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May 2. 2011
Well here we go 100 miles past Nanaimo in 2 days!
YIKES! Breakneck speed or was that the horrendous waves that almost broke us??? We're in an anchorage across from Campbell River. It's calm…

We took off from Lopez Island on Earth Day [April 22] and took our time at first getting to the party. Carolyn and Winston's 50th anniversary! OHMYGAWD it was SO fun! Over 100 people showed up. and the food!! We got to take some and I bet we'll be eating the leftovers for another week! The day was perfect! Sun shine, not too cold and the fire side felt divine. I had never met a Banana Boat a banana, cut open, chocolate and marshmallow put inside, then sealed wrapped in tin foil and put on the fire. OH YEAH! You can see the happy dance now!

It was so great to catch up with all of our friends from there. Evan looking the same and Barry Ferrall came on board for coffee Sunday morning. That was a pleasure.

Nature well she's kickin' our butt! Today we left Lasquiti Island and the Qualicums blew 20 right away with incredibly scary waves. We thought it best to just duck into Comox after thinking we might just turn around and go back to Scotty Bay… BUT as we got in the lee of Hornby Island I said "Geez, with the wind and the waves going like they are. Let's just sail". So we did! Be got to going about 5 - 6 knots most of the time with just the head sail. We started the engine about 10 miles south of Campbell River then hit the tide coming out of Seymour hitting the Georgia Straights current. OHMYGAWD it was horrendous. Like a turmoil that you can't describe. NASTY!!! Then our engine speed really dropped. Crap! I was not happy after a following, uncomfortable sea ALL DAY and now this! BUT we did see dolphin and a rainbow oh yeah, it snowed or rained most of the day.

May 19, 2011 My Brothers' Birthday
We're around Cape Caution and anchored at Green Island after a night @ Fury Cove off of Fitz Hugh Sound.
SUNSHINE for the first time since we set out 4 weeks ago today! We had a "beaching" yesterday when we had not pulled our anchor chain up enough to keep us off the shore. It was a bit of a scare but MOM gently telling us to watch out for her better. We had anchored in a waterfall in Miles Inlet before coming around Cape Caution and had the anchor drag @ 3 AM. So the last couple of days have been a real learning curve and as Carl said, we've been hit with the "stupid stick". Hopefully we've learned since we did park WAY out in the middle of this anchorage, we made sure there were no rocks close. and better yet, we hope the crab and prawn traps are FULL!

May 22, 2011
This is an email sent to my friends:
We have started a circumnavigation of King Island.
WHY?? I don't know. It's got hot springs. BUT they R NOT EZ to get to. Then you can't even anchor there! This place has mountains covered with snow that go straight UP into the sky where it's snowing. Water falls everywhere. and for miles dolphins came along side in groups of a dozen or more doing tricks. We could see them way in the distance flying into the air with huge splashes. As soon as they saw the boat they were here in a second and playing along side & at the bow. We got into Cathedral Point anchorage, which is a little rock you can get behind, about noon. After we got the anchor down we watched our prawn trap slip off the 300 foot shelf it was on and begin to sail away in the now growing wind and wave out on Burke Channel. SO the anchor comes up [no small deed when you just dropped all 100 feet of chain and set it good] & off to the races to get that trap before it disappears under the surface since its OVER 2000 feet in places as deep as the mountains are tall. BACK into the anchorage and then set a stern tie & when it was all said and done it was 4 PM! Okeedokee - Glad you could get winlink. That must be cool! I haven't seen the website since we are far from any civilization what so ever. I collected water for tea pot and bathes from a waterfall last night. It's already tea colored from the tree roots, I guess. Often the water comes from the rain catchment off the pilot house. "I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote." - Herman Melville Sunday and it is!!! We took the dinghy around south of Cathedral Point into Kwatna Bay. We just cruised along many waterfalls each unique and noisy. Before we got back to MOM the dolphins made an appearance but they were busy after fish and not playing with us. The clouds have lifted to revealed snowcapped mountains towering over this Burke Channel. King Island is majestic with its granite shear walls and waterfalls pounding out to sea everywhere. The waters' calm & we may slip outta here and on ward or not. Right now Carl's making spaghetti for breakfast. YUM!

May 23, 2011
WOW whatta day.. I'm so glad I don't have to work Mondays anymore. This Monday was incredible! Whatta Day of blue skies and glaciers & dolphins playing along side, shear cliffs & waterfalls right down to the sea! Then to top it off, a hot spring soak all to ourselves on the side of the mountain right before camp. Funny, I call it camping - anchoring that is... We're all fed and now it's time to make our bed back up since I tore it all up to dry in this sunny weather. Its been SO wet for so long all of our stuff has mildew and wet/ damp yuck. BUT then that's what happens when you live in water world for nearly 5 weeks... in the rain. But we've had now 2 glorious days... It gives you such a different attitude when you have sunshine. Tis' morning we pulled outta Cathedral Point anchorage and had our anchor stuck hard. It was a bit of work but got it un snagged. Kinda scary. NO crab again. I didn't even bother with the trap tonight. As we made our way the 30 miles we went today, we saw Kumbaya - a HUGE motor boat that helped us get around Cape Caution a week ago. Seems like a month ago. They told us we could anchor here in Larso Bay. Its only 3 miles from the hot spring. You couldn't stay @ the hot spring because you were literally anchored on a cliff. It wouldn't take much [the winds were building to 20 knots] and you'd drag off that shelf & a way you go! It was handy that you could watch your boat right from the pool. Then you'd have to get the dinghy in and row like hell to catch up to your boat if the anchor drug. We did fine. She held tight & we soaked & washed hair, oh it was good good good. I tried to take hot water to wash our laundry but the waves were too big to get back to MOM. I don't feel like doing laundry by hand tonight anyway. When we got back to MOM after the soak, we sailed all the way to camp. We flew really fast, too. Dolphins again just surfing along side! Let me describe the spring. First of all it was a cleft in the wall on a cliff above the ocean. They had built up a wall to create the pool. I'd say the temperature was about 108 F. It was neck deep with rocks to sit on about 10' by 5', and about 4' deep. Covering the sky was ceder saplings & salal [a low brush]. They had made a nice little roof so you could dress and stay out of the rain. Hooks for your clothes on the logs holding up the roof. It was crystal clear blue water. It did not smell. I'm going back! This is not the only hot spring on this excursion. I guess they're everywhere up here. How funny, towering above you are these mountains covered with snow, frozen and this hot water.

May 25, 2011
Labouchere Channel Continuing around King Island.
We left Larso Bay tis' morning and skipped a third trip to Talleho Hot Springs. OH they were lovely. I'm at the helm & watching for logs so I've got to look around from time to time. We just saw a HUGE log with roots and a seal perched on it. Whatta riot! We're heading to another Hot Spring called Eucott. We understand you can anchor close & dinghy over. That'll be nice since at Talleho we had to go back to Larso Bay 3 miles away. However, we did get a thrilling sail each evening when we went back to Larso.Waterfalls abound here. It's so incredible with the high spires of mountains, glaciers, steep rock walls. Not many places to anchor around King Island. We'll wrap this up in the next couple of days and get a little more serious about getting to Alaska. We are, technically, heading north right now. Carl cut my hair on the deck yesterday & my biggest conundrum is getting all the hair off our boat since it blew everywhere! Cute short cut, thu'. He does pretty good. Long hairs just a hassle on a boat when you're pretty much stuck with sponge baths. OK, gotta go outside. There's another amazing waterfall and need to examine.

June 1, 2011 I can't believe it's June already!
WOW! Bishop Bay Monkey Beach Hot Springs Tis' morning we watched orca right off the dock. A mama and baby were rubbing along side the rocks & fishing. A big male stayed off out in the bay & was spy hopping. SO cool. The Girls, on Nanusiah a small 25 foot sail boat was here. We've been seeing Lisa and crew since Sointula. They're going to Haida Gwaii {Charlotte Islands] in the next couple of days. But we've seen them all along. It's been so FUN. Especially getting to the springs here they let us raft up to them. Thank God it was a mellow evening. Now everyone's gone and it's honking wind in here. TERRIBLE. Up to 20 knots & the dock is really complaining to us about being tied here. It's amazing. The last to leave tis' morning was a fishing boat after they gave us a big sable fish. We weren't sure what to do with it BUT Carl filleted the fish perfectly. We'll put it on the grill if the madness of the waves coming over the docks ever stops! We have had a great run up here. Carl got another crab trap. We first put it in at Bottleneck cove after Bella Bella/ Klemtu. We had just cat food in one trap and cat food & a fish in the other. The one with the fish brought up 8 crabs! The damn thing was crawling. BUT the one w/ just cat food nothing.
Yesterday we stopped at Butedale.
Very weird place. The buildings are all falling in yet 2 guys live there. One guy, Lou for the last 10 years. He's put together a hydro plant for power. Very interesting. We took a walk up to the lake above the HUGE water fall. Beautiful. I've been calling them Water Walls because there are SO many and they're everywhere & they cover the sheer walls of the channels & inlets.
The night before we stayed in Khutz Inlet.
The guide book said you could anchor at the head of the bay in 30 - 40 feet, or way back. We put our prawn trap way back near a huge water fall BUT could not anchor back there. It seemed the river came in and dropped several hundred feet immediately. SO back to the "Green Spit". It was so strange because this huge wide inlet several hundred feet deep & this stretch of land barely under the water near its mouth. It was maybe a 100 feet wide. So we anchored there. The girls ended up anchoring near us because they saw us in there. I was sorry we were asleep by 9 PM and weren't up to let them raft to us. We had a hundred feet of chain out on 20 feet. We thought if any weather came up we'd better have it all out to keep us right on that tiny bit o' spit! Well it continues to be a BIG learning experience. We'd hoped we could just chill here BUT the waves are building and coming OVER the dock. Carl's out making sure we have enough "spring" in our lines not to break them. No wonder NO BODY is here. It probably does this every day! We' gonna go soak in the spring & NOT think about it. The other things have been losing our prawn trap 3 times now. Our depth sounder doesn't work, so we look at charts and try to figure out the depth & they've floated away. Yesterday we had quite a search BUT with the Green spit & knew it couldn't float OUT of that inlet. After a while, we found it. Then I was pushing on some half assed stupid pipe that's coming apart on our kitchen counter and slipped slicing my thumb DEEP on the stainless steel counter top. NOT fun. I screamed & cried & BLED & said "I wanna go home". I forgot I WAS home & I'd better figure out someway not to be cut again by that ragged edge. BUT it just seems it doesn't let up. We can't seem to just relax no matter what. The universe just keeps throwing more our way and making it challenging. OK, go sit in a hot spring & now think about it for a minute! [As the dock makes these horrible noises with our boat attached!] Tomorrow we head north more towards Alaska. It's a long long way for sure. BUT we're getting' there! Slow but sure!

June 2, 2011
Grenville Channel Northbound with the current!
We left the dock at the Hot Springs under sail. It was neat to sail away and out into Ursula Channel south to McKay Reach, Whale Passage, Write Sound & into Grenville. Grenville is the route all the big ships take to "Rupert". No one local calls it PRINCE Rupert. We just saw an interesting schooner going against the current called Pacific Foam. Looks like he converted a tug into a sail boat. VERY character boat and he came outta the pilot house to give us a good wave & he looked like Carl with a longer beard in another 10 years! OK, So we're heading now to Klewnugget Inlet even though we'd planned on going to Lowe & anchoring below Varney Falls. We've got 7 - 8 knots going instead of the normal 5, so go with it baby. Yesterday we enjoyed sitting in the hot tub BUT the wind just blew thru' there up to 20 knots. The waves over the dock and then the dock got more & more skitty wampuss. We hope our boat didn't pull it away from its proper place BUT over 10 tons of boat may do that. It had an ugly look about it today. Time to go! PLUS the wind was already blowing at 7 AM thus' the ez sail off the dock instead of motoring. We saw in the distance the Girls on Nakusiah and haled them on 16. They hope to go across to Haddi Guaii tomorrow with south easterlies. We'll miss them. We got to see them over & over with different crew on board. I guess the black cat, Peanut, allows a new bunch of faces from time to time. The girls, Charlotte & Lisa, own the 25 sail boat. Lisa had some other guy on board in Sointula and then said her dad came out & they had sailed around for a week before coming north around Cape Caution. Charlotte joined Lisa & then Sebastian a guy from Chile, came later. Cute kids all full of no fear what so ever. OK, well we'll try our luck again for crab & prawn here in this inlet. We ate the fish the Indians gave us yesterday grilled on the BBQ. Pretty good BUT wow, oily. Our hair should be really shinny after that feed. I made chili for breakfast. Turned out good under Carl's guidance.

June 3, 2011
STILL in East Inlet off of Klunuggett Inlet which is off of Grenville Channel.
Want to go to Rupert to see the hockey game which is Vancouver against Boston, 2nd game, Canucks won the first in the series of 7 for the Stanley Cup. Sports, I LOVE HOCKEY! We took a dinghy ride all thru' this country BUT didn't see half of it. BUT Brodie Lake was awesome with the waterfalls coming out of a lake eyeball high off the sea. AMAZING! So not much to report. Another day just slipped by so fast… Last day of school had I stayed til' the end of this year. We'd be half way thru' Idaho for the usual run every last day of school since 2001. GONE til school started in August - disgust… rhymes… The only thing good about August is NOW, this August and my parents Birthdays! Calm beautiful evening… So glad we're safe n' sound except for the rocks that hover close to our hull…We hope they never meet us.

June 4, 2011 Happy Birthday Adwoa!!!
We're heading north on Grenville today towards Rupert. Don't know how far we'll get - just see. Our computer tide and current tables said we should get up EARLY & hit it. Now we're out here & it's going the wrong way. 5:30 AM & the wrong way now that SUCKS! We got only sea stars in our crab pots, another suck thing, BUT probably 60 prawn! OK, now we're talking! YUP, gonna be a project to get to the meat we brought in the freezer at this rate. LOVE eating from the sea! Well, not much to report except we do have a nice day, we're healthy, my backs' behaving and Carl's knee is a bit better. My thumbs about healed. MOM I'm getting your emails & since you asked about my thumb, I guess you're getting mine. Christine HOW much notice do you need to get to Haines? I'm feeling like we're actually getting up there BUT as they say, "Often wrong, never in doubt."

June 6, 2011
Dundas Island
A letter to mom… yeah, saw the hockey game. had dinner at the pub and comfy seats with BIG screen for game in Rupert. It was SO fun. dindin was good, too. 90s already!? way too hot for me. It was foggy tis' morning after a BIG rain. BUT we decided to hop to it towards AK. Not so nice JUST before we got into a nice deep calm inlet. It's really blowing north westerly winds now. That is the pattern when it gets sunny. So we wait now to make our last big ditch north. We still have some open sea called the Dixon Entrance. and that water was NOT nice late yesterday. I was glad we had one more place to hunker down. So we're the furthest north you can get by sea in BC. Dundas Island, Brundidge Inlet. No body here. I'd hoped to play around Rupert. BUT oh well. Thought we'd better get while the gettin' was good. We listened to the radio report after we got in and some places we heard it was blowin' gusting to 44 knots! We have a wee breeze & puffins diving around the wee bay here. ok, welp, back to bed. this only works around midnight. Carl so good to get up to get your letters. OH yeah, & it's just starting to get dark!

June 7, 2011
STILL at Dundas Island @ the top of BC by sea Brundidge Inlet
This is a nice anchorage. UN like so many we've had that we swirl near rocks, or drag anchor, or docks with no privacy and BIG costs! We sit in mud, with tons of space to twirl around. & MOM does love to twirl. I don't know if it's the twin keels or what. BUT given a wind she dances & prances her beautiful self around so much that you could get sea sick sometimes. Just kidding… Today the sun shines not a cloud in the sky. and outside our cozy little inlet the wind & waves still rage at gale force. We wouldn't know it but for the radio reports. We listen for the automated WAVE HIEGHTS & WINDs. It ain't nice - so here we stay. Once the waves go below a meter out on the Dixon Entrance EAST, we may head north. Right now they're over 11 feet high! No thank you! Gosh, sit in the sunshine, lay around, whatever! Sunshine is NOT good for up here and getting anyplace. It means HUGE northwest winds. That means we'll be fighting wave & wind all the way north. We did that a little a couple of days ago out of Rupert. The winds got up to 20 right around the top of Dundas Island. That was ENOUGH to make us climb way back into this inlet after putting out our anchor near the mouth. We started to swirl around towards a rocky shoal. Carl said, "I don't like it." I was tired of getting to close to rocks and even thou' the view of the mountains was amazing from there; I was more than willing to get back into the inlet to a calmer cove. We can see some snow covered mountains of Alaska peeking over the tall trees. It'll do. Anyway, once it gets cloudy & rains we'll get a more settled sea. WHO knows when that will be… Yesterday we tore thru' the boat cleaning. Washed the floors, took the bed apart and dried it on deck. GEEZ this place is SO damp. Not at all what we're used to living in the high desert of Utah which is dry dry dry. However, I don't remember it ever being this damp in any of the summers traveling by MOM up here. When cleaning out the bilge of a half inch of water from condensation, it was horrible. It's a constant fight - glad I have PINE SOL - never any rest for us weary travelers…. OH well, guess its ok I stayed in bed reading until 10 AM. We slept until 8:30! Wee barely made the last call check into the Great Northern Boaters net with Wm McCloud! Sad to hear the Cunucks lost to Boston 8 - 1 in the first game in Boston. Damn damn damn… They play again tomorrow. Babes to the slaughter, sounds like… OK, Whelp, coffee gone, gonna put the motor on the dinghy and go snoop around these little coves & then a few more boat chores. NEVER ENDING! We have been playing SCRABBLE at night sometimes. I found the complete UN opened game on the road in Death Valley. Carl says I'm famous for getting great road kill - like the butternut squash on a desert road in Mexico. & we've enjoyed that game. I got another dictionary at one of the many book swaps along any boat port and now we each have our own to look for words. Last night I won 236 to 141! BUT he's won mostly. We used to play chess BUT he kills me every time. NO FUN! OK, keep those letters comin' WE love them eventhou' we're reading them @ 2:30 AM !!! The only time this radio will send anything is in the middle of the might becasue of sun spots, propagation & what not. Who knows.. BUT it will not work when the sun is up. and now it's getting light by 3 AM, & not dark until midnight! Yup, land of the midnight sun!!!

June 15, 2011
Exchange Cove off of Clarence Straights before we head north to Wrangell Narrows…
Woo hoo! We've come 81 miles north of Ketchikan in 3 days. That's' a LOT! Today we saw so many whales we can't even count. Right off the bat outta Meyer's Chuck we hadda whale eating. Then one time we had to cut the engine because a whale was traveling in front of us. We saw babies and moms, diving & breaching, you name it, and it was a whale of a day. We now call Clarence Straights, Whale World! & just as we anchored, one more whale said, good night @ the head of the bay! Meyer's Chuck, last night was neat. We took in a kayaker who started his journey in Olympia! Tom is going to Juneau! He built his kayak. He said he saw us out on the Behm Canal & tried to flag us down. However, we were having our own little drama out there yesterday under sail with HUGE waves. I couldn't believe he could kayak that mess! No wonder he was trying to get our attention. I'm not sure how we would have drug him on board since the waves we're coming over the bow. BUT we woulda IF we'd seen him. Poor guy. So we fed him cookies and cocoa last night. Made him happy. Especially after I gave him the squirt bottle of Carolyn's Cream liqueur!

June 17, 2011
Petersburg, AK
We've been here a couple of nights re-grouping. Needed ONIONS! But it's been nice with walks and a commercial dock. 600 slips are available & most are fishing boats. Not too much fussy here just working man. Yesterday we came up the Wrangell Narrows and had wonderful sun. Now it's beginning to rain & be the usual south east AK weather. We saw LOTS of whales coming from Ketchikan. Now it looks like we'll see lots of ice bergs once we enter Fredrick Sound towards Juneau. Wonderful trip & 8 weeks gone from Lopez Island today. My oh my how time slips away…

June 18, 2011
Ruth Island, Thomas Bay near the Baird Glacier 19 miles north of Petersburg
We're in a lovely anchorage surrounded by huge mountains with waterfalls and glaciers peak thru' under the clouds. It's begun to rain now that we're all anchored up, ate dinner. We'll hit the sack early to catch the last of the ebb out of Fredrick to Portage Anchorage off of Kupreanof Island. We didn't work it right today where we came out of Petersburg on the end of the flood & fought 3 knots out of there. Then we had nice ebb, then with the ebb tried to get back into Thomas bay fighting again the ebb against us. We got lots of ice bergs we had to look out for. Then a little whale show way off in the distance. BUT no rain until we got all settled in. Hooray! It's toasty in the pilot house and really cold outside! It's getting to be where we are below these glaciers & the wind seems to howl off them.

Sunday June 19, 2011
Portage Bay, Kupreanof Island, Alaska
We're all anchored up by NOON! Now that's a rarity. I got up @ 5:15 & started coffee. We didn't leave until 7:30 however. It was silly to get up so early BUT I wanted to make ebb work for us and flood into the bay. We fought so hard against current & tide yesterday I didn't want to make the mistake again. I said that it's like a chess game. You need to look ahead a few moves, not just one. So we're looking at Gambier Bay & Snug Cove tomorrow catching the ebb out of Fredrick Sound & flood to Gambier. Then we'll have to catch flood up to Tracy Arm well into that area. So we get to sleep in! Well until 7 or so… So chores today. We'll get the house clean, takes naps and eat prawn. We also have to pump the water out of the bilge & tighten the motor mounts. I can feel the motor vibrate when they begin to get a little loose. We need to check the oil anyway. We've found the motor mounts get a wee bit loose. We've heard horrible stories about them breaking. No need for that thank you! As we came into Portage right inside just south of East Point, we had our usual Welcome Eagle. Then some swallows came flying in and around buzzing us. They landed on the dinghy & made all sorts of noise. I stood 4 feet away watching them very still. They are SO cute. One chased the other off & then really went into a BIG song. Then he sat as others flew by but didn't dare land on "his boat". Then he yawned a BIG fat yawn. Tried to walk around but only waddled cause' he was SO FAT. There are LOTS of bugs already. So there ya go, I hear a nap callin'. I love that saying, Kickin' ass and takin' naps….

Monday June 20, 2011
Great day! Started on ebb out of Portage & rode that to Cape Fanshaw.
LOTS of whales everywhere around us. Then flood up to the Brothers Islands. We put out the sails & sailed all the way into Gambier Bay. Lovely day with sunshine most of the time & whales whales whales. We've taken our sun shower & then once we check in with Bill on the West Coast Boaters net, we'll take a nap. Ah yes, glad I don't have to work anymore…. UP DATE! M/V Zucchini came by our cove and gave us all the halibut we wanted! We BBQd a HUGE slab & then froze a bunch more - probably about 20 pounds! Now we're talking! Next to prawns MY FAVORITE! SO great!

Tuesday June 21, 2011
Summer Solstice!
We went for a nice walk tis' morning because we cannot leave until the end of ebb & the beginning of flood to take us up to Tracy Arm. As soon as we got on shore I found a 3 point deer horn and bear scat. Anyways, we now call this Deer horn Cove & it's next to Snug Cove in Gambier Bay. It's so beautiful. & took a sunset picture last night @ about 11 PM. & when Carl got up to do email @ 2AM it was already getting light. So I guess we're losing it after today. DANG! However, even with the curtains up, it's hard to sleep it being so light. BUT then, in Mexico it was so dark starting @ 5 PM we slept sometimes over 12 hours! Carl's whipping up sautéed zucchini and halibut right now. YUM YUM! Beautiful sunny day! Now we hope for wind to sail us & take the bugs away… whew huge day. we started in Gambier & right off the bat, whales & dolphins playing with us. Nice crossing over to Tracy & Endicott Arms. We drove thru' the ice bergs all the way up to Fords' Terror. The tides were right to go in all the way BUT we got edgy. So we came all the way out again to anchor in an even worse place called Sanford Cove. Carl said, "Now this is the REAL Fords' Terror." The depth sounder has not worked from the minute we put in this trip. So we got the cheesy fish finder out and it worked immediately. So here we sit. Hopefully for the whole night. Thank God it's calm. Hope it stays that way. & when we got into Endicott, we had a welcome whale! WOW! We went up this inlet & it was full of ice bergs & ended at HUGE glaciers. OHMYGAWD Waterfalls everywhere & HUGE ones. Walls all glacier carved for ions. & one beautiful day, too. SUNSHINE and it made the ice bergs so blue. & at the end, below these snow covered peaks 5000 feet high & walls at least 3 thousand STRAIGHT out of the water, baby seals!!! We love MOM! She is the best boat. We were not worried when we would rub up against wee bits of ice. We're all anchored up with 10 other boats in this little spot. There is NO place other than here. & we're all crossing our fingers no ice bergs find their way in our little cove. Okeedokee, cocoa and bed. It's almost 10 & we JUST got here.

June 23, 2011
Wow, time is really slipping away as usual. We're still here in Tracy Arm because we do not have flood towards the north in Stevens Passage until 1 PM. We try not to fight Mother Nature but work with her for our voyages. We woke late & just relished the time to lie in bed. When Carl got up & started the coffee he glanced outside just in time to see Orca making their way up the Arm. I got to see them, too. Then I said sadly, "Their on their way up to eat the baby seals!" There were a lot of um' crying for their moms which were no where in sight. One baby was trying desperately to get on an ice flow but couldn't. It was bawling like mad. Ah yes, Nature… Can be tragic. It was raining for a while and the mountains are shrouded in cloud. So amazing we got here a couple of days ago & had bright, clear sunshine! So fortunate & blessed. We had the last of our Halibut that's' already cooked/ BBQd in fish tacos tis' morning & we'll slip outta here around noon towards Juneau. In Juneau, we'll get some chores done like laundry, COSTCO, fuel.

June 23, 2011
later in the day… Whales in the start [orca just outside anchorage] and humpbacks at both ends of the day. Had to skip around icebergs way out in Stephens' passage. Got to sail ALOT downwind. Saw 4 other boats sailing! Got to Taku at a State dock. LOVELY. Nice walk & found a wonderful swing. Talked to Royal Sounder & they gave us the skinny on Juneau for mooring. Also about Haines being a HUGE slog up there. Oh well. So nice calm dockage tonight, no work anchoring. We had rock scrape all night last night by Tracy Arm. I look forward to that.

June 26, 2011
Tee Harbor Just around the corner north of Juneau.
We came out and anchored away from the madness of Auke Bay near Juneau. It was SO busy in that marina that we had to raft to a fish boat. Fine until last night about 10 PM when they started trying to get the prop off the fish boat with a diver. They hammered & crashed & had a compressor going until 3 AM. That did it - we we're outta there today. We did get lots of chores done, cleaned the boat, got water. Laundry & showers. Yesterday we went into town on the bus and saw the State Museum. It had lots of native articles. BUT the best thing was a visiting HAT exhibit. If you know me, you know I LOVE hats. We had a lovely lunch out. Also found out where COSTCO & the doctor are & we'll hit those chores on Wednesday. SO for the time being no reason to be at the dock & getting woke up all night by the comings & goings of fish boats. It was a nice day - fairly warm. & as soon as we came out of the Auke Bay we saw whales! and in this little anchorage are tons of houses BUT seals & bird sounds all about. So this I'll do for a couple of days til' we go back to town. We hope to meet my sister in a couple of weeks in Haines. That town is up the Lynn Canal bordered by the mainland. What the local people tell us is that you must start your day @ 4 AM & be somewhere by noon. The winds kick up to 20 - 30 knots and waves as large as 6 feet in the afternoons. There are few anchorages so we'll have to jump a bit and go far. It will still take a few days from Juneau to get there. Geez, it's just over night on the ferry!

June 30, 2011
Last day of Junuary
BACK @ Tee Harbor
We spent last night @ Auke again for the doctor visit. April Sapp was GREAT! Then we went to COSTCO & got that done. Too much noise at the dock. BUT we had to go back to the doc' today for blood work. BUT were turned on to Ray Troll & his art work is neat.

So today we got back to the boat, made corned beef & cabbage. Got the propane filled, took a shower, then to the boat. We got out & we could SAIL! BUT when we got into Tee we ended up anchoring twice. We drug near the dock@! We lit the heater 3 times. Sailing, then into anchor, then had to start & pull up anchor, then lit it again. Too cold this last day of June to NOT have a heater running!

BUT we got a beautiful rainbow & lots of water in our buckets from the pilot house rain catchment system! BUCKETS of rain like we've never seen. Like Trolls' art said, "Southeast Alaska, as close as you can get to living under water"

Tomorrow, who knows BUT we'll see whales no doubt!

July 2, 2011
Funter Bay, Admiralty Island
We have had rain rain rain & nasty winds for days & today it's a bit breezy & some sun peaks through from time to time. It really rained hard last night & the high tide made this float really rock for a bit. We're on the outside of the dock & the locals have the inside on this "transient dock".

Tee Harbor was where we made our escape from Juneau a couple of nights ago. The wind howled through there & drug our anchor. We set it again & it held. BUT scary!!! We had been there a few nights & the fetch was rough. BUT we did get a LOT of internet stuff done.

We hope to hang here for a few days before working our way up to Haines to meet my sister. Every boater has warned against going up the Lynn Canal. I hope it's not too stinky. Now that we've had some scary winds, I'm sure they're right in warning us. Tee Harbor is on the south end & it was SCARY! So who knows… I especially don't like the waves pounding us. My Orca wind sock is gone from all this wind. I got that as soon as we got to the San Juans in East Sound @ the pharmacy. I guess I know where it is now, the bottom of Funter Bay.

We've watched the eagles, herons, otter's tis' morning. Fun to see then fishin'. The tide is down to minus 3 & so we could really see down into the water. We got to 6 feet under the keels tis' morning. No biggie. Again, lucky we have the twin keels although' we're thinking at anchor they really make our boat fly back & forth. Not comfortable at anchor. We look at other boats just sit into the wind & we're flying. Oh well, as we've now beached it twice by accident, good thing we have them.

Again, we're just hanging here so I'm rambling a bit. As we came around Shelter Island, then down the west side of Admiralty yesterday around Point Retreat, we saw lots of whales & dolphins. We saw 2 kinds of dolphins. Black n' white & just plain grey. We went by some islands called The Kittens. Funter is a large bay with 2 Alaska State Floats. One right in & another between Coot & Crab bays more tucked in. We saw the tucked in dock with no one there & the other out here all full but with one more spot. We probably should have gone for the tucked in one BUT here we are, way out in the fetch. However, this could be a really cool view if the clouds ever rose. We look west towards Glacier Bay. You can see there are mountains over there below the clouds.

4th of July!
STILL in Funter
Yesterday we went to the graveyard of the Aleuts from WWll. When the Japs invaded some of the islands in the Aleutians, the Gov' thought they'd bring the natives here. Trouble was the Gov' gave them nothing to survive. They'd never seen a tree, didn't know & didn't have a way to hunt deer. Many did not make it. The graveyard is covered with Russian Orthodox crosses. Of the stones there, many babies, all Russian names. Since the ground was frozen some the coffins protrude up through the ground. The place they're buried is a canyon dark and dank right near the beach. Very sad.

Today a nice couple came by with some rice crispy treats & we drank tea in the cockpit. It was fun & we had sun! After that we continued to clean and do boat projects. In the last 4 days we've done nothing but read and fart around in the dinghy. It's been great since we hadn't done that at all this whole trip. One thing we did was to put a hose clamp on the prop shaft where the dripless, or lip seal meets the shaft. I read & a guy said to do that, so twice in the last couple of days, so I thought, this is our chance 3rd strike you're OUT. IF that slipped, you would sink. Funny how that had been read & also said. So we did.

So my sister is waiting for her hay to get in. So it looks like Haines with her is not in our future. We'll see. Carl still wants to go to Haines anyway. He thinks we'll see & be greeted by friends we have there. I have my doubts. They're all working in the tourist industry & so, they're Very busy. But who knows. Perhaps he'll be able to roust um' out to visit MOM.

Well, the rain falls heavy now. We got our chores in just in time. Although when I put out ALL the bedding, including the cushions, it began MISTING! Kinda over it & tired of living inside. BUT it IS a NICE inside. The heater's going & it's cozy!

I wrote to the guy who had invited us to be in the Metal Boat Society's line up this year. SO we'll see where that goes. It would mean we'd begin to go south sooner than we thought. BUT I think the rain might have something to do with that! The MBS asked us to give a talk about building MOM and they'd provide a slip in the duration. We thought we might have some people who could share how to do some things that have us flummoxed - like the mold & the "dripless" shaft seal not being dry.

July 6, 2011
Boat Harbor, Lynn Canal
We're in this cool little anchorage. You had to squeeze into this 60' between the rocks & scary opening from the now, frothing, Lynn Canal. Once inside this basin, it was calm & beautiful. NO other boats! But before we knew it, several commercial fishing boats entered & put out their nets. Before supper they were dragging in salmon.

We hadda nice run up here from Funter Bay. On the way we saw Orca. There was a HUGE male with his dorsal all chewed up & LONG! & some babies in there as well. The fishing fleet was out & crowded. The salmon are running. They have been jumping out of the water for over a week now. Sometimes it looks like their skipping stones with their bodies!

We actually saw the sun & the mountains behind Juneau. It was spectacular! The Herbert Glacier was so BLUE in the sunshine. BUT alas, the rain buckets filled overnight & we woke to rain. BUT it looks like we may get some bits of light from time to time. This is a very pretty anchorage & we may stay another night. BIG snowy mountains loom over one side & the rest is lined with trees and grass. I heard a loon as I was emptying the water catchment buckets into the kettle, the water filter, etc. Good to go on stretching the water a bit more!

We're on our way to Haines. My sister may, may not see us there. She's got to get her winter hay in & it hasn't been cut because of the rain. Yeah, we understand that since we used to have a hay farm! We hope it all comes together & we can meet up.

So the big thing today will be getting the dinghy out & exploring around here in the boat basin. I'd like to see the entrance at low tide [we may not want to leave after we see all the rocks in there]. We'd also like to talk with FV Nitty Gritty. Looks like its "manned" by a single woman! We'd love to hear her story! She also hollered over, "Beautiful Boat" to me. So obviously, she has good taste! I shouted back, "You, too!"

Later July 6, 2011
WOW! We're livin' right! Gregg Bigsby of the Fishpickers & F/V Rustler yelled out to us as we dinghy'd by, "Wanna Fish?" Then he tried to give us more than one sockeye & the one he gave us was HUGE! We BBQd it up & YEAH, oh so GOOD! Now we got tubby's full of it. So butt', now salmon. So we got some cookies & took um' over & then - not only offered his slip in Haines BUT gave us half of a KING crab! OHMYGAWD! So we shuffled back to the boat & are now steamin' that! Turns out he's from Friday Harbor & knows & fished with Ron at IMC. So he gave us a CD of his band Fishpickers & we're to give that to Ron. BUT it's GOOD & we're playing it now. BLUEGRASS, very good.

Anyways -
We've had a great day here. Been so fun. The sun came out finally! & we dinghy'd all over. We tried to up run the rapids once, and then were driven back. So we hit it again in an hour & got out. Amazing how narrow this harbor is.

SO Gregg told us they planted 2,000,000 salmon fry here & so the place is now packed with fisherman. Its nuts! Sometimes there's like 20 boats in here all spreading out these nets like crazy. One guy got his net wrapped around us a bit. BUT it came off. F/V Doghouse came over & sniffed our BBQ & said YUMMY! They're living in Port Aberni & the boat lives here. They just bought a sailboat & it sits in Seattle. They said they're taking next month off to go get her. They said they'd just bring her north. Today would've been perfect for sailing. They said it was a constant 15 out there today. I KNEW it. But Carl wouldn't go cause' we'd have to pull anchor, etc. I was with him. Just hang. What the hell!

Gregg told us his band is playing Saturday nite at Fort Seward & he might not be there [ yeah, he's fishin' & someone will have his slip]. & the fair is coming up the 28th, & so on & so forth. We have a bunch of friends in common. A BUNCH of Utah people live in Haines. BUT I cautioned Carl already - don't count on anyone being "our friend" because they're all busy with the tourist stuff. BUT we'll see. We would like to hire Paul Swanstrom to take us on a flight seeing tour. & Gregg said his plane is really cool. They'd hired him to pick them up on the weekends out in Sitka when they were fishing out there. Anyways, it's funny, I said to Carl, " I guess we're gonna winter in Haines." & I stopped for just a second wondering if that might be true. Kinda scary!

July 7, 2011
West of Sullivan Island anchorage on the mainland.
A week since we left Juneau.
We left Boat Harbor tis' morning way early. & I've had to recuperate all day. I don't like getting up early anymore & told Carl, "I shouldn't have to." We sailed over an hour with the Geneker. We had fun getting into the inner way from the big part of Lynn Canal. Lots of whales & sea lions, seals. I finally found the cool feather I've been looking for!

So we rowed to shore & walked around. After that we rowed over to our one n' only neighbors, "Gingerlady". She's a 30' Baba. Very beautiful. Boris & Yari from Whitehorse. They told us all the good places to go. It's a never ending pleasure boating paradise up here, according to them.

So we're less than 20 miles from Haines. The sun came out & the mountains are just amazing all around us. Glaciers hang all around. The sharp peaks pierce the sky. This land is rugged to the extreme. It was great that Gingerlady told us about these islands in the middle of the Lynn Canal I hope to anchor at when we go south. They said you get a view of the entire Lynn Canal from them. Just a side of it - totally amazing. So glad we didn't blow off coming up here because so many people said it's too hard to come up here. The winds & ebb current always against you, lots of gloom & doom. BUT even Boat Harbor was beautiful, then here. Hearing whales breathing, & just the incredible HIGH mountains looming above. SO glad we came. BUT may not once we go south against the prevailing summer winds… All, always can sail. Gingerlady told us a friend of theirs sailed to Haines from Skagway, 15 miles, & it took him 8 hours!

July 8, 2011
At the wee anchorage west of Sullivan Island
We've aired out the bed in a bit of sunshine, took morning naps, & now the tide should turn north with the flood in about an hour. So nearly noon & we're wrapping it up to head to Haines. Friday nights are great for doing laundry because no one does it then. Saturday mornings are NOT the time to go to the laundry mat. So off we go for chores. Hopefully my sis' gets her hay in & meets us in the next couple of days for a little fun rendezvous' of relatives!

It's a bit open here for our liking but it's served us well for a stop over to Haines. Only 20 miles to Haines. We came 20 yesterday from Boat Harbor, & it was 28 miles from Funter Bay. When we first looked into coming up the Lynn, it looked like there was nothing to stop at. BUT the more we've been here, little cool anchorages have shown themselves.

July 10, 2011
Sullivan: west of the island, then Haines for the last 3 nites.
We had a great sail from Sullivan Island to Haines. Had the big geneker out, then the small head sail. Orca & humpback. Very nice days here. We took Greg Bigsbys slip with his permission. He's the guy that gave us a salmon we're STILL eating! Once we walked up thru' Haines we were drove into the Elks lodge for drinks. Then the next day we went to their BBQ & live music. LOTS of dancing. It wassa BLAST! Met some very neat people here. We have tried to catch up to our Utah connection but not so lucky. Althou' we have called. Nels said he'd "run into us" but has made no effort to come down to our boat. We saw Gregg Williams who's working for CRATE to do a Tat' trip in a few days. Then Paul Swanstrom who just sent his new wife Amy to Seattle today to have a lumpectomy on her breast. SO all are busy, some are in crisis. As I told Carl, all too busy to mess around with us since we're playing & they're working.

Jim & Janice were some of the people we met at the Elks. Jim actually said, "Come on in, I'll buy ya a beer". WE couldn't resist his hospitality. So in we went. I was quite surprised that not one man at the bar offered me a seat, however. That was not the Elks I have experienced in the lower 48. BUT never the less, we stood & they interrogated us. But come to find out, BBQ nite, Jim & Janice have a daughter, Nicole. She is disabled. Come to find out, she was adopted by Jim Janice, Then she started having brain tumors that screwed her up. The Catholic church said they could give her back but they said "NO WAY!" So Nicole was at the party. Probably 14??? I went up & asked her to dance. She's in a wheelchair. She said, "I can't" I said - of course you can. & I held her hand & she had a good rhythm! We had a good time. She asked my name. SO she's not retarded - just so messed up with brain trauma - injury, what have you. BUT you find angels in the most interesting places. I had a new respect for these 2 people who took this on & have stayed with it!

A lady who runs the Cliffhanger B n B, Sue, couldn't believe we were leaving at 10 PM. She had got all the ladies up dancing over n' over. It was a riot! Anyway, she chased us down & wanted to have us over for dinner tomorrow nite. She pointed out her house. Its way up on the mountain side. YIKES! So we looked her up on the internet. POSH!!! But anyway - I felt she'd probably had too much to drink & wasn't really serious about the invite. I wrote her an email & thanked her for being "so nice". She had a cute doggie a wired haired terrier. I really liked him. Very cute & soft.

SO anyways, we've walked & walked. Found the good shower $3. Got the laundry done. Groceries tomorrow & I want to go. I'm over it here in Haines. I really want to get out to the whales again. DONE with town. BUT Carl wants to hang out for his friends. So one just called. So maybes he's goin' out. Don't know. I guess we're going out to see Paul's' plane. Well, I'm sending him out to see his friend. I told him he needs to just be with is friend & have some "guy time".

July 12, 2011
Letnikoff Cove the other side of Chilkat Peninsula
We came round' the other side from Haines today thinking we had a free State Float. BUT it says to pay. Bummer since it's a crumby float & it makes a LOT of noise. No garbage pick up. Anyways we hadda great sail over here although' it built along the bottom & was scary for just a minute. I did lose my hummingbird feeder. For some reason the bottom just fell off. So it goes Lost lots of things this trip. BUT I'll be sad not to have that little feeder. I was just tickled every time a wee bird came up to lick the drinks.

So we had big time fun in Haines. The cruise ship comes in tomorrow so it just won't be the same. So we high tailed it outta there.

Carl's friends were fun. Gregg Williams & Paul Swanstrom are some of his Moab river gang. It was real neat Gregg came down to finish off the day with us every night. He told us stories about sailing in the Caribbean. Lots of fun! & Paul took us way out over the glaciers towards the Gulf of Alaska last night in his Bush Hawk bush airplane. It was really neat. His wife is undergoing serious surgery & we pray she recovers soon. Paul is very busy flying & couldn't be with her right now. She must be very brave to face all this alone. Paul did say they have "people" in Seattle. May she do well -

We met a really cute gal at the Elks party last Saturday. She wanted us to come to dinner. BUT I told her, thanks but no thanks, we didn't want to put her out. She came down to the boat & we had fun talking. Then today Sue took us up to her B n B called the Cliffhanger. WOW! It was really neat up high over the Chilkat River & the Lynn Canal. Spectacular! She made us a scrumptious breakfast of French toast with blueberry syrup. WOW again! We watched Eagles fly BELOW her huge windows. That was fun to meet some of the locals & check out how they make a livin' there in Haines. She gets people from all over the world staying there. She has a couple who went to Africa coming in a couple of weeks. I asked her to have them email us. We want the whole scoop! Anyway I just LOVE sue, She's so exuberant & we had SO much fun dancing at the Elks! Sue has the most precious dog named Wiley. He's a wired haired terrier. LOTS of fun & just so loving. I like his size, too. We, both Carl & I enjoyed having a doggie around. He kept giving Carl kisses. I was jealous!

July 14, 2011
Letnikof Cove: Haines
Got up @ 3:30 to hear the wind report & it's calm here BUT it's blowing again, almost 30 knots out in the middle of Lynn Canal YIKES! BUT it's calm here.

So we'll skirt around Sullivan Island because NOW we HAVE to go. I wanna get out towards Glacier Bay & Elfin Cove & stuff. MORE glaciers, etc. BUT I miss my whale buddies. I haven't seen them for a week. SO much to do here in town.

We're gonna research Africa. I'd like to see the animals before there are so many people they're all gone. We'll go to moms for November & maybe fly outta Vegas. Don't know. Haven't done the research yet. Either there or Argentina????

Yesterday we hitch hiked into town. Its 5 miles from here. We gotta ride with a lady who is the retired nurse. lived here 37 years. VERY cute. Gave her a hug when I got out. Then the smoked salmon kid brought us back out. Went to the Sheldon Museum VERY neat, saw our flight buddies again. Mark had brought out a hummingbird feeder. Guess I cried so much he thought he'd squelch that.

July 15, 2011
Wm Henry Bay
Left Haines about 4 AM today to catch calm winds. The smoked salmon guy told us they call that area between the mainland & Chilkat Peninsula is nick named "The Gut". When we got out there, we understood why. It was nasty. The swells were huge & white capping. It settled down a bit once we broke free of the peninsula, but until we got behind Sullivan Island, it was nasty. We thought if it was bad after Sullivan, which Eldred Rock light station reported 27 knot winds, we'd turn back to behind Sullivan. But it was rough but not too bad so we came as far as Wm Henry Bay which is 30 miles south of Haines. It's very nasty going south from Haines. The guy at the museum said they were coming back on the ferry in February & it was blowing 116 knots at the Rock! They turned back & went to Juneau because "it would take 8 hours to get to Haines overtime for the Union Crew." OHMYGAWD - 116 knots! He said the waves were coming over as high as the windows by the snack bar.

July 16, 2011
Benjamin Island: North side between North Island
We hadda nice motor over here tis' morning. We did not make any extraordinary effort to get up and go. It was just fine and Eldred Rock was winds from the north 3! The sea had laid down & was lovely. We didn't get to sail BUT that's because it was so mellow! No wind!

We rowed over & poked around the island after a nice sun shower. We dried all our bedding out. Then put the motor on the dinghy & really make tracks around North Island, over to the mainland, out to see whales in Favorite Channel. Tomorrow we'll head to Auke Bay to do laundry. Then Monday is the doctor chores, COSTCO for prescriptions then GONE to Icy Straights, we hope. Then we can maybe get into Glacier Bay. We'll just play it by ear. BUT we'll be free again to just play and play! Hoo Ray!

OK, Now we're gonna do a little work on our website - put some pictures on the story from this year. We may get the text from last year on - don't know how far we'll get. BUT it needs a little attention. Ah yes, nice anchorage here. A fish boat just came in near us. I imagine, like every night here in the Lynn Canal, before sun up we'll have us a little town of fish boats. Looked like that in Wm Henry last night. TONS of anchor lights everywhere.