Back in Puget Sound

We have traveled over 1600 miles and ventured to within 200 miles of Alaska, made

two ocean crossings, Cruised with the whales, porpoises and sea lions, and had an amazing summer adventure.

The best part; this is just the beginning! This winter we will be driving south

to visit Chris’ daughter in LA and my sisters and brother in-law in Florida. I purchased a fishing boat in Florida (Craig’s List) so we will be picking it up and bringing it back toWashington after some fun in the sun Florida style.

On January 6th we are flying to Thailand where we have rented an apartment with Sue and Ed in Bangkok for a month. When we return to Washington in February we will begin to get Sea Mist ready for Alaska, spring/summer 2011.

San Juan Island Orcas

Looking for J Pod  today. They are often feeding along the shore of San Juan Island but today we found them several miles out from Cattle Pass. As always, they were stunning to watch and it was humbling to be in their presence.

September 7th- Fishermen's Wharf

We took a walk around town when we arrived. There are some cute float homes between the marina and main street.

I love the bikes at this little bread store.

Chris loved the ice cream at the Udder Guy's store

We had pizza for dinner and watched a nice sunset. 

We had a good time during our stay in False Creek, Vancouver BC. When we used the dinghy dock near the Plaza of Nations, we were within a few minutes walk of Costco, Starbucks, and China Town. 
On the other side of the bay, the dinghy dock in front of Olympic Village provided us easy access to the beautifully landscaped walking trail to Granville Farmers Market. We had some rain during the night but both days were nice.

At sun up we left the harbor and made the trip to Sidney Spit for the night. It was a long day and we seemed to be pushing against current all day. It rained during the night and was a little bit foggy when we left for Cowichan Bay this morning.

We arrived here in Cowichan Bay around lunch time and took a dock space at the Fishermen's Wharf. There is a cute town here with lots of shops and a float-home community. We came by dinghy for a few hours last year and said at the time that we would like to come back and spend more time. So, here we are!

Vancouver BC

Arrived in False Creek Harbor, downtown Vancouver BC around 3:00 today. It was a beautiful cruise from Buccaneer Bay with smooth water and sunny skies all the way.

I have always loved the city of Vancouver and I think it is even more spectacular when you arrive by water.

Sandy beach

The Broughton Archipelago Islands are rugged with most of the shoreline steep and comprised of granite boulders that are often covered with sharp barnacles. The trees are amazingly tenacious and appear to be growing out of solid rock at the water’s edge.

We are currently back in the Gulf Islands at anchor in one of our favorite places, Buccaneer Bay. It is nice to wiggle our toes in the sand and walk out in the clear shallow water on the west side of the spit, and it’s fun to kayak around the inner bay and check out the colorful sea start on the rocks. Of course for Max it is all about running on the sandy beach and playing ball. Chris and I got in a game of Bocce ball on the beach yesterday in spite of Max trying to steal our balls on every throw.

For me, it's all about not being a work!

Civilization

We are currently in Heriot Bay Marina for the night.

 We are docked near the BC Ferry so we feel the wake of the ferry coming and going.

 Luckily the ferry only runs till 5:00 PM. We picked up a few things at the local grocery store and had a nice dinner at the Pub.
 There is free Internet access on the dock so we are catching up on e-mail, blogs and paying a few bills online.

Max and Me

Max and I went for a really long kayak ride today while Chris did some painting on the back deck.


 He wanted Max away from the wet paint for a few hours so we kayaked to five or six different islands.

We were gone for about three hours.

 It was fun but we are both tired.

 The wind came up on the way back and it was quite a paddle getting back to the boat.

Pizza night on Steel Tiger

August 26th-Tonight we were invited to a Pizza party on Steel Tiger along with the crew from El Capitan. It was a lot of fun and the, hand-made pizzas were delicious! It’s hard to believe, but we were all ready for a meal that did not include seafood! Actually, we had meat loaf on Sea Mist the night before and considered that a treat!

August 27th- It rained during the night but seems to be clearing this morning. The plan is to do some kayaking today.

Yesterday at low tide we found a great beach tucked away between two islets.
 The water was warm and we found lots of neat shells. Chris even found some sand dollars.

 There was a shed nearby, similar to the one on Wallace Island, where boaters design and hang mementos with their boat name and date.

This one was easier to get to and better maintained than the one on Wallace.

Friends from Oly

As we were coming back to the boat from our hike we saw Snow Hawk II from Olympia cruising into the Bay. We had not been able to connect with Dennis and Glenda since leaving Olympia. Once they dropped anchor and got settled they zipped over to Sea Mist in their tender with a nice bottle of Merlot. We had a good visit while Max and Sockeye

Busy day

August 25th- Today Chris went out fishing with Stephan, from It’s a Good Thing.

 They took Stephan’s fishing boat/tender out to the rapids at the end of Hole in the Wall and were back in less than an hour with two lovely Lingcod.

 Chris was all smiles.

Linda, Stephan, Chris , Max, Uboo and I went for an afternoon hike up to Newton Lake. It was a steep, three mile trail to the lake and back but it was beautiful and well worth the effort.

 The water was crystal clear and according to Stephan, not too cold. He was the only one brave enough to go for a swim. Uboo would have loved to have joined him but had health issues that prevented him from being in the water other than to wade and cool off.

laundry island style

August 23th -Today was a day to catch up on chores. I did several loads of laundry with Max’s help. You can see how exciting that was. Chores on the boat are not that much different than chores at anyone’s home. I would however have to argue that the view from my “laundry room” would be hard for anyone to beat.

 Chris and I took turns in the galley today. I baked bread and then he canned salmon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After chores we took the dinghy ashore to do some beach combing and hiking around on the different islands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We came across several streams and Chris spotted this rather large frog.

Octopus Islands

Monday we got underway pretty early to hit the rapids at Dent near slack and then make it to Hole In The Wall by slack. We arrived in the Octopus Islands around dinner time and found a nice anchorage.