More than 700 nautical miles and three weeks, this was the furthest we've ever been!
It was great to visit but places. The boat did quite well, with some minor issues we were able to work around or fix. I partially worked along the way which worked out well! Still had plenty of relaxation time. And I'm bringing back a LOT of frozen fish!
Today is crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It can be extremely challenging, or slow and boring. Always hoping for the later.
The forecast worsen a bit on the west side overnight, so we decided to come south through the islands instead of West of San Juan. It was a good call - the wind was very strong. By the time we reached the strait, it had calmed down as hoped for.
Boring it is. That is perfect - I have work to catch-up on, and I join a meeting. We're on a schedule! So when we saw the Coast Guard hugging us and asking us to stop... well... couldn't really tell them I'm in a conf call and wait. They have to train so they stop boats for inspections or just ID checks. So it takes a while, as the new pilot is unsure how to approach my drifting, in current, in wind almost-new boat without bumping it. It takes several attempts... they were nice and friendly, just inconvenient, and went on their way soon enough and I have time to catch the latter part of the meeting.
Tonight we'll be in Port Townsend. Tomorrow the weather forecast doesn't look good, but we'll have already done the hardest part. Should be boring, in a good way.
Today Marc and I went fishing again at sunrise. Tried to catch Coho but not bites, while the pink were almost jumping on the boat... we gave in and harvested 3 more pinks for the freezer. There's still some space in it.
We then crossed over to Roche 100% on electric power and silence. I had several meetings, so Nathalie helmed the yacht. She was a little nervous as we were crossing strong currents around the islands and there was quite a bit of traffic.
Roche is beautiful as usual - what a great resort! We walked to the Mausoleum as usual, sculpture park, the little vendors, etc...
In the morning, we had a diver come by to inspect the starboard prop which was doing a clinking noise at some speed. No wobble, nothing stuck to it... so we are a go to cross the strait. Will have to figure out the clunking noise another day.
Today was a short hop to Stuart Island. We got here early as I had quite a lot of work today - many meetings and needed to catch-up on a few initiatives. While I worked, the group went hiking towards the old school and library.
Before dinner, Marc and I took the dinghy fishing. The pink salmons were jumping everywhere!!! Lots of boats and lots of catching! We lost a few, but had 4 keepers in about 1h30. Nice, 20-24" fishes.
Tomorrow - back to civilization to Roche Harbor!
That was a rough night! Even if that marina has a strong breakwater, it was a very rocky night! The wind was grabbing the boat strongly, rocking it, and even within the marina the wind would build-up waves. No danger of course (well, we did see solar panel fly by earlier in the day...), but made it for light sleep. ESPECIALLY FOR THE CAT! I think she was very worried, she complained all night... I put earplugs around 2am and finally got to sleep a little...
I had my alarm set to 5am to get to Dodd Narrow by 6am. I woke-up by myself, with the first light. I listened and thought the wind didn't sound so bad.... looking at my watch, saw that it was now 5:20... oh no! I missed my alarm! We are now late for the rapids... I wake-up Nathalie and tell her we are leaving. She sees the wind and ask Really? I confidently say YES. The reality is I have no idea. But we have no time to hesitate - I figured we get ready and we can always bailout at the last second.... we get everything ready with only one line to cast off - I watch the gusts by looking at the color of the water upwind.... then say GO. Cast the lines, block the thrusters toward Starboard (pushing continuously against the wind) and start to reverse throttle with some power. The poor other boats likely unhappy and worried to hear a boat at this time, in this wind, using so much power in a narrow marina channel! I continue backing, crabbing more and more to keep steerageway and we finally get out! All good. With additional throttle, we show-up with an expected 2.5 knot of current on the narrow. It was 5kt... was actually quite fun. Oh - and that was only the second time I navigated much before sunrise. Achievement unlocked!
The passage today was uneventful - the gulf islands are quite sheltered. The only glitch was me taking a turn a little to close and getting in very strong current turbulences which through everything on the floor (including our lunch...) but no one was hurt!
After a long day, we get to Friday Harbor to meet Emilie, Isabelle, Marc and Jackson. We spend the day visiting the city, spending time at the local brewhouse and settled retelling her of our travel stories.
Tomorrow - easy crossing over to Stuart.
Nanaimo is always nice to replenish, fix things and eat poutine!
Glad we are at a dock- there's 35 knots gusts with 50 potential overnight! We need to depart before sunrise... Hoping for a lull otherwise we are pinned here... Tomorrow back to the US where we will welcome Jackson, Isabelle and Marc!
Tomorrow it is to cross Dodd Narrow at slack at 6am... We will need to depart Nanaimo well before sunrise. The near full moon should help!
A few days ago I disassembled the sewer discharge pump as it didn't work anymore. So did the water maker, with clogged filters and under pressured accumulator tanks. I took the time to fix both and I'm happy to say they are both back in shape! The water maker had desalinated more than 100 gallons of seawater by the time we came back.
We have a view of forest fires on Vancouver Island...
Yesterday was rough. Today was supposed to be easy - nice long flood current, little to no wind! I had plan to catch-up on work - a 10 hours uneventful passage! Well, that's NOT what happened. The forecast kept getting updated. What was supposed to be 10 knots wind became thunderstorms, some with hails, and high risk of watersprouts. Water tornadoes! That is NOT relaxing. So i started to hug the mainland - which meant I was fighting surface ebb currents.... but this felt safer in case we need to dodge the weather. BTW, we were not sure yet where we would be spending the night, but wanted to be as far south as we can.... anyway, we started calling marinas - Blind Channel, Gorge Harbour, etc... to put ourselves on waitlists - they are full. We make it about half way when suddently I see a big flash; we are right in the middle of the Strait! Lightning, thunder... it's not looking good. I go full throttle toward the nearest shore which was toward the storm - but I could see steep cliff I could hide under. It worked out well. We had strong downpours and wind, but we were sheltered and it was easy to keep the boat in a safe spot. After the storm passed, I start to calculate the currents... we are WAY behind. I intended to go through Okisollo channel and Surge Narrows - which is a set of three rapids that needs to be crossed at slack. But I think we can make it, and the currents should not be very strong today. While dodging the weather, fighting the eddies, I kept recalculating our progress to time our three rapids. We ended-up showing ahead, but given the smaller exchange we went through. It was fast, but not scary. Finally, Gorge Harbor calls and they got a spot! We'll sleep well tonight, knowing we are strongly tied to a dock, sheltered in a bay, while the next series of thunderstorms pass through...
Long day today - going from almost our Northest part to the end of Johnstone strait. Had carefully planned with the tides and currrents, but the 20 knots wind was able to shift a 2 knot flood into a 1 knot ebb surface current.... so progress was slower than hoped. We dropped anchor in a small sheltered bay surrounded by islets in Port Harvey. Not much to see around but it's convenient and safe.
Another easy passage today - Turnbull Cove to Sullivan was an easy 7 miles, just enough to top-off the batteries.
Sullivan Bay Marina is wonderful! It's a full floating community! A baker's dozen floating houses and room for lots of boats! They have fresh bakeries daily, a store, fuel and a restaurant. It's such luxury away from the rest of civilization! People come here to refuel, reload and practice their social skills between anchorages.
We unfortunately did not make it to the restaurant as there was a waitlist already from a few days... The restaurant was packed! Which also means... very few people at the pot-luck happy hours. But we met Richard and Anne from Portland and we shared stories. They were just back from Alaska and plan to continue cruising for the next month.
The next few days will be long passages going back East then South. The weather is looking great (for power cruising... it'll likely rain, but very little wind! and the tidal currents are well aligned with our daytime and destinations.)
We had an easy passage to Turnbull cove as the sky cleared. Anchoring was easy in 40' of water. Went to hike to a huge lake and took a refreshing swim! Then Maëlie and I went fishing after dinner - catching a fish every two or three minutes! Rockfish mostly. Only a few large ones but they were of course the one specie we can't keep.....
We arrived in this beautiful bay that was deep so we had to plan to anchor and set a stern tie. I thought(Nathalie) we wouldn't have enough rope and I think I'm not doing it again with the paddle board! Otherwise nice time going around the bay kayaking while having a drink. It's after dinner, Benoît and Maelie now left to go fishing... she does love fishing even though she doesn't like to eat it! Oh and we haven't mentionned that the first couple days she focused to finally doing her boat licensing online so she can drive the dinghy and she's really good at it too. Update: It didn't take long and they were back again. They caught three rockfish that they released and one 75cm lingcod.
That's what it looks like when you are trying to find a good spot to anchor while also being in a meeting at work... I would say, it tests the relationship with your partner :)
Exciting passage today!
We had about 45 miles to do from Blind Channel to Lagoon Cove marina. The weather was against us with a Gale Warning for Johnstone Strait - with 15 knots early in the day rising to 35 knots. Unfortunately, the currents were not aligned to that - going against us in the morning, or against that wind in the afternoon... So, it was a choice of fighting currents, or weather. Currents it is! We left around 7:15am and took the backchannels as much as we could until we had no choice to travel the Strait. It was not too bad at first, about 12 knots, but it rapidly raised to about 20 knots. Time to fire the Gyroscopic Stabiliser and also raise the speed! We were able to do our passage before the seas really built-up. Further North, the wind died down to about 10 knots just as the current finally turned to ebb (with us) and the rest of the trip was uneventful. Well, except for that blow hole passage - it's tiny!
Laggon Cove is wonderful! A tiny marina with the essentials and lots of friendly people! We're clearly in a different world here! Things are a lot slower.
We hiked through the forest. We prepared food for a pot-lock happy hour on the deck with pretty much everyone else staying at the marina. Made new friends and learned what lies ahead of us (we don't have much plans!). Maelie stood-up a jewelry station and made good money! We also used a potato shooter using apples above the cliff toward the water.
A wonderful day, warm and sunny. We're really lucky so far!
Maelie sat on the dock and sold some jewelry that she's been making in the boat.
Had an easy day today - left Ganges early in the morning and sailed to Pirates Cove and stern-tied. That was probably the most eventful part of the day - Nathalie took the paddle board to get a line to shore but of course, i had not set the anchor in the right spot and we had to do it all over again... Practice makes perfect!
I had work to do today - Starlink continue to make this easy. We had time to walk the park and see the Pirate's chest. Then Dave Mercer joined us for a few drinks and stories before settling for the night.
Tomorrow - destination Campbell River. It'll be a long day going at higher speed. Looks like we're on our way toward the end of Vancouver Island over the next couple days!
A day in town! Time for the girls to do shopping - time for me to... fix stuff!Today..- Install Safiery Star Tank sensors. 60ghz sensors for the black and grey water tank, integrated with the Victron. Finally, we know if we're overburden by shit!- Install fridge temp sensor - Ruuvi. Having cold food is a good thing when you bring weeks worth of food with you...- Sealed the flybridge teak table. Tomorrow hard clearcoat and we can finally use it, again.Tomorrow - destination Pirates Coves where we should meet Dave Mercer, then... way North :) And Maelie making jewelery to sell. The boat can quickly be a mess. And the cat is measurable as you can see.
Goodbye USA
We have 300 ft of chain but half of it was not usable because it was all twisted since the factory. so we took the time to unload it from the locker and on twisted so we can finally use it all.
