Today is Saturday and after a rainy night we woke to no rain and lifting clouds. This is our last day to drive around Senja Island so we headed to the part we hadn’t explored yet — Fjordgar. The area we drove through has a lot more farmland and the colors are sadly past peak color now and changing from yellow to brown. However, the fjord at the end of the road was just as dramatic as the others we have seen here.
Still winds created beautiful reflections on the water. While we reflected on the beauty around us, we listened to a philosophical discussion on the EconTalk Podcast between the host, Russ Roberts, and MIT Philosophy Professor Kieran Setiya on his latest book “Midlife.” If you like philosophical discussions, you’ll love it. It’s lovely to have the time to listen to a discussion like this while experiencing the beauty of a place we’ve never visited before.
Our plan for the afternoon is to rest so we can stay up through the night and photograph the Northern Lights. But first, we enjoyed another lovely dinner at the ABO and got to chat more with Sebastian who works there and is from Argentina. He is a traveler of the world and is now working in Norway. In future years he hopes to visit and work in Australia. We wish the US would do a better job of welcoming hard working, friendly people like Sebastian who would like to work legally in the USA for a few years.
The best time to see the Aurora in the Fall is between 10pm and 3am. As we hoped, the clouds cleared and the stars appeared around 9pm. The Big Dipper was very high in the sky and the North Star was almost directly overhead — very different from how they appear near Seattle. So we gathered the camera equipment and headed outside. Our Aurora show began with a little area of light that steadily spread out into a big circle that filled most of the sky immediately overhead. That lasted for about 10 minutes, then faded away, and then the process repeated over the next 3 hours in the form of various streaks and swirls of light, and one that looked like a giant torch. It was by far the best Aurora display we had ever seen, but the people who worked at the Aurora Borealis Observatory said it was nothing unusual. But we were enchanted, and look forward to future trips to the Arctic Circle to see it again.
The rest peak of the aurora and then a faint ring.The Big Dipper, Aurora & Clouds.
Today (Sunday) we drove back to Tromso and on the way did a quick excursion down another fjord to get a better look at a couple of glaciers that we saw from the main road. While we were there we encountered a family herding their sheep down the road to a new pasture. The sheep didn’t like being herded down the road but they were very happy with all the tall grass when they got to the new pasture.
Tomorrow morning (Monday) we leave the Arctic Circle behind and head south to Brindisi in SE Italy. It’s a long travel day with tight connections in both Oslo and Zurich. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly, but whatever happens we plan to enjoy the adventure. We are excited for the next part of our journey but a little sad to leave this remarkable area. We will definitely stay longer the next time we visit the beautiful fjords around the City of Tromso in Northern Norway.
We left Oslo to fly to Tromso, which is well north of the Arctic Circle, where we rented a car and drove to Senja Island. The flight was easy, although checking bags is all manual with very little explanation. It’s a good thing we are experiential, go-with-the-flow learners.
Who Knew?
We planned our trip to Senja Island and the Aurora Borealis Observatory to hopefully see the Northern Lights. We had know idea our adventure was going to lead us to the most phenomenal Mountain views and spectacular autumn colors. We met some other tourists who had seen the Aurora on Monday night, but that was when we were still in Oslo. We hope to see them soon, but it’s been very cloudy here so far.
The Aurora Borealis Observatory is a remarkable property. We learned about it from Facebook. They livestream the Aurora and we first watched the stream while we were visiting there last year. They are just experimenting with opening the property in “Summer” meaning mid-September. This place has a lot of potential and our little apartment is lovely. But so far the Aurora is taking back seat to the incredible scenery. The cool autumn weather is perfect for hiking, there are no mosquitos at this time of year, and we’ve been having a lot of fun exploring the area in our rental car.
Yesterday we drove to Bergstbotn and Tungenset. The road there is narrow, with no center line but frequent turnouts, and takes you through tunnels to the beautiful fjords and occasional beaches.
The narrow roads and tunnels were a bit nerve racking for Jim. But he managed his stress beautifully with smiles and laughter.
What a stunning and surprising day! Rolling hills, rugged mountain peaks, and forests of aspen and birch exploding in color everywhere. Over a relatively short distance I had to ask Jim many times to park in one of the many turnout so that I could take another photo.
We were on the NW edge of Europe at latitude almost as far north a Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska. And yet, as many people have told us, the Gulf Stream current from the Caribbean keeps the area much warmer than North Alaska —- warm enough for deciduous trees and farming! There are so many small farms here, it was totally unexpected! We strolled the beach and tested the water — it wasn’t that much colder than Puget Sound — amazing!
Cool slow-motion video
And the moss and ground was amazing — it was so soft and spongy. I’ve never felt anything like it.
Today we drove to the nearby Anderdalen National Park for another day of color and beauty (and my crazy hiking hair!)
September 17: We woke up Saturday morning to beautiful sunshine and the challenge of what to see first. Oslo has so much to see from sculpture gardens to an Olympic Ski Jump to museums of all kinds.
Not that we needed to eat anything after the meal we ate the night before, but our reservation at the “Thief” included a great breakfast buffet every morning, so we started our day with coffee, pastries, fruit, yoghurt and protein before heading out.
Everything in Oslo is easily accessible by electric trolley, electric train, electric ferry or just walking. We began by walking to explore everything nearby along the wide pedestrian promenade that runs along the waterfront.
It was funny because this Saturday was the annual Oslo marathon. It’s a big deal here, and there were at least 1,000 athletes participating, including some very fast ones. Some of the runners do all three races consecutively: first the full Marathon, then the half Marathon and finally a 10K. The competitors who do all three races consecutively looked awfully tired when they finished, but apparently it’s very popular to compete in all three events among the local athletes, where pushing yourself beyond the limit of ordinary endurance is common. We would never do that ourselves, of course, but it was fun to watch all the runners and the pomp and circumstance of a major marathon.
Our hotel is not only beautifully located, with great views, but it has a wonderful spa with a lovely small swimming pool. We had scheduled a spa swim and I felt bad going inside given the beautiful weather, but Jim was right. My body loves to be immersed in warm water (I’m a Pisces you know!) and I have never seen a pool like this. The pool is lined with aluminum and beautifully lit in a way that makes it appear to be shallow at the opposite end of the pool even though the depth is completely uniform. There were also two steam rooms and a big sauna. After our midday swim we took another nap as we continued our quest to recover from jet lag.
It was hard to choose to go inside with the nice weather, but after another walk we chose our first museum: the Noble Peace Prize Museum. It’s beautifully presented. And although it isn’t perfect and the awards are occasionally given for political reasons rather than merit, Nobel’s innovative idea of creating an international prize for those who work for peace and to advance science was way ahead of its time and most of the winners are truly amazing people. You can even take a kind of Nobel Peace Prize personality test to discover what kind of peace prize winner you most resemble.
On the way back to the hotel we ate a light snack at a restaurant called “The Salmon”. Norway’s salmon farming industry uses these restaurants for public relations. This restaurant even has a small attached museum area and film they ask you to see after you finish your meal. We watched the video. It was top notch propaganda. We have no doubt now that farmed salmon from Norway is the key to feeding the world’s growing population. Do you know that more people have eaten salmon than live in all of Asia? Apparently that’s true!
We tried to see if we could get any football on the TV. The answer to that was no. However, the sports channel in Oslo had some very interesting programming. They were covering a chess tournament where the players (#1 Magnus Carlson and a much younger American challenger) sat across from each, but couldn’t see each other because both players were using computers with big screens to register their moves and monitor their respective remaining time available. Meanwhile, the whole scene was being live streamed on the video gaming platform Twitch, complete with live commentary by several chess experts, who used their own giant video chessboard to analyze the latest moves and future possible moves. Finally, IBM’s Watson computer was generating updated odds with every move as to which player was more likely to win, lose, or draw. The odds shifted back and forth, but even though Magnus Carlson had a 90% chance of winning near the end, the young American somehow avoided a loss and earned a draw. Now, we are chess nerds, but I’m sure we weren’t the only ones who found the whole broadcast quite compelling.
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September 18: We woke up in the middle of the night early Sunday morning (our time) and streamed the Husky vs #11 Michigan State football game which was played Saturday afternoon Seattle time. Woof! But after listening to the Huskies’ amazing first half performance we just couldn’t stay awake anymore. Sunday morning in Oslo there was sunshine once again so we decided to head out to the “Vigelandsparken” or Vigeland Park. This park represents the life’s work of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland and includes more than 200 life size human sculptures displayed in a very large park setting. I couldn’t stop taking photographs. It’s definitely a must-see if you ever visit Oslo.
We love our hotel, but the hotel coffee – it stinks! So when a local walked by us in the park with her venti-sized coffee we asked her where we could get a coffee like that. It turns out it was only a short 5 minute walk away! So that’s where we went next to get delicious lattes as good as any at Starbuck’s before we returned to the sculpture park for more park walking and photography.
After the sculpture park we took the trolley and a commuter train up to the Olympic ski jump that overlooks Oslo from a hill that is about five miles away and 1,000 feet above Oslo’s waterfront. Jim loves trains, and we both love skiing, so we were both thrilled with the journey. And WOW the ski jump is so much fun. I can imagine how great it would have been with all the Olympic energy. After riding up the elevator to the top I noticed that lots of people were zip lining down. This isn’t usually my thing, but it looked like so much fun that I convinced Jim to join me on the quick 30-second, half-mile ride to the bottom. It was a blast and we were both so glad we did it.
The couple behind us on the zip.
After the zip line we walked to the nearby mountain-style restaurant and had an early dinner while enjoying truly magnificent view. When we made our way back to the train station we met another two people. Both of them had just ran the Oslo marathon and one was from Kirkland! She of course new about Dick’s Drive-Ins and was so excited about our newest restaurant at the Crossroads Shopping Center in east Bellevue. Once again we all marveled at how wonderfully serendipitous travel can be because, as everyone who has been to Disneyland knows: “it’s a small world, after all!”
Sunday was a very full day and Jim fell asleep almost immediately that night after putting his head on the pillow. I read a bit and then got to video with James and Robert, who were just waking up to start their day in Seattle. Technology is amazing!
September 19: We both awoke on Monday feeling more rested. We feel like the jet lag from traveling through 9 time zones is finally fading. We can’t believe it, but we woke up again to sunshine. It was a bit chillier (ranging from the mid-40’s to the high 50’s), but truly glorious.
Today the ferry was our mode of transportation as we traveled from the waterfront promenade to a nearby island that holds many maritime museums, including the “Fram” museum and the “Kon Tiki” museum. The Fram is a large, extra-sturdy wooden sailboat that was specifically constructed in the late 1800’s to be locked in sea ice for several years, so that the polar current could take it very close to the North Pole. Before the currents pulled the ship south again, dog teams would try to reach the pole. The mission was unsuccessful, but the ship survived. After many subsequent trips to both Artic and Antarctic waters, the ship was retired, pulled out of the water and the current museum built around it. The historic ship is presented with videos and lighting that make it seem like its still sailing dangerous, iceberg laden seas as you board it and explore it. Launching specially designed ships to unknown territories reminded us of NASA’s Apollo Missions to the moon. What an amazing display of courage for the crew to risk their lives in a wooden boat, over 3-6 years, to advance science by testing theories about the survivability of ships trapped in crushing sea ice, along with the reliability of Artic currents, drifting ice flows, and the ability of a small crew to survive the harsh conditions and complete isolation of multiple Artic winters.
After the Artic Exploration museum we went on to the Kon Tiki Museum where the story is shared about the Norwegian scientist and explorer Thor Heyerdahl who couldn’t really swim and didn’t really like water, buttried to prove his theory that ancient Peruvians populated the Polynesian Islands by building a large raft with a primitive sail. Most scientists said that such a voyage would be impossible, so Thor built the Kon Tiki using native balsa wood trees, ropes made from vines, and a primitive sail with the hope that the typical easterly current and easterly windwould carry themall the way across the open ocean from Peru to Polynesia. Most scientists thought they would fail, just like most of the early Artic explorers. But they proved it was possible by doing it themselves, catching fish along the way and drinking rainwater that they mixed first with seawater to extend their fresh water supply. It’s such an amazing story. I had no idea balsa wood even came from a real tree. But there was a sample of a balsa wood log and you could pick it up and see for yourself how remarkably light and buoyant it was. So even though the “experts” thought it was impossible, Thor and his small crew proved them all wrong by reaching the Polynesia Islands in less than 60 days.
After the morning museums we took the ferry back to Oslo’s central waterfront promenade for another yummy coffee and then exploration of the medieval fortress and the WW2 Norwegian Resistance Museum. In April 1940, Norway was one of the first western European nations conquered by the Nazis, but the civilian population continued to resist until they were finally liberated by allied troops in 1945.
For dinner we tried a nearby Indian Restaurant “New Delhi” and enjoyed excellent food and service at a reasonable price. The variety of food we have eaten of the last few days has been excellent, from local gourmet, to salmon, to handmade Italian pasta and fresh cheese, to the yummy local sourdough breads, yummy Indian food, and of course, gelato! It makes us think about the Brad Paisley song “American Saturday night” but with an Oslo twist. The world is such a diverse, amazing, and tasty place!
Tonight, I worked on this blog while Jim was able to conference in to his quarterly Dick’s Drive-Ins board meeting. It’s amazing how technology brings the world together.
September 20th: Our last day in Oslo. Time to do the newly opened National Museum and the ornate City Hall before swimming one last time and packing up.
The City Hall is a remarkably ornate building and it is where the Noble Prizes are awarded each year. Because they have multiple political parties — not just two — there are about 50 City Council members. The guide didn’t know how many actually and was surprised that we thought that was a lot. The murals and views are stunning and hopefully inspiring.
Here’s just a taste of what we saw at the National Museum.
We ended our day with a swim in the beautiful pool and packed for the next part of our journey. We’ve loved coming here and are looking forward to the next stop in our Norwegian travel way up north at Senja Island to hunt for the elusive Aurora Borealis. The weather looks much less nice, but you never know? And the area looks spectacular. Either way it should be another fun True Love Adventure!
September 14: We were excited about our upcoming trip to Europe but prepared for difficult travel, given all the recent news stories about air travel craziness.
However, our journey to Oslo went perfectly, first to Montreal and Rome on Air Canada, and then on to Oslo via Norwegian Air. We experienced no problems or delays. Yeah! We were still very tired when we arrived in Rome at 9AM local time on 9/15/22 (midnight Seattle time). But we checked into the airport Hilton, took a shower and then headed out to try to get some sun and reset our body clocks to the local time zone.
September 15: Rome was extremely hot and humid. We only lasted until just after lunch before we had to go back to the hotel and close our eyes. We slept for a few hours and then headed into the “Jewish Ghetto” district in Rome for a stroll and delicious dinner. It’s named after the confinement of Rome’s Jews by Italy’s Fascist Government in the 1930’s, followed by deportations to German concentration camps in WWII.
But the beautiful synagogue there survived the war and it is once again a small but thriving part of downtown Rome, including 2,000 year old Roman ruins, lots of kosher restaurants and beautiful piazzas and fountains nearby. We are traveling during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. There are no synagogues on Senja Island. We wish all of you a healthy year and ask your forgiveness for any wrongs we have done. We look forward to the year 5783!
We never saw this area on our first and only previous visit to Rome in 2001. If you are looking for Kosher food, this is the place to go. We ate at a rather old famous restaurant, Giggetto. It was recommended by our travel agent and had a nice view of the ruins. Other than its location and the fact that it is almost 100 years old, the restaurant is known for it’s delicious fried artichokes. Yum!
After dinner we walked about a mile to see the nearby “turtle fountain” and then the very large “Piazza Novana” with Bernini’s famous “fountains of the four rivers” from the mid-1600’s, which includes an Egyptian obelisk from the first century. Both were recommended by our cab driver. On the way to the Piazzo we stopped to enjoy our first gelato of the trip.
The artistic fountains were stunning, especially at night. It was easy to get a cab from there back to our airport hotel where we collapsed. The next morning we set our alarm to get up in time to eat breakfast and walk back to airport terminal for our 3 hour flight to Oslo on Norwegian Air. Again it was easy at the airport and our flight was on time.
September 16: Norwegian Air is interesting. The plane was a 737-800, but there is no first class, the seats barely lean back and the bottom seat cushions are minimal. The flight attendants are nice, but if you want more than a smile, you have to pay extra, including tea, coffee or soda. It was no big deal, just different, and it offers the only nonstop service from Rome to Oslo. After landing in Oslo, it was easy getting our luggage and a cab from the airport to our hotel, “the Thief” (because it “steals you away from your ordinary life”), which is an ultra-modern hotel on the west end of Oslo’s beautiful downtown waterfront pedestrian district.
Julie and Doug were here this summer to visit Julie’s cousin and the hotel was recommended by him. Great recommendation! It’s beautifully located on one of the piers along the waterfront. After checking in, we left our bags in the room and took a quick walk down the stunning waterfront to get some sun and continue to work on resetting our body clocks to the local time zone. Then we slept a bit before going to dinner. The concierge got us the last two seats at a truly amazing Michelin restaurant: “Kontrast.” We rarely dine at fancy restaurants, but this was special. Delicious, artistic food, beautiful presented. I watched the chef use tweezers to decorate each miniature dishes to perfection. We didn’t do the wine pairing, to their disappointment, but we really wanted to stay awake all the way through the several hour culinary experience. We ate enough food for two days, (& paid the price later) but truly enjoyed ourselves despite still being jet lagged. One of the assistant chefs was from Seattle and knew about Dick’s Drive-In. It’s such a small world!
Tonight we hope to work on our jet lag with sleep and tomorrow we will begin our serious exploration of Oslo.
Yesterday, we were in the recording studio working on episodes 5-7 with our amazing cast. Here’s some fun video.
6:30PMTuesday, June 26 is the Rainier Club Curve of Time Podcast Dinner: For our Seattle area followers the Rainier Club downtown is doing a special dinner where we’ll give a presentation on the making of the podcast. Just call the Rainier Club at 206-296-6870 and let them know that you want to attend at your own expense (the cost is $64 per person) and that we are your “sponsoring member.” We would love to have a big group! Reservations close this Friday so don’t wait until next week to decide. You can’t pay directly, but you can just pay us later. Reasonably priced parking is available at the Rainier Club or you can park on the street or take the Light Rail to the Pioneer Square Station and then walk about the hill to Columbia and 4th Avenue.
A fun bear scene!
Here is the Rainier Club’s summary of the 7/26/22 event:
“Literary Happy Hour” is so excited to feature beloved RC members, Fawn and Jim Spady. Their remarkable story will be presented during dinner which will feature an exquisite menu hand-crafted and prepared by our talented Chef Jim.
Join us to hear about the making of their podcast, The Curve of Time! The podcast is centered around The Wells family who have always wanted to adventure north to the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Clint, Katherine, Tanner, Ella and Dexter embark on a journey north on their boat the True Love. This family story is based on the True Love Adventures of Jim and Fawn Spady and inspired by Wylie “Capi” Blanchet and her remarkable journeys 100 years earlier.
The Wells family are also musicians and play music along their adventure. Enjoy the music and the adventure as they travel from Port Townsend to Nanaimo, Egmont, Princess Louisa Inlet, Desolation Sound and Bute Inlet. Find out more on their blog trueloveadventures.com/
Join Us for the Adventure! Hop on Board! Make your reservation by calling the Front Desk or register on the RC Web Calendar. Menu
Herb Seared Pacific Ling Cod roasted fingerling potatoes, summer succotash, tomato basil coulis Vanilla Buttermilk Panna Cotta fresh summer berries Chateau St. Michelle Two Glasses $64.00++ per guest
Online reservations typically close three business days prior to the event date. Please contact the ReservationsDepartment to check an event’s availability if online reservations are closed, 206.296.6870. Event cancellations made after 72 business hours prior to the event date, may be charged the event fee.
After leaving Powell River and a quick stop at Nancy’s Bakery in Lund, we headed to Desolation Sound’s Oakover Inlet for the night. The Captain made a reservation at the Laughing Oyster restaurant. We enjoyed a lovely dinner with another spectacular view and saw some great patterns in the water.
We woke up late Friday July 1 unsure of where we would end up for Canada day. Given the mediocre, early season weather and extremely expensive fuel prices, the popular anchorages in Desolation were unusually empty and that was tempting. However, Octopus Islands farther north whispered an invitation to us and so that’s where we went. Perfect kayaking weather was forecast for Saturday, with warm sun and calm winds, so our usual gunk hole anchorage on the south side of Octopus Islands felt like a perfect choice.
On our way to Octopus we stopped in Calm Channel to wait for the slack current at the “Hole In The Wall” tidal rapids that connect Calm Channel and the Octopus Islands. The area north of Desolation Sound is full of tidal rapids. They are short, two-way, salt-water rivers that flow around many of the islands here. During big food or ebb tides, they can be very turbulent and dangerous, with powerful whirlpools and strong sideways currents that push your boat around and hide logs and other debris that can damage your propellers or rudders. But at the moment when a flood tide switches to an ebb tide, the tidal rapids are completely calm and easily navigable for the hour before or after. While we waited the Captain used the temporarily available cell service while the First Mate did some yoga in the sun on the bow. Calm Channel near the Rendezvous Islands is also usually a good spot to see humpbacks and orcas, but we had no luck this time. The slack current at Hole In The Wall wasn’t until 7:30PM so it was past 8 before we were anchored and settled, but with the late summer light at 50 degrees north latitude, sunset wasn’t until 9:30PM so anchoring late in the day was no problem.
It’s been three years since we were at Octopus and with the light NW winds, our gunk hole anchorage outside of the main bay gave us a beautiful view and relative isolation from the other boaters anchored there.
Both of us woke up around 1:30 AM and headed up to the top deck to look at the stars. The sky is expansive here and we were treated to a perfect view. I even saw a shooting star! But it was still remarkably light for a moonless night. The sun sets in the NW and rises less than 8 hours later in the NE, adding in an hour of twilight and pre-sunrise dawn, the skies don’t get completely dark, even without a moon at 2 AM
On Saturday, the warm sun shinned brightly as predicted and we kayaked enjoying all the calm waters around Octopus Island Provincial Park. There were lots of families around and I had the opportunity to share the “big news” about the soon-to-be-published Curve Podcast. In the afternoon we took the tender out to find some cell service and explore one of the other tidal rapids near our anchorage.
Weasels fish in the water.
Together, Surge Narrows and Whiterock Passage are another waterway that connects Calm Channel to Octopus Islands. The Captain navigated through Surge Narrows with no problem even though the current was very strong, skillfully using our tender’s 40 HP engine and GPS chart plotter. By contrast, Whiterock Passage has almost no current, but is very narrow and very shallow (less than 10 feet deep). For those boats that don’t have a GPS chart plotter, there is a “Range System” that uses onshore monuments to help navigate through the narrow, twisting channel. First you line up the “Range” with the bow and when you almost reach the shore, you make a turn and line the “Range” up with the stern. It’s very low tech but as long as it isn’t foggy, very effective. We are thinking of adding this area to one of the last episodes of the Curve podcast. We also saw eagles and a sea lion taking advantage of the fish who become disoriented when going through the rapids.
The downturn in the weather perfectly aligned with our next stop: two days at Dent Island. So we watched some Wimbledon on the Satellite TV and had a lazy morning before the quick cruise back through Hole In The Wall, then through the Yaculta Rapids next to Big Bay and on to the fabulous Dent Island Marina. We haven’t been here since 2018. They will be booked up every day through Labor Day beginning July 6, when all the usuals come up after July 4th festivities in the states. I can’t think of a better place to find refuge in a summer downpour. Usually our boat is put in between the big yachts wherever there is room. But today we got the premier space in the front of the outside dock next to the small “canoe” rapids that run next to the Lodge. It’s very special.
This area usually has lots of eagles, but we’ve never seen so many in the trees nearby. And as soon as we were docked we saw an eagle family catch and share a fish with their young eagles.
Then we hot tubbed, took a long shower and went into the new sauna with a view window. This is the area that I took my special dolphin photo in July 2019.
We enjoyed a yummy dinner and dessert before walking back to the boat in the rain. We are supposed to get an inch of rain in the next 24 hours. But we can hang out in the Lodge or in our boat, do some remote work, eat well, and just wait out the storm before heading out again tomorrow on the next leg of our adventure. Thanks for reading!
This blog is written by the First Mate and the Captain of the True Love.
Our cruising begins this year a little earlier than normal and given our non-existent La Niña spring we expected some rain. And that’s exactly what we got, with lots of cold, mixed weather as we headed North into Canada, to the islands and rugged coast of British Columbia.
Seal saying goodbye at Elliott Bay
We left Elliot Bay Marina early Thursday, June 16th. With the True Love in “tip top” shape after a few spring test cruise issues, we confidently rode the big spring ebb tide north all the way to San Juan Island, anchoring just outside of Roche Harbor. After a long day, a successful anchor and a shower we encountered our first “Stoic Challenge”: our shower faucet failed and wouldn’t completely shut off. So less than a day into our voyage we were no longer in “tip top”shape.
Because boats have one big water system, even one small leak means the main water pump needs to be shut off when not absolutely necessary because the pump will burn itself out if it runs constantly. So the next day we ventured into Roche for a delicious breakfast and walk to the Philbrooks Marine Repair there. Philbrooks main facility is in Sydney in Canada but their satellite facility in Roche is also staffed with incredibly engaged and helpful people. Doug the manager scrounged through his extra washers to give us a new “O” ring to our old faucet cartridge. Ever hopeful, we headed back to the TL to test the “fix” to find . . . it did not work. So we called the Ace Hardware in Friday Harbor (the “big city” on San Juan Island) and they thought they might have a replacement cartridge that would work. So we tendered back to the Roche Marina, took a cab to Friday Harbour but did not find the proper cartridge there, either. Returning to the True Love we lifted anchor for the short cruise to Bedwell Harbour to clear Canadian Customs. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to just call in to customs from our boat, as we had done for years using our special “Nexus” cards. Instead, perhaps as some kind of weird remnant of old covid rules, we had to tie up to the dock at Bedwell and call in from there using our cell phone or a landline at the dock. We were on hold for 45 minutes, but then got through to an agent and were cleared to continue into Canada.
Originally, we planned to go to our usual “first stop” anchorage at Montague Harbour. But the first mate was feeling a bit tired after a long couple of weeks of work on an exciting new project (that’s the “Big News” at the end of this blog) and by the final cruise preparations and our first long day cruising and the shower faucet repair challenge. So we pivoted and headed to the little town of Ganges on Salt Spring Island.
The Captain was a bit wary of going to Ganges because many, many years ago we had stayed at the Salt Spring Marina there and it was a bit sketchy because they assigned us to a slip that was very close to a reef which we then grazed with our propellers while exiting, which was not a big deal except that the cavitation it caused in the propellers is expensive to repair. However, the Marina assured us that it was under new ownership and that the docks had been completely redone to prevent that from happening again. So we gave it a try and had a blast.
Ganges is known for its wonderful farmer’s market on Saturdays and it didn’t disappoint.
We were able to procure wonderful produce, artisan bread, pastries and other goodies.
But our amazing treasure was a handmade ukulele created by an unassuming but remarkable man and luthier, Terry Warbey. This Uke is made out of three different types of wood and it sounds like a harp. Learning to play the ukulele was my Covid project. I found a wonderful online instructor, Cynthia Lin, and played almost everyday. Luckily, the Captain loves to hear me play. In Hawaii, I would get up early and do my lessons. This year I joined hundreds of ukulele players online from around world for the “100 Days of Ukulele” challenge. My goal was to play everyday and post a video of a song when I felt up to it. I learned not to to be afraid of playing in front of other people and was enchanted by the fellowship and joy shared by musicians around the world. The range of talent covers the spectrum from true beginner to virtuoso. But everyone was so supportive! It truly exemplifies what is possible with the internet and facebook. With my expanded knowledge of instruments and music, I knew how special this ukulele was. And the Captain bought it for me to celebrate our 41st Wedding Anniversary! But, that isn’t the “Big News” either.
Back to the leaky faucet. On Ganges we met a young couple sitting next to us at dinner and we asked them where we might find parts for our repair. They recommend two places. The first was the hardware store. And unfortunately their faucet cartridges were also not the correct size. So we ventured out again to Windsor Plywoood which we were told also has plumbing supplies and there we met a Plumbing Oracle. He looked at our old cartridge and pointed out that it was missing a little washer at the end. He suggested that this little missing washer, by itself, could cause the slow leak that we were experiencing. We were overjoyed! Unfortunately, Windsor Plywood didn’t have any of the little washers, but the Plumbing Oracle said that we could probably use the little washer at the end of any other faucet cartridges if we couldn’t buy the little washer at the hardware store. So, we walked back to the hardware store in town and while they also did not have any of the little washers, we did purchase a faucet cartridge we knew wouldn’t fit so that we could move the little washer there to our broken cartridge. Back at the dock, before we had a chance to do the repair, we met and befriended an amazing couple who have just spent the last 2 years of covid working remotely from a powerboat they bought in Florida and then cruised through the Panama Canal and back up to Seattle. While their story is amazing (and we would love to share it in a future blog if its OK with them), it turns out that they had some extra supplies for their voyage including a little washer that looked about the right size. And it was about the right size. Just not the right size. So I took an imprint of the size we needed from the end of our cartridge and placed it on the slightly oversized washer. Then I carefully took a box cutter knife and carefully trimmed around the edge of the slightly-too-big little washer until it fit snuggly into place in our old cartridge. We then put the old cartridge back in our shower faucet and, drumroll please, the leak was gone! We gratefully sent positive waves of thanks to the Plumbing Oracle and celebrated with lots of high fives and great joy.
The next day, Sunday, we left Ganges and headed north for Nanaimo, passing through the currents of Dodd Narrows at slack tide. At Nanaimo we docked, did our final provisioning for our upcoming long stay in Princess Louisa Inlet and had a truly yummy dinner at our favorite greek restaurant, Astera Taverna. Jasmine knew we would be eating there for Fathers Day and had called ahead to buy our dinner and that made it extra special. Thank you Jasmine and David!
Monday morning we left Nanaimo on Vancouver Island just after sunrise to cruise north with the flood tide across the Strait of Georgia to Pender Harbour on the coast of the BC mainland to rendezvous with our dear friends Jayne and Warren Spector. Neither has retired yet so they have complicated schedules but this year everything came together so that they could fly by seaplane to Pender Harbour on Monday and then return to Seattle on Friday by seaplane from inside Princess Louisa Inlet. As we crossed the Strait of Georgia the auto pilot remote control that we use from the upper helm stopped working, but that is a little problem as boat problems go since its similar to the cruise control on a car, and the main auto pilot on the lower helm still worked. The remote control auto pilot is 8 years old so it’s not surprising that it stopped working but its just a little annoying when crossing a big body of water like the Strait of Georgia. But that’s boating!
Other than the problem with our remote auto pilot it was a super easy crossing of the Strait of George with light winds and calm seas so we arrived easily in time to pick up Jayne and Warren, even though their flight arrived 30 minutes early. It wasn’t sunny but they had decent weather for their flight up and the sun soon came out for the short cruise to Egmont, which is the last little marina before the 30 mile trip to Princess Louisa Inlet. At Egmont, we washed the salt off the boat and then shared a remarkable gourmet meal at the West Coast Wilderness Lodge, which is a short walk from the Back Eddy Resort. Now that covid is over, we can go back there and we highly recommend it. We’ve been to Egmont every year since 2009 (except for the covid years) and we’ve never seen Orcas there. But we did this year, during our gourmet dinner. Everyone having dinner there was oohing and ahhing as four orcas swam past, about 300 yards away. What a magical treat!
The next day (Tuesday) the weather wasn’t great (drizzle, changing to a steady rain that lasted all day) but we headed into PLI with the morning flood tide and hoped the next day’s weather would be better. There was a lot of debris in the water so all of us kept our eyes on the water to watch for logs and dead heads. It’s difficult to see when it’s grey and raining. But the crew was up to the challenge. Other than the debris, the cruise into PLI was easy with no waves and light wind. Unfortunately, Jayne and Warren didn’t get to see the spectacular mountains that line the inlet until they flew out on Friday, but they could see the lower part of the 20+ waterfalls of Princess Louisa at “full flow” because of all the rain. The weather forecast also called for improving weather so we were hopeful for the rest of their visit.
Because PLI is so deep, using a shore tie is required when anchoring to keep the boat from drifting off into the deep water. Shore tying was a bit of a challenge in the rain, which definitely increased to a downpour during the time the Captain and Warren took the tender to shore with the long rope that had to put around a tree. Once anchored and tied we took a breath and watched all the amazing waterfalls. When it rains like this PLI is filled with so many waterfalls. This time of year, with all the heavy snows the Pacific Northwest has had, the big waterfalls are already bigger. But in the rain, they are bigger still and there are so many more.
We spent our first day in PLI watching the clouds, the rain, and the waterfalls while playing bridge. I think Jayne and Warren were a bit worried about the weather for the rest of the trip, but we expected clearing the next day and we got it. Over the next few days we did all the PLI things: taking in the magical beauty, kayaking, paddle boarding, exploring inside and about a mile outside PLI by tender, walking to Chatterbox Falls, walking the forest trail near MacDonald Island, taking a tour of the remarkable Malibu Young Life Camp and enjoying great food and great company. On Friday about noon Jayne and Warren were picked up by the Seaplane for a spectacular clear and sunny low-altitude flight back to Seattle. For the next 5 days Jim and I will enjoy our PLI retreat together. The weather is spectacular again today (Saturday). Hopefully, we will get a lot more sunny days before we head out of PLI and then continue north to Powell River, Dent Island, the Octopus Islands, and the Blind Channel Resort. At that point, we plan to turn around and begin our cruise south back to Seattle.
We need to be back in Seattle in mid-July because of the Big News! I’ve finally started production on my “Curve of Time” inspired project with a multi-episode family adventure podcast. Collaborating with Saul’s company and the amazing Madeline Reddington we honed the scripts originally written by Richard Lasser into a sweet & funny family adventure. It’s inspired by Wylie Blanchet’s collection of short stories from the 1920’s and 1930’s that she published in her book, “The Curve of Time”. My vision was to create a new story about a modern family that was so inspired by these short stories that they decide to buy an old boat, fix it up and then take their boat up to some of the areas described in the Curve of Time; areas where Jim and I have cruised and loved during these past 12 years. They get into lots of the same adventures we have in the past. The podcast is geared to kids 6-12, but the whole family will enjoy it. The family in the story homeschools and the mother and three kids are a musical string quartet. We were lucky enough to get a truly amazing musician and composer to do those parts. We have a fine cast of actors, the “theme” music is composed by a remarkable local composer and beautifully edited and produced. I hope you listen to it, share it and like it on the podcast page when that goes live. To be among the first to listen, use this link to the podcast web site: CurvePodcast.com. The first two episodes will be up very soon. Please go to the web site and sign up and you will get a notice when the first episodes are published. The followers of the True Love Adventures blog are the first to get this invitation! I’m hoping you will prime the enthusiasm for the advertising and outreach campaign that will follow later this summer when we have at least 4 episodes completed and uploaded. In mid-July, when we return to Seattle, we will record and edit the last 5 episodes of season 1. We hope it will become a popular podcast that will generate enough interest for more seasons and perhaps someday a multi-part video series or movie! THANK YOU for being our first listeners!
We left the calm protection of PLI behind. Said goodbye to the eagles, the eaglet and the waterfalls and entered Jervis Inlet to a big change of the weather and a strong south wind.
That was ok because we were planning to spend the night at an anchorage we used in 2016 or at the very head of the inlet where we anchored in 2014. The first mate was pushing for the 2016 anchorage and the Captain was thinking the head of the inlet would be the most protection from the wind. On our way to the head of the inlet we heard a communication over the VHF that there were orcas in Jervis inlet heading towards another boat closer to the 2016 anchorage. That decided it!
Here’s a picture of another massive waterfall with a giant rooster tail.
So we turned around and headed towards the orcas to meet up with them very close to the entrance to PLI. We think they are the same orca family we saw at the West Coast Wilderness Lodge. Four of them in all. A mom, probably a grandma, a young baby and a toddler. We were able to capture some decent pictures and a little video.
We feel very very lucky. In our 12 years of boating we have never seen orcas in Jervis Inlet. We’ve heard they come up here, but we have never seen them ourselves.
It’s a misty grey morning (as expected), calm winds and a big tide pushing us out of the inlet. When we get to Egmont the tide shifts to push us north to Powell river where we will stop and reprovision. Now we are preparing ourselves mentally to enter reality again. I’m really looking forward to completing Season 1 of the Curve Podcast and talking to the kids and family. But the news and the other negative energy, I can do without. That is part of life though, of course. We are up for it all, recharged and refreshed.
We docked last night near Powell River at the Beach Garden’s Marina. After walking to the near by Pacific Point Market with our wagon, we took a taxi into town for dinner. After dinner we decided to walk back the 3 miles and discovered a delightful seaside trail. And go figure, we encountered a young bear swimming and frolicking on and near the trail. Locals said “that is just so Powell River.” We waited for the bear to leave the path and continued back to the boat.
We’ve aren’t often here in PLI this early in the season. Robust waterfalls cascade all around us. As the day heats up Chatterbox falls goes from dramatic to full with the daily snow melt from the abundant snow on the mountain tops. We even had a little pile of snow at sea level near our anchorage! We’ve never seen that before.
The seagulls are nesting on Seagull Cliffs and the PLI pair of eagles are on their nest. We haven’t seen any baby seals yet. We are hoping we get to see a new born before we leave. With the last three days being the first really warm weather this year the trees released their pollen, which collects in swirling patterns on the surface of the water. Luckily neither of us is allergic to tree pollen!
Teaming with early spring life the seawater is quite dark. It’s still beautifully reflective but with a hunter green tint vs a reflective blue. So far we have seen very little bioluminescence (phosphorescence) in the algae although we did see a little glow at the bottom of a close waterfall on our second night. We’ve put up a hummingbird feeder and I just saw one fly by as I write this entry (joyful giggle).
The Eagle vs Seagull Battle: While Jayne and Warren were with us we explored in the tender and noticed a ruckus going on at Seagull Cliffs. It was something we had never seen before. The eagle was hunting for eggs in the seagull’s cliff-side nests. I was able to catch some good photos and Jim got a fun video. We also saw the strange sight of one of the eagles on the top of a tree near its nest and on the other branch very, very close was a small bird. I didn’t have my telephoto lens so we don’t have a picture. We have many theories though: the two birds are friends from a previous lifetime, the little bird is trading lookout duties for protection, or the little bird’s parents were too lazy to make their own nest so they laid their egg in the eagle’s nest, which was adopted by the eagles and is now one of the family (aka lazy mazy in the Horton Lays An Egg).
So Many Spectacular Waterfalls.
Curve of Time Podcast Customers All Around: The cutest family came by our anchorage to explore our waterfalls and pick salmon berries. I gave them one of my Curve of Time Podcast cards! If you haven’t signed up already please go to CurvePodcast.com. You’ll be among the first to know when the episodes are launched, hopefully by mid-July. Yesterday an old, small wooden powerboat came in that looks very similar to the “Caprice”, the family boat in the Curve of Time. We need to go check it out today before it leaves.
Longest Days of Summer: The days are so long now we can’t stay up late enough to see the stars. So we are going to sleep and if we wake up in the middle of the night we go up to the top deck to take a look. Last night wasn’t ideal (there is quite a bit of moisture in air). But it was pretty good. The Summer Triangle (Vega, Deneb and Altair) doesn’t rise fully over the mountains until 1 AM. But last night at 2 AM we saw it and the Milky Way, a few shooting stars and lots of satellites.
Another Glorious, Sunny, Warm Day: Sunday it was 80 degrees here! The First Mate did her exercises on the bow while the Captain did his amazing editing job on the blog. We went out on the tender to check out the eagles nest again to try to see some newly hatched eaglets. No eaglets yet, but we did see one of the pair strike the water with talons and grab a fish! We followed it in the tender and I was able to capture this spectacular photo (the eagle with a fish in his talons and a glaciers in the background!). After that we returned to the True Love and the first mate deployed the pizza-shaped floaty toy! Hopefully, we can float again tomorrow!
Contemplating Connectivity: We found out a few days ago from a fellow boater that Starlink’s RV system works perfectly here. But we cherish our 10 days “off the grid” every year. All we have now is a Garmin InReach which allows very brief texts for checking in. The Starlink system is certainly appealing for the boat, but if we do get it, our house rules will have to be to shut it off whenever we’re inside in PLI. Our quiet time here is so precious and special; we never want to lose that.
Our Last full day in PLI: Glorious sunshine greeted us this morning again. We definitely hit the weather jackpot for this time of year. Kayaking filled the glorious calm morning. Jim and I raced across the inlet back to the True Love and he beat me by two lengths. He’s getting so strong! After some fish tacos for lunch we lounged the afternoon away reading, sunning and floating. Jim even did some paddle board yoga! Then we headed out on the tender to try again to get a glimpse of an eaglet in the Eagles Nest. And this time . . . . . success! Then we played a bit in the outer edges of Malibu Rapids trying to capture a video of the churning water and whirlpools. We also got some more photos of a wood duck and her 10 chicks. Tonight the hummingbird came around the feeder during our yummy steak dinner and we caught it on video. Tomorrow afternoon we plan to raise anchor and leave with the slack tide at the rapids around 2PM, then anchor at the head of Jarvis Inlet in preparation for a dawn exit the next day to get a power assist from the big ebb tide. Tomorrow is also our 41st Anniversary. We are so lucky to have found each other in this time and space.
It’s impossible to truly explain PLI and our perfect anchorage. We try with our words and our pictures. It’s like immersing yourselves in the most special nature painting and then adding sound and smells. Jayne said she felt like she was in Rivendale (the magical City of the Elves from the Lord of the Rings movie). That’s a pretty good explanation.
This blog is lovingly written by the Captain and the First Mate of the True Love.
Great meals, beautiful weather, smooth cruising, kayaking, paddle boarding, sun followed by rain-fed waterfalls, stars, bait balls, Stephen’s first shooting star, starfish, jellyfish, seals day and night, bridge and 41. Just how we drew it up! Great friendship and great conversation.
True Love Adventures 