So Far, So Good (Almost)...

Today, Thursday, 5/5/11, is the last day of our first week. So far, nothing terrible has happened. Whew! No breakdowns (am I jinxing us?), no major mistakes.

The only thing that has gone wrong so far is a mistake I made before I even left Seattle! We're underway on day four. I'm downstairs in the aft stateroom getting the bread machine out and assembling the ingredients needed, when I open the lid to the machine and SCREAM! (Several expetives ensued, loudly.) Brad yells down as he runs down the stairs, "Are we taking on water? What's wrong?" "No," I scream. "The pan and paddle are NOT in the bread machine!" I must have left them on the shelf at home and just grabbed the bread machine without realizing they weren't inside. Obviously, no bread for us! Fortunately, our good friend, Steve Sands offered his services should anything go wrong as he said his goodbyes. What a sweetie! So we took him up on his offer and asked him to UPS our stuff (and a dongle Brad forgot too for a computer navigation program - I am not alone) to Nanaimo, which is the second largest city on Vancouver Island. (Victoria is number one.)

Now we are in Nanaimo, waiting. Our package didn't arrive as predicted. I guess I could go to a store and BUY a loaf, but darn it, I bought the machine just for this trip and am dying to use it. Maybe tomorrow...

So now for a recap of our first week...

Our first day was spent at Safeway in Port Townsend buying critical pharmaceutical items we thought we'd already stowed on the boat but couldn't find. (Can you believe after months and months of planning and making supply trips to the boat day after day, that we still managed to omit things???) Then we went on to Mystery Bay where we took delivery of our new winch and hatch covers. We spent the night at the dock at the park.

The next day we motored to Barlow Bay where we anchored for the night. That anchoring experience went smoothly. We were both overjoyed! However, it was a pretty rocking-n-rolling night so I didn't sleep much. Thank God I don't get seasick like my sister, Lyn, or my brother, Brock!

Day three took us to Stuart Island where we were able to dock for the night. We watched as a 15' fishing boat rammed the one in front of it at the dock. We were so glad we were docked on the OTHER SIDE! (Apparently, the transmission handle came off as he was shifting.) We walked to Turn Point to watch the whales but none wanted to reveal themselves to us. (This was our second trip here and we struck out AGAIN. Maybe next time we will succeed. Third time's a charm, right?)

Turning Point (popular whale-watching spot)

We made it to South Pender Island on the fourth day where we went through Canadian customs. They always board your boat - no exceptions - while you wait nervously at the dock. Fortunately, they found us and our boat acceptable and allowed us to continue on our way without further hassle. We spent the night at Princess Cove on Wallace Island. (This is when I discovered the bread machine debacle.) It took us about 5 tries to set the anchor here. We were nervous as it was our first stern tie ever. Since we had no instruction, we didn't really know the best way to do it but did manage to get it done (eventually). We did learn that some anchors are just better in certain situations than others. At least here, the Delta and the Fortress worked way better than the CQR. It was windy so we set two anchors (another first for us), and that worked without a hitch. (I feared we would get them "wrapped around the axle" but we didn't!)

Stern tie in Princess Cove - our first!

Brad waiting for me to return from hiking

We spent three nights at Princess Cove since we knew our bread machine parts would not arrive until Thursday at the earliest. I walked the entire island the first day by myself (it took 3 hours and I got a bit muddy), as Brad was afraid to leave the boat! (He didn't want to find out that we hadn't anchored as well as we THOUGHT we had! Ha!) The second day we both hiked the whole island. (Less wind, happier Brad.)

The boaters have a cool custom here on Wallace Island. They all carve their boat name and year of the visit on a piece of driftwood and attach their sign in/on this old cabin. Some of the boat names are pretty clever and the artwork and mode of attachment are also quite interesting. Wish we had known so we could have added our own. Maybe next time...

Driftwood signs all around and everywhere inside too!

Chivers Point on Wallace Island - beautiful, ain't it?

Abby Normal and her neighbors in Princess Cove

Today we went through our first narrows, Dodd Narrows. We got up way too early (we set an alarm and everything!), afraid that we would miss slack tide. Since we couldn't get any current information for waters we were going to be passing through, route planning was, as to ETA, a WAG. I guessed a 1.5 knot current against us, but it turned out to be an average .5 knots in our favor up to the pass. This meant we would arrive way too early to get through the pass at slack tide, so we practically idled all the way to it! 3 knots SOG - speed over ground, in case you didn't know - for four hours. What a SNOOZER! (On the positive side, I was able to do my P90X workout en route without falling over. Balance is quite an issue on a moving boat! Anyway, so far I haven't missed a day of my workout routine. Whoohoo!) Getting through the pass itself turned out to be almost a non-event. Guess we didn't screw that one up too badly. What a relief! (We've heard these passes can be quite tricky.)

Approaching Nanaimo

Abby at visitor's moorage of Nanaimo Yacht Club

My impressions so far: People are so friendly and giving when they are boating! We met a man named Will who heard me comment to Brad how much I liked the chafe guards he had on his docklines. He heard me and gave us the material to make our own. Wasn't that nice? In Nanaimo this afternoon, a very old man saw me studying a map in the map room at the Nanaimo Yacht Club. It didn't take any prompting for him to offer his advice on the best places to anchor and where to cross the Straight of Georgia. He even drew me a map of the anchorages on the dry erase board.

Also, many of these boaters have this crusing thing wired! We just met a couple from Anacortes that buy their wine from here in Nanaimo. They purchased the equivalent of 90 bottles of wine from a local winemaker who puts it into big "kit bags" that they can put under the floor and never have to deal with customs. Pretty smart!

We've seen quite a bit of wildlife: seals & sea lions, raccoons, otters, and bald eagles. If I get a few better pictures, I will post them later. Most of the time, I just can't get the camera ready quick enough to capture the beauty.

Where we are docked is right next to the float plane landing area. They look like they are going to land right on top of us. I've tried taking pictures as they approach but our camera is so slow that by the time I click the shutter, the plane is already out of the frame! I did manage to get a couple of shots that hopefully capture the ambiance. (Since I had to reduce them to get them to upload, you might have to look hard to see the plane.) Float planes are quite prevalent here.

Float plane just below treetops

Float plane just before touchdown

Float plane central

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Today is Friday, 5/6, and of course the UPS guy went to the wrong door and didn't deliver our package. We've been chasing it most of the day. Very frustrating to say the least. It's keeping us captive here. If we don't get it by 6pm tonight, we will be forced to stay here until Monday. Aaargh!