Excellence

Think of the Broken Group as a an archipelago that fills a rectangle the size of Orcas Island. The rectangle is a little taller than it is wide. Rotate the rectangle 45° so one corner points north and the opposite corner points south. Last night's anchorage, Reeks Island Bight, was in the east corner of that rotated rectangle.

Today we made our way through narrow channels and between small islands . We proceeded from the east corner toward the north corner where Hand Island lies. Between Reeks and Hand, Nettle Island sits. We're anchored with a stern tie to shore in a small cove called Nettle Island Nook.

The nook, its surrounding islets, rocks and passageways, make good targets for exploration by dinghy or paddle boards. We spent this afternoon doing exactly that.

Then returned to the boat with ample appetites. Kay made sausage and spinach soup for dinner tonight. Only the second time I've used that recipe, first time in a standard pressure cooker. It was an excellent way to top off an excellent day.

Sailing

We did some sailing today. It was an amazing day - sunny and windy. We motored through light wind around the north end of Tzartus Island, then west toward the Broken Group. We anchored at Reek Island in a bight on the east side. That gives us good protection from wind and waves rolling in from the west. 

Seals, oyster catchers and eagles greeted our arrival. They must have wondered what was going on when we 
pumped up standup boards and scattered about the anchorage in different directions. 

The last couple of afternoons have been sunny enough to deploy solar panels on the back deck. It’s nice to have them to keep the house battery charged. They generated roughly six amps in total while the sun was out. 

MaryLou is cooking up butternut squash risotto for dinner tonight, a meal extracted from the Instant Pot cookbook. It was, in fact, the first meal I ever cooked in the Instant Pot.  The recipe calls for half a cup of white wine, so of course the crew each has to have a glass to make sure the Chardonnay is adequate for the purpose.

Quijote Fan Club

I made a couple of discoveries during my engine check last night. My engine check is routine. I do it every night (or the following morning) after the engine has had time to cool. I start by looking at the oil on the dip stick. Quantity and quality. It gets slowly darker as the trip proceeds. Then I check the sea strainer to see if the bowl has anything but sea water in it. I check the coolant level, the fuel filter, and the fan belt tension. The fuel filter has a clear reservoir, so if water finds its way into the fuel it will be visible. The coolant slowly depletes, due to a slow leak in one of the water heater hose connections that I've opted to "keep an eye on" rather than deal with. The fan belt was replaced a couple years ago so I've been operating under the assumption that it's in good condition. I give it a poke to check the tension, then look down over the back of the engine to see if there is any black dust under the fan belt, indicating abnormal wear.

All seemed well when I did last night's check, but I noticed something unexpected while visually checking hose fittings. Where two hoses are in contact with each other, the engine vibration has worn a hole in one of the hoses. The compromised hose is the cockpit scupper. When out in the open ocean, if a following wave fills the cockpit, the scuppers give all that water somewhere to go: back out to sea through two large diameter hoses. That's not likely to happen in this trip, but I wanted a better look at the problem. I removed the companionway stairs to access the forward side of the engine room. I put some padding between the two hoses to keep them from abrading any further. The scupper hose will need to be replaced. Future Rod can deal with it when he fixes the coolant leak. I love delegating to Future Rod. He'll do anything. Eventually.

With the forward side of the engine exposed, I turned to the fan belt. It was in much worse shape than I expected, given its age. Long segments of the inner edge of the belt were gone. I'm sure it wouldn't have been long before I tried to start it up one morning and found it unable to charge the battery or cool the engine which would run, but be unable to turn the alternator or water pump.

So this morning Quijote got a new fan belt.

Burgers on the barbie for dinner tonight. I put a pound of hamburger in a large bowl, added an egg, 1/4C of cut up oats (in lieu of quick oats), salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, diced onion, diced mushrooms. This is how mom used to make burgers when I was a kid. She would have used onion soup mix, but we don't have any, so diced onions will have to do.

Pumped up

We hopped over to another anchorage in the Deer Group today. We made our move, rather late in the day after a relaxing morning. While the crew inflated stand up paddle boards and explored the anchorage, Quijote needed some maintenance.

There are four water options in the galley. There is a sea water foot pump, and three freshwater options: filtered, faucet, and foot pump. The filter and faucet water sources require an electric pump to bring the water up to pressure. Last night the fresh water foot pump stopped working. With two other sources, the situation was'nt dire, but the electric pump uses… well, electricity. It's also more difficult to be cautious with water usage. Washing dishes with a trickle is easier with the foot pump than with the faucet.

So fixing the fresh water foot pump was beneficial, but not essential. I do carry rebuild kits for all my pumps though, so I got up this morning, made breakfast, and jumped on the job.

The rebuild kit consists of all the internal rubber parts, so it's not a difficult task to pull the pump apart and replace all the rubber bits. I did put it back together incorrectly, so the job wasn't completed without some head scratching, but we got there.

Knute is making beef stew in the pressure cooker tonight. We'll eat it with a loaf of freshly baked bread (shelf stable).

Smooth Passage

Thrasher Cove, Take 3

We rowed ashore this morning while the wind and waves were manageable for the dinghy. The water was rippled and wind light. The easiest access to shore didn't turn out to be the shortest distance. When we followed that, we were blocked by massive barnacle encrusted rocks. We rowed Parallel to the Shoreline, and eventually found a sandy strip that let us through.

While on shore, we chatted with several groups of backpackers doing the West Coast Trail. Tina and I hiked the trail eight or ten years ago with a gaggle of friends. At the time there was a water taxi that took us from Port Renfrew to the beginning of the trail where we beached the dinghy this morning.

It was nice to relive the West Coast Trail experience by walking down the beach today, feeling the crunch of seaweed under foot and inspecting the diverse communities living in the tide pools.

There are several tent sites established in the trees at Thrasher cove where Quijote is anchored. There are two ways to go from camp. Those heading north, Port Renfrew to Bamfield, take off along the beach. Those going to Port Renfrew head up the ladders and follow the trail. I went both directions for about 20 minutes each. I remember climbing ladders like those with a full backpack. It was quite a bit easier without one today.

We made it back to the boat before the winds picked up, but they're snorting now. Tomorrow they're supposed to be lighter in the afternoon than they will be today, so we'll take off early and get up to the broken group a little more comfortably than if we went today.

Those of you who have been following my blogs for a few years, might remember the last time I was in this cove. Quijote's starter failed. It burned up and filled the engine room with smoke, leaving us stranded for a few days. I was able to order a new starter from Sooke and somehow convinced some random person in Port Renfrew to stop and pick up the part on their way through the town fifty miles or so south of here. Then her husband delivered it to me on his fishing boat. I don't know what I'd have done without their help.

Pressure cooker

We're in Port San Juan tonight, perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and a day away from the Broken Group.

We left Victoria bright and early this morning. Winds were light and water smooth. We passed our intended anchorage before 8 AM and decided to keep going. By mid day the wind had kicked up to around 22 knots, but the water wasn't too rough, so we kept going.

By the time we were approaching the anchorage, the wind was down to 12 knots, but the chop was mixed with ocean swell, making the going much rougher. We plodded along and reached our Anchorage around 3 PM, before the winds got worse.

We've decided to hang tight tomorrow. Winds are forecasted to be light in the morning and heavy in the afternoon. Sunday will be light in the morning and moderate in the afternoon. We've decided to avoid the heavy weather and stay in this anchorage for two nights, since today's run bought us an extra day.

We had Thai Basil Fried Rice for dinner tonight. The recipe gives options for shrimp or chicken. This is the first time I opted to make it with chicken. Either option is excellent. It's become one of my favorite boat meals.

This was the maiden voyage for a new pressure cooker. The one we've been using developed a leak in the pressure relief plug. As it happens, Mary Lou's sister has one she has never used, so Quijote has given it a new home. Thanks go to MaryLou and her sister.

Victoria

We’re in Victoria. It was nice to have dinner out, meet up with friends who live here, and replenish boat stores. That last accomplishment won’t be completed until tomorrow when we re-provision.

We arrived today around 2 pm, enjoyed hot showers, did laundry, and connected the boat to shore power. We’ll head back out early Friday morning, weather permitting. 

There’s been a reggae concert going on by the waterfront all afternoon. They sound like a rocker version of UB40. It’s been nice listening to the music fill the air, but it’s going on 10:00 pm and I’m ready for them to be done. Maybe I’ll send Chuck over to unplug them. Sorry guys, it’s bed time. Skipper’s orders.

Current Events

 I was tired last night and didn’t feel like doing the job of figuring out the best time to leave the anchorage this morning. I mean really, how bad would it be if we leave late and end up wishing we’d left earlier? It’s just current. Those were the voices in my head trying to talk me into crashing immediately. Thankfully I ignored them. 

There were three channels of interest in todays passage, but it isn’t really necessary to figure more than one of them because they all turn at roughly the same time, or within half an hour of each other. Of course you don’t know that unless you figure more than one. 

What I found was the water between last night’s anchorage and tonight’s anchorage flows northward, until 4:40am when it turns to ebb. That means the earlier we leave the better.  It turns northward again at 2:41pm, so we needed to arrive at tonight’s anchorage before then. 

And that’s how it played out. The anchor was up before 7am and we rode the tide South with an extra two knots of boat speed most of the way. We saw four knots of current though a narrow pinch point, giving us 9.3 knots over the ground with 5.3 knots through the water. 

Had the current been flowing the opposite direction our speed over ground would have been 1.3 knots at that point and we’d have averaged 3 knots instead of 7. The day’s four hour passage would have taken us ten hours. 

Now that’s worth losing a little sleep for. 

Combining Flavors

We’re in Madrona Bay for the night. Well, almost in. The book says of this anchorage, 

“Away from the bustle of Ganges Harbour, Madrona Bay offers a quieter anchorage for cruising boats with a view of attractive homes among the trees”

What we found was a small bay full of boats on mooring balls. So we’re just outside the bay. The wind is blowing in the mid teens and the wind generator is humming. It’s well that it is. We haven’t come far the last couple of days, so we haven’t had many engine hours to charge the battery. That’s just as well too. Wind is more affordable than diesel.

Tomorrow we have a full day. Thirty miles to Cadboro bay, where we’ll position ourselves for our entry into Victoria on Wednesday. We have a reservation at the Causeway docks in the Inner Harbour. 

From there, I’ll see Chuck off, and invite MaryLou, Knute, and Kay aboard for the second half of the trip. 

We have mac and cheese on the menu for dinner tonight. There’s something about combining the flavors of mac and cheese with the tangy sweetness of pulled pork. 

Knute’s Update

We’re anchored in Long Harbour for the night. It’s in the Southeast corner of Saltspring Island. We made a grueling 2.5 mile run from James Bay around mid-day. This uses the first of two extra days we gained by crossing the Strait of Georgia early while winds were favorable. 

There are a lot of homes and docks along the shore line, but not many boats anchored for the night.

Knute updated the anchorage graphic to show Broken Islands detail. We probably won’t go to every anchorage listed in the itinerary.  There are extras thrown in as options if we have free nights. It is likely we’ll end up waiting for favorable weather while trying to push our way up the Strait of Juan de Fuca. But if we do stick to the itinerary, this is what it will look like.  Thanks KB!

Happy Trails

We're in James Bay tonight. It's on Prevost Island. I chose this particular Bay because it has a lovely hike. There was some discussion about whether this anchorage would be advisable. Chuck pointed out that it's open to the northwest, the exact direction that most of the wind is coming from with a northwest wind dominating the Strait of Georgia forecasts.

He had visions of large waves rolling in with the wind, bouncing the boat around while we're trying to sleep. Very smart of him to consider the direction of the wind relative to the entrance of the bay. I pointed out that while it's true the wind in the Strait of Georgia is blowing from the northwest, James Bay is situated closer to Haro Strait, which is dominated by wind blowing down the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The wind flows down that strait, rotates around Victoria, and flows northward up Haro Strait. We watched the wind direction evolve over time on one of my weather apps and saw that the forecast was for the wind to remain from the southwest at James Bay for the duration of our stay.

So here we are. We anchored, jumped in the dinghy and rowed to shore for a thoroughly enjoyable hike. It starts through an old fruit orchard, goes around the head of the bay, and follows a peninsula to its end, where there's a navigational aid. One might call it a lighthouse, but it can't be occupied and so doesn't deserve the term house of any kind.

Leftover rigatoni Bolognese for dinner tonight. Most dinners have left overs with just two of us. That said, we did eat up all of last night's sloppy joes. They were really good, thanks to Chuck's culinary prowess. He mixed bbq sauce into the sloppy Joe sauce and added garlic paste to spice things up a bit, then toasted the buns perfectly. 😋

For the Birds

It’s a calm, gray day. We pulled anchor at a civilized hour, 8am, and departed Mark Bay for a 9:26 slack tide through Dodd Narrows. We timed our arrival to the narrows perfectly and were just about to turn into the channel, when a large tug appeared coming the other way. It was towing a raft of logs, just the right width to barely slide through the narrows. There was nothing for it but to wait until tug and tow had cleared the channel. So we waited. 

We eventually passed through the narrows without incident and by noon were anchored in Clam Bay.

My guide book has a notation in pencil that I anchored here in Aug, 2008, but I don’t remember it. It’s a lovely little bay though; full of the songs, calls, and squawks of a healthy bird population. 

Sloppy Joes for dinner tonight. 

Dodging War Ships

We're launching out into the Strait of Georgia, right toward a couple of Canadian war ships. They come on the radio every ten minutes or so to warn anyone who's listening to stay away. I entered their broadcasted Lat/Lon on the plotter to see where they are and observed that our course puts us right between them. Their required clearance is 500 yards, about a quarter nautical mile (.29 miles), so we'll keep an eye on them and see if we'll need a course correction.

Thankfully the military exercise area Whiskey Golf is inactive, allowing us to cut right through the middle of those war ships. The worships are conducting drone exercises, so I guess they don't consider those dangerous to other vessels. I have do doubt they'll call on the radio if they see us going where we shouldn't

We're on our way to Mark Bay today,a day ahead of schedule. The wind is forecast to blow from the south tomorrow, so we decided to cross the strait before it does.

We sailed for about four hours yesterday in 20-25 knot wind and sunshine. The wind was off the starboard quarter, perfect conditions for making miles under sail. With genoa alone we made 7.7 kts for a while and averaged 6 kts for the morning. We arrived at Thunder Bay around 5pm to find a half dozen crab pots making anchoring difficult. We managed to shoehorn ourselves between them and thankfully didn't move around much during the night. At 6am we were off again.

Campbell River

The trip from Grace Harbour west to Campbell River yesterday was forecasted to be a windy one if we waited until early evening, but would be against the tidal currents if we departed too early, so it was a bit of a balancing act choosing an optimal time to pull the anchor and get under way.

En route the wind forecasted was 10-15 kts late morning and 20-25 in the early morning before our departure. We waited until 9:30am to get going and experienced 0-12 kts. That was good, but most of it was in our face, so there wasn't much opportunity to unfurl the sails.

We arrived at around 2pm and refilled the fuel tank, then found our reserved slip. By the time we were on approach to the slip it was blowing 15 and I was glad I didn't have to deal with the higher wind speeds that piped up after we were there for a couple hours. I was even more glad to be tied to the dock for today's wind, forecasted to blow 25 to 30 with gusts to forty. It's been blowing hard all day Thankfully it's forecast to moderate overnight. We'll be running with the wind on our way, so it should be easy even if it blows harder than forecast. Maybe.

I saw Tina and Sapna off this morning. Tina was off to visit her family and Sapna had to go back to work.

Otherwise, it was a typical Marina day. Laundry, re-provisioning, filling propane, diesel and water tanks. We'll start working our way south toward Victoria tomorrow morning if the weather cooperates.

A few photos

 

Quijote Crew Looking Sharp

Heading for adventure via the Ballad Bridge…

…and through the locks

Smiles in PLI before the rain

Anchored in Bedwell Harbour 

Another gorgeous sunset in Silva Bay

Quijote in PLI

Diversity

We're in Grace Harbour tonight, one of a dozen or so boats. There are stern tie anchors along the shore. They weren't necessary today, but might be later in the summer when this bay fills up. After setting the anchor, we all piled in the dinghy and rowed to shore.

Former Quijote crew might remember the hike to Black Lake from this harbor. The lake is the color of tea and supports a large lily pad population. While we were admiring the lake, a loon broke the stillness with a call to its mate.

Chuck is a Canadian forester and noted the lake's forest diversity. He rattled off a half dozen tree species along the shore, including a Shore Pine (Pinas Contortas), aka the Lodge Pole Pine. Chuck says it's uncommon, thrives in dry, rocky soil. There was also birch and alder, which like boggy, moist soil. It seems where there's a diversity of soil, there's a diversity of trees.

The Perfect Kind of Day

We entered Princess Louisa Inlet yesterday through the Malibu rapids. The rapids run at nine knots on a spring tide. We had a neap tide, or close to it, and timed it for slack, so we passed through comfortably and anchored close to Chatterbox Falls.

We were all settled in and looking forward to hiking the following morning, when the forecast deteriorated. So we were suddenly looking toward slogging up a muddy trail in the rain, or hanging out on the boat in the rain. We opted for neither.

We decided to make it a travel day and exit PLI. That'll give us an extra day to explore Desolation Sound.

The plan is to spend tonight at Thunder Bay, tomorrow night at Grace Harbor (where there's hiking to be found), and then wrap this first leg up at Campbell River, arriving on Monday. Chuck and I will then depart on Wednesday for Victoria

The water maker filled our fresh water tanks, so that's good news. It's such a luxury to have ample freshwater. We even took hot fresh water showers on the back deck last night.

It's supposed to be warm again in a day or two, but today it's rather raw, cold, wet and blustery. It's the perfect kind of day to make some miles.

making water

Those of you who have been following my blogs for a while might remember my water-maker issues. Crossing the Pacific to Hawaii, the water maker was leaking so badly it was putting more fresh water in the bilge than it was in the tank.

I've torn it apart a couple time over the years, but this time I decided to take it to the manufactures service rep because he has a bench in a lab that supplies what the unit needs to operate. For a reasonable price he was able to resolve the leaks much better than I probably would have been able to on the boat.

It was with that background that I was looking forward to firing up the new rebuilt water maker. Alas, when I did it failed.

It was quickly evident that the feed pump wasn't turning on.

I exchanged emails with the Spectra service rep who suggested we try isolating a pressure switch. If the pressure becomes too high, the water maker is shut down by turning off the feed pump. When we did that the water maker worked great. In fact, as we're motoring along now it's making 6 gallons of water per hour. This is a nine hour day so we should be able to make more than 50 gallons. Showers tonight!

Stern Tied

We finally escaped Silva Bay. We got an early start and headed North to Dol Bay, motoring or motor sailing all the way. We arrived at the anchorage around 2 pm and went to work on anchor and stern tie, setting the anchor and backing the stern toward shore.

Chuck and Tina took off toward shore in the dinghy with one end of the stern tie line and one end of the tag line. Tina clambered up the shore and passed the stern line around a tree, then tied it to the tag line.

Back on the boat, we pulled in the tag line until we'd retrieved the end of the stern tie line it was tied to. Then we anchored the stern to shore with the stern line. In the morning we won't have to go ashore. We'll just pull the stern line in, pull up the anchor, and away we'll go.

Off the Boat

The wind has calmed, the water has become smooth, and boats are starting to move about. We could go somewhere else with what's left of the day, but northward the only place to go that's close is Nanaimo. It's busy and noisy and isn't any closer to tomorrow's anchorage than we are now. It makes more sense to hang tight and leave early tomorrow morning. So that's what we'll do.

We did make it off the boat today. The dinghy made four trips, two in each direction with human cargo. I dropped Tina and Sapna off with the garbage first. Then went back for Chuck. We walked the roads for 10 or 15 minutes from one marina to the next one over. The reason for going for a walk, beyond the enjoyment of it, was to visit a small store for ice cream and snacks. We found both marinas to be friendly, but services were limited. The small gift shop with books and snacks was all there was for food. No restaurants.

We might have brought towels and soap and taken showers, but we didn't think of it until we were there. Instead we washed our hair in the bathroom. What a luxury.

Another Hunker Day

It's another day of waiting for the weather to subside. We're in Silva Bay, south of Nanaimo. Winds have been blowing down the strait at 20-30 kts, gusting higher, for three days now. The wind speed is forecasted to moderate tomorrow afternoon and then the sea state will diminish somewhat later, which will be too late to make use of the day to move to another anchorage. It'll be Thursday morning before we can go anywhere.

Three extra days in this bay mean fewer days in Desolation Sound and Princess Louisa Inlet (PLI). Tina and Sapna hope to be in Campbell River (CR) on the 12th, so we'll have just enough time to get to PLI, spend two nights, and then make our way to CR.

I think this is the longest stretch of confinement to a Canadian anchorage I've ever endured. It'll be four nights, by the time we're done.

Had we been heading south, we'd have been gone long ago, into the protected waters of the Trincomali Channel. Or if we were entering the northern end of the strait, with the same winds the sea state would have been fine. But heading into the southern part of the strait with wind from the northwest deserves caution. The winds blow down the strait, building seas as they go.

At some point, being confined to the same anchorage day after day is its own kind of discomfort. In the absence of improving weather conditions we'd have to decide whether it's worse than bashing into the heavy seas. Thankfully, we're not there yet. Fingers crossed for a Thursday morning departure.

Wind and Waves

We're a crew of four now. Shapna joined us yesterday, just as the weather turned for the worse. It's still sunny and clear, but the wind is blowing 20-30, hard enough to make the seas out in the Strait of Georgia untenable. Or uncomfortable in any case. The last time I tried to cross the strait with seas forecast to be around one meter, green water came up over the bow and rolling down the deck where it found its way through small openings under the dodger and poured into the main saloon. There was so much water, Quijote's floorboards were floating. That's not something I have seen happen before or since, even out on the open ocean where there was just as much water on deck.

Todays forecast called for 1-2 meter seas, possibly twice as large as that day. The boat has no problem with strong wind and large seas, but the crew…That's another story.

Our next anchorage is roughly north of here and the wind and waves will be coming from the NW. we'd be bashing into them up the coast, and then crossing them perpendicularly across the Strait. Neither would be fun.

So we're hunkered down today, waiting for friendlier conditions. We'll spend a second night in Silva Bay tonight and reassess tomorrow.

In the mean time the boat is being blown around while Tina, adorned in her life jacket, paces up and down the deck.

The wind generator sounds like an airplane propeller. It's putting out more electricity than we can use. Like an old friend, it's nice to see the generator in good health again. It was disabled last year by high winds (and old age).

Morning

I love getting a super early start. The groan leaks from my mind as the alarm drags me into consciousness. Headlamp, warm clothing, shoes. Electronics on, nav light, steaming light, then into the cockpit. It's a quiet start, calm water, no breeze. I start the engine. Chuck readies the anchor. I'm bathed in moonlight, waiting. Idle adjust. Okay, he says. Go, I say. I throttle up, hear the chain start to run. There's a glow on the eastern horizon. I wait. The windlass labors for a moment, then runs freely. It tells me the anchor has been pulled out of the muck on the bottom. The boat is maneuverable. I slowly steer toward the mouth of the harbor. There's the final clunk of the anchor pulled onto the bow roller. Chuck's headlight continues to bob as he ties the anchor down, then comes aft. All well? I ask. Yup. The day is on.

Sailing into Canada

Quijote Crew enjoyed a spectacular day of cruising through the San Juan Islands today. Light winds from 5 to 15 knots and sunshine. We even did some sailing.

We started the day off right by sleeping in, having a leisurely breakfast, and pulling the anchor around 9:30. That put us in San Juan Channel shortly before Turn to Flood (TTF). Had we left any earlier we'd have found ourselves battling an ebb tide and burning a lot of fuel.

We crossed the border around 3pm and cleared customs an hour or so later in Bedwell Harbour.

Last year at this point we were denied clearing in Bedwell Harbour because Covid had closed the station, a curious decision considering the last couple of times I stopped here, and this time, the station has been unmanned. Three telephone hand sets have replaced the humans who used to work here.

I picked one up. "Press one for English or two for French," it said. The hand set had no key pad, a dubious start. I waited patiently. When a woman came on the line ten minutes later I provided the boats documentation number and she asked if I was Matt. Huh? I guess Matt was listed first in last year's form. Several questions later we were cleared for entry.

I have a favorite anchorage spot in Bedwell Harbour well away from the press of other boats. It's mentioned in my Douglas guide, but I've never seen anyone there, which is a good thing, because it's only big enough for a single boat. It would be interesting to know how many boats anchor in it over the course of a year.

Another selling point for my favorite Bedwell H. anchorage is its close proximity to a hiking trail. It was 4 pm by the time we were ready to hike, so we rowed to shore, a few hundred feet from the boat, tied up the dinghy, and scrambled up to the trail paralleling the shoreline.

Dinner tonight was fresh Atlantic salmon cooked on the bbq by Chuck who did an excellent job of it. Two days in we are eating like kings. Chuck's bbq salmon and Tina's Jambalaya were both exceptional. I just hope I can keep the level of culinary excellence going tomorrow night 🤞

Sunshine and Good Time

We've been slogging our way northward for four hours now, after a 5am start. Seas are rippled and wind calm. It's a glorious day, cool and sunny.

Our speed over ground is over 9 knots; 5 knots though the water . That suggests we could be making 4 knots even without Propulsion. The wind velocity has been hovering around 2 knots all morning. That should change when we get out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The wind is expected to be from the west there at around 15 knots.

Until then… we sprint with the current.

Later…

We're in Alec Bay for the night. We never did see the fifteen knot wind that was forecast, although now that we're anchored, the wind generator is singing its song.

This is the third time I've anchored in this cove, but the first time we've gone ashore. The first couple of times I've been in here we arrived with barely enough time to cook dinner before we started to lose our light. Today we started earlier in the day, and thanks to the tidal flow, traveled much faster than we normally do. We spent a lot of the day moving at 8.5-9 knots. That put us in our anchorage a little after 1 pm. Plenty of time to go ashore and still make jambalaya for dinner. 😋

Transit to Shilshole

Chuck and I just scrubbed The boat clean. It's amazing how dirty the city makes a boat that's sitting still. That's especially true where Quijote is tied, under the Aurora bridge. Quijote is eager to get going. Bob and Jeff are helping with the Ballard lock transit today. Tina will play the roll of shuttle driver when we arrive at Shilshole.

Later…

The lock transit went very smoothly with very little waiting for bridges to open. As we were approaching the locks, I was using my best squint to try and see the traffic lights that tell us when a lock is clear to enter. Suddenly a loud speaker told us to enter the small lock. For a change they were waiting for us.

The small lock has floating walls to tie the boat to. When the water level drops, the wall we tie to goes goes with it, which makes it a hands off affair. Tie up, wait for the water level to change, untie and go.

After the lock transit, we had perishable provisioning to do. Tina and I knocked that out in under an hour. Then it was back to the boat to stow the provisions, then back to the house for final showers, dinner etc, then back to the boat to catch a few hours of sleep before our 5am wake up.

The tide turns to ebb at 3:30am and turns to flood at 11:30 am, so between those two times Puget Sound is a river flowing north. The earlier we get going tomorrow morning, the faster and more fuel efficient we'll be. 5:00am isa good compromise. Sunrise is at 5:15.