Our friends Laird and Carol arrived on their orca-themed seaplane (a good omen!)

The seaplane arrived about an hour late, but schedules are never precise when traveling by seaplane and it worked to our advantage as you will see later. After a yummy lunch at the April Point Resort we left the dock and headed north for Octopus Islands Marine Park enjoying beautiful weather. First we saw a humpback, then after about an hour out we encountered an Orca “super pod”.

At least 10 orcas we think, maybe more. I only captured 6 in one photo. And there was a baby too! They traveled north with us for quite a while. We left them after turn into Okisollo Channel. We even tried some fishing, but the orcas kept coming up the channel towards us. We didn’t catch any fish but still had a lot of fun trying.

Octopus Islands Marine Park is one of our favorite anchorages and it turns out it’s a favorite of Laird and Carol too from their sailboating days. Our unusual semi-private anchorage was available so we dropped the hook and enjoyed two wonderful days of crabbing, kayaking and conversation. Although we’ve know Laird and Carol for years, we haven’t really had time to become close friends. Laird is our personal and corporate CPA. But we all so much in common including our love of both boating and Hawaii. They live east of Carnation so they are also rural people like us. The Captain and the First Mate truly enjoyed our time getting to know them better. As Humphrey Bogart said in Casablanca: “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

While anchored, we spotted raccoons and a deer foraging nearby at low tide, and a heron doing some strange sunning high up in the tree.

Jim, Carol and I are bridge players and we had the time to teach Laird how to play bridge. Given his CPA background he took to it very quickly. I think he’s hooked. He downloaded the app Bridge Baron and is already practicing for our next bridge gathering.

Laird and Carol even loved my morning elixirs. Of course, it didn’t hurt that we were splurging on cinnamon rolls as well.

Together we all learned something about crabs. Rock Crabs are well named. Cracking their shells is much harder than for Dungeness Crabs. Our crab appetizer was exciting with shells exploding everywhere as we devoured our two crabs. We definitely needed showers after dinner!

Funny story. The Captain and I picked a place to drop the crab trap, because it looked right, and didn’t have any other crab pots. We had no idea if it would be successful. By the time we picked up our crabs there was another pot and by morning there were 4 more. Everyone else had no idea that we really knew nothing about crabbing!

Unfortunately, during our adventures out around the Islands by kayak, board and tender, I lost the bottom fin to my paddle board. Note to self: avoid kelp. I came to a quick stop as it grabbed the fin. I didn’t fall off, but the fin did. Luckily the guys came by in the tender and gave me a ride back to the boat because a paddle board without a fin does not “track” at all so when you paddle, the board goes sideways instead of forward.

After Octopus Islands we headed through the tidal rapids at Hole in the Wall on our way to our final destination: Okeover Inlet for dinner again at Laughing Oyster. The Captain didn’t quite time the rapids correctly so we had a more thrilling ride through the 7 knot current than we were expecting. No problem though. On our way we encountered another Humpie doing some gentle cleaning. What fun!

That evening we tried out a new beautiful little anchorage in Isabelle Bay. It had been a hot day and we were all ready for a shower, some cocktails and some bridge before heading out to dinner at Laughing Oyster. Dinner was yummy, we even had live music! We got back to the True Love just as it was getting dark, but before the predicted rain started thanks to our speedy tender.

Laird and Carol met their seaplane for their flight home from Bliss Landing. We found a space at the dock, paid the requested $10 library donation for the privilege and enjoyed a light lunch before their plane arrived.

After waving goodbye, we left to head to our next anchorage at Garden Bay Marina. We stop at the Powell River area almost every year. But last year the docking at Garden Bay was heart stopping with the very strong S.E. wind blowing us away from the dock and toward the nearby rock breakwater. This year there was another SE wind, but lighter so it was not difficult to get tied up to the dock. The Captain did a marvelous job. Because we are leaving the boat in a couple of days for 2 weeks we are cleaning out the fridge and I had plenty of eggs so we enjoyed an omelette while watching the Democratic Presidential Debates on the satellite TV.

Yesterday we planned to head into Pender Harbour to do some laundry before flying home today. That didn’t happen though for 2 reasons. First, when we called to check on our reservation for dock space it turned out we were off by a day, so we decided to anchor in the nearby Harmony Islands before continuing to Pender Harbour. The afternoon was lovely as we floated in front of the falls before finding another unusual anchorage nearby.

We’ve gotten pretty good at anchoring in water over 100 feet deep by putting out 330 feet of anchor chain. This anchorage wouldn’t work at all for a windy, stormy evening but it was perfect for last night. Our plan was to wake up early and head to the dock in Pender Harbour before flying home on the 2:00 seaplane flight. Unfortunately, a big storm was predicted for the next 24 hours from the west and we received a text from Kenmore Air that all seaplane flights had been cancelled.

We called Kenmore Air immediately knowing that the storm would mess up a lot of people’s travel plans and were able to procure a late flight for tomorrow at 6. So we then quickly called the Painted Boat Resort & Spa and procured two massages. We know how to make lemonade out of lemons on the True Love!

The storm has arrived, but we’re massaged and showered and well fed, finishing our laundry and getting ready for a fun day tomorrow before (hopefully) flying back home. I change my first mate hat for Grandma and Family Council Chair. I can’t wait to see James and Robert. Then all the family gathers for our 2nd Annual Dick’s Family Assembly meeting at Suncadia in Cle Elum.

This isn’t the end of our True Love journey, but it is getting closer. We will return to the True Love in two weeks and then take our dear friends Troy and Carrie Shaw into Princess Louisa Inlet before making our way back home to Seattle.

The Captain and First Mate of the True Love

“They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.” F. Scott Fitzgerald