May 5 Nanaimo to Henry Island

 

May 5   Nanaimo to Henry Island

 

 

We left Nanaimo under sunny and windy skies.  The water was rough so things that generally fall, were secured or put on the floor.  I (Liz) had my ‘Relief Band’ on, ate some ‘ginger candy’ and prepared for the worst.  I hunkered in my corner of the couch for whatever came my way.    It was a rough ride but I made it through ok.  

 

All the travelers made it through but some with a bit more ‘bobbing and tossing’ than they liked.

 

We ended up stopping about noon at a beautiful bay where Willard and Diane have friends who have a summer place.  Three of us tied to their mooring buoy, and three were tied to their dock.   The tide was still low but on its way up so Diane and I zipped over to the point and dug and picked a 5-gallon bucket of steamer clams and baby sized oysters.  We had that project done before the 3^rd boat made their arrival.  Hung the harvest in bags over the side so that the little critters could clean the sand out of themselves.  

 

Everyone took a dinghy ride to explore the area.   Beautiful!   Some lovely summer homes, some huge.

 

A cocktail hour some of the Oysters became ‘shooters’ for those brave at heart.   I was raised by a mom that said ‘you have to try things every year, you never know when you will decide you like something.’  So I got brave, and downed one of those small slimy things, washed it down with a gulp of Margarita and looked to the sky and said.  “Okay mom, I tried it, and yep I still don’t like them.”   Everyone chuckled, and then someone suggested that at my age I don’t have to do what mom says anymore.  What? Really?

 

 

After cocktails we went for a walk around the grounds and house.   Apparently they have something like 47 acres.  We did not walk all of it.  The house is quite large but only has one bedroom.  But there is a guest house connected to the main house which has something like 8-10 bedrooms.  The place is beautiful.   The owners were not home (we knew that before we went), but the caretaker was there and welcomed us warmly. 

  

 

 

 

It being Cinco de Mayo – meant an evening of Margarita’s and Tacos and Burritos for dinner.    Nelson’s, Thomas’s and Dodge’s joined forces for dinner on Magic.  The others were on the dock and did their own thing.

 

Oops – there was a slight mishap and one of the bags of clams became untied from Sea Life and went straight to the bottom.  That was a ‘clamity’.   Willard and Glen tried fishing for it – hoping to snag the bag but no luck. 

 

Another successful day.

 

 

Day 4 - Nanaimo to ......

Day 4   Nanaimo to ….. We’re not moving!!!    

Woke up this morning to 30 knot winds.  A good day to stay in port and get some projects done. 

Had a group breakfast on Sea Life to discuss options for the day.  Sounds like the guys will be doing ‘boat stuff’ i.e. Fran & Jeff’s dinghy motor seems to be dead, so they have a new one on order to be picked up in Campbell River tomorrow.   The guys are talking about finding out if it is actually at the shop and ready for pickup today.   If so they might rent a car and take a ‘guys adventure’ to go pick it up.  It would be easier to make the motor changes here with 6 guys to help than later with only one or two.   Some of the ladies are going back into town to shop.   I probably will hang out here on the boat getting projects done.   Time will tell.

We could go to the museum, which is pretty interesting or take the dinghies over to Newcastle Island for a bit of hiking.  Then of course there is the Dinghy Dock Pub, which might call out to us later in the day.

Based on the weather report we might be here a day or several days. 

Spoke to Jim M this afternoon.  He was headed up Johnstone strait with 40 knot winds on the nose, and bucking against the tide; then top that off with 6 foot rollers.  I asked where Gary and Lenore were and he said hiding out in a cove.   Sure glad we are sitting at the dock in Nanaimo.

Stay tuned for more adventures.

Day 3 Wallace to Nanaimo

May 3^rd  Day 3    Wallace to Nanaimo

                                               Wallace Island - Remains of the resort


I was up at 6, and read for a bit.  About 6:45 Tom was up and started both his gen and motors. Pete did too.  They are both cruising a bit slower than the other two of us so they headed out by 7am.  Their goal is to go thru Dodd Narrows at slack tide or slacker tide.  Willard heard the commotion and came out.  Sealife and Magic plan to head out before 9am.  We will mount our museum art before we go.  The plan is to get thru the narrows and stop in Nanaimo for a few hours to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables that we could not bring across the border. 

Six boats together as of this afternoon, we picked up Fran and Jeff.  Looks like they will be with us for a bit during this next leg of the trip.  We all got moorage at the Yacht Club here which is very convenient to everything.  We did a bit of shopping then out to dinner to a local Bistro, another yummy dinner.  Two other boats are ahead of us.  We’ll see them soon.  

Day 2 - Border Crossing to Wallace Island

May 2^nd Day 2 – Border Crossing to Wallace Island

Four boats together, cleared Canadian customs (yep they let us in again).    Stopped at Wallace Island for the night.  Our first raft up for the trip, everyone fit together like gloves.   Stern tied to shore.  Visited with people on the dock, two guys told me ‘your entrance and raft up was flawless, you must do it often’.   Yep! 

Took a walk on the island to stretch our legs.   Visited the cabin, one of three remaining buildings from the old resort, you can still see the remains of a game area in the lawn.  Went over and explored the ‘boaters museum’, where we tried to find as many ‘items’ left by people we knew as we could.  Willard and Diane found one they left in 2008.  They removed it and the evening project was to updated it with our Alaska 2016 groups information.

Continuing our walk, we took Pete to the meadow where the Yard Art is found.   The ‘old truck’.   He got very excited and wanted to drive it so he jumped right in.  He muttered something about sitting on a spring.   Glen and Tom jumped in the back and they looked like a bunch of guys headed into town for some fun or trouble.  

Wandered around a bit more, then back to the dock chatted with those staying there (5 boats on the dock); as always very nice people. 

  

Back out to the boats, had a great group dinner with chicken, spaghetti, salad, and cookies.  Story time and the off to bed.

It was another beautiful day in paradise, sunny, warm, and nice flat water.

May 1 - Day 1

May 1^st – Day 1

The adventure begins.   We left Shilshole, about 10:45am.  Went up the outside (Port Townsend route), with Sea Life about a mile ahead most of the way.   Nelsea was also ahead.    We all arrived safely in Roche in the late afternoon.  The trip was great, basically flat water and light winds all the way.  Yippee my kind of trip.  

Roche looks the same.  Beautiful as usual, and ready for summer.   Quite a few boats in the harbor.  Had a great dinner out.  First night – I don’t cook!   

Tomorrow – Plan is to hang out at Roche until Miner’s Debt and Spirit Bear get here then we’ll head north and across the border.  

Stay tuned for more.

Summer 2016 - We're at it again!

May 1, 2016

Yep, the call from the North captured us again.    Today we are starting our 2016 Alaskan adventure.

This time with 7 boats traveling together or basically together.  All are from our yacht club - RHYC - Roche Harbor Yacht club.  We do not plan to cruise totally together all summer but some of us will stay together much of the time and all of our paths will cross at various points along the way.    

Travelers: 

Glen and Liz - Magic Moment

Peter and Linda – Spirit Bear

Jim and Cheryl - Sea Jay

Tom and Chris - Miner's Debt

Steve and Michelle – Nelsea

Willard and Diane – Sea Life

Gary and Lenore – Noon Balloon

Some will have their own blogs some won't.  I'll try to put a link on our blog to each of the others for your reading enjoyment.  You weren't planning on doing any work this summer anyway.  Some of these travelers have AIS or Spot me now systems on board to electronically track where they are at any point.  Not Magic however, we go stealth.  

Other RHYC boats that will also be in Alaska this summer and we likely will cross paths with include:

Jeff and Fran - Salpare
Patrick and Miriam - Spirit

Sea ya later.