the fact it appears there have been a couple of days that would have been good to go. We are probably way too cautious and are going to have to get our nerve up or we'll never get home!

February 22/06 – Under the Volcano (Montserrat)

2006-04-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

When we finally had an acceptable weather forecast, we left Deshaises at first light to sail from Guadeloupe to Nevis, past the volcanic island of Montserrat. We chose to sail up the windward (east) side to avoid the ash fallout from this still-active volcano. We must be getting accustomed to winds 15 – 20, seas 6-8, because it didn’t seem so bad this time. We rip-snorted along at 6 or 7 knots, heeled over in big seas, and had a wonderful view of the mountain as it burped and belched. We took a tour on Montserrat five years ago, so we decided not to stop this time. The wind dropped as we reached the island of Nevis, and we motor-sailed the last few hours. We covered 72 miles this day, and dropped the anchor just as the sun set

February 19, 2006 -- New Friends

2006-04-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

We have been missing the cruiser friends we got to know in Venezuela and Grenada, but we have made a few new friends on the way north. Unfortunately, though, they are all traveling south! Linda and Peter on Kinda stopped by to introduce themselves when we were in Deshaies. Peter retired as Chief of Police for New Westminster a few years ago. We enjoyed a couple of good visits, a delicious dinner, and evening of cards with them. They are cruising south and are moving their landbase back to Hamilton,Ontario in the summer. Maybe we'll see them when we get to Ontario.

In Dominica, we met a delightful family, Ron, Donna, and cute teenage daughters Alex and Janessa, from Hornby Island. Ron is a BC Ferries captain, taking a six-month leave. They bought a catamaran in St. Vincent, sailed as far south as Tobago, and are now heading north to Miami where they will sell the boat and return home. If you want to read a neat description of their trip, visit their blogspot, www.tuele.blogspot.com. They were also in the Deshaies anchorage while we were there.

February 12, 2006 – Dominica

2006-04-01T07:45:00.000-08:00

With an acceptable forecast in the morning, we headed out with double-reefed main and staysail. The sail combination was perfect, even at 22 knots on the deck. We had a boisterous reach in the passage between islands, but Skylark was great and the reward was a quiet sail along the west coast of Dominica in the sunshine. We arrived in Portsmouth harbour at 1630, having done 55 miles in 9 hours. About three miles out, we were met by Albert, who announced his services as our guide, produced his credentials as a member of the Indian River Tour Guides Association, and arranged to take us to Customs and on a tour the next morning.

The Dominican “boat boys” have come a long way from unruly Rastas to trained tour guides. Remember “Spaghetti”, our guide in 2001? Albert (note the cell phone) arrived punctually at 8:00 the next morning, and suggested we do the river tour before checking in, as the river is quieter and there is more animal life early in the morning. We didn’t see any animals, but the thick, colorful vegetation and intertwined tree roots were fascinating. He rowed us upstream about 3 miles, and as we floated back down, we passed boatloads of gringos, looking like a corporate team-building excursion, heading up. We were glad we had gone early to enjoy the quiet and solitude.

34 portsmouth
After clearing in, we moved the boat closer to town, and went ashore for a look around. Portsmouth looked as dowdy as it did five years ago, but the people were still friendly. We walked way down the beach to the Purple Turtle for lunch, then went back to the boat for a swim. Bill and Sharon on Makai (friends from Bonaire and Venezuela) invited us over for sundowners, where we met cruisers from another couple of boats, including a woman doctor who is teaching at the American Medical School in Portsmouth – a compromise with her husband, who wanted to cruise while she wanted to keep working. We also stopped to talk to Jeff and Sue, a couple from Calgary who are just starting out on an old CSY they bought in St. Martin. By their own admission they are complete neophytes -- an accident waiting to happen -- and its going to be a steep learning curve for them.

35 pirateship
We see many tall ships as we travel. They are becoming a popular way to cruise the islands, combining luxury and adventure. We passed this pirate ship, and wondered if it might be a prop for “Pirates of the Caribbean II”, presently being filmed in St. Vincent and Dominica.

February/06 – Parlez-vous Francais? -- Martinique

2006-03-31T12:38:00.000-08:00

We left Rodney Bay in sunny weather with winds E 20, seas 6 – 9ft and had a fast and boisterous sail to Martinique, averaging over 6 knots/hr. over the 25 miles to Petite Anse D’Arlet. After a quiet night, we dinghied ashore to this quaint little European town, where we found a cash machine to get some Euros, bought some fruit at the open market, and initiated the unhealthy but delicious habit of buying freshly baked baguettes. We are finding it very difficult not to say “por favor” and “gracias” when we should be saying “s’il vous plait” and “merci”! The French islands have a great deal of charm, and it is good to be back.

We continued motoring north along the west coast of Martinique to Pt. du Bout, a touristy Whistler-like village across the bay from the big city of Fort du France. The French cuisine is always wonderful, and we indulged in authentic ice cream parfaits and explored the town with its very pricey shops. Later we took the ferry across to the city to check in with Customs and Immigration. It took us a while to find the place, because since we were there five years ago, the process has been privatized. Finally we were directed to a marine store where we filled out the forms and had our passports stamped. We found out later that we could have checked in at the fuel dock in Pt. du Bout and not gone across to the city at all. The French certainly have a casual attitude about checking in, unlike our good neighbor to the south!

The next morning, Orma did laundry, the most expensive yet (32Euros for 2 loads) while Cliff and Rick caught up on email and took the boat to the fuel dock. We are missing the Venezuelan fuel prices!!

We headed out after lunch, motor-sailing north to St. Pierre, a city at the foot of Mt. Pele which was destroyed with the loss of 30,000 lives in 1902 when the volcano erupted. Even though there had been rumblings for some time during the preceding month, and two previous eruptions serious enough to kill a number of people, the town was not evacuated, and the huge blast wiped out the entire population except one man, a prisoner held in a deep dungeon. Many of the ruins are left standing, and a very interesting museum documents the catastrophe. We were here in 2001, but it was the first visit for Rick and Sharon.

We anchored and explored the town a bit, then watched the sunset from a lookout near the museum. We made a convert of skeptic Rick when we all saw the elusive green flash as the sun sank into the sea.

From the log: “Spent a second day in St. Pierre. Cliff and Rick went SCUBA diving with a local firm, Club de Plongee, and really enjoyed it. Sharon and Orma went to the market and bought produce and fish. In the afternoon, Rick and Sharon went to the museum while Cliff and Orma re-anchored the boat two or three times. The winds were swirling around the bay and the boats kept coming together. We had a delicious dinner of red snapper on the boat, spoiled only by the need to re-anchor a fourth time in the dark, wind, and rain. Finally we found a good place well south of the main anchorage and away from other boats. The wind howled all night, but we were fine.“

February 5/06 – St. Vincent and St. Lucia

2006-03-31T12:15:00.000-08:00

Rick (another brother) and Sharon arrived on the ferry from St. Vincent on Friday night. It’s good to have them aboard again. Captain’s log for today (Sunday): “Decided the weather was right to make the crossing from St. Vincent to St. Lucia today. A little rough across the Bequia Channel, pleasant sail up the west side of St. Vincent, then the full blast across to St. Lucia. Motorsailed all the way because wind was on the nose (italics added). Took a mooring at the base of the Pitons in the same place as 2001. Still the same price – EC $40 for the mooring and EC $15 for the boat boy”.

Even Stugeron pills didn’t prevent Orma’s mal de mer today. Sharon and Cliff enjoyed the 53-mile ride. Some of the water we are taking over the bow in the rough seas seems to be finding its way inside. We will try covering the windlass and closing the valves to the forward head next time.

We had a lovely smooth motor trip north along the west side of St. Lucia from the Pitons to Rodney Bay. En route we went in to Marigot Bay, where we checked into Customs and Immigration and had lunch ashore. This would be a lovely little spot except for the condo construction ashore and the crowded anchorage. We then motored on to Rodney Bay in the afternoon, and anchored off the beach near Pigeon Island. What a gorgeous spot! Rick and Sharon were in the water (their favorite place) ASAP, then we dinghied ashore to watch the sunset from the beach.

The next day we motored into the big, very busy and crowded lagoon, anchored, and went ashore to do some shopping. We found the best supermarket since Margarita and loaded up on a great selection of fresh meat, produce and groceries, at quite reasonable prices. Rodney Bay seems very American, with many condos and fancy homes along the lagoon. No wonder many cruisers arrive here and never leave.

We returned to the anchorage near Pigeon Island to enjoy the clean water and beautiful sunsets. On Tuesday, we went to the national park on Pigeon Island and climbed the high hills to the ruins of a British fort which protected the island from the French on nearby Martinique in the early 1800’s. The views were spectacular! That evening for dinner we dinghied to the Snooty Agouti, a slightly offbeat restaurant with an artsy atmosphere, free internet, small boutique, beautiful view, excellent food, and cheap prices! We would love to have spent more time in St. Lucia, and found it hard to leave. Maybe someday we’ll return for a land vacation.

January 29/06 – Canouan and Bequia

2006-03-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

After seeing Ted and Lilly off, we picked up our laundry and a few groceries, then prepared the boat for travel. This involves, among other things, lifting the motor off the dinghy and fastening it to the stern rail, then lifting the dinghy onto the forward deck. We’re getting pretty good at the operation, and can do it now in about ten or fifteen minutes.

Winds NE 15 – 20, seas 6 – 8 ft, ON THE NOSE!! Orma thought Cliff had promised no more upwind sailing. Another rough trip, and we decided we couldn’t make it to our intended destination of Bequia before dark. Instead, we stopped at the upscale island of Canouan. We had hoped to go ashore for dinner, but there was no way we could have landed the dinghy in the big swells coming right in to the anchorage. Surprisingly, this is a Moorings charterboat base, and in the bay there were about fifty of their boats unoccupied and bouncing around. One wonders how viable the investment would be to own one these boats! We made supper on board, eating with one hand while holding onto our dishes with the other, as the boat rolled from side to side. After dinner Cliff rigged a bridle which held us facing into the waves, and we had a more comfortable night than most of the boats around us.

After another 25 miles of 6 – 9 ft. seas, we arrived at Admiralty Bay, Bequia. Because of the northerly swell, we took a mooring ($20 the first night and $12 thereafter). We enjoyed this pretty island five years ago, and it still looks good, with small hotels surrounded by frangipani and bougainvillea lining the sandy shore.

January 2006 – Grenada, Carriacou, and Union Island

2006-03-29T11:13:00.000-08:00

We arrived back in rainy Grenada on January 16 after a long trip, and managed to get to the boat between downpours. Our luggage has not arrived, but no doubt it will show up in the next day or two. The boat was in perfect shape and everything worked, so we were able to make decaf, have a granola bar (dinner), and go to bed. It was very rainy and windy all night, and for a good part of today, too. Friends told us that the weather has been pretty disappointing all month. Christmas Day and New Years Eve were both washouts. We dinghied to the supermarket and back, two minutes each way, between rainstorms, but it rained torrents while we were in the store.

Ted and Lilly arrived a few days later from Oakville, Ontario, also between downpours. Their Caribbean adventure began as the taxi van had a flat tire on the dark road on the way back from the airport to the boat. The driver was very anxious, as he was late to pick up another group, but Cliff and Ted helped and the other people were very relaxed about the time when we got to them. They were a couple from Toronto who were staying in a fancy hotel, but they were considering becoming cruisers and bringing their own boat down.

During the first few days of Ted and Lilly’s visit we survived many showers and some downpours, but we managed to get out between them to sightsee, and we traveled to the north end of the island with Chas (Night Owl) to stay overnight and check on their construction progress.

The captain’s log, Jan. 20: “Up early to listen to forecast. Not very good, but weather set to deteriorate over the weekend, so we decided to go north to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou. Large swells up the west coast of Grenada, but they moderated as we reached the north end. Seas kicked up again between the islands, but not much wind. . . Wind finally came up to 15 knots and we sailed a bit. Ted and Lilly spent a lot of time out on deck in even the roughest seas. Lots of boats in Tyrell Bay – many old friends, including KaraDream (Squamish), Spirit of Ecstasy (South Africa), Hello World (Scotland), Windborne III (Toronto). Weather: winds east, 15 – 20, squalls; seas 6 – 8 ft.; distance 36 miles; travel time 7 hours.”

Tyrell Bay is a friendly sort of place, a short bus ride from the town of Hillsboro, and a pleasant, rural walk to beaches, restaurants, and shops. The weather remained windy and squally, but we walked a lot, shopped in town, and ate out a few times. It was not great beach and swimming weather, though, and not quite the tropical paradise we wanted to show to Ted and Lilly.

After five days of strong winds (the Christmas winds just kept blowing!) we decided to move on to Petit St. Vincent and Union Island. Although the forecast said the winds would ease, we were still beset by 15 – 20 knot winds and seas of 6 to 8 feet. Ted and Orma were green while Cliff and Lilly were fine on the bumpy seas. We anchored off a picturesque beach on PSV with a few more boats, but it turned out to be a very uncomfortable anchorage with waves crashing over the reef, and none of us got much sleep. In the morning we were happy to pull up the anchor, and we had a fast sail on a broad reach over the short distance to Clifton, Union Island.

Clifton is a bustling small port with a cosmopolitan atmosphere and is the centre of yachting in the southern Grenadines. The harbour is protected by a reef that shows off its brilliant turquoise greens and blues as you sail in. As we arrived, we were approached by a “boat boy”, who led us to a mooring ball, and we took it after a few unsuccessful attempts to anchor. There were many bareboat charterers in the anchorage, and we felt sorry for them to have chosen a time for their vacation when the sailing conditions were so difficult. The Tobago Cays, said to be the most beautiful in the Caribbean, were just a short distance away, but we chose not to go there in such strong winds.

When we awoke the next morning to brilliant blue sky, we decided to sail to a lovely beach on nearby Mayreau Island. This was the tropical Caribbean that T&L were looking for! We swam, snorkelled, bought T-shirts, had lunch aboard, and then had a great sail back to Clifton, where we took a mooring ball ($25) right by the reef for a quiet and smooth night. The next day our guests left us, flying from Union to Barbados to connect with their Toronto flight.

December, 2005 -- CHRISTMAS AT HOME

2006-03-29T11:05:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season at home passed in a blur, as we opened the house, shopped, wrapped, decorated, attended Christmas concerts and parties and spent time with friends and family, undecorated and closed the house! The weather in Vancouver was mild and not too big a shock to our systems.

Seeing Christmas through the eyes of our grandchildren makes it a very special time.

We were able to arrange our return flight to include a short stopover in Ottawa, where we found true winter weather. A skate on the canal close to Julie and Grant’s house was a highlight of the visit. We packed an extra suitcase of winter clothing, which Julie will send back to Port Moody for us.

December/05 -- Back in Grenada

2006-03-29T10:48:00.000-08:00

We are enjoying Grenada again, and are happy to finally have the easting behind us. The country looks surprisingly good after two major hurricanes. The greenery is back, most of the houses are sporting new roofs, and the people seem quite upbeat.

Unfortunately, the big old churches took a major hit, and all of them lost roofs and walls. The small congregations in the traditional churches can’t fund the rebuilding, so the structures sit damaged and deteriorating even more.

One morning the Queen Mary II, the newest and biggest cruise ship in the world, arrived in port, and many boats went out to welcome her on her maiden voyage. We took the dinghy out and met our friends Ian and Louise on Spirit of Ecstasy, who had motored around from Prickly Bay. We tied our dinghy to their big catamaran and enjoyed the experience in spacious luxury.

We spent 5 days with Pam and Chas (ex "Night Owl") helping with a few jobs on their construction site. They are building a beautiful home on the hillside overlooking the north shore with this beautiful view. It is a major undertaking, but they are doing well and already have it far enough along to be able to accommodate overnight guests.

The photo shows Cliff helping “Sleepy” with some woodworking. Notice the beautiful Guyanese purpleheart wood, which is used extensively throughout the house. We are going home with a shopping list and an invitation for a return visit in January.

We are back on the dock and enjoying visits with other cruisers like this cute French family. The little girls remind us of our granddaughters. We will leave Skylark here at the Grenada Yacht Club while we fly back to Vancouver for Christmas and a quick visit with family.

November 21/05 -- On the Way at Last

2006-03-29T10:45:00.000-08:00

We spent ten more days as illegal aliens in Venezuela waiting for suitable weather. We heard that our friends made it safely to Grenada after a stormy week in Los Testigos. Finally we got a good forecast, and left the anchorage at dawn. The seas were large and uncomfortable and we considered turning around yet again after a couple of hours, but we persevered and the conditions improved. When we reached Los Testigos, we anchored, had a swim and made dinner, then set out again into the night on our way to Grenada. As we looked back and said our final goodbye to Venezuela, we breathed a prayer of thanks that we had been kept safe for three years in that beautiful, exciting, and sometimes dangerous country.

November 22/05 -- Motoring into the wind, rain, and current on a pitch black night is a little scary, but by midnight the conditions improved and the moon rose to shine a little light on our path. Having radar is a great comfort. We were all alone on the ocean and didn't see one other speck on the route until about 6:00 a.m., when a freighter appeared 12 miles out, on a collision course, of course. We turned a bit and passed a half mile apart. Cliff stayed awake most of the night while I dozed, then after daylight I watched while he had a sleep. Conditions were very gentle and, except for the first few hours, we had a great crossing. Here we are in Grenada at last, almost a month after leaving Puerto la Cruz.

November 15/05 -- Almost Boarded in Porlamar

2006-03-29T10:43:00.000-08:00

Cliff was still up at about midnight last night, when he heard voices at the bow of the boat. Assuming that it was an attempted boarding, he grabbed the million-candlepower spotlight and ran to the bow, shouting for all he was worth, "Get away from my boat! Get out of here!". Shocked and startled by such aggression, the would-be boarders also started yelling at the top of their lungs. Orma jumped out of bed, grabbed the radio, and called for help in the midst of the melee. When the shouting died down, the spotlight revealed a convoy of two dinghies tied together, wrapped around our anchor chain, and two frightened old salts, drunk as skunks, rowing around in circles trying to undo the tangle. They were quite annoyed that the chain was there in the first place, and that they were being yelled at in their sorry circumstances. We apologized for scaring them as much as they scared us, and had to 'fess up to a false alarm on the radio. We had a great laugh after it was all over and we heard them on the radio reporting that they made it safely back to their boats. It is a wonder that more cruisers don't get washed out to sea on dark and stormy nights, making their way home while less than sober.

November 11/05 -- Away from Margarita, and Back Again

2006-03-29T10:33:00.000-08:00

November 11/05 -- We stayed in Porlamar a lot longer than the couple of nights we planned. The wind and waves stayed strong, and we waited for them to go down. We did some boat jobs, the usual varnishing, Cliff tried to fix Hello World's outboard, and Orma enjoyed the shopping. We both appreciated the WiFi available for 6000 Bolivares/day ($2.50) and became familiar with "Skype", which makes it possible for us to telephone home over the computer for almost nothing. Finally a four-day weather window opened, and it was time to go. We motorsailed in light winds and calm seas to the little offshore Venezuelan islands of Los Testigos, about a 9-hour trip, in company with Hello World and 9 or 10 other boats, and anchored off a lovely beach.

The next day we took an expedition to "town", a tiny fishing village, with David and Kate. They took photos which will probably appear in some classy calendar, and gave us tips which didn't seem to help our photography much. I guess it's not as easy as it looks.

Some friendly fishermen gave us enough yellowtail snappers for dinner. Cliff got the job of cleaning them and sharing them around with the other boats – and was heard to wonder whether it was worth the effort! We had a quiet afternoon, relaxing and swimming in the crystal clear water, and went to bed early in anticipation of the 20-hour trip to Grenada the next day. HOWEVER, the weather window slammed shut in the morning with the forecast of a possible tropical cyclone headed right for us. We had a meeting with the other boats and we decided to hightail it all the way back to Porlamar, Margarita, or even farther west and south if necessary, but by the time we reached Porlamar (in very comfortable conditions), the storm had turned northwest. The seas and winds picked up again, though, and as frustrated as we were with having to backtrack, we were glad to spend the extended waiting time in Porlamar rather than Los Testigos.

November, 2005 -- Waiting for Weather in Margarita

2006-03-29T10:15:00.000-08:00

We got away from Puerto La Cruz on Tuesday morning, October 25, and arrived in Porlamar, Margarita two days later after an uneventful trip. We traveled with buddy boat, "Hello World", and David and Kate, a lovely Scottish couple, who are world-class professional photographers. On our first afternoon out, the water got quite rough outside the islands, so we decided not to go all the way to Mochima for the first night, stopping instead in a very calm anchorage in the Caracas Islands. We had never anchored there before because we were told it was not safe, but even though we two boats were absolutely alone, we had a quiet night. We slept with one eye open, but never had any unwelcome visitors. We were startled when our satellite phone rang late at night with a call from home about the death of Orma's aged Auntie Beryl. Isn't it amazing that we can be in contact with the world outside even though we are in the remotest location.

The next morning we left at the crack of dawn and sailed to Cabaugua Island, where we anchored with several other boats, and again had no problems. On Thursday morning it was an easy motor trip (4 hours) to the anchorage at Porlamar, Margarita.

Porlamar is not one of our favorite places. The anchorage is very open to the swells, making for unpleasant rocking and rolling. After three uncomfortable nights, we moved closer to shore where it is a bit calmer, although the swells still come in and the boats roll around. We put out a stern anchor and pulled the boat around to face into the waves, changing the rolling from side to side to rocking back and forth, which is slightly more comfortable. There are about 150 boats in the anchorage, about half of whom are habitual cruisers and hang out here more or less permanently, since it is a cheap place to live and they don't have to pay anything for moorage. A number of live-aboards from Luperon whom we met five years ago have migrated down here. The good news is that a couple of enterprising fellows have set up a wi-fi business and we can get unlimited internet access on the boat! Amazing!!

We dinghy ashore to a guarded dinghy dock at Juan's Marina, where we can get a taxi into town. There are boats that deliver water and fuel, and laundry service is available. Marina Juan orders fresh bread that can be picked up at his little building in the middle of a big dirty field. Margarita is supposedly a tax-free port, and it has lots of shopping areas to help pass the time and use up our last bolivares. As well as the old downtown area, Orma has found some great shops and an absolutely lovely new supermarket in a beautiful big mall.

Along the shore there are many high rises and condos. It looks a bit like English Bay from a distance, but on closer inspection many of the buildings are unfinished and/or abandoned. The huge hotel complex in the picture is completely empty except for a security guard and whatever squatter can get by him. The metal stairways down the outside are falling apart and almost completely rusted away.

As we cleared out of Venezuela in Puerto La Cruz, we are now here illegally. More bad news is that the weather forecast for the next week shows that the winds and waves will be too high for traveling east. Who knows what the following week will bring. We had hoped to just spend a night or two here before continuing on. On this weekend last year we had amazingly calm weather for traveling east from Bonaire back to PLC. We hope we haven't missed the weather window this year. It is a rule of thumb that easting should be done in September or October. We have been looking forward to getting to Grenada to visit with our friends Pam and Chas (ex-Night Owl) who have built a home there after losing their boat in Hurricane Ivan last year. We have flights home booked for December 8 out of Grenada.

We have been watching some kids playing on the beach out in front of us. There is a huge sailboat -- maybe 100 feet long -- looks like it could have been an ocean racer -- lying on its side in shallow water. It has obviously been there for some time. Kids climb up to the high side, grab onto a line hanging from the mast, and swing out over the water. Looks like fun!

We are enjoying our new dinghy. We gave Chicklet (the old one) to some friends from the church in PLC who have two young teenagers and just moved to an apartment on the canals. We wish we could have brought it home, but we definitely do not have room for two dinghies! The new Caribe (9-foot light) is much nicer than the old dinghy. It has larger tubes for a drier ride, seems to go faster with the same motor, and has a flat floor which is much more comfortable and convenient. No more wet grocery bags and slippery footing on the sloping floorboards. Caribes cost less than half as much here as they do at home, so it seemed to make sense to buy it before we left Venezuela.

October, 2005 – Goodbye, Puerto la Cruz

2006-03-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

October 2005 was a time for winding up our time in Venezuela, saying goodbye to friends at church and to other cruisers, cutting the umbilical to Maremares dock, and pointing our bow north. We decided to go back the same way we came, i.e. to Margarita, across to Grenada, up the island chain to the Virgins and Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, and the east coast of USA. Here are some of our journal entries from our last days in Puerto la Cruz.

October 10 -- Not much is happening here. We arrived back in PLC on October 5 and stayed with John and Nora while we prepared to splash the boat. Since then we have been working hard cleaning, preparing, and provisioning the boat. It feels as if we are starting out again, so Orma has been painting inside drawers and cupboards and reorganizing lockers. We will stock up on what groceries we can carry because they are still cheaper here than elsewhere, although prices have gone up a lot and there are not so many bargains to be found. Our moorage at Maremares has tripled since we first arrived, and we are now paying $30 CAD a night.

October 15 -- Cliff is antsy to get going -- the weather has been good this week, but we are not ready yet. I am dragging my feet as it will be hard to say goodbye to the familiarity of our surroundings and especially to our church friends here. Cliff is away painting a small mission school this morning.

We are going to a wedding on the dock this afternoon. Denny, captain of the catamaran "White Tiger", whose wife died a year ago, is marrying a Venezuelan woman. She is an attractive divorcee, 41 years old, mother of two teenage daughters who live with their father. Isabel gets seasick traveling on the boat, so we hope she is able to adjust (or he is) and everything works out well for them.

Oct. 25/05 -- We enjoyed a last Alpha dinner at Mark and Linda's on Sunday evening, and had arranged to take John and Nora out for dinner Monday as a thank you for their many kindnesses, but they managed to completely blindside us with a surprise party and dinner at their house. Most of these folks, American ex-pats working here, are closer to the age of our kids, but they have become dear friends in the time we have known them. It is sad to say goodbye.

Summer 2005 -- In Vancouver

2006-03-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

May to October, 2005 SUMMER AT HOME 2005

And what a summer it was--a whirlwind of trips, reunions, visitors, and special events. In May we crossed the continent again to help welcome Cliff's youngest brother, Rob, to the fabulous fifties. Five of the six siblings met in Silver Spring, Md., at Rob's place, for a great time of reminiscing and celebrating.

Later in the month, we proudly attended the official ceremony welcoming Orma's sister, Loryl Russell, to the Supreme Court of BC as Madame Justice. In July, we attended the beautiful garden wedding of Melissa, daughter of our good friends Henry and Grace Wiens,
and in August, flew to Winnipeg for more fun with the extended family at nephew Matthew Bowering's wedding. From Winnipeg, we traveled to Ottawa to visit Julie, Grant, Jenna and Luke, who are there for just a year while grant takes a final course before returning to Calgary.
What a beautiful city Ottawa is! We made like tourists and felt very proud of our fabulous capital city. There we also saw good friends Gary and Elizabeth Bielert from university, and they returned the visit later in the summer.

Our cruiser friends Justin and Alyson (The Answer !V) live in Ottawa now and have their boat on the St. Lawrence near Kingston.
They took us for a lovely 2-day cruise in the Thousand Islands, a much easier trip than the one we took with them from the Turks and Caicos to the Dominican Republic a few years ago.
We had a wonderful few days at Pioneer Pacific Camp on Thetis Island renewing old friendships with many friends from UBC days who, like us, were part of Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship and Pioneer Camp. The Camp was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, and has maintained its original beauty and charm. Many happy memories were relived. We were able to attend reunions of both our high schools and were amazed at how good we all look 46 years later! John and Nora Durham, our friends from Venezuela visited, and we became reacquainted with Orma's second cousins from California whom she hadn't seen since 1960. We had visits with many of Cliff's cousins over the summer, and rejoiced with two good friends as they recovered from successful heart surgeries. It seemed that we saw everyone we ever knew at some time during the summer.

We are so blessed to have Orma's mother, age 96, still well and living nearby. Much of our spare time was spent with Mom and her sister, Beryl.

We had lots of fun with our family and enjoyed having the grandchildren for sleepovers. Next year they want to have sleepovers on Skylark!

Our kids arranged a wonderful family dinner to help us celebrate our fortieth anniversary, and we attended several other anniversary celebrations for friends also married in 1965. (photo) What a rich and heartwarming summer we had, and the six months passed so quickly!

April 2005 -- Side Trip to Ecuador

2006-03-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

Aeropostal seems to have pulled up its socks - all of our flights were on time and all of our luggage arrived with us. The flight from Caracas to Quito stops at Guyaquil both directions. Guyaquil is a port city and is the largest city in Ecuador - the main reason for tourists to go there is to stage for the Galapagos. We arrive in Quito a couple of hours late, at about 1:00 a.m., because of weather (apparently a common occurance as Quito is so high) but the hotel's driver was there to meet us and getting through Customs and Immigration was very quick. We were amazed to find little children begging outside the airport even in the middle of the night!

We made Quito our base and we stayed at the Hotel Casa Sol www.lacasasol.com , a small hotel in the Mariscal district of the new city. It is very well situated, in a trendy University area, close to public transport and in an area that is safe for walking to the many close-by restaurants. The staff is excellent - young, friendly, and attractive, and ready to do anything they can to help. Some of them speak English. The rooms are pretty small but clean with private bathrooms, and the public areas are attractive and welcoming, with Ecuadorian art, TV, fireplace, etc. A delicious breakfast was included in the USD 52 per night.

We spent the first day touring in the old city in Quito. Quito is the capital of Ecuador and some of the buildings in the old city date back to the 1500's. The population of Quito is about 2 million with residential areas spread to the north and south along a narrow valley. The city is at around 9000 ft elevation, and we did notice the altitude the first day with slight headaches and tiredness. After the first day the symptoms went away and we just noticed shortness of breath if we did anything strenuous. The weather was very comfortable, mostly cool and cloudy with the odd brief shower. We wore long pants and sweaters and carried light jackets in case of a shower. We visited old churches, art galleries, and museums the first day. We also witnessed a demonstration in the main square. Hundreds of police - many in riot gear, some mounted, and a few noisy students shouting and waving placards. It all seemed quite friendly and we took lots of photos, unfortunately all of which were lost. Demonstrations must be a regular occurrence and part of the culture because some of the folk art for sale depicts the same scene but from a former era. In this case, though, the demonstrations were significant, because just a week later the President was ousted in a coup and there was some serious political turnoil. Fortunately, we were gone by then.

For the next two days we rented a car and drove north to the equator and then to the small, artsy, native town of Otavalo. The monument at the equator, La Mitad del Mundo, (Centre of the Earth), is very old and very touristy but well worth a visit. (photo) The city of Quito is a little south of the equator and the monument is actually in a suburb. Of course, being cruisers, I had my handheld GPS (photo)and confirmed that the monument is actually about 800 feet south of the equator - not bad for an eighteenth century survey, but posing with one foot in each hemisphere loses some of its appeal. There is a small museum just down the road that advertises itself as being on the "real" equator. Someone had told us that it had an exhibit with three sinks that showed the water draining in a left or right helix depending on the sink's location with respect to the equator. I was very skeptical but unfortunately the museum was closed. When we took a photo of the GPS reading N 00 00 00 we were actually about 10 feet outside the wall of the museum, so go figure.

The drive to Otavalo was beautiful through the mountains and valleys with lots of agriculture and huge greenhouses for growing flowers. The roads are winding but in very good condition. We stayed in a very nice bed and breakfast hacienda called Las Palmeras and sprung for the best room (king sized bed and fireplace) with breakfast for about USD 60. The next day we visited the famous Poncho Market which specializes in tapestries and other wool and alpaca knitted or woven items, Panama hats, Tequia paintings and other artwork, all at very reasonable prices. We also drove to the nearby village of Pechuga where we saw artisans weaving and bought some tapestries. Further along the road was a village specializing in leather items, and another village where woodcarving was the specialty. We were frustrated with lack of time!

The Otavalanos dress in very traditional costume. The men wear white pants and black jackets, fedora-type felt hats, and long hair in a single braid. The women wear colorful shawls over white embroidered blouses, long black skirts slit to the waist, over a white underskirt, many strands of gold beads around their necks, and unusual folded cloth headgear. It seemed at least half of them had a baby slung across their back papoose-style. It was difficult to get pictures, as they were quite camera-shy
The produce market was crowded and colorful with exotic fruits and vegetables.

That night we spent back in Quito to be ready for an early start on our trip to Chugchilan, a tiny village high in the Andes south west of Quito. We rode the public bus and were promptly robbed of one of our bags while we were sitting on the bus waiting for it to leave the Quito bus terminal. The bag was on the floor between Cliff's feet, but the robber must have snagged it from behind. We noticed two young guys jumping off the bus just as it was pulling out of the terminal, and can't help thinking the bus driver was an accomplice in the whole procedure. We didn't discover the loss until a while later when we were well on our way. The bag contained mainly clothing and toiletries, but unfortunately also held our passports, GPS, camera accesories and pictures of friends in PLC and the day in old Quito.

After we recovered from that shock we decided to carry on, and experienced the most incredible five-hour bus ride up into the Andes. It was just like in National Geographic. Old bus, crammed full of people, baggage and livestock, with more piled on the roof, (photo) and the road was just a donkey track with the back wheels of the bus literally inches from a vertical 2000 ft precipice much of the time. Not for the faint of heart but very exciting. Orma prayed most of the way while Cliff calculated how much (or little) each of our kids would get from our estate and took comfort in the knowledge that it would be a quick (but maybe not painless) death. Of course we made it and stayed in the famous Black Sheep Inn, very rustic and smugly eco with vegetarian menu and outdoor composting toilets. We met some very pleasant young travelers there and enjoyed the breathtaking views.

The women and young girls in this area wore the typical Andean dress of black felt fedoras, heavy wool scarves and sweaters, pleated knee-length wool skirts and kneehigh stockings. Many are very poor and live on subsistence farms in the highest reaches of the mountains, cultivating almost vertical fields. They have no vehicles, so either walk or travel by bus, hence the crowded buses and terrible roads way high in the mountains.

We had intended to stay a couple of nights at the Black Sheep Inn, but had to revise our plans in order to try to get replacement passports in Quito. So it was one night at the Inn then back on the bus to do it all over again. The trip back by a different route seemed a little better but maybe we were just growing accustomed to living on the edge.

Our last day in Quito was a round of visits to the Canadian embassy, the photographer, the notary, the police station, and then back to the embassy to pick up our temporary passports. It was an expensive learning experience (about $200) but it did provide us with some great stories. We met the ambassador in the elevator and he told us that he issues an average of 19 replacement passports a month. The process was aided tremendously by the fact we had photocopies of the stolen passports and the originals of our birth certificates. The folks at the embassy were great and we had the new passports in our possession by 3 pm on the same day.

We needed a police report on the theft so we went to the central police station in the old city. It was in a grimy, dark building filled with all sorts of unfortunate looking people. While we were waiting in line there was a great commotion out on the street and people started pouring into the building holding cloths to their faces. Soon our eyes started to water and breathing became difficult as we experienced our first taste of tear gas. Someone slammed the big steel doors shut and we felt a moment of panic and concern, especially when everyone around us was lighting cigarettes to further befoul the atmosphere. We protested but someone quickly pointed out that cigarette smoke is the best antidote to tear gas, and proceeded to exhale into our faces. He was right, and we soon felt better. We began to realize that we were the only ones who were in a panic and that everyone around us treated it as an everyday situation. Apparently the police were just breaking up a student demonstration outside the building. The line continued to move and we were soon sitting in front of a clerk telling our story as he typed up the report using an old typewriter and carbon paper.

The city of Quito seems to have managed its slums better than Caracas, with substantial concrete buildings for poor people to live in, unlike the tin shack barrios up the hillsides of Caracas, but we saw more outright begging in Ecuador than in Venezuela. You even see babies (3- or 4-year-olds) selling Chicklets on the streetcorners. We always felt quite comfortable walking around the area of our hotel or using the public transit (25 cents a ride), and taxis were abundant and cheap. We wandered through a couple of North American style shopping malls but found them quite boring (just like home) and relatively expensive. Using the US dollar for currency is very convenient, and the ATM's worked well.

We decided that Ecuador is a wonderful place to visit, but a week is not enough. We only scratched the surface and would like to return in the dry season to see more of this beautiful and interesting country.

January 2005 -- Back in Venezuela

2006-03-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

January 2005-- Back to Venezuela and the boat. This is the nicest time of the year in Puerto la Cruz, with cooler nights and comfortable daytime temperatures. What a treat to wake up every day to blue skies and sunshine!

February -- we took the high-speed ferry to Isla Margarita to meet Cliff's sister Evelyn and her son Andrew, who joined us for a week on the boat. They came on a non-stop charter flight from Toronto to Margarita, a convenient and inexpensive way to get to Venezuela. Their visit sped by with a few laid-back days by the hotel pool and a couple of days cruising the nearby islands.
We enjoyed sharing Andrew's last days of freedom before he began his first job as a graduate civil engineer.

Later in the month, Orma's sister Sherilyn and her husband, David, came for a first visit to Venezuela. We put them to work, acclimatized them to the weather, then left the dock again for a few days of island-hopping. Sherilyn thought the beads
were a bargain when boat vendors came visiting. It looks like the boat vendors are getting the last laugh!

Feb. 27 --We celebrated Orma's birthday with a great party on the dock. She shared the day with another birthday girl, a 13-year old cruiser and her teen-age friends, and with the Venezuelan wife of a cruiser who was having a family party. There were about 60 of us altogether, and it was great fun. The Venezuelans really know how to party and are teriffic dancers, so we had salsa and marengue lessons and partied until the wee hours (like 10:00, which is late for cruisers!)

March 2005 -- we were privileged to be able to participate again in a medical mission at Hospital Razetti, where we cleaned instruments, ran errands, and mopped floors while observing miracle operations repairing little faces deformed from birth. Our taxi driver refused to take payment for our three 7:00am trips to the hospital, stating that it was his "servicio a Dios" to drive us there.

March brought to a sad ending to a beautiful boat and the honeymoon of a Spanish couple we met at the dock, whose five-month-old, million-dollar 54-ft Amiel was wrecked on a reef at Tortuga. The couple and their dog were rescued, but much of their stuff was "salvaged" (stolen) and they were treated very badly by the locals, the Venezuelan authorities, and the insurance company. Their disaster underlines two cardinal rules of cruising: NEVER arrive after dark at your destination, and NEVER rely on your electronic charts to help you avoid reefs.

Easter week is party time in Venezuela, and Maremares was full to the brim with vacationing families and power boaters. A touch of carnival wound its way through the grounds each day during the week. On Easter Sunday we were up before dawn to see the sunrise with our church family at a lovely home on the canals.(photo) We enjoyed a potluck brunch, then spent the afternoon walking it off along the public beach, watching all the families who were out making the most of the beautiful weather and the holiday weekend. We asked one Venezuelan how they celebrate Easter Sunday and he said they go to the beach during the day and at night they make an effigy of Judas and hang and burn him in the streets. How sad that they concentrate more on Judas than Jesus on resurrection Sunday.

All too soon it was time to have Skylark hauled out of the water and put in a high-security storage yard for the summer. This is always a big job, made more difficult because some things can't be done until the boat is out of the water, and there is about one hour during which you can do them under the impatient supervision of the travelift operator. In that short hour, Cliff had to remove the injectors and dismantle the steering system to remove parts we were bringing home for servicing, as well as do the routine jobs like checking throughhulls, draining water lines, etc. We were very thankful to fall into bed at the apartment of friends John and Nora Durham when the job was completed before flying out the next day.

We arranged our flights via Aeropostal to allow us a sidetrip to Ecuador from Caracas before we flew to Miami and Vancouver. The next entry describes our ten days in Equador.