Monthly Archives: August 2018

Our 2018 Summer Cruise finale

Posted on by

This year’s summer cruise is coming to an end here in Port Ludlow, about 3 hours north of Seattle. Our visit to Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC was as enchanting as usual, filling our senses with the color and smells of the magical gardens. Some of the dahlias were as big as my head! I included a picture of the bark of the 100 year-old Alders lining the walk down to the sunken gardens.

What a legacy Jennie Butchart left for all of us. Interestingly, the gardens are still run by their Great-Granddaughter, representing the 5th generation of a successful family business. Something to aspire to as we work to steward Dick’s Drive-Ins for our future generations.

Butchart not only has the wonderful gardens, but also a lovely restaurant and delightful summer concerts almost every night.

We loved our time anchored in Tod Inlet next to Butchart Gardens and enjoyed an easy crossing of The Strait of Juan de Fuca as we returned to the USA. As usual we anchored at the almost empty Fort Flagler state park across from Port Townsend, then took our dinghy into town the next day and enjoyed a yummy lunch and an hour of hot tubbing at Soak On The Sound. That night, we even saw some phosphorescence in the water again although the light from nearby Port Townsend diminished the glow.

Now we are finishing up in Port Ludlow at the hotel/marina there, about an hour south of Port Townsend. We haven’t stopped here in almost 10 years. Needless to say, it has grown quite a bit in the last 10 years, but it’s still a pretty little bay. It gave us an opportunity to relax at the dock, do some more kayaking, eat a yummy meal at the hotel restaurant and plug into shore power to recharge our batteries. Usually we can recharge our batteries with our generator, but yesterday when we left Fort Flagler our generator failed. Good timing for us since our need for a generator is over for now! We can just “plug in” the boat at the dock today and when we’re back in Seattle. Our mechanic has been notified and will meet us at our marina in Seattle on Wednesday morning.

One nice surprise: we learned from a facebook post that two of our very special friends, Carrie and Troy Shaw, were in the neighborhood on a vacation of their own, so they drove over and met us for breakfast before heading to the coast. What a treat to get to see them!

After they left we took advantage a “boat & golf” package at the marina and played nine holes. The air today is heavy with smoke from the forest fires in BC, Washington and Oregon, but we still enjoyed getting back into the golf swing of things.

Tomorrow we will leave early, refuel in Kingston and return to our slip at the Elliott Bay Marina by 2pm so the First Mate can get to her seriously needed haircut appointment. It’s time to clean up a bit! And we will get to visit the grandkids for dinner!

So our voyage ends with us relaxed and inspired. We’ve seen humpbacks, orcas, fishing sea lions, eagles, kingfishers, herons, raccoons, seals and otters. We’ve met new friends, enjoyed beautiful sunsets, shooting stars and amazing phosphorescence. We’ve discovered new gunk holes, rivers and docks. We were able to visit Princess Louisa twice in one summer and are excited to plan a longer voyage next year when we’re officially “retired.” We’ve improved our chess game, learned to paddle board and had some great philosophical discussions.

Thanks again for sharing it all with us!

Tata for now!

The Captain and The First Mate of the True Love.

Return to PLI but first Friel Falls

Posted on by

After our crazy windy evening in Powell River the winds calmed enough the next day for us to leave the marina there so we did. Our journey back to PLI included clouds, some wind, and some rain but generally was no problem and we turned into Jervis Inlet heading to our our favorite place. We all hoped the rain would clear out the smoke. Here is a photo our new friends from Aluel Winery in Seattle took of us leaving.

We were trying to time our arrival at Malibu Rapids (the entrance to PLI) with the slack current before high tide; that way we can ride the flood tide up the fjord, clear the rapids and then secure our shore tie when its easiest to do that (at high tide). It looked like we were going to arrive at the rapids too early so as we were cruising the First Mate remembered reading about Friel Falls in Hotham Sound. Turns out it was less than 5 miles away from us so we decided to do a detour and spend our “waiting” time there on a new exploration.

Friel Falls plunges 1,400 feet and even late in the season there was a lot of water coming down (we plan to begin our summer boating trip next year in June so we can see all the waterfalls in their full glory). It falls from Friel Lake and we even lucked out with light winds and some sunshine so the First Mate deployed the paddle board.

After playing for about an hour we headed again toward PLI, about 30 miles up the fjord. Everything went according to plan; our favorite anchorage was available and after we secured the shore tie and dropped the anchor we felt the calm and magic of PLI. Because of the rain the waterfalls were temporarily flowing like it was early summer, but it was cloudy so we were not able to watch the Perseids meteor shower. But we were rewarded with three days of remarkable phosphorescence in the water.

The first night of phosphorescence were pretty normal, if you can call this unusual phenomenon normal. As we experienced the one night the year before, I looked out behind the True Love and there was a glow where a nearby waterfall hit the surface of the inlet. So I snapped the stern line on the water and ohhhh there it was! The Captain and I then disturbed the water around us with paddles and ropes to create glowing shapes on the water. We laughed and giggled and enjoyed it as if we were children playing with sparklers on Independence Day.

The next day we woke hoping that the clouds had cleared and they had but unfortunately the clouds were replaced by a smoky haze from distant forest fires. The waterfalls were really very small compared to our visit a month earlier despite yesterday’s rain. Amazingly or maybe predictably, the water was about 70 degrees, 3 degrees cooler from the shorter days in mid-August compared to mid-July. The warm water is created by the limited tidal exchange with the Pacific and from the hot summer sun and the long, 17+ hour long early summer days in the inlet. The first mate still took a swim or two. 7AECEE71-7182-47E6-AE2E-4688F84BE958.jpegAnd the Captain tried the paddle board successfully. We were also visited by a heron that was fishing along the shore. Harry (yes Harry Heron) visited us every day. Also on our way into our anchorage we spotted the mother seal with two pups we saw in July. We were worried then that the second, smaller pup wouldn’t survive. But it turns out it did! Still smaller, but it looked healthy and much better than the month before.

During the day we met some new friends, Bridget and Bill and helped them with some shore tie advice because this was their first visit to PLI on their boat “Aimless.” Our day was filled the usual PLI way with meditation, reading, kayaking and now paddle boarding. When night descended we knew the smoke was not going to allow us to see peak Perseids, but would we get phosphorescence again? Boy did we! This time there was a large school of small fish around us and as the fish swam around the water all around us was glowing and sparkling at different depths intermittently like the lights at a concert. As we walked out on the True Love’s swim platform the door thunked shut behind us and the low drum sound vibrated the water so all the fish moved at once . . . and voila! fireworks in the water! We were enchanted, astonished and giggling with each thunk. Alas, although I tried, it was too dark to photograph or video.

Our third day was spent much the same. The smoke unfortunately thickened. When a sea plane landed we went over to get information on how widespread the smoke was now. It turns out it was everywhere, from Seattle north, as our readers in Seattle know.

Later in the day we enjoyed cocktails with Bridget and Bill, and shared our combined joyful phosphorescence discovery. They experienced the same thing. The Captain and First Mate decided if we got the phosphorescence an unprecedented third night we would take the tender out to see how the propeller on the outboard engine looked in the water. Well they were there again, glowing all around with the movement of the fish and driving the tender through the water created a comet tail behind the boat. While moving we played with glowing feet in the water and glowing paddles at different depths, all filling us with joy and laughter.

The next day the smoke was even thicker. Unfortunately, the smoke was flowing into our little inlet like a funnel into a bottle. Despite the sunrise the temperature wasn’t very warm and we departed PLI with the slack current that morning and rode the ebb tide back toward civilization. We shared info with passing yacht cruising toward PLI and he said the smoke wasn’t as bad further south near Nanaimo so we decided to do a long day cruising and end in Nanaimo, depending on the winds in the Georgia Strait.

We weren’t in any rush so we cruised close to the west shore looking for future waterfalls and gunk holes. We stopped along the way for a floating meditation and I tried to reach out to the creatures in the water for an orca sighting. We were told by a whale guide that orcas had entered Jervis a couple of weeks ago, something we had never seen.

A fellow boater told us about a good iPhone app a lot of sailboaters use called “Predict Wind.” It is very helpful and seems to be accurate. It predicted a calm crossing of the Georgia Strait and so we did continue to Nanaimo. That is where we saw the orcas!

A pod of around 5 or 6 were fishing all around us. It appeared they were catching. One orca surfaced right in front of the True Love and we had to quickly cut the engines. Our next hour was spent with the orcas. I turned on the music and we tried to capture some photos with the telephoto. Orcas are truly hard to photograph because unlike humpbacks you need to capture them coming up out of the water, not descending like the humpbacks. I thanked the water creatures for responding to my meditation and prayers and we headed on to Nanaimo, leaving the orcas fishing behind us.

In Nanaimo we felt very lucky at first because we got the last spot on the Cameron Island pier. Unfortunately, it was on the outside of the pier. We have never been on the outside and we soon learned we would never stop there again. The outside is rocked heavily by the ferry waves every hour or so. And rocked doesn’t describe the motion quite enough. It’s more like the scene in Mary Poppins where the cannon goes off on a regular schedule and the household has to prepare to catch everything as it falls screaming “places everyone”! But we tied down, cleaned up and headed into town for our annual Greek dinner at Astera Taverna. We ordered our usual combo plate dinner with yummy calamari, ate half and enjoyed the rest for lunch yesterday.

In Nanaimo we were docked behind the 200′ “Huntress”, a $75 million mega yacht that can be rented for $450,000 a week in high season, plus expenses. It was quite the draw at the docks and it didn’t get knocked around by the waves. It only sleeps 10, but it does have 20 crew to take care of its passengers.

After arriving back at the True Love satiated and experiencing more rocking, we knew we would be leaving first thing the next morning. No need to set an alarm of course, the rocking woke us and we left to cruise through Dodd Narrows with the slack current to a place I’ve read about often, but had never stopped at in the southern gulf islands: the mural town of Chamainus. The description in the Waggoner Cruising Guide sounded delightful but we had never visited it before because we are always heading north or south with great purpose, quickly. Now we had time, so we stopped for a stroll and some baked goods and it was worth it. It’s adorable with over 30 murals depicting the history of the town, cute little restaurants and three bakeries. We will stop there again.

Feeling really tired from three late nights of phosphorescence entertainment, and a super early start in Nanaimo we decided we needed a sure thing anchorage and a couple of nights somewhere fun and easy. So we are currently anchored in the little inlet behind Butchart Gardens in Victoria. We slept great last night and today we will kayak, paddle board, enjoy the gardens, share a lovely dinner at the restaurant there and end with an evening jazz concert near the restaurant.

It looks like we will be able to cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the calm winds predicted for Friday so we will do another long cruise tomorrow and take our time the last 4 days in northern Puget Sound before heading home. We will anchor the True Love in Fort Flaggler near Port Townsend for two nights and then spend two nights in Port Ludlow where we will take advantage of the “boat and golf package” and ease slowly back into reality. That is the plan anyway. Let’s see if the wind predictions are accurate.

The Captain and the First Mate of the True Love

Toba Inlet Part 2

Posted on by

After our week in Seattle we flew back to the Toba Wilderness Resort, boarded the True Love and headed into Toba Inlet. The flight was lovely, I got the front seat and we even saw a breach whale outside of Nanaimo.  Alas no picture.

Our goal – anchoring at the head of the inlet and enjoying some peaceful time, star watching and exploration. Thanks to a special tip from a local we have anchored in a very special gunk hole. The anchorage is completely out of the scary afternoon winds and also gets great shade from the hot sun in the afternoons. The bugs are a non-issue, there is a little stream and the star viewing, although somewhat narrow, is superb. We have been sworn to secrecy, so our anchorage is a secret undisclosed location.

Last night we stayed up late to watch the stars both from the True Love and the Tender.

Although smoke has plagued the area from fires farther south, Toba is pretty clear. We were treated to many satellites, the Milky Way and quite a few shooting stars including a super big one early in the evening. The Perseids meteor showers peak this weekend but the build up is still worth staying up until midnight or later.

We stayed up past 2 am looking at the sky and slept in pretty late. It was low-tide when we woke up and the view around our anchorage was quite different. The undisclosed location gunk hole continues to amaze us. After getting up we quickly grabbed some food and headed out to explore the head of the river and hopefully spy some bears. Although we didn’t see bears, we discovered the Toba River. It was a complete surprise.

Once we left the churning water behind where the sea meets the river we entered a huge and long river reminiscent of big southern rivers. We were off our GPS and had no map, so we felt a little like “Captain Vancouver” type explorers. Except of course for our 40 hp engine and the electronics showing us our depth. The river is big and powerful and would have been quite impossible to explore rowing, but the True Love tender was the perfect boat for the exploration. The Toba River is lined with deciduous trees and surrounded by massive mountains and some truly amazing waterfalls and glaciers. One of the powerful abundant waterfalls up the river is being harnessed for hydro because Canada rationally understands that water power is a clean, renewable resource.

We both loved our exploration of Toba river (which runs from the Toba Glacier to the head of Toba Inlet) and the other smaller Tahummer River. But the Captain especially loves navigating the river like he did in his youth on his little skiff. On our way back we did see from a distance a couple of bears.

This afternoon we scoped out some possible spots for an astrophoto shot near our undisclosed anchorage and are looking forward to the star show as the sky darkens. In the end we were too tired to head off the boat so I took a moving star shot from True Love.

Tomorrow we head south and then east for another visit to our favorite location, Princess Louisa Inlet, before we head home. We will need to make a stop in Powell River for some reprovisioning before heading on to PLI. The forecast is calling for some rain his weekend, which isn’t good for the Perseids, but it’s good for containing the wildfires and great for expanding the many waterfalls in PLI.

Powell River Docking Adventure in the wind. Our cruise from Toba to the Beach Garden Marina in Powell River was easy. I even went for a swim in the 75 degree waters of Desolation Sound after doing my yoga. But as we approached Powell River a fierce wind began to blow. The Beach Garden Marina is a sweet spot but it is very narrow with the rock jetty only about 40 feet from the dock (the True Love is 15′ wide). The Captain positioned us perfectly but the wind gusted and began to blow us away from the dock toward the rocks. The young man working the dock was flummoxed and didn’t tie the stern line right away even though we repeatedly asked him to do that. The side thrusters work best in short spurts but the Captain had to use them continuously to make any progress against the wind that was blowing us away from the dock. We were both worried that the thrusters would fail at any moment from overuse! (It has happened before).

Other boaters who had already docked came to our rescue and we had 4 different people helping, including a professional captain in the big yacht at the front of the marina. Once tied down we needed to move the True Love back 10 feet to make room for a boat that was supposed to arrive later (and never did). So we all worked together to move the True Love one line at a time fighting the wind the entire time. But we were successful. Exhausted, we decided to have dinner at the restaurant right here before walking up the hill to provision at the little Pacific Point Grocery Store about a half mile away. . The sunset was lovely and we sure slept well last night.

Thanks for reading!

The Captain and the First Mate of the True Love

Lund, the Copelands, Van Donop, Octopus Islands, Blind Channel, Erasmus Island & Toba

Posted on by

After leaving Powell River we took a short cruise to nearby Lund. Lund is a sweet little harbor town with a decent little grocery, a lovely little art gallery, a super yummy bakery, homemade ice cream and a booth that sells batik wraps. We enjoyed all of them and the ice cream was particularly yummy on the hot afternoon.

After Lund we crossed over to the very close Copeland Islands and anchored in a new spot. It wasn’t our best gunk hole anchoring. Although we shore tied, the winds came from an unexpected direction in the middle of the night and blew us further than we expected in our little bay. When we woke up we were much closer (about 15 feet) to the shallow side and the big rocks there than we thought possible. But, no harm, no foul.

After dark we also had a strange experience when a little aluminum boat came in really late to our bay and seemed to run into the shallow rock. When we called out to them and shined our spot light on them they initially didn’t respond. But then said, “we are fine, we are locals.” I guess the locals here don’t worry about hitting local rocks. We went to sleep only to find them in a different spot behind us in the morning after we woke to find our boat blown to the other side of the bay. We did discuss our mistaken assumptions and will learn. Our shore tie was just too far from the boat and our anchor chain was also too long for the depth where we anchored. But anchoring, especially in gunk holes, is an art.

We left early with plans to head directly to Octopus Islands, but decided to investigate a new inlet: Van Donop. It’s an area where we often see whales and we did again this time. After hanging out with a pair (maybe even the same pair we saw with Erica) we decided to give Donop Inlet an exploration. We liked what we saw, so we dropped anchor to spend the night. The inlet is long and narrow, opening to a huge bay where you could easily anchor 100 boats. We were one of only 20 boats and our anchorage was at the head of a smaller side inlet. That afternoon we enjoyed a fun kayak and I did a lovely long yoga session on the bow of the boat. Van Donop was a great discovery and we will be back.

We left Van Donop early the next morning so we could travel through the Hole-In-The-Wall tidal rapids near slack tide, arriving at our usual Octopus anchorage by late morning. We returned to our favorite great little gunk hole just outside the main bay where we can enjoy the marine park in relative seclusion. Octopus Islands Marine park is made up of one big bay, but also a lot of little islands with nooks and crannies surrounded by super calm water for fun kayaking, especially at low tide. Usually, the air is clear but this year there is a hazy marine fog, mixed with smoke from the Okanogan forest fires in south eastern British Columbia. Last night the “strawberry moon” was hard to see because of their smokey skies. But I still got a picture. The Octopus Islands are not surrounded by dramatic, glaciated mountains, but the kayaking there is hard to beat. When the tide is low the otters, raccoons, herons and tidal sea creatures are abundant. We were able to get a couple of long fun kayaks trips in, but we ran into an unusual problem: wasps. We have never had a bug problem at Octopus Islands before, but the air was still, the temperature was hot and the wasps were abundant. We talked to some other passing kayakers and they had no problems. So there must have been a big wasp nest nearby our favorite anchorage, just bad luck. After our kayak this morning, we decided to head out a day early towards Erasmus Island (near Blind Channel) during the slack tidal currents late this afternoon instead of leaving early tomorrow morning. It was the right choice.

This “Crawford Anchorage” on the inside of Erasmus Island is another little magic spot we have discovered. As we cruised in, a seal and two eagles welcomed us. The air was cooler and cleaner than at Octopus Islands and after anchoring we lit the Sabbath candles, gave thanks for all our blessings and settled into a yummy dinner of ramen curry soup. And no wasps! The extra bonus is that we can get tonight’s Mariners game on our satelite TV. Tomorrow we will do our usual kayaking, then take the tender to the Blind Channel Resort where we will do a little hike and maybe even try some fishing.

This area of the cruise allows for intermittent connectivity. Of course that is both good and bad. The good, we get to check in with everyone. The bad, we get to check in with everyone. But it’s good practice for re-entry next week when we leave the True Love at Toba Inlet for a week and head home for family visits and a few work meetings.

We also have been continuing to do more of our video chess class. Last night’s class featured games and strategies from 4 great chess masters and world champions. Watching their mastery, creativity and wild play was stunning. In one game the teacher suggested we just watch the moves like a fun chess movie because the moves were too difficult to explain. The eventual winner first sacrificed his queen, a rook and a bishop BEFORE taking the opponents queen, cornering his king and then checkmating him with a knight. Don’t try to understand it or copy it, just enjoy it!

Whenever we visit Blind Channel we must do the walk to the giant cedar and this year was no exception except the Captain could do it without using hiking poles. Hurray! The massive cedar continues to look big and strong. After our lunch at their little outdoor cafe (salmon tacos and a burger with beer and wine) we provisioned and headed back to the True Love. Our magical little anchorage at Erasmus, like the one at the Octopus Islands, does not have big majestic views like PLI, but it is perfectly peaceful. Yesterday we did a kayak around island at low tide and spied some really pretty tidal pool stuff. Including these very strange hanging mullusk things. I won’t say what they look like, but I know what you are thinking. We think they eventually turn into the big white snails on the rocks. We don’t have internet so we don’t know. Jim even spotted a nearby porpoise but I wasn’t able to get a picture.

After our kayak we decided to fish from the True Love and not the tender. Nobody seems to be catching up here, but we fished, enjoyed the afternoon and listened to audio books. As fishing and not catching goes it was very very nice. After just hanging the fishing pole 🎣 over the side I decided to try some casting. At first I was awful, but I found it really fun and got much better as the afternoon went on thanks to the helpful tips from the Captain who has some stored knowledge from fishing as a kid. I didn’t catch anything that way either, but at least I was active and learning something new. Thankfully I had defrosted a steak for dinner and we enjoyed the fresh lettuce we purchased at the Blind Channel marina.

Today we woke up and had to do some work on the boat. The generator has been smoking a bit, so we wanted to check the oil and fluids. The oil was fine. The cooling fluid seemed a bit low so we put more in. Now there is a possibility it wasn’t low and that is what it should look like when it is cool. We will find out after we run the generator. Other than the fluid it all looks good. I think it has been smoking because we are using it a lot. It’s needed to charge the batteries and run the water maker as well as other stuff on the boat.

We also needed to change the filters in the water maker. It is supposed to warn us when the filters are getting to their end, but we were getting a little smell from the water in our shower last night, so we decided to change them this morning before turning on the generator when the engine room is cool. The True Love has a relatively small engine room and moving around it to work is a challenge. You have to do everything while sitting, squatting or crawling. That is easier for the First Mate than the Captain. But we changed the series of filters. They definitely needed to be changed.

All our work was done before breakfast, so we are now celebrating with a cinnamon roll, lattes and our usual healthy elixir. After breakfast it’s time to head to Toba Inlet, our next destination.

On our way to Toba we passed through Dent area and Big Bay. The rapids were fun and we passed a huge sea lion fishing. He of course was catching!

On our way past Raza Island, we spied two humpback whales (affectionately known as “humpies.”) One was breaching in the distance but the other wasn’t moving much at all. We could see it breathing, but we grew concerned that it was not doing well. It didn’t seem in distress, and it was breathing regularly. A stick rested on its head and at one point it moved its huge flipper gently. So we used the VHF radio to contact one of the tourist-carrying commercial whale boats to ask if this was normal. Turns out, it is. Humpbacks often just sleep on the surface, which doesn’t seem like a very safe behavior when humans are boating nearby. The marina manager at Toba Inlet told us later that humpies often play with sticks like dogs do and will play and sleep with it for quite a while.

The Toba Inlet marina has power, plenty of water, a lovely sitting area, hiking trails and a beautiful view of Toba Inlet.

After we docked at the Toba Inlet Wilderness Resort, we tied up, plugged in and washed the boat with the abundant fresh water. It was time for a refreshing swim. The water temperature is not as warn as nearby Pendrell Sound (80 degrees) but it was a perfectly refreshing 71 degrees for a jump off the dock on a hot afternoon.

Yesterday we took the hike to the waterfall that brings the abundant water to Toba. Then we went out to explore Toba Inlet in the tender. The Captain loves his tender and thinks it can do anything. Unfortunately, we didn’t talk to the locals to learn about the late afternoon winds that blow up the inlet. The Captain and the first mate had also not agreed to a trip plan before leaving. The First Mate was thinking short trip to a beautiful waterfall slowly meandering the shore looking for wildlife. The Captain was thinking long trip to the end of the inlet full throttle through the middle of the inlet. A conflict ensued as we bounced at high speed through the middle of the channel. But we stopped, did some meditating and learned an important lesson: trip plans are important even for tender adventures. Another couple on a tender told us they saw a mom and bear cub, but they had left the beach before we got there. After seeing the waterfall and exploring some nooks and gunk holes for possible future anchorages we tried to go further up the inlet. Unfortunately, it just got too windy and bumpy. Too much for the us to comfortably explore further in the tender. But, as usual we persevered and made it back just fine although it was an uncomfortable ride most of the way back, and we were definitely shaken but not stirred.

Toba seems to be a perfect place to leave the True Love for a week. It’s well protected and will have good people watching over it. The Kenmore seaplane picks us up at 1PM and touchdown back in Seattle should be about 3:30. Less than 3 hours versus 4 long days if we instead tried to bring the boat with us back to Seattle. We are looking forward to the stunning views from the seaplane as it flies us back home.

Before flying home, Fawn tried an inflatable paddle board and really liked it!

Our goal is to do reentry as smoothly and peacefully as possible, trying not to create too many ripples in the pond so that Jasmine and everyone else who has been keeping things running smoothly at the family business can continue to do so.

Our first night back we went straight to the Dick’s Drive-In in Edmonds to watch the first of a series of “Infinity” Concerts featuring the special infinity trailer that Saul and his team built earlier this year. It was a bit like traveling by seaplane through a black hole to an alternative universe, boating to burgers so to speak, but the event was a huge success and it wonderful to see everyone, including Jim’s Aunt Bertie who is in Seattle visiting everyone for the first time in many years.

Now we will be signing off for a week until we fly back to the True Love for the remainder of our 2018 adventure.

The Captain and the First Mate of the True Love