Alaskan Adventure 2008 - Epilogue

September 12, 2008

Our Alaskan Adventure aka The Inside Passage – Olympia to Skagway

Olympia

Alaska

Just a small chunk of ice.

Epilogue

This past week has been an extremely busy one so I apologize for not finding time to get back to this blog. Yes we are home safe.

We hope that you have enjoyed following our adventure even a fraction as much as we have enjoyed being on the adventure and using this blog to keep those who could not go with us informed.

We still don’t know anything about the downed engine, haven’t had time to deal with it yet, but Glen told me that apparently the water maker has decided to start working again. Hum, maybe it just didn’t like Alaskan water. We will still have it checked out and serviced.

I want to thank each and every one of you who covered for us back home, while we were off being explorers. You know who you are so I won’t try to list you all here.

However, I do want to publically thank our children Shawn and Nicole for taking care of the family home, and rental properties, making sure bills were paid, houses were rented, etc… and for taking care of my mother (their grandmother) and her health support needs this summer, and keeping us informed as best they could. Mom achieved her goal of staying strong until we got home. She did not want us to cancel or return home early from this trip, as she knew we’d been planning it for years. In home Hospice care was started and has quickly progressed to 24 hrs a day. Mom’s journey is coming to an end.

It’s been a wonderful summer and one we will never forget. I’ve discovered that we took over 10,000 photos (just counting the new camera) on this trip. Using the camera on the 3 shots per second mode when shooting, I mean photographing whales and eagles really adds up fast. It’s a good thing that they are digital as the photo processing bill would be wild. Yes there are tons of photos to be deleted. As Glen has said many times, yep, there were lots of trees, water, waterfalls, ice, birds, whales, and lots of whale splashes on this trip. In the beginning we’d take pictures of every Eagle and by the end it was ... Hey, there’s an Eagle. Is it doing anything exciting? No. Well Eagle Smeagle, I’m not even getting up to look then. Hopefully we will be able to select some of the best and most memorable for a slide show of sorts for our memory library aboard Magic Moment.



We look forward to more on water adventures in the future.

A Moment of Magic

Again we hope you have enjoyed following along with us. Until next time, may the weather always be in your favor and the waters calm. ‘Liz water’ is the best!

Magic Moment in Glacier Bay

Check back sometime, who knows we might add some postings on future adventures from time to time.

Over and Out.

Liz and Glen Dodge
M/V Magic Moment

To Shilshole - The Final Chapter

Monday Day 114 - September 1


This morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Glen assisted the first boat slip out of the wheel early at 8:30 am. The official wheel break up scheduled to start at 10:00am. Breaking up the wheel safely is an exercise in organization. One has to remember where all the anchors were set and which one’s anchor chain is on top. No one wants to pull up extra anchors and then have anchor chain spaghetti to sort out.

We cruise north under sunny skies. While we were cruising along I started the process of gathering things to take off the boat, cleaning, doing laundry (boy it’s nice to have a washer and dryer on board), etc… Anything to make the post cruise cleanup at the dock go faster.

For Glen no adventure would be complete without a rescue. As we cruised up from Longbranch we heard a distress call to the coast guard about a sailboat aground in Rich passage. We just listened as we came north. The guy was not getting much help. It turned out that he was aground just outside Winslow. Glen decided enough was enough and it was time for some action. The plan was to take Magic in as close as possible and get a line on the sailboat and tow him to deeper water. Plan A was fouled when as I stood on the bow looking down could see and even count the clam shells on the bottom. Our depth gauge read 2.9, thank goodness for the differential, but it was still too shallow for Magic. We backed off, dropped the dinghy and I single handed Magic (on one engine and a bow thruster, remember with one broken down engine) while Glen went over to the sailboat. He got a line on it and quickly towed it well into deeper water. The sail boaters were happy, and Glen was happy. He’d gotten to rescue another boater in need.




Humm, if you’ve been reading the blog from the beginning, you might remember that on day 1 we responded to a boat in distress and now on the last day we did it again. Maybe Glen should have joined the Coast Guard all those years ago.


After all that excitement we continued across the sound and back to Shilshole our home port arriving about 4:00pm. We left Shilshole about 7 am on May 11th. We’ve put 433 hours on the engines and over 3,400 nautical miles under our belts in the past 114 days. Magic has performed very well for us and the adventure has been full of Magic Moments. We are ready to cast off the lines and start another adventure just as soon as possible.


As we pulled into Shilshole an Eagle flew in from the North and landed on a marker buoy at the entrance to the harbor. Hum, did he follow us home from Alaska? After we were safely tied up to the dock, I looked and he flew away. Was he our guardian angel Eagle?

RHYC Wagon Wheel Weekend

Friday – Sunday Days 111 - 113 – August 29-31 Longbranch

Dinghy Parade with wheel in view.
Magic is to the left of the sailboat.

Throughout the day the wagon grew as boats arrived and were strategically placed around the circle of boats. Glen being the wheel master assisted each arriving boat find just the right spot to drop their anchor and then back into the circle, get them tied to the neighboring boat and then transfer the master lines over. The master lines are large lines which are start by tying the four compass point boat sterns together. As each boat arrives and joins the group forming a circle, the lines are transferred to their outside stern corner to maintain the circles integrity.

By late afternoon early evening we had the makings of a good sized wheel with a few slots ready for the few boats that would arrive on Saturday morning. When complete the wheel had 25 boats varying in size from 30 feet to 66 feet. An equal number of dinghies and many kayaks were in the water. The dog count was 14 and the human count was 60 plus a few who just dropped in to say hello.

Looking around the wheel from Magic's stern. It's early so very few people are up.

Our cruise captains for the weekend had a full weekend of fun activities and non scheduled time so everyone could have a fun and relaxing weekend. The theme of the weekend was Beach Party and a beach party it was. Scheduled activities included: Blindfold dinghy races, rubber duck races, wheel bingo, our signature dinghy parade through the bay and colors at dusk each evening (lowering of the flags).

Friday evening was spent catching up with friends about their summer and our summer adventure. Glen and Tom narrated while photos were shown on Magic.

Saturday morning started with a breakfast and unscheduled breakfast hosted and served by Steve and Kim Oberto on their beautiful boat Maximo. After breakfast Glen got busy with arriving boats and I attended the RHYC board meeting as the clubs secretary.

The afternoon was filled with bingo, a blind fold dinghy race and general beach party activities on the swim steps of the boats. Dinner was supplied by the cruise team and prepared on a handful of host boats. Each host boat cooked and served the meal to a group of assigned members. Magic was a host boat and we enjoyed a yummy dinner for eight people on our upper back deck under the evening sunshine. We had Lemon artichoke chicken, Macadamia nut green beans, Creamy garlic mashed potatoes, Salad, fresh French bread (I baked of course), and toped it all off with Cherry cheesecake for dessert. It doesn’t get much better than this … Sharing good food and good friends under the sun and on the water.

Many club members went up to the Community Hall in Longbranch for their annual Laborday weekend dance. We choose to stay back at the wheel and spend the evening relaxing and visiting with friends. Well after dark we ventured over to go bowling on Millenia the Millens boat. No they don’t have a true bowling alley, but they do have iwee. What a blast. I had tried to talk Glen into getting one of those before we headed north but he didn’t think we’d ever use it. I bet we would have. It’s fun and funny to watch adults electronically bowling.

Glen and Tom are very competitive!

Sunday afternoon we had a true beach party inside our circle of boats. There was a beach bar set up on the back of ‘To Life’, and beverages were served in beach buckets with sand shovels no less. There were rubber duck races, lots of beach ball type games, and of course our signature dinghy parade.

Belly up to the bar!

Bodie Miller enjoying a beverage

Rubber Ducks getting a tidal assist from Glen and Mini Magic

Steve Oberto added a little spark to the dinghy parade by going in his jet powered Kayak. But he added a couple new special features … a flame thrower, and CO2 cartridges. First he’d have flame shooting out the back and then at times he would have a cold white frosty ‘flame’ shooting out the back. What a hoot.

Later club members made their way around the wheel over to Maximo to pick up their dinner of Debi Freund’s famous White Chicken Chili and Corn Bread. Some ate on Maximo and others headed back to other boats to eat. Auh, another great dinner.

There were 14 dogs in the wheel this weekend. A couple went swimming, many sat in their dinghies or on their back decks watching the festivities, and others went from boat to boat visiting their human and canine friends just like their owners… and not necessarily with their owners. I think the RHYC dogs have as much fun on the cruises as the humans.

Rusty having a bad hair/ear day? Nope, just moving fast.

Webster the water dog.

In all it was a great weekend visiting with many many friends from our Roche Harbor Yacht Club family, and making some new friends who are currently on the wait list to join this fun club.

The club’s next cruise will be a ‘Redneck Holiday’; that ought to be a hoot! I hear there will be a bowling tournament as well as other ‘Redneck’ activities.

On to Longbranch for the RHYC Laborday Cruise

Thursday Day 110 – August 28

Today we head to Longbranch. We will be with about 25 other Roche Harbor Yacht Club boats and about 60 people for an extended weekend of fun and frolic. If we missed anything this summer it was spending time on the water with our yacht club friends.

As secretary and newsletter editor and publisher for the club this also meant that I had to pass some of my duties off to others. I thank and owe Jeff Kroeller our Rear Commodore for helping by taking the minutes at the monthly board meetings, in addition to his own duties. Dave and Linda Leonard and our daughter Nicole were very helpful with the newsletter. I produced the document for each issue and then emailed the file to them for printing and mailing which is no easy or fast task.

By 4:30pm Off Piste, Miner’s Debt, and Magic Moment were anchored and tied for the weekend.

I likely will not be doing any posting this weekend as I’ll be too busy playing. But I will try to get something posted as we end this adventure at the end of the weekend.

Humm, it appears that we don’t have internet connectivity in Longbranch, so I’ll have to post this later after the weekend.

On to Olympia - Our southern most point!

Day 109 – August 27

It’s a sunny day. I of course woke up early but stayed in bed reading a book this morning. Glen joined Shirley, Gary, and Webster on the beach. They went clam digging this morning, but didn’t get as many as they had hoped.

About noon we pulled anchor and headed for Olympia. Gary and Shirley were a bit behind us as they needed to go pull their crab pots again. Once underway, Gary called to report that they had 7 large keepers. So it looks like a seafood feast tonight. Since Glen does not like crab, we’ll give him something like Tuna fish from a can.

We stayed at the Olympia Yacht Club reciprocal dock. There was just enough room for Off Piste and Magic.

Our view of the Capital from the boat.

We can now state that we’ve done the Inside Passage from Tip to Tip (Olympia – Skagway) all in one trip. Not everyone can say that, or even wants to.

We walked around the lake by the capital building and generally enjoyed our time in Olympia.

McMicken Island

Day 108 – August 26

It was a foggy cool morning with the tide out. The water is much calmer than last night.

The guys, Gary, Glen, and Webster went out to check the crab pots … the crabs won yet another round. It’s somewhat nice to see that the Miner’s and Dodge’s are not the only ones lousy at this fishing stuff. We can now officially add the Cummings to our fish/crabless club.

A bit later Gary and Shirley went ashore to gather some Oysters …. much easier to catch than fish, shrimp, or crab. Glen and I stayed aboard Magic for a lazy morning. They came back with a bunch of Oysters. Yuck!!!!

I like most seafood but Oysters are not amongst my chosen. Glen won’t touch them either so that means more for Gary. He loves them; raw and slimmy as well as cooked.

Oh and Shirley got two Pearls; not from Gary but from the Oysters. Okay they weren't very big and definately not flawless but pearls non the less.

We went for a dinghy ride to Fairhaven Marina and on to Allyn. We did not stay long in Allyn as the wind had kicked up and the wave action did not look too promising for a comfortable ride back.

Of course the guys loved it. Shirley and I both got rather wet. Go figure.

Gary and Shirley racing back!

It was a close race but we won. We have matching dinghies and like sized motors, so it is fun for the guys to race.

Glen and Gary spent the early evening playing with Gary's Nobletech system. Glen was teaching Gary how to do all the fun stuff ... like read it and know what you were looking at. Okay it the stuff like looking at the tides, and making the screen show you what you wanted to know.

We stayed at McMicken another night.

Penrose State Park

Day 107 – August 25

The sun is trying to burn it’s way through the grayish layer of clouds this morning. The decks and windows are all wet so it appears that rained during the night. Magic has kept us warm and dry yet again.

The sunset last night was beautiful. Yep it stopped raining just long enough for a sunset and then started raining again.

We went for a dinghy ride, checking Gary’s crab traps on the way. He’s just as good a crabber as Glen. Two pots with a big 0 crab. But the bait was gone. Detour back to the boats to get more bait (frozen turkey leg parts).

Webster helping to ‘thaw’ the turkey for the crab pot.

Thanks for the help buddy.

Okay the pots got back down for another try and we were off for our dinghy adventure. We ended up at the ‘Home Country Store 1914’ where the guys bought candy and the girls cottage cheese. Oh Gary was having withdrawals so they also bought him some vanilla coffee creamer.

Back at the big boats, had a quick lunch, pulled anchor and headed out. The boat seems quieter with only one engine rumbling. Hey, one has to look at the bright side.

We had a nice smooth cruise down to McMicken Island. The sun was out most of the cruise. Once there we anchored, set the Cummings crab pots, and just relaxed. The wind came up and tested out anchor. It held like a charm. Glen and Gary saw a nearby boat having a great deal of difficulty getting tied up to a buoy. The problem appeared to be a combination of wind, boat driving, and loud communication between the man and women on board. You know the drill, the man on the bow and the woman at the helm. The guy trying to catch the buoy and yelling up move over here, no over that way, no this way, etc…… Glen and Gary offered assistance from our dinghy, got their bow line, pulled them over to the buoy now some 30+ feet away and gets them safely tied up for the night. Ah, another marriage saved.

Webster and Shirley

Today is Gary and Shirley’s 46^th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary!!!
Shirley had hoped to be at a dock somewhere so Gary might take her out to dinner. Since there was no dock the closest he could come was a lovely dinner at the Magic Palace. No not a local Asian restaurant; our boat. We even had a fresh Blackberry Torte for dessert.

Cutts Island

Day 106 – August 24

Off Piste

We woke up to sunny sky and a slight breeze. It looks like it will be a nice day.

Seagulls rather than Eagles .... we must be back in Washington!

Glen spent the morning in the engine room. No, I did not send him down there because he was bad. We seem to have a problem with the port engine. We first noticed a knock of sorts as we left Edmonds the other day. As we crossed over to Cuts yesterday we had lots of steam/exhaust aka smoke coming from that engine and then an alarm went off. We shut down the engine. All the instruments appeared in the acceptable range so not sure what it was. There is some evidence of oil in the engine room. Anyway we continued over to Cuts on one engine. So this morning Glen went down to try to determine what had happened. He checked everything, cleaned filters, tested things, started the engine and quickly shut it down as this time it was showing a heating issue. Humm, not sure what it is so we will continue this part of the trip on one engine. It’s nice to have two at times like this, and at times of ‘non Liz water’ crossings.

We have decided to head over to Penrose State Park for tonight. But before we go we’re all going on a dinghy ride to look at the houses back in the bay etc… There are still a few true cabins in the area but most of them have been replaced by full sized houses and very large sized houses. Some are very attractive and look like they belong here, and a few look way out of place, looking more like they belong in some Miami Vice movie. There are quite a few for sale as well. Humm, I wonder how much the houses here go for compared to those we saw in Alaska. Remember in many places in SE Alaska they wanted big bucks for rundown shacks. We might have to take a quick peek on the internet to check these out. Gary tried to call the realtor listed on one house but no answer. Ha Ha I guess they didn’t want to sell very much. Looked it up, they want 1.25 for it, and it wasn’t anything overly special and didn’t have much waterfront or land.

Gary and Shirley just listed their waterfront Vashon Island home, so our curiosity was up there.

Okay we spoke too soon; it started raining before we got back to the boats. The sky has grayed up and the winds have picked up. Yep it’s going to be a gray wet – really wet day. We are moving to the Penrose State Park area for the afternoon and night. We will likely stay inside with the heat on. It might be time for another movie matinee.

It rained all afternoon and evening.

Hey Tom; Labor Day weekend is a three day weekend, Monday being a holiday. I bet you don’t go back to work until Tuesday. So don’t fret you get one more day of vacation.

Oh and Magic’s anchor is a 110 lb. Bruce not 40 lbs. Bigger is better! We had a 44 lb Bruce on Snowdrift and rarely had any trouble.

Company Picnic and Retirement Party

Day 105 – August 23

We went from Dockton to Glen Cove (across the bay from Cutts Island) where the owners of Glen’s office have a summer house and cabin. Where we attended a summer picnic and retirement party for Ollie Keller, one of their sales reps.

Of course several old stories were told. Evidently some years ago while walking to lunch he and another worker passed by a street person pushing a shopping cart collecting bottles and cans. Ollie commented ‘there goes another former chemical salesman’, and they both chuckled. Well to prepare Ollie for his retirement years they presented him with the following: An old pair of red suspenders, an old heavy work coat, a floppy hat, and his very own personalized shopping cart, complete with plague which read. Ollie Keller - Chemical Peddler - 1954-2008. As he demonstrated and practiced his pushing technique several aluminum cans and a bottle were tossed in to get him started. Another one of his gifts was a 1950’s laptop typewriter; Ollie never liked and tried never to use a computer. As gifts were opened they and their wrapping was deposited into the cart. Ollie will be missed at the company and the picnic was a fun and fitting tribute to him.

Ollie Keller starting retirement in style!

Glen has worked with Ollie for quite a few years but indeed it is a small world. While I was growing up Ollie, Judy and the kids lived two doors away from me. I remember babysitting for them, and walking their girls to elementary school years ago. It was fun to see them again.

We spent the day visiting with Glen’s coworkers and their families; about 45 adults plus a bunch of children were there. There were people from the Seattle office, as well as Sherwood Oregon, and California. Glen gave many tours of Magic, and took lots of kids on dinghy rides. Several kids told me that their favorite things about the boat were the 1) “big screen TV”, 2) “upper room” (flybridge), and 3) “the room with two beds”. One little guy told me that he liked driving the little boat best, because it went fast. Go figure.

Gordon liked the boat but I think he liked the
Ice Cream and Bud better!

Someone said that on Monday they were going to say ‘well you’ve seen what Glen has, so start working harder’.

In all it was a fun day, but also another reminder that our adventure is getting close to the end.

After leaving there we headed over to Cutts Island were we could see Gary and Shirley awaiting our arrival. They had been playing on the beach all day while we were at the picnic. We anchored close to them (they were on a mooring buoy), and visited for a while before calling it an early night. It had to be early as they were very tired from playing on the beach with Webster all day.

Webster

Departure of the Crew

Day 104 – August 22
Southward to Dockton via a quick stop in near Hope Island

The sun was out this morning, and the water flat.

From reading Tom’s blog we were the smart ones to start heading south sooner. We’ve had very nice water from Lund all the way south. We left Hunter Bay this morning headed to drop our guests off inside of Hope Island before we continue down to Dockton, Vashon Island for tonight. Glen’s folks have their motorhome parked at an RV park near Hope Island. The plan is to drop anchor and dinghy them to shore. Nothing like dropping your parents off on a beach Glen.

We have about a 9 hour run today so we left early. We left under a sunny sky and on lovely ‘Liz water’.

Oh I almost forgot some of the highlights of our Hunter Bay gathering. We had a lovely gathering on the Reflections; and reflected on our adventures of skiing at Snoqualmie Pass over the years. Mom talked about years ago when she went up with the ladies of the neighborhood after buying ½ price tickets at Ernest Hardware. Nat and Linda told of their early years skiing, but Marian topped them all by relating her adventures at the Pass. Years ago she used to ride the train up to what was then called the Milwaukie Ski Bowl, skiing all morning and returning to the train to eat their sack lunches, and then skiing all afternoon, then taking the train back town. I believe she said that was about 1949. Things have changed a bit over the years.

During all this discussion Glen and Doug had a silent ‘competition’ to see who could eat more Hobinaro stuffed green olives. They both tried to say they were not at all hot. Do you believe them?

Doug - Incoming!

Doug post swallow; that was yummy!

Glen - Down the hatch.

Wow, I swear it's not hot.

No, really it's not hot! Remember don't touch the eyes!

Yes, those are tears in Glen’s eyes and running down his cheeks. I think Glen won for the most but Doug for the least reaction to the heat. Linda had two but ‘cooled’ hers down by soaking them in Vodka.

Linda - You guys are nuts! But those olives are the best!

10:15 am – just went thru Deception Pass. Deception Pass was much nicer going south than our trip north back in May.

Deception Pass - May 11th headed north. 6 Ft standing waves = Not Fun!

Deception Pass - Southbound August 22 Yippee skippee smooth water!

Mom, Dad, Glen, and Marian on the beach.

Okay, I was there too.

12:45pm We are cruising past Camano Island and Glen is all excited. He’s on his phone right now ordering a new dinghy. These demo models went by us, one right after the other, with one on each side of us. He says one has a bit more protection for Alaskan waters but with the other we could get to Skagway much faster, and with seating for 5. Neither put up much of a wake. Which one do you think he wants?

Option #1

Or

Option #2

Not bad for a dinghy! Skagway, here we come!

There she goes!

We met Nicole at Edmonds about 3:30pm. She had done a Costco run for us, as well as bringing us a much needed box of supplies from home for the upcoming week. You know stuff that they limit at the border. She was waiting at the dock so we were in and out in about 15 minutes.

We have filled our fuel and water tanks in Des Moines and are now in Dockton, Vashon Island with Gary and Shirley Cummings on Off Piste. Gary and Shirley are both Ski Patrol and Yacht Club buddies. The cruise down today was sunny and we had good ‘Liz water’ all the way. The Seattle waterfront and skyline look about the same as we left. . Mt Rainier is still there and beautiful. Both Mt Baker and Mt Rainier appear to have new snow on them. Either that or there has been little melt this summer.

We will be cruising for this next week in South Sound and will join our yacht club buddies for a Wagon Wheel in Longbranch over Laborday weekend. Actually we will be arriving in Longbranch on Thursday as Glen has just been asked to be the Wheel Master, which basically means that he is in charge of getting all the boats anchored into the wheel and then back out of the wheel at the end of the weekend. This can be tricky sometimes and it takes someone with some experience to accomplish it with minimal confusion and hopefully no bumped boats.