We're home!

Hi all
On Friday, we left Roche Harbor in the morning and had a fantastic sail across the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Steady 10 knot winds and the current pushing us made for a blast of a crossing. After anchoring in Port Townsend, we headed to town for pizza.

The next morning we wanted to wait a bit for the tides and currents and got to watch the beginning of a race and also saw some really pretty sites! We love Port Townsend!







Jeff MADE me learn to sail off the anchor. This went well and was pretty cool. Still wanting to sail as much as possible, we setna course for Kingston. Although sailing against the currents for 1/2 the trip, Salpare made steady progress with good winds (small craft advisory). Kingston had their Concert in the Cove going in full swing. The Blues Counselors were belting out toons to a mixed crowd hanging on the lawn. Jeff took more celestial sites that night in a star filled sky. Perfect.

Salpare left early this morning and motored for awhile towards home. We sailed a bit in Commencement Bay as winds picked up a tad. We just didn't want the vacation to end!

At home now, The Colonel is getting his land legs back and we are doing lots of laundry.

Thanks for tuning in to our fun! We loved sharing this trip with our friends and family.

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Location:DuPont

Stranded in Paradise...

Since we last updated the blog, we chained our plans. On Monday we were headed for Roche Harbor but we just weren't ready to come back to the US yet. So, we made a 90 degree turn and went to Sydney Island. The way in was SHALLOW, as I drove Salpare in water that our depth sounder said was 0.0' deep! We just went really slow... We picked up a mooring buoy and went exploring on the Spit. It's a marine park and really lovely. We walked until the water stopped us and headed back to the boat. The next morning we left early for Roche to escape before there was really 0.0 water.
Sydney Island Spit



Salpare resting at the Spit.


We had a beautiful early morning ride thru Hughes Passage and on to Roche. Jeff cooked breakfast while I navigated my way through the Pass. He knew my confidence was building in negotiating shallow areas. He's a gem.

We cleared Customs and fueled up the boat at Roche. We decided to spend the day and do laundry, food shopping etc... So we anchored. Awhile later, we remembered that we are members of the Roche Harbor Yacht Club and that they have a Members Only slip at the marina. duh! We are just not in the mindset of the RHYC yet. So we looked and it was open! This slip is PRIMO, among the giant yachts and with a fantastic view. It's first come, first serve for the members and we lucked out. We stayed Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Here's Salpare hanging with the big boys.



While here, we looked onto our alternator issue. We new something was not right and sure enough, it was melting itself. For the technical explanation, please ask Jeff! We could have kept going and just used the generator a lot more. But we had just spent a bundle on 3 new batteries and didn't want to damage them. So we talked to the marine store here and they ordered us one. It arrived this afternoon and we installed it tonight. Jeff is a genius - McGuyver type and fortunately for us can do all this. I read directions and fetch tools. I'm also helpful when small hands and arms are needed in the small engine area.

We moved out of the RHYC slip (2 day minimum) and are anchored tonight. We 'll start heading south in the morning. It's been a fabulous 3 days stranded in Roche (paradise). You couldn't ask for a better place to stay. Watching all the boats and planes arrive and depart all day (Customs) is a hoot. Better then any TV show. Great weather and ice cream too.

It's going to be a hard transition back to the real whorl next week...


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Location:Roche Harbor

Sunday evening

We are at Telegraph tonight at the marina. More nice folks, as usual. We took a dinghy excursion all over the place as the sun is finally shining!



Tomorrow we either go to Tent Island or Long Harbor, depending on what we feel like. Salpare is doing great with no problems. Like the Colonel, she attracts attention when we are docked. She is our dream...


Just starting our second week...

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Location:Telegraph Harbor, Thetis Island

The weekend

We arrived early at the famous Montague Harbor and picked up a mooring buoy. Then we crashed for a nap after our early morning escape from Annette. Montague is famous for their Bakery Boat (yumm) and the Pub Bus (more on that later).



The great weather we'd been having finally turned. Our friends, Cindie, Greg and Aven Lang met us at Montague on Friday. They were up for a C Dory (their type of boat) get together. Although it was windy, chilly and rainy, we had a great time with them. Aven is only 3. But Cindie and Greg are terrific parents who know that fine line between too much wildness and letting Aven be 3! We watched movies and had fresh baked cookies. All in all a relaxing Saturday afternoon.

That night Jeff and I took the Pub Bus to the Hummingbird Pub. An absolute blast. The driver lived up to his legend of fun, pole dancing and great music. You kind of have to see it to understand but it's the best marketing campaign for a small, out of the way pub.
Salpare and Aurelia hang together


The Langs in their Pudgy!


Salpare at Montague


The Vendee Globe book is now in Cindies hands!

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Location:Montague Harbor, Galiano Island

Provisioning and Annette Inlet

Our great friends, Carolyn and Jerry, were supposed to meet up with us on Thursday but there was a family emergency. We miss them but we'll do much more sailing with them in the future.

We headed over to Mayne Island to Miners Bay to provision for the next few days. A grocery and liquor store later and we were set. Strange alcohol rules up here. You can't buy booze with a credit card. And our debit cards will only go through as credit cards. And ATMs don't recognize our financial institutions. So we HAD to spend our cash at the liquor store and are now scrimping together spare loonies and toonies for laundry and land showers (we have 3 showers on the boat, so don't think we are too gross!) I'm glad we have our priorities right!

Salpare resting in Annette Island




We spent the night in the beautiful but SHALLOW Annette Inlet. We woke up early (5am) to get out before we had no water under the boat. Jeff was great with my incessant worrying about the depths. He's a seasoned sailor and knew how much to push things. We crossed Trincomali Channel with no one in site at 6am. Worth getting up early for that.

On to Montague!
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Location:Montague Harbor, Galiano Island

Otter Bay

We haven't seen any news but there are apparently fires in central BC. This makes the sunsets really intense where we are. This pic at Tumbo doesn't really show how red the sky was but here it is anyway.




Red sky at night....

After a week out, we thought we needed to do a bit of laundry so we headed over to Otter Bay Marina. We highly recommend this place. Super nice folks, 2 swimming pools, scooter rentals and beautiful grounds. Each place we go, we investigate by dinghy in the evenings. We were out looking for Orcas that night. Didn't find any but the dinghy rides are a hoot. We go 16 mph which in a 10' dinghy is a blast! We can't say enough about all the nice folks we have met on this trip. And The Colonel continues to be a show stopper at every port.



Dinghy action with Jeff!

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Location:North Pender Island

Poet's Cove Pics

Poets Cove Resort



Cabbage Island




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Location:South Pender Island.

One of the Colonel

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Location:Anywhere

More pics

Marine life abounds


More marine life (Jeff laughed at my raft until he tried it)




Jeff taking a celestial site on the Straits


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Location:Tumbo Island and the Straits of Georgia

Catch up photos

We've hit a wifi spot on Thetis Island, so I'll be sending some catch up blogs.



Orcas off of San Juan Island


Bridge Officers taking one for the team at Roche



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Location:Roche, Tumbo pics that I couldn't send before

Cabbage and Tumbo Islands

Sorry about the last blog. I am having connection issues. I've had to take out some photos, bummer. But while trying to post this, we've had the most unbelievable sunset!

Since I last wrote, we've covered a lot of water. We crossed the Straits of Juan de Fuca in 6' swells then fog. But we were rewarded by coming upon a pod of orcas. We stopped engines and took in their beauty. We had a mom and baby swim right next to the boat! Seeing orcas in the wild is one of the most fantastic experiences and one of the many things that makes the Pacific Northwest so special.
We arrived in Roche Harbor just in time for the Roche Harbor Yacht Club BBQ. They are such a fun group and each time we are with them, we make more friends. After watching the Bridge Officers jump into the cold, eel-ridden water, we spent the next hours drinking monkey milk (deadly) and talking farm animals. Don't ask, don't tell.The next Morning we said Bon voyage to Tom and Chris Miner as they travelled back home after 3 weeks in the Gulfs.


We headed to Poets Cove, a swanky resort on S. Pender Island. Watched a wedding (I cried, Jeff was bored), had a great dinner and had the hot tub to ourselves. Quite the place.

After provisioning in Port Browning, we left for Cabbage and Tumbo Islands. I've really been looking forward to this place after reading about it in the Dreamspeaker guide. (we saw Dreamspeaker at Poets Cove, felt like I saw a celebrity). Could it live up to my expectations??? The guide was right on. Stunning scenery, nice moorage buoys, eagles, tide pools and tonight we'll have a sunset over the Gulfs and the Straits of Georgia. Feels a million miles away. We are drinking our favorite new drink -A Bridgman! Lemonade with vodka. We'll be here for a couple days.
The Colonel is doing well and was a hit as we were docked on the main walkway of Roche Harbor. I heard many comments about him as he perched on the dockside gunwale. Some even took pictures of him. Here he is doing what we'll be doing the next couple of days.

Hi to all and Tom, I love the Vendee Globe book!

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Location:Gulf Islands

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Heading north

We are in beautiful Port Townsend tonight. Yesterday we had friends at our marina send us off on our trip with well wishes and wine! After tying up in Kingston, we went to dinner with Greg and Cindie Lang. A short walk through this cute town to The Ale House and we all left stuffed.



We left this morning in thick fog. The Kingston ferry passes just astern of us and we never even saw it. We signaled them with blasts and they signaled back. Very creepy. The fog was as thick as pea soup, (peanut butter if you watch Rudolf). I stood watch on the bow, all bundled up as it was quite chilly. Only as we were close to PT did some big power boaters -at full throttle and not watching -give us a scare. The blasts from my air horn got their attention only 200' from us. Just after we docked, the fog lifted to a gorgeous northwest day.

The marina is filled with the most fascinating boats as PT is home to the Wooden Boat Festival. We also had our rigging survey done today by an
expert rigger. Great guy and we learned a lot. Salpare will need a few things done to her before we go offshore but all in all, she's a great boat. The picture is of the wooden schooner next to us.


Tomorrow we head for Roche Harbor to meet up with the yacht club gang.

Wish all of you were here!


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Location:Port Townsend

Test with photo

Waiting to go...


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Location:Still home

Testing out the blog

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Location:Home