Saturday, May 13, 2006: Duncanby Landing – Shearwater

Bob had heard how nice Shearwater was and Jake needed a part so we left late (around 10 a.m.) for Shearwater. It was a calm ride, but a long day. I was not feeling particularly great so I slept most of the day. We arrived at 4:30 p.m. It was a very well kept area with lots of newer buildings and a large grocery store/post office. The store was closing at 5 p.m. and the guy there wasn’t really helpful about Jake’s part so we decided to just stay one night and get an early start for Bottleneck Cove.

Friday, May 12, 2006: Port McNeill to Duncanby Landing

Friday morning we left at 6:50 a.m. to cross the straits. The seas started off calm and comfortable, but as we entered Queen Charlotte Sound to the western exposure, we started getting two meter rollers at about an eight second frequency. Nothing dangerous but not comfortable. Bob tacked back and forth to minimize the roll. We were in that slop for several hours. This was definitely not as rough as last year's trip around Vancouver Island--but not fun. We tacked back in toward Table Island where we just had long rollers . We stopped to watch two Orca Whales feeding, our first whales on this trip. I had had enough R&R (rock 'n' roll) and decided we should tie up for the night at Duncanby Landing. It was a beautiful spot with a great marina. Unfortunately it was not fully operational yet, the store had basics and the restaurant was not open. We met two cruisers who had left Port McNeill right before us. Lynne and Bob aboard "Red October" and Jim and Karon aboard "IMB". Their plans seem to pretty much match ours so we may meet up with them during the summer. Bob and I had a great dinner aboard "Annaruth" with the Maizel's and a lovely, quiet night inside the "inside passage".

"Annaruth," "Kasekuchen," "IMB." and Red October at Duncanby Landing

Tuesday-Friday, May 9 - 12, 2006: Campbell River to Port McNeill

The Maizels ("Annaruth") were in Campbell River waiting for us when we arrived with the Hoener’s on Saturday afternoon. We planned on continuing our journey to Alaska with them. We gave ourselves another day to get our e-mail, do any reprovisioning and just rest. Then Monday was rotten weather so we left around 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 9 to make it through the Seymour Narrows around slack. Our experience from last year led us to take the narrows about an hour early. It was more of an "E" ride than we expected—but it is a wide passage and "Kasekuchen" handled it well.

We waited for Maizels to catch up and had a beautiful clear day to make the long trip to Port McNeill. Got in around 6:30 p.m. Tied up at outer dock across from school bus tie up. The next morning the "bus" came in around 8:30 a.m. and off came 50 or so students from surrounding islands.

The island "bus"

Port McNeil is a pretty good provisioning town with a great gift store and art gallery. I personally think it is an ugly town with old strip malls which make up most of the town, but the residents are friendly and seem happy there. Needed a day to repair some things and wait for perfect weather to cross the Georgia Straits. Unfortunately we missed the "perfect day" on Wednesday, The forecast seemed to indicate an even more "perfect" day on Thursday—so we waited. Thursday turned out to be terrible---so we waited….

Sunday-Sunday, April 30 - May 7, 2006: Roche Harbor to Campbell River, British Columbia

We left Roche Harbor at 9:30 am with "North to Alaska" blaring from our speakers, and waves and cheering from many friends on the dock. It was a heartwarming send-off. Our plan was to head to Victoria to go thru customs and spend the day there walking around that beautiful city with Marilyn and Jim. We had lunch at the Irish Times Pub where we discovered that the Guinness on tap is very medicinal for weary cruisers (see photo of Jim and Marilyn and Guinness on left) We had a magnificent lunch, then stopped by Rebar to have a couple shots of wheat grass to cleanse our system (sounds logical) and of course buy their fabulous pie to take back to the boat. We had a great fast walk along the harbor and then back to the marina to welcome Lori and Jerry Moliter who had just arrived from Rendezvous. A light dinner that night and our first game of dominoes.

Cheryl and Bob at the Irish Times Pub in Victoria

Jim and Marilyn at the Irish Times Pub in Victoria

We left Victoria at 8:20 am Monday May 1 to go to Poet’s Cove. It is a beautiful sheltered area with a magnificent resort. We have heard great reviews on the restaurant and were anxious to try it. Bob and Jim took the dinghy down to set out crab traps. Crabbing is legal all year in Canada and John Youngblood has said that cabbing was good in the bay. The wind picked up and was really blowing all afternoon. The Poet’s Cove Aurora Restaurant is four star and it lived up to it’s reputation. The spa was extremely inviting for a return trip in the winter. We skipped the hot tubs because of exhaustion, us from Rendezvous, the Hoener’s from their long trip from Florida and the three hour time difference. Jim and Bob picked up our crab pots (we got 10) and had an quick game of dominoes and went to bed.

Poet's Cove Resort

Bob dining al fresco during our stay at Melonie Cove

We left Poet’s Cove for Silva Bay at 9:40am. It was a cold and windy trip-- but warm and cozy in the pilot house while we picked crabs for our passage soup. We had a long day of cruising and came into Silva Bay about 3 pm. It is a narrow shallow channel with a sharp turn to port. We tied up to the dock as the wind picked up. After a walk to the new grocery story at the next door Silva Bay Inn (very well stocked) we prepared for one of Bob’s great dinners – veal picatta, onion-carrot sauté and Yukon gold spiced browned potatoes. Bob made a rhubarb-berry tart. We skipped dominoes and had a great night’s sleep. (belch)

We cast off at 9:50am and decided to go to Nanaimo because of the wind and waves on the straits of Georgia. We tied up at the Nanaimo Yacht Club for a $5.00 electrical charge as part of a reciprocal agreement with our yacht club. As we were checking in, the couple at the desk looked familiar and we realized that they had been at Blind Channel resort with us last year. Nick and Sheila were really nice people and Sheila is rear admiral at the yacht club. We all were ready for exercise so we explored the town by foot and fell in love with the old city square. Great little gourmet market and lovely shops. Most of the restaurants recommended did not open until 5:30. We did not want to take the time to get the dinghy down and go the the famous "dinghy dock", so we opted for the modern café which was surprising good. It was such a beautiful day, the walkway along the harbor was filled with walkers, runners, skaters & bicyclists. Another night of dominoes and a wait to see what weather tomorrow brings.

Kasekuchen at Nanaimo

Bob and I woke early 5:30am to a beautiful calm day. We decided to go to Melanie Cove where last June we celebrated Bob’s 60th birthday. We didn’t wake the Hoener’s – just took off. I was so excited to think that we would be in Desolation Sound to fish and kayak for a couple of days. Georgia Straits were flat, the day was sunny and warm and the scenery was spectacular. I compare it with driving on I-70 thru the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Vail – only we are driving on water. Snow capped mountains, dolphins, and beautiful blue sky. There were four sailboats in the bay (I’m sure they hated to see our trawler) but we came in quietly and anchored away from them.

We took down the dinghy and kayaks and Marilyn and I immediately started exploring by kayak. We saw two bald eagles swooping overhead stalking a egret. They made the kill and dragged it ashore to devour. Since eagles are territorial, we surmised these were the same eagles that last year killed a heron in our anchorage.

Marilyn in her kayak

Marilyn and I kayaked to the waterfall and picked oysters from the cold running water. We set out crab traps and Bob and Jim caught a wonderful Ling Cod which Bob cooked for dinner. Parmesan encrusted Ling Cod with spinach orzo and a decadent brownie ala mode for dessert. More dominoes and a late bed time.

Friday was another beautiful day of fishing (more ling cod), no crabs and serene kayaking. We have named the espresso machine "Jimmy the Ling" to immortalize Jim’s fishing prowess in catching ling cod. Jim and Marilyn’s week is almost over and they have decided to stay another day. We have a simple dinner of spaghetti and my special meatballs with bananas foster over pound cake for dessert. We need to leave for Campbell River on Saturday (tomorrow) for them to catch a plane to Vancouver on Sunday.

Our last day in Melanie Cove was cold and rainy. We raised the dinghy and kayaks and left this beautiful area for Campbell River. Our wonderful week with old friends was over, but great memories remain.

Thursday-Sunday, April 27-30, 2006: Rendezvous at Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington

Rendezvous is an annual Selene Trawler event to bring together the Selene owners on the West coast hosted by Friday Harbor Yacht Sales. Last year there were 21 Selene’s at Rendezvous. There were 34 beautiful Selene’s this year at Roche Harbor. With owners, owners awaiting their Selene’s and prospective owners, there were around 200 people attending the Saturday night dinner. It is a great event that allows owners to get to know each other and gives us all a forum to talk “boat” with other cruisers.

We met lots of new owners and loved seeing old friends. The highlight of Rendezvous is the “Trawler Crawl” which is an open “boat” time where we can go thru the boats attending and get ideas for spending more money (just kidding). Howard Chen, the builder, flew over from China and this year brought his parents and brother. It is very interesting to see all the innovations on these boats. Howard is so creative that when he sees a good idea he incorporates it into his new boats. Of course it makes us “old” owners want a new boat that has all the gadgets. We had such a great time at Rendezvous and met so many new people that I know will be part of our boating adventures. It is so inspiring to meet others who love cruising and especially those who are considering this as a live aboard lifestyle.

The classes this year were informative as were the Selene vendors who were there to answer questions on their equipment. Saturday night’s award dinner had great food, and fun awards. Bob received an award for most hours on his engine last year and the fishing award for largest fish caught on the Selene Rally. The award was a mounted singing fish that not only sang but turned it’s head (really funny). Bob wanted to mount it over our bed—but I nixed that. I think it should be a traveling award and presented every year to the fisher person who gets the biggest fish that year.

Our friends Marilyn and Jim from Florida flew in Saturday afternoon and plan on spending the week with us as we start our trip north towards Alaska. We will let them off in Campbell River and then we will meet the Maizel’s (Annaruth) and make our way slowly to Sitka. The Holister’s (Amavi) will be ahead of us but we will try to catch up with them. The McCloskey’s (China Moon) are way ahead and we will try to meet them in Alaska before they head back in June.

And now for something completely different...

We're about to take a trip through time, moving from July 2005 to April 2006 without intermission. The are probably stories to be told about what happened in the ten-month period we're about to pass by, but Cheryl is eager to post more recent information about the journey she and Bob are making to Alaska this summer, so subsequent posts will chronicle that adventure. If and when she writes posts to fill in the gap, we'll backdate those posts so everything on this blog stays in chronological order.