Vacation finally!!

After completing our scheduled haul out and work early we are off to enjoy the boat with just the two of us (and Jarvis).

We spent a night in Port Townsend Marina while we finished putting together the upper hydraulics of the stabilizers, stowing tools and wiping down the grease and oil we had gotten everywhere (at least in the aft head where the Stbd stabilizer is accessed.  We walked to the grocery store for final provisions (that would be allowed into Canada) and then slept soundly.  Even Jarvis seemed more relaxed having his boat on the water where it belongs.

We realized a while back that Salish Aire is the only boat we have owned that has never been to Princess Louisa Inlet.  A little background: Princess Louisa Inlet is a pain to get to (more about that later) but it is the absolute crown jewel of boating destinations in the Salish Sea.  Imagine the opening scene from Jurassic Park only with a temperate rain forest instead of a tropical one.  Now add up to 12 more waterfalls on the surrounding granite cliffs to the main waterfall and have them fall a couple thousand feet instead of a mere couple of hundred feet.  Put this scene at the head of one of the most picturesque fiords in North America and you start to understand the attraction of the place.

To get to Princess Louisa we needed to travel north then east in up the inside of Vancouver Island and across to the mainland.  The first night we stopped in to Sydney Harbour and Clarice phoned in for our customs clearance (we understand that the other end of the phone call is in Nova Scotia but that if there is any question a crew will show up from somewhere and inspect the boat).  The call was pretty routine as the Canadian folks have all of our data on file from our frequent trips up this way.  After Sydney Harbour we went a short distance and tied up at the dock of Saanich North Saanich Yacht Club and took advantage of our reciprocal moorage privileges.   They also have a very nice restaurant in the clubhouse so we indulged in a really nice dinner out.  The setting is gorgeous looking out over many boats on mooring balls in the harbour against the backdrop of the Canadian Gulf and American San Juan Islands.

Next we headed about 40 miles north to Nanaimo where we were again able to take advantage of our reciprocal moorage privileges at the Nanaimo Yacht Club.  I took my bike and rode to a local grocery store and picked up some fresh veggies that we weren’t allowed to bring across the border.  On one hand we really enjoy just staying in Nanaimo as it has a lot to do in the way of an island park to explore, BritoCanadian shops to look into, a coal mining history that fascinates me, and a pedestrian friendly waterfront.  Instead we decided to take advantage of the favorable weather predicted for the next day , Friday, and head into Princess Louisa before any weekend crowds that might show up despite the prediction of a rainy weekend.  We went to bed with a full harvest moon reflecting off the water and slept soundly. 

Today we awoke to the good news that we could take the direct route across the Strait of Georgia by transiting through the infamous “Whiskey Gulf”.  Area WG is a torpedo test range that is perfect for the work that is done there on a frequent basis with protected waters 1200 ft deep for the length of the range.  It is a pain in the kazoo for recreational boaters trying to cross the Strait of Georgia as area WG lies directly across the obvious route from one side to the other.  If one attempts to cross when the area is actively being used then the naval folks come up and give you a very stern talking to as well as a potential big fine.  They announce the status of the range on the local marine weather stations and today the news was “Whiskey Gulf is not active today and may be safely transited”.

We have never made the run straight from Nanaimo to Princess Louisa in one shot before as it is about 70 miles but then again we have never done it in any boat longer than 25 ft.  We “discovered” Princess Louisa on our first sojourn into the northern Gulf Islands in the Glass Geoduck, a 23 ft sailboat that we cared for and used for our first boating experiences.  We stopped in a nautical store in Nanaimo and told the proprietor that we had only a few more days before we needed to head home and asked where we could go.  He told us to go to Princess Louisa and life has never been the same since.  We have taken every boat up here as sort of a rite of passage.  To get to Princess Louisa from Nanaimo you begin by crossing the northern end of the Strait of Georgia which can be calm and placid or really ugly depending on the direction of the wind and tides.  Today we had about a 4 ft swell from our stbd aft quarter as the wind from the south challenged the southbound ebbing tide for dominance.  We were really quite comfortable with the hydraulic stabilizers operating and we also tried a new trick we had heard about from other Nordhavn owners.  It seems that boats with outriggers for passive stabilizers (we have both) find that just lowering the outriggers has the same effect as a bar to a tightrope walker.  We found that the effect was to soften the movement of the boat noticeably while the hydraulic stabilizers controlled the distance of the roll. 

Next comes “reaching”.  From the Strait of Georgia to Princess Louisa involves traveling through about 50 miles of long straight, steep sided, deep (translation: very few places to stop) waterways called “reaches”.  The trick to proper reaching is to arrive at the entrance to Princess Louisa at one of the 4 slack periods each day when the sea monsters in the entrance moat allow passage.  Princess Louisa is very very deep as is the entire passage up to the entrance but the entrance itself is a narrow, shallow, S shaped waterway that qualifies as a rapids at all times except for during the short interval when the tide changes direction.  The last boat we brought up here could do 20 knots and had a relatively flat bottom so we were able to shoot through even though there was still an 8 inch tall tidal bore with good control.  Today we were reminded that Salish Aire is a deep draft boat that really gets kicked around by swirling currents such as met us after we were just past the rapids.

Once inside we were reminded of why we came.  The last time we were here it was a lovely sunny day in a relative drought time so we only saw a ribbon waterfall high on the cliff and the main Chatterbox Falls.  And it was a WOW experience.  Today we have rain and puff balls of clouds dropped onto the forest and at least 8 fast rushing waterfalls and it is a WOW experience! 

I write this under our kerosene lantern as darkness is coming earlier with the season’s change.  I expect we will sleep very well with the sound of the rain on our roof.  Good night!

September 17, 2016

Saturday

Today we woke up to more heavy rainfall.  When we looked out at the fiord it was amazing to realize how many more waterfalls there were than when we went to bed and how much more water was coming over Chatterbox falls.

Clarice bundled Jarvis up in his warm jacket and rain slicker (both of which he hates only slightly less than he hates getting wet) and he and I went for our morning walk.  He loves walking on forest trails but his disdain for being wet and wearing jackets soon took over so that after he empties his bladder and other duties he gave me the ears down, tail down, do we really have to do this, I’m miserable look and so got his way and I took him back to the boat.  I finished my walk to the falls and was in awe of the power of the water.

We invited some other boaters over for coffee and the woman later came back to give Clarice knitting lessons.  I spent my rainy day trying to fix the tiny little oil leak left after my Naiad project (the fix hasn’t been tested under way yet but my gut says it has a good chance of working).  Clarice did some cleaning and made another batch of Chex mix.  Just laid back stuff. 

We did get some breaks in the rain and took the chance to walk in the woods and take photos with the non-dive camera.  Clarice was very impressive with her hands free crutch going down the roots and rocks of the trail.

We did confirm that making power from solar cells on rainy days is a bit of a bust.  Since we haven’t exercised our generator in some time we decided to use the excuse of charging the batteries to run it for a while.

Sounds like it will be a board game or DVD night after I try to make some ham radio contacts to see if I could get a signal out of this canyon in an emergency.

September 18th
Sunday

Today we had most of the day where we were to only ones in the entire Princess Louisa Inlet!  We spent most of the day just enjoying the wilderness around us.

September19th
Monday

Today we left Princess Louisa and moored at the Hospital Bay government dock off Garden Bay where we have tied up before and have access to the internet and phone service again.  When we have been here before the Sundowner Inn was in need of repair and closed but had that look of an old hospital about it.  Today they are refurbished and a sign on the front confirms that they building was originally the St Mary's Anglican Mission Hospital.