We left Pender Harbour (after a lovely dinner at the Painted Boat and a beautiful sunset) for an easy, sunny crossing of the Strait of Georgia (thanks in part to our stabilizer). In Nanaimo we met up with new friends (Shimon and Julie and old friends (Marilyn and Don) before leaving for a long, rainy-day cruise to Sidney, which is a lovely suburb of Victoria (the largest city on Vancouver Island and the Capitol of British Columbia) and very close to the US side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. After a couple of days here we cruised SE, first to Port Townsend, and then east, to Langley, on the side side of Whidbey Island, to visit old friends. From there it was only four hours to Seattle, where we arrived south back at our home port at the Elliott Bay Marina in time for the Husky football game on Saturday.

We are so thankful for all of our blessings. The chill in the air, and the shorter days clearly signal the change of seasons. From bliss to stoic challenges, time with family and friends to quiet alone time in nature, summer cruising in the Salish Sea fills our souls. Thank you all for sharing our most recent True Love Adventure!

The Captain and the First Mate of The True Love

We’ve entered a well-needed break from stoic challenges. So we can share some fun stuff.

Princess Louisa Stars and Fireball. Clear night skies and no moon equal great star watching and the Summer Triangle and Milky Way appeared before our eyes around 11 pm. One night we slept out on the upper deck to watch the stars throughout the night.

Baby Seals: Princess Louisa Inlet is a breading ground for baby seals and we love watching them around the boat.

Very Dry and Warm: PLI was about as dry and warm as we have ever seen it. The waterfalls looked parched, flowing much less than usual. Some were completely dried out. So when the weather predicted a 24 hour rainstorm, we decided to hang out a bit longer and we were rewarded with a good rainfall. The trees rejoiced, the waterfalls refilled and the whole area smelled delicious.

Even the Captain and I went out to Kayak in the rain.

Sechelt Inlet Exploration: Yesterday we left PLI and cruised to Egmont before deciding to travel south through the Sechelt Rapids (aka Skookumchuck Rapids) and hopefully anchor near the cute town of Sechelt at the south end of the inlet. After a stop at the Backeddy for a yummy lunch we refilled the water tank and headed south. Passing through the Skookumchuck Rapids is serious business. Figuring out when slack tide was a bit complicated because our phone app “Aye Tide” had slack tide occurring 10 minutes earlier than the tide/current information in our Garmin Chartplotter. So we did it the Wylie Blanchet way, by observing it, watching two tugs go through and then passing through with visual confirmation of the near-slack current. As we passed through the rapids the kayakers at Rapids Rock waived at us while waiting for the current to get back into the “fun” zone (for them). We feature the Skook in the Curve of Time Podcast episodes 3 and 4: Adventure at the Skook and Finding Dad. On another fun note over 2000 people have listened to the podcast so far! Now we just need a contact with a movie/video producer so we can upgrade to streaming on Amazon, Disney, Paramount, or Max. So good readers, we would love your help if you know anyone who might meet with us!

Sechelt Inlet was described to us as a “little PLI” and it is. It has two “side” inlets: Salmon Inlet and Narrows Inlet. Like PLI, those two side inlets go back into the BC Coast Mountain Range, but not as far, so unlike PLI there aren’t a lot of waterfalls. We got to the little town of Sechelt pretty easily, but late in the afternoon. Unfortunately it is just too close to the Georgia Strait so the wind was strong (20+ knots), and there was no dock space or anchorage for large boats, sooooo . . . Even though it was ate in the day we reversed course and headed north back up Sechelt Inlet until we got to Narrows Inlet and poked our bow in to take a look. It was exactly what we needed. As we approached the Tzoonie Narrows Rapids (“Tzoonie” is the native name for the river at the head of Narrows Inlet), it didn’t look difficult so we went right through. There is very little information on the area and the depths on the charts are rough “estimates” which is extremely hard for the lawyer brain of the Captain. If the chart says something, he assumes it must be true, but sometimes that’s not true at all, especially for the less traveled places like Narrows Inlet. We really need to use the charts for advisory purposes and move slowly around any possible anchorages to confirm the actual depths. I found a couple of spots that were just fine for me, but the Captain was still uncomfortable. We ended up near the head of the inlet and anchored, but were extremely tired after a long day.

This is a lovely area. Sitting on the upper helm last night the Captain heard repeated crashing noises in the forest which he described as either a bear or a troll. We are going with bear although, we haven’t seen one yet.

Last night the stars twinkled brightly in both the sky and the reflection in the water, but we were too tired to stay up and enjoy them much. After a good night’s sleep last night however we expect to do some quality star watching tonight. Also we have been told that the bioluminescence in the water has been incredible around Egmont (abut 10 miles away), but we didn’t see any last night in Narrows Inlet. Hopefully, we will see some tonight and maybe some big shooting stars!

The stars were beautiful last night in the expansive sky of the inlet and we even saw the bioluminescence! This morning we go up early to head back out through the Skookumchuck and the Captain timed it perfectly at slack. We have definitely earned our Sk Rapids Merit Badge.

When we last left you we were waiting in Comox for our new outboard engine.

While waiting for engine installation we explored the quaint town of Comox by the Sea. Like all fantastic stops in the Salish Sea it has a great bakery with fresh baked sourdough bread, adorable shops, gelato, and a few good restaurants.

Dan delivered our tender with its new outboard installed at the end of the day, only 30 hours after we first contacted him, a true boat repair miracle! We did a bit of testing and it worked beautifully, much smoother and quieter than our reliable but 23 year old Honda outboard. It starts easily and is more powerful although our Honda was also rated at 40 HP. Unfortunately, the mechanic who did the install also, for reasons unknown and without asking us, disconnected and/or removed some of the old electrical wiring, including a conveniently located battery on/off switch that also powered the bilge pump and the chart plotter. None of us understood that choice, especially without calling to ask us about it. But, Dan came to the rescue and got the chart plotter working. We will need to go back to Comox to fix the bilge pump and reinstall the more convenient battery on/off switch before we head home.

Given our need to meet up with friends in two days, we decided to leave even though it was late for crossing the Strait of Georgia. The weather seemed good, we had overcome our outboard engine stoic challenge and we had moorage reserved at the Beach Garden Marina in Powell River waiting for us just two hours away. So we left Comox at 6:30 PM, with the idea that two hours later we would arrive and be tied up to the dock at 8:30 PM. Although that is later than we like, it was still doable given that sunset is around 9:20 PM up here at 50 degrees north latitude. So optimistically, we headed out to cross the Strait of Georgia. A cascade of Stoic Challenges followed.

“ No Man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself [or herself].”

Seneca

Let the Stoic Challenges Begin

Stoic challenge #1: The winds really kicked up. The waves were bigger than we like, the wind was blowing spray and it was definitely a bit uncomfortable. But, the stabilizers did their job and it was doable. We did have a bumper blow off in a big wave. But we were able to use it as a “man-overboard” drill and retrieved it really quite quickly. Patting each other on the back we continued on.

After crossing the Strait of Georgia, we rounded Texada Island but then the SE wind really kicked up. We were getting concerned that we would have trouble docking in the narrow confines of the little Garden Bay Marina, especially when it isn’t low tide. But, we were hopeful because it wasn’t yet high tide. Although, we were beginning to think that leaving Comox at 6:30 PM probably wasn’t a good idea.

Stoic Challenge #2: As we approached the marina we were pleased to see the marina’s break water blocking some of the wind at the dock, unfortunately there was a small sail boat right in the middle of our lovely 60 foot space. No one was working the dock at 8:45 PM and there was no place for us to land at the marina to tell the little sailboat to get out of our slip, and in any case we were far better equipped to deal with high winds and waves than the little sail boat that must have thanked their lucky stars to have found such a large dock space, at the end of the dock, late in the day, as a refuge from the high winds and waves.

So we continued south, past the marina, to the closest safe anchorage about an hour away in Thunder Bay. We hoped it would be out of the wind and doable. Clearly, we were getting tired and it was getting dark. And clearly leaving Comox so late was a bad idea. The wind, sea spray and dusk made it a challenge. But we have the protected lower helm, good windshield wipers and we worked together to watch for logs among the waves as we headed south.

We finally approached the turn into Jervis Inlet and hoped the wind and waves would calm down after we rounded Scotch Fir Point. They did! Only 30 minutes later we were in the calm waters of Thunder Bay. We dropped the anchor easily in relatively shallow water, showered and collapsed into bed looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

Stoic Challange #3: Bzzzzzzzz. . . A mosquito. Unfortunately, a mosquito was in the bedroom buzzing around our head. The Captain was so tired he said forget it. He would just let it eat him. I couldn’t let that happen. So we turned on the light. Attracted the sucker to a convenient location and fried it with our trusty hand-held, battery-powered bug zapper. That happened one more time before we collapsed into a deep, long sleep.

The next day we had planned a brief cruise to the nearby Harmony Islands. But the Captain wanted to explore other possible anchorages in the inlet first. The First Mate was looking forward to a shorter adventure. We looked at many little gunk holes for a possible place to anchor. The Captain was sure we would find something. But, it wasn’t to be, so we headed back to the Harmony Islands. The Harmony Islands are beautiful, but funky. You have to anchor in the middle of a narrow channel or shore tie.

Stoic Challenge #4: Another crappy shore tie. After much exploring we decided to shore tie in a really difficult spot with wind and current. It wasn’t pretty. It was hot. It took forever. We were not feeling the Harmony in Harmony Islands. I graded our performance a D+ which was better than the last shore tie of a D. The Captain gave us a C-. I felt that was grade inflation. After it was over we took the tender with our new lovely outboard out to explore where we could of anchored more easily. And I think we have learned where we could anchor in the channel like a few other boats without a shore tie. The Captain is always, in the first mate’s opinion, overly concerned with running aground. Clearly a valid concern, but taken too far it is annoying and overly limiting . Once again we ate and went to sleep exhausted, but we knew we would be able to easily cruise to the nearby Backeddy Marina at Egmont, where we had reserved dock space to meet up with our friends Ken and Maria the next evening. So all and all we had overcome a lot and we were going to be on time to get our friends and head in PLI for more bliss time.

Stoic Challenge #5: Yes, another stoic challenge. They say if life is too easy you won’t be ready for the serious stoic challenges that are inevitable in life. You’ll get soft and not be ready for the really big challenges when they come along. That’s certainly not going to happen to us! After waking up on Sunday morning in the Harmony Islands, we turned on the generator to charge the battery like we do every morning. That’s when the Stoic Challenge #5 began. The day before on our way to Harmony Islands the generator stalled out after running 90 minutes, which was highly unusual. But we were making water at the time, and the batteries were fully charged so we didn’t really think much about it. Our generator is regularly serviced and like our reliable Honda outboard has never before given us any trouble. Until this trip. Earlier in the trip the generator’s starter battery had died, but we just bought another one in Comox. Unfortunately, this time there was no easy fix for our generator problem.

I called Irvin at Gallery Marine for a consult. Again, we are so lucky to have people who care about us and will help in these situations. He thought we might have gotten some dirty fuel so I would have to change the fuel filters. As the ship’s engineer, or in any time in my 62 years, I’ve never done this before. Irvin asked us if we had extra filters. I knew we did, which surprised the Captain. I had made sure we had extras of everything we needed and they were organized in special containers. Irvin walked us through how to do it and we successfully changed the main fuel filter. Unfortunately, it did not correct the problem. We decided to start the engines, remove the shore tie and head to Egmont before changing the smaller fuel filter on the generator itself when we got to the dock. That also did not correct the problem. But I do now know how to change fuel filters!

Stoic Challenge #6: Finding a capable boat mechanic in the summer, in a small town, that has any available time, on a Sunday afternoon, is exceptionally rare: much rarer than seeing Orcas. But that was what we needed to “bleed” the fuel line in the generator to get out any air bubbles that might be impeding the fuel flow. I watched a YouTube video and knew that I could not do that without on-site help. I asked Danny, the Backeddy’s dock manager, and he said “yes” he knew someone local who was a great mechanic and who could help. He texted Mike and Mike told Danny that he could be there to take a look at the problem later Sunday afternoon!

So despite the many stoic challenges we faced, we were also being blessed by another boating miracle. We thought there was no chance we could find anyone that quickly. So we waited for Mike the mechanic to finish his 3 other Sunday projects and come to our dock.

Mike arrived, with his son Max about the same time Ken and Maria arrived at Egmont. Ken & Marie had a reservation for one night at one of the Backeddy’s little motel rooms, but they went to the Backeddy pub for dinner while we worked with Mike to diagnose the generator and hopefully fix it so that we could cruise into Princess Louisa Inlet with the flood tide on Monday morning.

Honestly, you never know the quality of the mechanic you are going to get in these situations. We’ve been very disappointed in the past. But Mike was amazing! He is a calm, thoughtful, intelligent and a remarkably capable and creative mechanic. He’s patient and a good teacher. I knew almost immediately that he would solve our problem.

Mike and I worked in the engine room together. We tried to “bleed the lines” by jump starting the fuel pump. Apparently the fuel filter turns on when the circuit board detects oil pressure. It is like what comes first, “the chicken or the egg” thing. But you can also jump start a fuel pump by connecting it directly to a 12 volt battery. Mike asked if we had electrical wire, ✔️ hay wire & duct tape ✔️, and we had a portable battery for jump starting (The Captain bought it just in case the tender battery died). We were glad to have it because it came in handy earlier in the trip when the generator’s dedicated battery died and it came in handy again to jump start the fuel pump on the generator itself. So in awe, I watched Mike create a jumper system for the little fuel pump “McGiver” style. I love the MacGyver TV show and so does Mike. In fact, his business is named “Mikegyver Mechanic”. We attached all the wires, added power and . . . Nothing. The fuel pump was clearly dead. As Miracle Max says in Princess Bride: “There’s a big difference between mostly dead and completely dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With completely dead, well, there is [nothing] you can do . . .” I quoted it and Mike, my brother from another mother, knew it was from Princess Bride. So we both knew we needed to get a new fuel pump and get it installed before the generator would work again.

Clearly, we were not going to leave the dock Monday morning. But Mike found a fuel pump that could be delivered by 9AM on Tuesday morning to an auto/marine parts store in Gibsons, which is about 90 minutes away by car. Fortunately, Ken & Maria have a car!

So, on Monday morning Ken and Maria moved their stuff to our boat on the dock and we hung around ate and drank, explored the nearby Skookumchuck tidal rapids with the tender and generally had a chill day hoping that the part would actually show up the next morning. The plan was for Ken and Jim to drive to get it first thing in the morning, then bring it back for Mike to install in the early afternoon. If everything went well, we could still cruise to Princess Louisa Inlet on Tuesday as long we left the dock at Egmont before 4 PM. While the boys were on their road trip to Gibsons, Maria and I enjoyed a nice walk along the rural roads of Egmont, did some laundry and waiting for news of the fuel pump.

But first we must digress into our delicious meals. Ken is quite the chef and had purchased in Whistler (where he and Maria were before driving to Egmont) and along the way from there to Egmont, all sorts of amazing culinary supplies so that he could prepare 3 exquisite meals for their 3 day visit to the True Love. While at Whistler Ken and Maria had purchased and pre-souvied meats for the trip. Yes, Ken travels with his sou ve machine. Although we were still tied up to the dock at the Backeddy on our first night together we ate yummy salmon, garlic-cheese mashed potatoes and salad. It was an honor acting as Ken’s sous chef.

At 9:05 AM Monday the text came from Jim that the he had the replacement fuel pump in his hand and that Mike would meet us at the boat around noon. Hip Hip Hooray!

Now we were on the clock again. To get into PLI, you have to transit the Malibu Rapids when they are close to slack tide, and that meant we had to leave the dock at Egmont no later than 4PM on Tuesday.

Mike arrived a little after noon and I joined him in the engine room again to watch, assist and learn how to install a fuel pump on the generator. I took lots of video and photos. But, it was complicated. I’m not sure I could do it even now. But Mike is a real pro. After it was installed we tested it by jumping it, this time using the mini jumper cables that come with the part and voila! It came to life! Fantastic. With the pump humming along we were able to bleed the fuel lines of air and then gave the generator another try. And ….. nothing! The generator would still not start no mater how long we cranked it. Now what?

But “MacGyver” Mike wouldn’t give up. We called Irvin back in Seattle and brainstormed what could be causing the problem. After much discussion and analyzing we decided something wasn’t telling the oil pump to turn on the fuel pump. Apparently there is a circuit board on the generator that is supposed to do that. Irvin, who is no spring chicken, had never seen a circuit board go bad in a generator during his entire career as a boat mechanic. But there is a first time for everything. And everyone realized that there is no way we were ever going to get another circuit board in time to go to Princess Louisa on Tuesday or Wednesday, and Ken & Maria had to be back from PLI on Thursday to drive back to Vancouver and catch their Friday morning flight back to Southern California. So Mike and Irvine discussed creating a manual bypass switch. We had about 45 minutes left.

Mike went to his truck to look for a “MacGyver” bypass switch. He returned with wire and an old switch from a Winnebago. He quickly attached the switch to the proper place near the circuit board. Then Mike used the special jumper cable to connect it to the fuel filter. The moment of truth arrived. Turn on the switch, then turn on the generator and . . . It worked! Beautifully! Hearing the lovely hum of our generator again was wonderful. We cheered, hugged, paid Mike gratefully for his amazing problem solving and left the dock at 3:45 PM, with just 15 minutes to spare.

After a beautiful cruise we traversed Malibu Rapids and entered PLI. As we reached the end of the 4-mile-long inlet surrounded by tall mountains and waterfalls we noticed that our usual anchorage spot was taken. Bummer! But one of the 4 mooring buoys was available. Great! It’s been quite a while since we have used a mooring buoy because in Washington State, the mooring buoy’s at marine parks are limited to boats less than 40 feet long (our boat is 57 feet long). But here at PLI, there are five buoys for boats up to 70 feet long. And the one open buoy was in the perfect location, close to one of the small waterfalls and with a clear view of the big waterfall at the head of the inlet (Chatterbox Falls). I quickly deployed the paddle board so that I could thread the bow line through the buoy and hand it back to to tie off. Given how tired I was, it was another blessing in disguise that we didn’t have to shore tie, which would have taken at least another 30 minutes.

We made it! Let the bliss begin! Ken made us a delicious arugula salad and steak. The last 2 days we have enjoyed the inlet together floating, kayaking, and paddle boarding on the warm salt water (over 72 degrees at the surface!) and celebrating life with good wine, great food and interesting conversations. Ken’s third meal was roasted lamb with warm spinach salad and red potatoes. Ken & Maria left yesterday on the fast tour boat that takes tourists to and from PLI each day. They will now fly back home while we will spend the next few days here at PLI before heading out again for more adventures.

It’s a little cumbersome to turn the generator on and off now because we have to climb down into the engine room and manually turn on and off the fuel pump and the main switch at the same time. But it’s purring again now whenever we ask it to recharge the batteries or power the watermaker. Hopefully, we are done with our stoic challenges for awhile, but you can be sure that if we are faced with a new challenge that we will overcome it, sometimes by ourselves and sometimes with a little help from our friends Mike, Irvin and Dan!

We really have had a lovely week. As expected Dent Island filled us with great food, loving care, a jet boat thrill ride and tranquility. We’ve never taken the jet boat ride before. But his year the “Super Moon”tides were creating some super big tidal rapids nearby and Trish told us there were surprisingly a couple of spaces still available. Oh my what a thrill! Riding on the flat bottom jet boat is the only safe way to experience the powerful, bubbling tidal rapids that surround Dent Island. As intelligent boaters, we work hard to schedule our arrival at Dent at “slack” tide to avoid being caught in even mild rapids. But the jet boat can go out even when the rapids are at peak tide! It also is a perfect time to get up close to the eagles as they swarm and dive to catch the hake fish that get stunned by the churning water and then rise to the surface where they are scooped up like eagle potato chips. We’ve only seen this once before in the area when our California friends Greg and Carolyn were visiting for a few days.

We left Dent yesterday. Because of the continued strong NW winds we headed south to a lovely new anchorage (for us), Walsh Cove. It’s one of the beautiful Desolation Sound Marine Parks and offers stern tie chains to make it easier to anchor in the deep but protected waters there.

The spot was recommended to us at Dent by John and Nancy of the “Sea Esta” and it didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, we were a mess with our shore tie procedure. My tender technique didn’t improve. The Captains advice wasn’t helpful. The extreme low tide made climbing up to the chain a bit challenging. I saw a snake cross my path as I was climbing! The stress bloomed exponentially. Eventually, after exerting way too much effort and making many mistakes we anchored with a good shore tie. We were both exhausted however and separated with very little speaking. I went for a cool down float in the 72 degree warm water. The Captain went up to relax in the sunshine on the top deck. Neither of us were ready to discuss our crappy performances, individually or as a team, until much later.

We have no idea how it happened. It looked like there was quite the impact that took a chunk out of the bottom of the outboard and cracked it, exposing key components to sea water and releasing the oil that fills the lower engine shaft and lubricates the drive train that transmits the power of the engine to the propeller. The only thing we could think of was that it happened when we returned from an amazing dinner with our friends at the Laughing Oyster back to a spectacular anchorage in Isabella Bay off of Oakover Inlet. The strong NW winds were against us and the water was quite rough. We do remember hearing a big thunk and slamming down a bit, but we thought is was just a big wave. Maybe it was something else? Who knows?

After a “calm before the storm” lovely dinner we showered and I knew in the morning I was going to have to wake up and get busy finding a replacement outboard engine ASAP. There is no way we could get a part and have it replaced anytime soon, and at 20 years old, the salt-water-cooled outboard engine was reaching the end of its useful life anyway.

As soon as I woke up, I checked my email and Irvin, another of our other lifeline boat service guru in Seattle concurred with Alex and repeated twice in his email: DO NOT DRIVE THE TENDER. We then called Jim’s brother Doug, our third expert, to get advice about which brand would be the best replacement (assuming we had a choice).

Our outboard is 20 years old and we were thinking of replacing it next year. Time to move up that timetable! Because we have our trusty Starlink Satelite now I could actually make calls and use the internet even though there was no cellular service at Walsh Cove.

The Captain/Barista made my latte and I went to work on the internet and phone. After about an hour and a half we had three possible choices. Now we had to wait for quotes and verification that the service people had time on Friday to install a new outboard motor assuming we could find one in stock somewhere nearby.

So instead of a glorious day kayaking and blissing out we untied the beautiful shore tie, lifted anchor and headed out. I kept of my communication with my three options: Egmont – the easiest best choice for our next scheduled rendezvous with friends; Comox – second easiest only 5 hours out of our way; and a deep back up in Nanaimo (10 hours away) for mid July. In the end, Comox had a 40 HP Yamaha engine and they said they could install it tomorrow!

Next challenge, navigating into Comox at an extreme low tide. We are completely unfamiliar with the area and of course we didn’t have the highly recommended chart suggested in the Waggoner guide. Luckily, it wasn’t very windy so navigating the drying shoal was pretty easy. But, there wasn’t room at the dock unless we “rafted” onto another boat. We have never rafted in 14 years of boating. The idea of tying up to another boat and walking over it to get to the dock is extremely unappealing. But we did it with the help of the lovely young women, Teagan, at the marina. We were stressed, but she was chill and very skilled. She couldn’t believe we had never rafted before. Oh well. By the time all this was over, exhaustion set in and I was “good for nothing”, as the saying goes. We could have dropped the kayaks and enjoyed the area and the low tide, but I just couldn’t rally.

Tomorrow morning we will meet Dan from Parker Marine at the nearby boat launch at 7:30 AM where he will bring his trailer to scoop up the True Love Tender, take it over to his shop and install the new 200 pound, 40 HP outboard. If all goes as planned (🤞🏽) we will grab breakfast, reprovision our food supplies and the tender and its new outboard engine will be ready so we can leave the dock sometime in the afternoon. Then we will cross back over the Strait of Georgia and return to the Garden Bay Marina in the Powell River area where we will be perfectly positioned to head back to Egmont and meet up with our friends Ken and Maria Kribel on Sunday night so that on Monday morning, we can ride the flood back into PLI for our second sojourn there of the summer. Wish us luck!

Update: The tender handoff went off without a hitch this morning. Outboard installation is underway. Looks hopeful. We walked around the town of Comox and did some reprovisioning. Also, turns out our dock hand, Tegan, is only 14. She wanted to work with the marina and kept bringing her resume in so they finally agreed to hire her. We told them she is a keeper. They of course agree.

The theme of this year’s cruising True Love Adventure is more “sustainable bliss” vs dramatic adventure. To be clear cruising on the Salish Sea always has a bit of adventure. Navigating the needed upkeep and repairs to our 20 year old boat and navigating the weather, currents and tides always creates a sense of adventure. But we have decided that, this year, whenever possible, to take it slow and not push it. So far so good!

We left Seattle on Fathers Day in the afternoon, after joining in on an alumni zoom gathering of our “Awake and Alive” living with cancer group. It’s always so amazing to share survival and care stories with people who have a shared perspective on life and healing. After that, we left our home marina in Seattle and cruised north, stopping first at Langley, on the SE side of Whidbey Island. The weather was gloomy, but the winds were calm and we were able to stay just ahead of the big squalls that you can see on our chart plotter. We docked easily and the Lady Washington pulled in behind us. What a beautiful old sailing ship!

Langley is home to some very special friends and frankly we don’t visit often enough. It is where we did our first “Awake and Alive Living with Cancer” retreat in 2015 and home to “Healing Circles” where people dealing with serious illness and life challenges gather regularly to help each other. This trip we were able to meet up with so many special friends. First, we had a yummy dinner with Erica. She picked us up at the dock, drove us to her home, cooked us dinner where we shared the most important things happening in our lives and the wonderful views of her farm.

Heading back to the boat we noticed the Peach Pie, owned by our friends Sydney and Christopher Gorrell, who we met recently in Hawaii. They just happened to stop there for the night on a cruise from Edmonds to Anacortes. It’s a small world!

The next morning we were picked up again by our friends Carol and Laired Vanetta for breakfast before we were delivered into Langley where we walked around before connecting with our other dear friend Diana Lindsey. Clearly we have to go back to Langley more often!

From Langley we headed north again to Oak Harbor to buy some of the lowest priced diesel in WA. Seven years ago we payed $1.47/gallon. This year the price was $4.20/gallon and we considered ourselves lucky. We always fill the tank before heading to Canada where diesel is 25% more, even after the discount for paying with Canadian dollars. Fully refueled, we traveled north again through Deception Pass at the north tip of Whidbey Island, on our way to a cozy overnight anchorage in Hunters Bay on the SE corner of Lopez Island, one of the San Juan Islands, the northern most islands in Washington State.

In past years we would have pushed ourselves to go all the way from the San Juans to Nanaimo in one long day so we could dash from there farther north to Egmont and then the next day into Princess Louisa Inlet (PLI), our all-time favorite anchorage in the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. But applying our “sustainable bliss” decision rule we chose instead to cruise only a few hours the next day to Cabbage Island, just across the US-Canada border and our favorite anchorage in this area. If the winds are calm or from the south this a perfect first stop in Canadian waters. We were a bit concerned because the weather report talked about strong northwest winds overnight “near” Vancouver Island. As is often the case with Canadian marine forecasts, that is not very clear. What does “near” mean in Canadian weather speak? Who knows? We decided to take a look and see what the winds were like. We could always move further on if we needed to.

Clearly, and thankfully, Cabbage Island was not “near”enough. The winds were perfectly calm that evening, all night, and the next day, and because it is relatively early in the season there was room for us to anchor and enjoy kayaking, paddle boarding two beautiful sunsets.

Jim is a a 45 year cancer survivor, which is a miracle. Over the past 11 years we’ve been dealing with the downstream health issues from the radiation including his near-fatal heart attack in 2012 and other newer issues like muscle wasting. It’s a bit of a mystery but, we are adapters and experiential learners. The solution for us has been sustainable bliss, mindfulness, Qi Gong and working harder on strength and flexibility. To that end, we added regular yoga to our lives so he can continue to do things like get into the kayak, and it paid off. Jim got into and out of his kayak, without a problem. As Dori says, “just keep swimming!”

Again applying our sustainable bliss principle we stayed a second night. There were so many eagles around we had a blast kayaking and listening to them communicate. A couple of them flew through the forest like Star Wars flying speeder bikes.

Both nights we were treated to spectacular sunsets.

One of my goals from this year was to be in Ganges on Salt Spring Island on Friday night so we could go to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning and buy some of the magical sourdough rye bread that is sold there. Another draw is Moby’s Pub where they sell duck wings rather than chicken wings. From Cabbage Island we had an easy 2 hour cruise to Salt Spring Island and we docked on Friday afternoon with time to dine on duck wings, ribs and homemade pie (with left overs), listen to a lovely musician and get some laundry done. Perfect!

The next morning I got the Captain up early so we could secure our bread before it sold out at the Salt Spring Farmers Market. The utterly charming collection of playful booths full of food, fresh donoughts, organic veggies, hippy charms, art and of course bread make it a must visit.

The luthier (Terry) who made my favorite Ukulele has a booth there and I needed him to look at a small crack that I had recently discovered in my Uke. Unfortunately, someone had knocked into it at the mountains and although it doesn’t affect the sound, I would like it repaired. He connected me with “Rick”, Terry’s gifted string instrument repair person. Rick is in Victoria (the southern tip of Vancouver Island and the capital of British Columbia) so we hope to meet up with him there on our cruise south at the end of Summer.

We planned to spend two nights at the dock at Salt Spring, but those predicted winds were howling, but from the south right into us knocking us into the dock for a noisy and rocky stay. Looking at another night of creaking and rocking the Captain suggested we leave at 6 and head to nearby Montague Harbour where we could have a quieter night.

I was concerned that leaving late in the day after a really full day of walking twice into town pushed the limits on our “sustainable bliss” goal. But persistent southerly winds and waves were making our time at the dock in Ganges really uncomfortable, and as the Captain pointed out, Montague Habour was only about an hour away and a place where we have anchored many times. So despite my concerns, we left Ganges and cruised over to Montague.

The Captain’s intuition was correct (this time). It didn’t take long on our journey from Salt Spring to Montague to escape the winds and waves. And we got to enjoy another fabulous sunset in calm waters!

From Montague it was an easy cruise the next day to Nanaimo, another of our favorite stops and a perfect place to prepare for the sometimes difficult crossing of the Strait of Georgia to get to the mainland side of where our favorite fjords (like Princess Louisa Inlet) are located. But before we left I used one of my new favorite power tools to blow up the bumpers. The cruise from Montague to Nanaimo was gorgeous, sunny and calm.

We connected with Hawaii friends, Marylin and Don Harvey, who recently moved to a community just north of Naniamo. They drove to us and stopped by for a quick visit on the True Love. Then they joined us for a yummy dinner at one of our favorite restaurants Astera Taverna (which specializes in Greek food).

In nice weather crossing the Strait of Georgia from Nanaimo east to the mainland is easy. In winds it can be brutal. It’s where we had one of our scariest adventures, involving storms and smoke and it inspired Episode 2 of the Curve of Time Podcast. The blog post is in some old software I can’t locate. This year the forecast looked good and the crossing was easy. Four hours later we were docked at the Back Eddy Marina in Egmont where we had a nice meal on the deck and watched a beautiful sunset. Next stop Princess Louisa. But first the Orcas.

We woke up to a lazy morning and as we were enjoying our yogurt parfaits the Captain spotted the first orcas of the day. It was one of the biggest Orcas we’ve ever seen. Then we saw them again so we we decided to quickly leave the dock and get closer.

As we made are way down Jervis Inlet toward PLI we encountered a second pair of Orcas. The orca escort continued until we had to journey on to make it easily to the tidal rapid entrance to PLI at slack tide.

Sunny, warm and calm, the journey up Jervis Inlet was perfect and we listened to music and danced along.

And the entrance to the inlet through Malibu Rapids was the calmest we’ve ever seen it, so we timed it perfectly! Once in PLI we made our way to our favorite anchorage with its two “private” waterfalls.

In past years, the Captain would do the shore tie with the tender while I stayed with the boat. This year we thought it would be best if I climbed the shore and the Captain stayed on board. The only problem is that I’m not as good at maneuvering the tender. But with a little trial and error, I figured it out. Going forward onto shore was pretty easy, but backing out in the correct direction created a little more challenge. I know if was tough for the Captain to watch me as I figured it out. But we succeeded.

The gloriously sunny weather continues, the water is a warm 71 degrees and I quickly deployed the blow up pizza and paddle board so we could float and cool off. In late June the days are long. And the best way to cool off in the afternoon heat is in the water. Floating on the water, in the sun, and listening to the waterfalls is truly heaven and is in perfect harmony with our goal of Sustainable Bliss.

Princess Louisa continues to amaze and inspire us. The mountains, the calm water, the remoteness and the magical anchorage just doesn’t get old or boring. We will travel into to PLI 3 times this summer, sharing our favorite place with friends and family.

When we woke up yesterday, the captain checked the weather forecast for the next few days. We now have connectivity through our Starlink Satellite. Although installation wasn’t as smooth as we expected – go figure — it is nice to have the safety net of internet onboard. We were a little worried that we wouldn’t be able to control our “screen time” but it wasn’t a problem at all. And it does let us spend a little time clearing out all the junk daily instead of coming out of an isolated area to 500+ emails and messages.

Anyway, we checked the weather and it predicted a strong Northwest wind Friday and Saturday. This update would make it difficult to make our next destination: Dent Island on July 3rd. Although we planned another night in PLI, we decided to muster after breakfast and clean up our floaty toys to head out a day early. And I’m sure glad we did. It’s sunny, but the wind has arrived. We are now safely docked at the Garden Bay Marina in Powell River. And we have the extra blessing of connecting with other Canadian friends we met in Hawaii who are going to fly down on their private plane from Revelstoke to connect. As Paul Simon wrote: “We live in an age of miracles and wonders.”

Powell River is a major town (15,000+ residents) so my next project is to go to Staples and print a bunch of of my Curve of Time Podcast posters to hand out at a few key marinas and resorts. I’ll let you know how that turned out in my next blog.