On our way at last…
May 2007
The San Juan Islands
We are away. They finished up the must do items, the rest have been relegated to the fix it in September list. We took off for Oak Harbor where Dot & Ken (DK from here on out) spent quite a bit of time this winter to position ourselves to head out across the upper end of the Straights of Juan de Fuca to get out to San Juan Island and into Friday Harbor. We purchased our boat from Friday Harbor Yacht Sales, so it was important that she get to see where the idea of her was hatched. We love this little town and have visited several times over the years. Ken was under the weather, so Ade and I went out and enjoyed a meal at Downriggers on the waterfront.
The next day we made our way over to Roche Harbor, the site of the Annual Selene Rendezvous. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet new people, visit with those you’ve met before and compare boat and cruising notes. We had a fantastic time and met so many great people. Some we hope to connect with this summer in Alaska and several that will be going to Mexico in the fall. We ohh’d and ahh’d over the fantastic details of each boat - of the six 43’s, boats “just like ours” - none were just like ours - one had the “two master stateroom” layout that we have, but their main salon was quite different. We marveled at how Howard Chan can manifest all of our dreams into reality in such small spaces. Each of us is certain that we have the best boat…it is the best, for us. I also am thankful that our men cannot design wives, lord knows what we’d look like. On Saturday night just as the “banquet” was finishing up,
Big Bear friends arrived to spend a few nights about Dreamweaver. We had a lovely visit with them and a nice walk through the Sculpture Garden and over to the Mausoleum. Most of the Selene fleet took off early Sunday, but those of us left behind had a dock party alongside the very lovely “Voyager”, a 55′ beautifully outfitted to take on the world. I have no doubt that the Dobbe’s will continue to log the miles and show us the way.
The next few days were spent cruising around the San Juan Islands, re-visiting old coves we’d explored by ferry and car, and finding new ones that are really on accessible by private boat. We met up with the always entertaining Jay and Denise on JaDeDa, another Selene 43′ who have been cruising up here all year. It was a nice shakedown cruise.
Onto Canada
D & K slipped over to Vancouver Island and a few of the Gulf Islands, while we tended to final details. Ken didn’t really want to bring DW to downtown Vancouver, but we wanted to go there to add the provisions, (mostly wine and alcohol that you cannot bring over the border legally) so they drove our car from Anacortes and we did a bit of sightseeing and maintenance, Ken finding parts for his heating system that were not available in the states. They nicely put the car in storage for us, then by way of the Gulf Islands, joined us in Pender Cove - where we celebrated with a wonderful bottle of champagne (or two) the beginning of our Alaskan odyssey.
Ade’s log goes into detail of the journey from island to island, but I’ll tell you that my favorites have been the trip up Jervis Inlet to Princess Louisa Inlet and the truly noisy, and therefore aptly named, “Chatterbox Falls”. Jervis itself is jaw dropping…sheer cliffs with a pine forest right down to the waters edge, those trees clinging to life, then backed by snow capped mountain peaks. We laughing have decided that much of this area is the prettiest of coves on our beloved Big Bear Lake, at sea level with the snow-capped Sierras (think road to Mammoth Mountain) or Rockies close in behind. But it’s better. If it were just a wee bit warmer we’d stay forever.
When we finally made our way thru the Malibu Rapids, which involved a lively debate between navigators Dottie and Ade, whose Nobeltec systems said two different things - we were still debating it, and arrived extra early from the earliest prediction for slack tide way back this inlet, when Ken just went for it - whoa boy, they ripped right around that little island that blocks the entrance and disappeared. We looked at each other and said, what the heck, and followed. What we hadn’t heard was his radio conversation with a tug on the other said that advised that it was a clear shot. Once at the end of Princess Louisa, we were delighted to find several boats tied up to the dock - a couple on Posada, a Nordhavn 43 that we’d met a few years ago while researching that beautiful yacht. They were traveling with another couple on a Nordhavn 36 that D & K met on the dock in Friday Harbor a week ago.
There were sailors, and fast boats and it was a lovely welcoming community. We did a tiny bit of hiking, but tales of the impossible hike up the mossy sheer mountain to a fallen down cabin didn’t interest us as much as the prospect of, now get this, putting on shorts and tanks and sitting in the SUN on the deck reading. You cannot imagine what that is like after so many months of either rain, or sunny, but freezing days. It was bliss. D & K, on the other hand, having been told that it was impossible to get up the cliff, forged ahead. It was nearly twilight before they returned, I had already arranged a search party, even finding a dog to lead the way. We decided to press on the next morning and head up a little closer to Desolation Sound - another favorite place that we’d visited twenty one years ago on a charter trip.
Before we left, we got to talking to the experts at the dock about the disparity between the tide charts on the computer systems. We all pulled out printed books, all different, and various versions of the Nobeltec charts - and were more confused that ever. You know how Ade is about these things, “its supposed to be science for goodness sakes, how can it be so different” - he likes answers…but what the heck, we all at least decided within a hour of the right time to take the rapids, so one by one, we left, each skipper smug in his knowledge that they had the right time…and they all did. Seems we had a very small tide and the gap was wide. They have since worked it all out and now almost agree on the best times to take the many rapids we encounter.
Desolation Sound
Desolation Sound is a very popular group of islands off the BC Mainland. There are a few cabins scattered about and the bays are shallow enough for the water to warm up nicely in the summer….but it was way too early for me to even consider getting in the water, the average water temperature is less than 50 degrees F. We didn’t have a lot of time to explore the upper reaches of the area like we did the last time, but we managed a night at lovely Grace Harbor and arrived early enough for a nice dinghy explore and an encounter with a group of kids from an alternative school in Vancouver who were on day 10 of a wilderness trip. They were swimming! They were each sleeping on their own in little pup tents, and there are bears! I am such a wuss. One of the girls did confess to being ready to kill for a cheeseburger.
Our next stop was Melanie Cove in the Prideaux Haven area and we did manage a hike, although I did not find the apple orchard or the remains of “Mikes” cabin, the place so beautifully described by Muriel W. Blanchett in the Curve of Time. Dottie bought the book and had not yet started it, so I grabbed it and haven’t let it go. If you have not read this book, pick it up. Not only does it describe the islands and environment of the southern part of our journey, it also tells the story of this incredible family. Muriel was widowed in 1925 with five small children when her husband apparently drowned while off on their 25′ motorboat. She went on to spent many summers with her children (and dog) in that smallboat exploring the inlets, islands and coves. What adventures they had, what an amazing woman. She writes with such humor and poetry, with just enough mysticism to really captivate me. Poor Dottie will never get this book back (until I find a copy to buy!) And now it looks like we are North to Alaska!
