Frequent Sea's adventures

T

thataway

Active member
Marie joined me about 10 days ago in Sequim WA. We left the John Wayne Marina for a smooth crossing to the San Juans on Monday the 9th of June (if my counting is correct). We spent a few days around San Juan Island, then Orcas Island and then at a friends home on Obstruction Island. This latter experience gave us a different feeling for the San Juans. There were only 6 people total in the homes on Obstruction at that time. No real roads (logging trails)-and all supplies, mail etc comes by boat. The phone repair man had to be picked up, and brought over by boat to find out why the phones were not working. Some wires had broken during the winter. This is a very isolated area, and there is no place a chopper can land. Emergencies are dealt with by going by boat to the nearest harbor (Orcas or Bradley Islands) with the boats horn blaring--and the first person to hear this will call 911 (no 911 service on obstruction Island).

We crossed over to Pender Island this afternoon, after picking up fuel at Friday Harbor ($ 4.82 a gallon). Much of our in the Islands cruising has been at 5 knots and we seem to be getting twice as good "mileage" than at our full cruising speed of 15 knots.

Frankly the weather has been lousy! We finally had almost a full day of sunshine today. Last night it rained again. There are more gales predicted this next week in the straits of Georgia. We will spend a few days in the outer Gulf Islands, then probably go the Brouchart Gardens, mid week (hoping for a nice day)--the meaner up to Princess Lousia Inlet--and eventually to Desolation Sound. We told customs that there was a 10 to 20% chance of making it to Alaska--it just depends on the weather!

There is no question in our mind that the CD 25 is a much more "liviable" boat for any lengthy cruising than the 22 was. The trade off in weight and tow vehicle--and fuel economy is definately worth it for us. We also feel that the CD 25 handles the chop much better....but we do have both the Permatrim and trim tabs. Definately these are almost essential, and are complimentary in the use. The Permatrim to get the bow down, and to plane the boat at a lower speed--the trim tabs for bow trim/port and stb trim....makes a difference in speed and handling.

We have seen three other C Dories--and none of these are on the C Brat list with any regularity. In general we are hearing that business is slow at the marinas and tourist areas--even for this time of year.

We will report further on our adventures as we find places with Wi Fi--seemed to be scarce in the San Juans (except those which wanted $10 a day for sign up!

Of course the highlights of our trip this far has been the C brat gatherings we attended, and meeting a number of the C Brats in person. A special "Thanks" to Paul and Verla Priest in Sequim for taking me to their home and to breakfast!
 
Bob, thanks for the report! There are not a lot of hot spots as you go north, but Sullivan Bay in the Broughtons has free internet. Please keep us posted!
 
Bob
Did you get my invite to visit Lake Tahoe on your way back from the PNW.
I ordered the camper back from King Marine and so far am taking the less expensive bows because Dave won't ship the SS ones. I'll see you in Aug. for the Catalina Cruise. The weather here is beautiful. Come take a Lake Tahoe Cruise.
 
Dr. Bob and Marie,

We'll be following your travels; thanks for taking the time to share them with us. We found a few places along the way that had wifi, often for a 24 hr purchase... a small price to pay for being connected.

Take care, travel safe, and keep us posted.

Best wishes,
Jim & Joan
 
A walk up to the "mall" at Port Browning revealed a nice grocery store, several tourist type of shops and a pharmacy. Gasoline at the pumps is $1.59 (can) a liter. This is somewhere near $6.00 a gallon--and I expect it will be more at the fuel docks!

We spent 3 years up here in the Cal 46, but the C Dory allows explorations which were not possiable with 6 foot draft. At that time we did have GPS (lat long)--but chart plotters were upward of $10K. It is interesting how much easier the navigation with the chart plotter is in some of the extremely narrow channels, or finding the "hidden" inlet. We are carrying about 20 paper charts, plus several folders. But before we carried several hundred charts...

Steve, Thanks for the invite. There are several factors which prevent our coming up there--including time and cardiac issues with the altitude (which applies to any lakes over about 4000 feet in elevation.

Jim, We considered the "Subscription to BBX--but there are only limited and mostly large marinas where it is available. Often we are at a place only overnight.


Take care.
 
Saturday night spent in Montague Hargor. The bakery Boat is already there for hot pastries Sat and Sund AM. The moorings were not full, the government dock had spaces, and plenty of spaces in the Marina.

Fuel was less there than at Ganges (by about 15 cents a liter) at the marina dock.

We have had two sunny days--almost a record for our cruise this year. The locals say that they are having 5 bad days for one good day. I believe that.

We are in Ganges, and then will go down to Buchart Gardens for the last of the 3 days of sun shine. (The next 5 bad days we will be working our way North.

So far the Canadians are more than happy to take US dollars on a par with Canadian (even though they are slightly lower officially).

I was surprised at real estate prices up on all of the Islands. Don't know if there is any "recession" but the prices don't suggest that. It has been 15 years since we cruised this area, and the island populations seem to have increased many fold! Mostly retired folks....but we see a number of young folks in the towns, and even on the boats. In Ganges park Sunday afternoon, I thought I had been transported back to the 60's--not only where there "hippies" but the live music was right out of that era.

All is well with Frequent Sea--we are still mostly going at 5 knots, with an occasional burst to 15, to push thru passes or in other navigational situations where speed would help us.
 
We came back toward Bellingham from Matia at 5.8 knots, until we rounded the corner at Portage Island! It was getting late, and Patty was at the helm! The lure of the sundowner on the cockpit at Chuckanut Bay got the better of her, and she put the pedal to the metal and we came across Bellingham Bay at 18 knots! Oh, well - gas is "cheap" here by comparison I guess!


thataway":xf8oj40h said:
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All is well with Frequent Sea--we are still mostly going at 5 knots, with an occasional burst to 15, to push thru passes or in other navigational situations where speed would help us.
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Dr Bob How are you guys doing I'm so jealous When we lived in bellvue Wa. we used to take our 23 seaswirl up to the gulf Island and go to Buchart gardens what a treat. I tell Loree I would love to live up there especialy in the summer . I cant wait until we are foot loose and fancy free but we are still helping my mother in law and some other family obligations . We all can live through your posts . Anyway see you in Oct at the fl.gathering with the cc-23 take care Jim on Duck
 
Well, finally another "wi Fi" which is open!.
We spent about 9 hours ashore at Butchart Gardens. There are a few places which I classify as the most beautiful on Earth Butchart Gardens ranks right up there with Yosemite Valley, Yellowstone, The Whitsunday's and Great Barrier Reef, Milford Sound and some Caribbean islands. We watched the lights change during the day (we had full sunshine for most of the day--and then a few clouds late at night).

There are free moorings a few hundred yards from the dinghy dock at Butchart Cove, with an entrance to the park. You can return by giving you name and the boat name after you have paid admission. I walked the entire park over 3 times and took several hundred photos. I consider this a "must see" for any cruise in the Gulf Islands. I would suggest a sunny-non weekend day (but fireworks are on Saturday night--if you wish.) The park was probably one of the cleanest places we have been. There were even workers cleaning up the bird droppings and leaves when they fell!

The next day we powered up to Maple Bay. We were shocked by some of the new "developements"--with the hillside laid bare and wall to wall houses and condo's.
We had an outstanding dinner at the Pub at Maple Bay--and watched the first TV in several months--the finals of the NBA!

Yesterday we took in Chemainus--great new public dock, good washrooms and shows and a wonderful harbor master. A bonus was meeting Dave and Helen from Sailor D--and a tripple bonus was to find Larry and Nancy on Jacari Maru tied up a few feet from us when we got back to the boat.

After three days of "heavy walking"--for this old guy--we are taking a complete rest day--and will head up toward Nanaimo tomarrow, and then across the Straits of Georgia to Princes Lousia Inlet etc for the next few days. We hope to have another weather break by the time we get up there (we had 3 good days--and today is less than ideal with sprinkles and mostly heavy overcast.
 
Bob and Marie,
Great to read your post and know what a wonderful time you are having, Toni and I are taking notes and hope to have similar adventures in the not too distant future. Are you traveling at displacement speeds for the most part? Have you seen in any whales or wildlife?

Enjoy and post when you can.
 
We ran Haro Straits, Straits of San Juan, and passes against the current at planing speeds. The shorter day trips for 5 to 10 miles we have done at displacement speeds--often ducking back in coves to spend time looking at developement etc.

Wildlife: no whales, some Dolfin, lots of deer, racoons, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Over all we have averaged about 4 miles a gallon. My Lowrance flow meter seems accurate between fillups--and we run about 2.5 miles a gallon at planing speeds and about 5 miles a gallon at displacement (5 to 5.5 knots) speeds.
 
Friday found us in Telegraph Harbor Marina. Showers are always a subject of interest--and in some ways these were not the best. You got about a minute of water for a "loonie" (Canadian dollar coin). The water had to heat thru an "instant flow" water heater, thus half of your "time" was wasted. Marie put in two coins, and the two minutes was not enough to get the soap off....I thought I would be smart--soaped up, and washed between coins--wrong! The water came back cold for the first half of the minute!--plus no heater in the showers.

Saturday the 20th we spent at Namiamo. It had been about 15 years since we were last there, and what changes! The waterfront harbor is wonderful--similar to Waterside or Harbour Side on the East coasts. The "Mall" was convient for grocories and a drug store, plus another block brought us to a marine supplier. I picked up 200 feet of 3/8" poly prop line for shore ties: I already had 50 feet of 1/2", but that is no where long enough.

This morning, we finally had a good forcast for the Straits of Georgia. We had a smooth crossing at 15 knots. Fuel was $152.9 per gallon--a little less than at other places along the coast. We topped off.

We are at Fisherman Resort and Marina in Pender Harbor. Very friendly, nice dock (and showers) along with free wi fi. Tomarrow we make the run up to Princess Lousia Inlet and will spend a few days up there. Marie has a fishing license, so lets hope she gets us some fresh fish.

Maybe we will catch up with those in Telegraph Cove in the next few days!
 
Been a long time since we visited Butchart Gardens, may have to do it from the water side the next time! I wonder how you found any place to tie up at the docks at Nanaimo? The place was full of derelict fishing boats when we were staying at Newcastle Island on the Brat's 2007 Gulf Island cruise, and it was tough to find a spot to tie up a dingy let alone a CD25! Princess Louisa is definitely on my list of "most beautiful" spots. Keep the reports coming, we are enjoying them!
 
If you have a chance, stop in Schooner Cove Marina- just S. of Parksville. We stay on land there several years ago and it's a beautiful place to visit. A nice restaurant, pool and hot tub. Good protected moorage and golfing nearby. I'd like to get back up there sometime in my boat but never seem to have the time. So I need to live vicariously through you and others for the time being!
 
June 24, 2008
133 miles since Pender harbor, and 72 miles today. The run up to Princes Louisa Inlet is about 50 miles and for the most part we had following wind and seas up to 3 feet. Average speed was 15 knots and the boat handled well. We made an incursion into the Malibu rapids about an hour before low slack, but decided to fish (troll) for an hour. We entered with about a ½ knot adverse current, and an only partly cloudy day. This was about 3 PM—and the weather was warm.
At Chatterbox falls dock, we found the C Dory 22 “Retriever”—who had already indentified “Frequent Sea” and “Thataway Bob”. “Sam” one of the 18-year-old twins was the skipper for this voyage---and officially a C brat. He introduced the rest of the 5 in the crew. Two were sleeping ashore in a tent and 3 aboard.
Princes Louisa Inlet is another of those parts of the cruise in the PNW not to be missed, even if it is 35 miles each way, off the track. Not only the multiple waterfalls, some over 1000 feet in length, but the shear magnitude of the rock and forested shear walls. Not much changes here over time. The folks in the powerboat in front of us lived not too far from my cousin in Wickenburg AZ. We met a sailor who knew a multitude of people who we have called our close friends—all on the dock in less than a couple of hours. Part of the visit is socialization and enjoyment of the environment. We saw otters, seals, but no bears (there was a report of a mother an cub a couple of days before in the area). We also saw deer on our way in.
Some folks took a 3 to 4 hour hike to the “Trappers Cabin”—about 2000 foot vertical rise. We spent the majority of the day floating around in the dinghy and enjoying the view and sunshine. The air temperature was close to 70 and almost 100% sunshine prevailed.
Today we ran down the inlet and went out thru Jarvis Straits. As we entered Malaspinia straits, we hear a “Mayday”. A 26-foot wooden boat, the “Texada Moccasin” was taking on water faster than her pumps could keep up. The only person had a life jacket on, but no survival suit or dinghy. The nearest vessels were at least 30 minutes away. His position was about 12 miles upwind of us, so we declined to respond—we could have only made 8 to 9 knots in the 3 to 4 foot seas. Although there is a “vessel Assist” RCMP patrol boat and Coast Guard boat in Nanaimo, the nearest boats will always respond, and official response is often not timely enough to prevent death from drowning or hypothermia. It was a real reminder for us to check our plans and gear. We carry at least one personal Locator beacon (406 EPIRB), plus each of us has a hand held, waterproof radio and a strobe light, plus our life jackets. Plus we have the dinghy inflated as a “life boat”.
In this case, Texada Moccasin sunk just as a private vessel reached her, and the owner was safely taken aboard. The entire scenario lasted about an hour. Of course the radio on the Texada Moccasin was inoperable about 20 minutes after the initial distress call. It reminds us how serious we need to take our boating precautions, for survival in 59 degree water is not long, especially if you are elderly or not in the best of physical condition.

Winds and currents change as one rounds points. The 20-knot plus wind, with 3 to 4 foot seas had subsided to a ripple by the time we rounded Pt. Grief and came into Powell River, Westview Harbor. The Laundry near the head of the dock, was somewhat marginal—we had put in another few “loonies” to use a centrifugal spinner to get all of the water out of the clothes. 3 loads of laundry wash and dry was about $12. On the other side of the coin—so to say—the laundry was owned by Asians who also ran a Thai resturant, with some of the best food we had on the trip…. There is also a marine hardware store right at the head of the ramp. The plastic hinges of the marine toilet are broken. We have tried 4 stores, and we can buy a new head for $149, or an entire new seat for $79, but no one has the hinges (which probably cost $2 to make)!

Next off to Desolation sound –maybe a day at Lund (the Northern Terminus of the Pan American Highway) and no communication for a few more days. The days and nights are both getting warmer, and the gale force winds seem to be moving further North.

One problem we have not solved is getting our voice mail from Verizon—we can get US numbers by dialing the number with a “1” in front, but this does not seem to work for us for Voice mail…..

June 25, We met Retriever again as we were fueling up at Powell River. Fuel there was $1.449 at the fuel dock and $1.439 at the car pumps!. Got supplies at the “mall”, which includes a WalMart. We also found a commode seat which has appropiate hinges for $13/ vs $79 for the marine version. Took off the hinges and left the package at the dumpster, with a note that “here is a brand new commode seat—minus the hinges—free”.

Upon fueling fill up to fill up, our fuel flow meter was spot on (less than 0.1 gallon difference –which is way too close to measure and better than the accuracy of a “fillup”. We have averaged 2.8 miles a gallon on the 15 knot cruise speed up from Pender Harbor to Princess Lousia Inlet and to Powell River. Better than I had anticipated, considering that part of the way was against current.
Lund is a great place—also very nice showers, of course the bakery is excellent. A meal at the restaurant at the end of the Board Walk was good, and free Wi Fi! Loaded with boats, mostly rafted 2 and 3 deep, but the fee is only $15 a night for the 25.

The 25 foot boat rafted next to us hit a dead head yesterday--no apparent damage, but Retirever saw them hit it, and the dead head bob up 3 or so feet after the impact. Dead heads can float just at, or slightly below the surface, and in chop or adverse light be almost impossiable to see. Lots of logs and debris are in the water, probably agrivated by the rapid snow melt from the warmer weather.
 
Great report, Bob! Keep them coming! I know of no free internet in Desolation Sound, maybe you will find a hot spot, let us all know...our recommendation for one night: Von Donop Inlet, been there twice, just an awesome spot - and a short walk across the island to Squirrel Cove.
 
We're enjoying the travelogue, Dr. Bob! Here's how we solved the Verizon problem with getting your voice mail messages in Canada: I gave our password to our daughter and had her call our number to check our messages; then, we'd call her to find out if we had anything important. Not the most convenient, but certainly workable.

Best wishes,
Jim & Joan
 
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