Our Second Summer - No Need for Air Conditioning

Early Summer Company (Click of pix to enlarge)
    Before I say another word about our summer, David and I would like to thank the people who took the time and effort to come up for a visit. We loved seeing you and missed you all the more when you left. Thank you for being in our lives! (And you make great boat maties!!)

L'Esprit in Bowman Bay.
Carmen and Bob Smith
Chris and Debby Gaal

   Even though summer didn't officially begin until August when the heavy mist, a.k.a. rain, finally let up, we had a wonderful summer boating in our new waters. 

  In June, Bob and Carmen Bowman visited from Newport Beach. Carmen was my Sigma Kappa Big Sister, so we've known each other FOREVER! Even though they were driving down from Vancouver, B.C., en route to Seattle, we packed a lot of fun into a short period of time. After taking them on our usual tour of Fidalgo Island (including the requisite photo shoot atop Mt. Erie), Deception Pass Bridge, Washington Park, and Cap Sante, we dined in. When the sun rose, we hopped on L'Esprit and cruised down to Bowman Bay, which we thought to be extremely fortunate since Mrs. Smith was born Carmen Bowman. It was so great to see them, and we had great conversations about EVERYTHING. Bob's busy with the Newport Beach Art Commission.    

   Debby and Chris Gaal brought the Newport Coast sun when they visited in July, while bringing their son Conner up to UW (UDub!) for soccer tryouts. It was a busy summer for them, as they were heading off to Italy and France in a couple of weeks. Lucky bums! While I still lived in California, Debby and I spent many a Monday morning writing at her kitchen table, with the door flung open so her garden and all its bird life could add to our experience. This I miss horribly. And so it was especially nice to sit and talk about our writing, and our writing process. Plus we had lots of salmon at Flounder Bob's in Skyline Harbor and Randy's Pier 61, down at the wharf with its view of Guemes Island and the conveyor belts loading tar and stuff onto tankers headed for China. Anacortes is a working town!

Clockwise from top left: Bob Lane: Bob's Grand Banks 42, Quadra;
Calm Canadian waters.

Davy Heads North
   Just before Debby and Chris's visit, David took off north with Bob Lane, he who writes for Passagemaker Magazine. Actually, how this all came about was rather a surprise.
   Bob, who usually takes off north with his friend Ellen, who this year did not go because one of her grandsons was having one of those baseball summers that has to be paid attention to because of the potential memories. (AND Ellen's a sports nut in her rown right.)

Double-deck buses in Echo
Bay; Ocean Dawn, Billy
Proctor's boat; Bob and
Billy Proctor.

   With Ellen unavailable, and Bob still intent on heading north, he put out the call for three guys to take one of three legs of his trip. I thought, hmmmmm. Who better to learn these waters and power boating in the PNW than with the notorious and revered Bob Lane?
   It didn't take much to persuade Davy this was a good idea, and so, just days after going to Sucia Island with the Kuhns and Weidemans (see Extemporaneous Travels below), David drove Amana the Minivan onto the ferry headed for Victoria, from where he drove three hours north to Port MacNeil to catch Quadra.  
   From there, they cruised northeast, past Sullivan Bay to the inlets north of North Broughton Island. Someone is going to have to get Davy to write about this trip, because I cannot begin to describe it, other than:
- there were millions of fjords, which made it difficult to land and take hikes.
- there was very large animal leavings, which made it scary to walk around too much. 
- a moose ate a duck, which left her ducklings scrambling.

Waterfall; totems in Qus'tsun'; large, mutant starfish.

- the scenery was beyondanonda beautiful. Waterfalls!
- there were double decker buses somewhere. 
- instead of catching crabs, they caught a HUGE starfish. 
- In Quw'utsun' they saw incredible First Nation totems that had been returned to the Indians by the Canadian government
- Visiting Billy Proctor's Museum in Echo Bay is a must-do. (Also see THIS.)
   So, somebody, get Davy to write about the trip. I just don't do it justice. 
 Extemporaneous Travels 

Tom and Dianne Kuhn
Otava tied to mooring string.
L'Esprit tied to mooring string.

    Late last summer, before we sold Always and purchased L'Esprit, we joined Fidalgo Yacht Club. We didn't really know what to expect, but are delighted with what we found. First, the members are a bunch of adventurers who, when the weather turns warm in April, head north to Alaska. Second, they're very bright and love to share their knowledge of PNW waters and boating in general, which is a wonderful thing, because we didn't know anything. Third, when they're not cruising north, they cruise together in the local waters, and so we had a fabulous summer, even though we never really went more than fifty miles from home.
   Our first extemporaneous trip was to Echo Bay, on Sucia Island with Tom and Rear-Commodore Dianne Kuhn and Liz and Wayne Weideman called us from Sucia Island and said, "Hey, come on up!" And so we did. On that trip, we learned that if we travel with the currents, we can get to Sucia Island in three hours. If we don't? It takes four or more hours. We also learned to tie up to a mooring string, which is a lot easier to do if your boat's deck is near water level, which ours is not. Whoever was going to do the actual tying up, would have to lean far over the side of the boat to catch the rings with the boat hook. Naturally, that person was David. But since David usually did the driving, it meant that I would have wing it and drive the boat myself, with him telling me what to do. Good thing no one was around, or they'd have thought we were in the midst of getting a divorce. 
   Anyway, a very good time was had. The Weideman's invited us over to their new boat Mosey, the 55' Fleming they'd just purchased in Florida for drinks. Talk about luxury! There's even a dumbwaiter to bring food to the flybridge.
   Afterward, we went to the Kuhn's new boat Otava to watch Ken Burns's Lewis and Clark on DVD.
 

Clockwise from top left: Mike and Cheryl's Meant2Be tied
to floating dock in Reid Harbor; 4th of July dinner with
the Weidmans, Dyers, and McKays (Gregg's commodore
of Capital City Yacht Club; Dave, Mike, and Nat Nord;
Ann Nord and Cheryl.  



Liz and Wayne taking Annie Dyer ashore
for an I'm-pooped break; Gregg McKay,
Wayne, Dave and Mike aboard Mosey.

     The Kuhns, by the way, are our mentors in wine making, which is a very big thing because of the difficulty of bringing quantities of wine into Canada for long cruises. More about this in the Wine Making section.  
   Two days after Davy returned from his trip north with Bob Lane, Cheryl and Commodore Mike Dyer, who were in Reid Harbor on Stuart Island, asked what we were doing for the 4th. Who could turn down such an invitation? Without checking our fuel or water level, we headed west of Orcas Island and north to San Juan Island to Reid Harbor.  California sail boaters!
   Mooring in Reid Harbor was a breeze. The Dyers and McKay's had saved us a spot on the floating dock, so we tied to cleats. Both the Dyers and McKays brought their pups, so everything about the weekend carried an extra edge to life, seeing how dogs find the thrill is the most mundane of things.
   We had a great homemade lasagna feast at the Weideman's and a great view of the 4th of July parade the Port Townsend Yacht Club put on. 

Liz in her galley. Dianne waving bye-bye.
Port Townsend Yacht Club's 4th of July parade in
Reid Harbor.

The Salernos Cruise with Us to Victoria Harbor

With Hank and Gail Salerno.
Hummingbird Inn bus,
inside and out.

   Near the end of July, our long-time cruising buddies, Hank and Gail Salerno, flew up for a cruise that would eventually take us to Victoria Harbor for the town symphony's Victoria Splash.  It was five years ago this month that the four of us took our first cruise to the San Juan and Gulf Islands. It seems so long ago.
   Our first stop was to Sucia Island, which we'd missed on our last trip because of weather. We stayed in Echo Bay, and departed early the next morning to go through customs in Montague Harbor on Galliano Island, part of the Gulf Islands. We ended up staying there, instead of going on to Ganges Harbor on Saltspring Island to see my sister-in-law Robin. Alas. But Montague was quite fun. We took the bus to the Hummingbird Inn, the bus ride being the most memorable part. Fats Domino singing Blueberry Hill. People in the back hula hooping. Everyone singing along like they were in a karaoke contest. Bus driver stopping to move a gopher snake off the road. Bus driver then filling us in on the changes that occurred when the missionaries arrived on the island with a better way of doing things. Stuff like that. Who could ask for more?

   Next we went to the glorious little harbor in Genoa Bay on Vancouver Island. This was our second time to come here. We love the brightly painted floating homes. There was a group of women who had canoed over from north of the bay to dine in the local Genoa Bay Cafe, which, was really quite lovely, and, I've been told, good. We had drinks and read the sign that had been nailed to the porch wall warning us that a bear had been spotted on the trail, and that we'd be wise to find a more secure means of transportation if our lives meant anything to us. 

Clockwise: Our sun-deck flower
 basket. Sidney Marina flower
baskets. The Wilshins and
Salernos at Genoa Bay Cafe.
 L'Esprit in Genoa Bay.

    From Genoa Bay, we cruised down to Sidney, which surprised the heck out of me. I was truly expecting something quaint, even rural. Something like Ganges Harbor.
   Nope, Sidney Marina is the ritz. Every end piling of every dock was decked with fresh, crayon-colored flower baskets. Five guys came to help us dock. The washers and dryers seemed brand new. It was wonderful.  
   From Sidney, we slogged our way west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, against the current to Victoria Harbor. Our struggle was well worth it. We arrived and got our mooring on the docks right in front of the Empress Hotel, with its Mr. Snuffleupagus trees marking its main entrance. By the time we settled in, we found ourselves packed sardine-can tight, three-deep in the slip. Boats were rafted to closely to each other, it was hard seeing the water below. 

Empress Hotel's Mr. Snuffleupagus
trees; the Empress from our fly
bridge.

    Why, you might wonder. Because Saturday night was Victoria Splash, when the local symphony marched down the main drag to the harbor and onto a large barge, from where they would give the town a free night of live music. We were half a football field away from the barge. It was perfect. The 1812 completed the program, along with fireworks and applause.
   You HAVE to take a look at Hank's pictures he took of our trip. Click this LINK. He's a heck of a photographer who uses his Photoshop program in very useful and interesting ways!
   While in Victoria, we ate at the Bon Rouge, combed the Royal British Columbia Museum (the funnest museum I've ever visited), where we saw Born to be Wild, at their Imax theatre.
   The next morning we departed in strong winds for Roche Harbor, San Juan Island. We wanted our cruise through the Strait of Juan De Fuca to be a speedy one, so we had to leave while the current was with us.
   In Roche Harbor, besides having an eventful experience with U.S. Customs, we shopped and had a neat little visit with Dan and Marilyn Wilshin, who were there with their Queen City Yacht Club maties for a summer cruise.
Wine Making

   One of the things we've started doing up here in the PNW is to make our own wine. When friends of our initially mentioned this too us, we thought they were kind of crazy. AND we wondered how it could taste at all good.
   We have been enlightened. There's a local store which sells wine-making systems and kits. Tom and Dianne Kuhn helped us make our first and second batches. After we sipped our first batch of chardonnay, which was not made from a premium kit, we decided it tasted pretty good for costing $2 a bottle. Nothing to go corkers about, but palatable. So we established Hill 404 Cellars, because we live on hill 404 drawn out on the topographical map. We almost named it Quail Hill Cellars, because so many of the critters live under our brambles and trees. Our second batch, now fermenting in the downstairs cellar of the Kuhns' home, is a premium chardonnay to which we'll add oak when its time. Crossing our fingers. 
   When we told one of our neighbors, he told us that he'd teach us how to make scotch. Scotch! 
   Many of our friends have their wines made in Canada, so when they cruise north, they stop in at Nanaimo, or Sidney, or Vancouver to bottle or bag their wine. That way they don't have to pay duty. Canadian customs only allows two bottles of wine per person. And wine costs a good four or five times what it costs in the US. Making wine is form of economic survival!
Nic and Naomi Come for a Visit 

Sunset in Deer Harbor; Nic, Naomi, and Dave in Roche Harbor;
Naomi and Dave in Roche Harbor.

   Nic and Naomi came for a cruise in mid-August. One of the things that made their visit stand out was Nic's knowledge of ships and seas. He's a full-fledged unlimited-licensed sea captain, so he had a world of knowledge to share. Dave and he talked non-stop about ship handling, mooring, maintenance, reading the water, etc. As a result, there are a number of things we've changed on the boat, including how we pick up a mooring can. 


Naomi and I in the Sculpture Park: ships in the park's pond;
Davy with his new dinghy-engine handle; land formations
at Sucia Island.

   We'd fully intended to depart the morning they arrived, but the wind kept increasing to the point we didn't know if we'd be able to get out of the slip. So we took them on the usual tour, including a portrait atop Mt. Erie, and skipped going to Reid Harbor.

Nic and Naomi ping-
ponging in Deer Harbor;
Naomi enjoying cruise
through Speiden Channel;
Nic driving.

   Early the next morning, we split for Roche Harbor. After an easy three-hour trip through the passes, we anchored in the harbor and dinghied to shore. Naomi and I visited the Sculpture Garden, while Dave and Nic tested the beers.  
   We hung around Roche a while in the morning, because our next stop wasn't far away: Deer Harbor, Orcas Island. Because there was no way we'd see the whole island, we hopped on the island shuttle for its entire route. Our itinerary was a little loose, so we decided to visit East Sound or Rosario Resort on Thursday, and go to the Deer Harbor Inn for dinner.
   The shuttle dropped us off at the inn, but we were a half-hour early, so Nic and Naomi played ping-pong next to the ancient Cadillac which would taxi us home after dinner.
   Dinner was great, with the soup and salad served family style.
   We got back to L'Esprit in time to watch the most incredible sunset. The water next to the boat was a deep coral, as was the sky around us. We were in a giant paint ball, it seemed. Usually, sunsets seem far off on the horizon. This one came right down to the water's surface and fired up everything we laid our eyes upon. Wowzer!
   The next day we practiced anchoring maneuvers in the Rosario Resort anchorage, which took up so much time we could only have lunch off East Sound, before heading home so Nic and Naomi could make their next morning flight.
   What a great time David and I had!
Crabbing

Davy bringing home the loot; Davy holding cleaned our crab - No
guts, no gory; Dinner!

   Not long after Nic and Naomi's visit, we went to Hunter Bay with fellow yachties, who were kind enough to teach us how to crab. Through sheer diligence and luck, Davy caught and cleaned nine crabs, which we steamed on the Monteforte-Adams's boat because they had a cooker, and we had no idea what we were doing. Kim Adams told me, "Bring what you want, butter, salt, whatever, but you won't need it. I'm warnin' ya!" And she was right. Steamed dungeness crab, right out of the pot is delish!
   We actually had to sit there and pick all the crabs we caught because they can't be frozen in the shell (it tastes icky).  
Katie's Visit 

Katie and I; Katie and I; Dave and I; the ferry in Blind Bay, with
Mt. Baker in the background.

   Early in September Katie Martinka came up for a visit, while in town to see her cousin in Kirkland. We maximized our short visit by going to Blind Bay, on Shaw Island. It was a perfect day: comfortable, Mt. Baker visible in the background, the ferries running on schedule. So restful and wonderful. We got to talk about all our favorite topics, which I must admit I'd missed an awful lot. 
   The next morning, we headed for Bowman Bay, on Fidalgo Island's southwest corner. We were worried about morning fog for Thursday morning (August is Foggust), so we anchored close to home. Davy dropped Katie and I off at Rosario Beach, from where we hiked along the cliff side back to Bowman Bay.
ARGH!


Dana and Davy in pirate gear; Dana and Davy atop
Mt. Erie; Dana and Davy in Roche Harbor; a
bald eagle on Sucia Island.

   So Katie left on Thursday morning, and Dana Wilshin arrived on Thursday afternoon. In a quick spin-around, L'Esprit got restocked and cleaned up, so we could depart for Sucia Island at 5 p.m., a good hour past when we should have left. Sucia's a good three hours away. Anchoring's not a thrill at night. 

   But we made it to Fossil Bay mere minutes before the sun scooted under the horizon, leaving us to finish our sloppy anchoring in the dark. This would have been okay, except there were maybe fifty boats in the anchorage, and our anchor'd already slipped once in the eel grass. 

   Fate was on our side. We woke to boats anchored frightfully close to us, but none close enough to do damage, or vice versa. Fortunately, our fellow yachties dinghied out to where we were and told us they were saving a mooring can for us. Yippee.  We'd be securely tied to the ground for the remainder of our stay in Fossil Bay, which would be several days. We were, after all . . . . . ON A PIRATES' CRUISE! ARGHHHH!

  The pirate cruise our yacht club put on was tons of fun. Davy brought his bolo knife, which he did not get arrested for carrying. There's a great picture of Davy on this site. 

  When we weren't searching for loot, we had time to relax and play. Dana and Davy toured around with some borrowed kayaks. Dana got in some snorkeling and saw an otter family.

   On Monday we headed for Roche Harbor to visit the Sculpture Garden and relax.

   On Tuesday we drove up Chuckanut Drive to South Bellingham, where we shopped and dined, before dropping Dana off at Bellingham International Airport, which is the size of a supermarket! Such a great visit!!!!