DATE _7/16/07__    TIME _12:00 PM_

START PORT _Juneau_________________END PORT __Prince Rupert______________

START MILES_13125_  END MILES __13573_ LEG MILES _448_TOTAL MILES _13573_

START HOURS  _2189__   END HOURS _2256_LEG HOURS _67_TOTAL HOURS _2256__

START FUEL(6446) _726__  END FUEL __924_  LEG FUEL _198_ TOTAL FUEL  _332__

AVERAGE MPGs _2.26_ REMAINING RANGE __2470___ GEN FUEL 5141_/5193_/ 75____

END PRT _525__ END STRBD  __450_  END SPLY  ___70__FUEL BALANCE _995______

SEA STATE_Calm_____________________________________________________________

WIND DIRECTION__Calm_________________________________________________

7/16/07 We cruised from Juneau to Tracy’s Arm once again.  We took our new guest Laura up to see the glacier.  We also took her to see the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau when we were in port as well.

7/24/07 We have spent the past ten day we have spent most of our time in Petersburg.  We are going to haul the boat out in Wrangell on the 29^th so we have been just hanging out.  Larry spent most of the time waxing the boat.  It rains here almost everyday.  The rain just plays havoc on the boat and grime builds all over the boat. 

Every six months or so we will “Finesse” the boat and then wax it.  Finesse is a polishing compound which is less abrasive than a compound but is very effective at taking off the grime and the stains.  To wax the boat completely takes about five days and to Finesse and wax the boat takes about seven day.  It is a tremendous amount of work.

We also celebrated DeeDee’s birthday this past week.  Isabella bought a wood carved sea otter for Mom and was very excited to give it to her.

7/26/07 We cruised from Juneau and anchored near Wrangell for the night.  The next day we cruised to Anan Bay and spent the day at the Anan Bay Bear Observatory.  It is an amazing experience.  The Forest Service has built a blind observation deck right over the creek where the salmon are trying to get upstream.  There were literally thousands of salmon and it seemed like you could walk right across the stream on the backs of the fish there were so many.

We watched dozens of eagles feeding off of fresh killed salmon.  We watched tons of black and brown bear catch and eat salmon in the stream.  It was really fantastic.

As we were approaching the observation deck by walking on the boardwalk, a brown bear or better known as a grizzly bear, was walking right towards us on the boardwalk.   We did as they had advised us and gathered together and made some noise and waved our arms.  It was also important to not have Isabella speak as the bear could misinterpret her high voice as an animal in trouble.  The funny part of the experience was that as we were trying to keep Isabella quiet, Isabella kept saying she was “too young to die.’  DeeDee actually got the entire encounter on video.

The bear continued to walk directly towards us until it was about 50 feet from us.  It finally stopped and stepped off the boardwalk and walked and stayed about 100 feet from the path.  We then walked by him to the observation deck.  It was a close enough of an encounter that the forest service rangers took a report from us on the behavior of the bear.

7/27/07 After viewing the bears, we stayed another day in the Anan Bay anchorage.  Larry worked all day on the boat.  First he had to repair the main bilge pump.  The pump has a motor with an arm which drives the diaphragm up and down.  The arm is attached to the diaphragm by a large bolt.  The bolt stripped out from the diaphragm and although the motor was still running, the arm was detached from the diaphragm so nothing was pumping.  He replaced the pump with the spare pump we have and will need to order the replacement arm.

It was also a day for changing oil.  Every once in awhile when the engine or generator oils are getting very black very fast, Larry will do an extra oil change.  He will put fresh oil in and let it run for a few hours.  He will then remove it and put fresh oil again.  He did this today on both the generator and the wing engine.  It does make a significant difference when doing an extra oil change.  The oil will stay clean for many more hours after doing an extra oil change.  Larry also believes that it helps the life of the seals by cleaning the dirt out.

Anyway, Larry changed the oil on the wing and generator twice and also replaced the oil in the main engine.  Of-course he did all the fuel and oil filters as well. 

7/28/07 From Anan Bay we cruised to Wrangell and stayed at the transient dock inside the harbor.  We spent a few days relaxing and provisioning. 

7/29/07  We were hauled out of the water onto a rail cart.  We have never been pulled out of the water like this before.  The rail cart is lowered into the water, and then we drive the boat up on to the cart.  The boat is secured with some side blocks and the cart is pulled out of the water on an angle with the boat on top of it. 

We had to wait until this day to be hauled out because we can only be hauled out in the highest of high tide.  We had to be pulled out at 2:00 in the afternoon on Sunday. 

We did not really need to be hauled out but we had a few things that needed to be done.  Although the stabilizer fin we damaged can be replaced in the water, because we had a few other things to do, we just hauled out.

We have a small seawater leak where the keel cooler comes into the engine room.  We had that removed and sealed.  We of-course put the new stabilizer fin on which was just four bolts.  We had the bottom painted with more antifouling paint.  This was a little annoying because we could have gone another year without needing to repaint the bottom but we put two more coats on while we were in dry dock.

We also put a protective coating called prop-speed on the running gear and installed all new zincs.  We had a few scratches in the fiberglass compounded out as well. 

The bottom of the boat looked excellent.  It was in great shape. 

8/4/07 The boat yard work all went well and we went back in the water today.  We will stay here tonight and head to Foggy Bay tomorrow and then onto Prince Rupert, Canada the next day.

DATE _7/02/07__    TIME _9:00AM_

START PORT _Taku Bay_______________END PORT _Juneau________________________

START MILES_12421_  END MILES _12844__ LEG MILES _423_TOTAL MILES _12844_

START HOURS  _2082__   END HOURS _2148_LEG HOURS _66_TOTAL HOURS __2148_

START FUEL(6446) _364__  END FUEL _592__  LEG FUEL _228_ TOTAL FUEL  __0___

AVERAGE MPGs _1.85_ REMAINING RANGE ___3000+__ GEN FUEL 5141_/_5141/ __0___

END PRT _full_ END STRBD  __full_  END SPLY  _full__FUEL BALANCE ____full__

SEA STATE_Calm_____________________________________________________________

WIND DIRECTION__Calm_________________________________________________

7/2/07 Today we cruised from Taku Bay to Juneau.  We will spend the 4^th of July in Juneau.  Chuck and Estelle will head home from here on July 5^th and Larry’s sister Lynne and her husband Lou will come in on July 6^th.  After they leave, a friend of ours from Germany will come and spend a month with us.

It is ironic we were in the Caribbean for over two years and had very few visitors.  We head to Alaska for the summer and we will have guests all summer.

July 2, 2007 From DeeDee’s Personal Log

We left Taku Bay, where we had tied up for the night with just about every one from the anchorage by Tracy Arm.  Albedos, Just Us II, Karma, and us, as well as a whole slew of other boats.  The dock was brand new and well made.  Plenty of room for everyone.  We are now headed to Juneau, where we will receive mail, provision, get other packages flown in, and sight see.  We will base out of here for the next 2 weeks.  Chuck and Estelle depart from Juneau on the 5^th and Lou and Lynne arrive on the 6^th.  They also depart from Juneau and Laura arrives on the 13^th in Juneau, so, we will be coming and going from here.  We will probably take a helicopter tour or rent a car to get to Glacier Bay, since it has been difficult getting permits.  There’s plenty to keep us busy in Juneau for a while.

Last night, just before dinner, Mike from Just Us II came over and got the girls for some fishing fun off the dock.  He baited their lures and threw their lines in the water off the dock at the back of Nexus.  Within 30 seconds a rock fish got on Isabella’s hook and she was so excited.  She just jumped for joy because she couldn’t believe she caught a fish, and one you can eat, on her first try and in such a short time.  They tried a bit more, but we had to shut it down because we were going to dinner on board Karma with Richard and Christa.  The girls were disappointed but we promised them more fishing in Juneau.  For some reason they didn’t believe us.  Maybe it’s because we’ve been promising them that for almost 3 weeks and it hasn’t panned out very well for them. 

Dinner on board Karma was delicious.  Christa prepared seafood pasta in a red sauce.  It had salmon, prawns and scallops with savory seasonings over spaghetti.  It was fantastic.  I could take some lessons from Christa.  She also prepared an apple tart for dessert, a delicious, light finishing touch to a wonderfully, savory meal.  She also had chocolate chip cookies that Maureen  (on board the Selene that was anchored with us and that took the trip up to the glacier with Albedos) had cooked for them.  She was thanking them for Richard helping her husband, Van, repairing the generator.  It’s amazing how complete strangers relate to each other in the cruising community.  We were all gathered on the dock for a few minutes of introductions, talking about the cruise to the glacier the day before, and gawking over the pictures that we all exchanged with each other, and as usual, we all had our two cents to say about the cruising life, boating industry problems, boat malfunctions, etc.  The conversation usually gets around to that topic and we all trade our horror stories and our not so proud moments when we learn some hard lessons.  We’re laughing about it now, but is may not have been so funny at the time it happened.  It also makes you realize how much you know now that you didn’t know then (or in some situations, how much you don’t know at all). 

After dinner with Richard and Christa, Chuck took Estelle back out on the dock so she could take a turn at nabbing a fish before we took off.  She caught one, a big rock fish like Isabella’s, and she was really happy.  But, she got really mad when I took it off the hook and threw it in.  I told her that we can’t keep fish and we won’t eat that one because it’s too boney.  She didn’t buy it.  Isabella got mad when I gave her fish carcass to Richard for bait in his crab pot.  Two boys on the dock cleaned it for us.  Larry hired them to clean it for two bucks.  They put the carcass in the cockpit, but took the meat with them.  I lied and said we would cook it up next chance we got.  Isabella was proud that she had caught a fish she could eat and she intended on doing just that.  She didn’t understand that we couldn’t keep the carcass of her fish.  She had plans on drying it out and keeping it as a trophy.  I told her that only a taxidermist could do that and there wasn’t one around and we had no way of keeping it until we found one.  I think I’ll let her keep the next one that she catches and find a taxidermist in Juneau.  If it’s not too expensive, I’ll have it mounted for her.  She’ll get a kick out of that.  I think I’ll do the same for Estelle and send it to her.  I hope they catch something in Juneau. 

Estelle leaves in 4 days.  I don’t know what we’ll do with out her and Chuck.  They have become like family and our days will be lost without them.  Last night was the first tough night for Estelle.  Chuck said it was because she was over tired and she missed her mother.  She had a tough time getting to sleep and I felt so badly for her.  I wish I was more help with her.  I think about how Isabella would be without me for that long.  In fact, Isabella said last night when Estelle was crying, that’s how she would feel if I was gone.  I feel badly that I haven’t been more comforting towards her.  At night time I’m so rushed to get them into bed, because it takes so long to get them to sleep.  They haven’t gotten to sleep before 10 o’clock, except for last night.  I think Isabella actually fell asleep earlier than usual, but Estelle did not.  The night before last I actually began the bedtime process at 7:30 p.m., getting Isabella into the shower, brushing teeth, combing out hair, dressing for bed.  She was in bed around 8 o’clock.  So was Estelle.  I read four stories from the Disney’s Spooky Bedtime Stories book and then told them good night.  We said prayers for Isabella and I left the room.  I had to go in every two minutes to tell them to be quiet.  Finally, around 9:30 they were hungry, of course.  They had water and dry Wheaties and I kept doing this thing about closing their peepers, only I was doing it in a funny Spanish accent.  They wouldn’t stop laughing and pretending they had only one eye.  It was ridiculous.  They finally got to sleep around 10:30, after working on it for 3 hours.  It’s like this every night.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get Isabella back on her regular schedule.  The fact that it’s daylight out until around 11o’clock at night doesn’t help either.  It’s wreaking havoc on us as well. 

7/4/07 The town of Juneau and the neighboring town of Douglas both had 4^th of July parades.  We were going to take the bus from Juneau to Douglas.  The bus was supposed to come every 20 minutes but it never showed up after 45 minutes.  The Douglas side also had a bunch of things for the kids such as pony rides and sack races.  We decided to walk but it was over four miles away.  We could not get a taxi to take us so we got a young kid to let us ride in the back of his pickup.

7/05/07 Chuck and Estelle left today and Larry’s sister Lynne and her husband Lou came in.

7/6/07 We cruised back to Tracy’s Arm from Juneau.  We were lucky again and got a sunny day to go see the Sawyer Glacier.  However, we were not so lucky driving in the ice this time.  We caught the edge of an iceberg and smashed the front of our starboard stabilizer.  We cruised back to an anchorage on the way to Petersburg in Hobart bay off of Entrance Island.  After we anchored, Larry jumped in the 45 degree water to look at the stabilizer.  The damage was significant to the wing but it was only damaged on the fiberglass piece at the bottom.  It did not seem to damage the mechanical part of the stabilizer.  I guess we will be hauling out in the near future.

7/8/07 Today we are cruising from our Anchorage in Hobart Bay to Petersburg.  We saw quite a few humpback whales doing what to us looked like a mating ritual. 

Also last night we hung Larry’s wetsuit in the rear cockpit.  Someone stole it off the back of the boat while we were sleeping.   We cruised all through the Caribbean, Central and South America and we get robbed in Alaska.

7/9/07 We stayed in Petersburg two nights and then headed to Taku Bay.  It was a long trip from Petersburg to Taku bay and it took about 15 hours to go about 92 miles.

7/11/07 We stayed in Taku bay overnight and then headed to Juneau late in the day. While in Juneau we rented a taxi and toured the area a little bit.  We went to St. Theresa’s Shrine and the Chapel on the water.  We then went to the Mendenhall Glacier.  We also went to the Salmon fish Hatchery.  In route we must have seen three dozen eagles.

7/14/06 Larry’s Sister left for home today and a friend of ours daughter came in from Germany to spend a month with us.  Her name is Laura and we met her and her mom when they were guests of the boat Yamana.  We were in the Western Caribbean when we met them.

One interesting thing about Alaska is that you must travel everywhere by boat or seaplane.  We are in Juneau which is the capitol of Alaska.  However, the road is only 44 miles long and ends at both ends not connecting to anything.  The only four lane road in all of Alaska is here and it is only 9 miles long.

DATE _6/12/07__    TIME _9:00AM_

START PORT _Foggy Bay______________END PORT _Ketchikan and Alaskan Ports North_

START MILES_11756_  END MILES _12421__ LEG MILES _665_TOTAL MILES _12421_

START HOURS  _1988__   END HOURS _2082_LEG HOURS _94_TOTAL HOURS __2082_

START FUEL(6446) _77___  END FUEL _364__  LEG FUEL _287_ TOTAL FUEL  __585_

AVERAGE MPGs _2.31_ REMAINING RANGE ___1400+__ GEN FUEL 5016_/_5091/ __98__

END PRT _300__ END STRBD  __320__  END SPLY  _60____FUEL BALANCE ____680___

SEA STATE_Calm_____________________________________________________________

WIND DIRECTION__Calm_________________________________________________

6/12/07 This morning we cruised into Ketchikan from Foggy Bay.  As Foggy Bay is in Alaska, we had to call the USA Customs and Immigration to get permission to anchor at Foggy bay in route to Ketchikan where we would formally clear back into the United States.

In Ketchikan, we were lucky enough to get a slip downtown with 50 amps of power.  Very unusual up in this neck of the woods.  This city is a port for almost all of the cruise ships coming into Alaska and has that “cruise ship town” feel.  It is a very nice city and has all the amenities we would want.

6/15/07 A few days ago Larry took a hike up to the snow level of the mountain here.  Isabella was so thrilled to hear that there was snow she wanted to go.   Today we took her on the hike and she did amazingly well.  The hike is about 2,000 feet of a vertical climb over two miles and she walked all the way up on her own.  Once we got to the snow line we stopped to play in the snow for awhile.  We let Isabella get soaking wet in the snow but we only stayed for about 30 minutes.  We were both getting attacked by insects and they were just swarming our head if we stayed still.  Unfortunately for Isabella, we had to start heading down or get eaten alive by these insects.  On the way down, Larry carried Isabella on his shoulders.  It was a significant increase in the amount of work to get down for Larry.

We took the dog on this hike and he stayed with us the entire way.  When he saw the snow, he went BANANAS.  He loved the snow so much he was just sprinting up and down the mountain paths of snow.  It was like he was on speed.  It was wild to watch.

This week DeeDee was able to get a number of her routine medical checkups. 

6/17/07 Our friend Chuck came in today with his 7 year old daughter Estelle.  They will be staying with us for about three weeks.  Isabella is thrilled to have someone her age to hang out with.  They took a flight into Ketchikan and then took a water taxi to our boat. The taxi pulled right up to the boat and dropped them off.

Larry and Chuck took another hike before leaving port.  It was pouring rain but if you wait for it to stop raining you will never do anything around here.

6/19/07 We cruised to Misty Fjords National Park and picked up the single mooring that was there.  We stayed in Punchbowl.  From here we took a dinghy ride again in the pouring rain to the end of the fjords. It was spectacular.  We stopped and watched a baby bear on the shore.

There is a good hike here at Punchbowl but the rain made it too slippery to do with kids.  When we went to shore we met two guys who were camping on the shore.  They were from Southern California and this was the first time they roughed it like this.  They told us that a grizzly bear came through their camp the night before and they had to jump in their Kayaks in the middle of the night and hang out into the water until he was gone.

It is always a struggle to work out on the boat but in the cold weather it is even tougher because some of the things we do outside are not available to us.  DeeDee uses various workout DVDs plus something called a Kettleball.  We were introduced to the kettleball by a friend of ours who was a professional fighter.  We also have dumbbells on board.  Larry alternates his days.  One day he will do pushups and dips.  He does dips by setting up two lounge chairs and using the backs of the chairs like a dipping bar.  On alternate days he does chin ups on chin up bars he installed on the back of the boat.  Of-course this becomes a problem on rainy days.  He uses the dumbbells for curls and shoulder work and also uses the kettleball.  We hike as much as we can and run when we are in ports with streets or trails.

6/21/07  From punchbowl we cruised to Yes bay.  At yes bay there is a fishing Lodge which also serves dinner.  We had a very expensive but very good dinner.  It was crab and steak and started with a duck salad.  The fellow Kevin who runs the Lodge had an airline for many years in the Caribbean and Ketchikan.  He would spend the winters in the Caribbean and the summers in Alaska.  He now has settled in running the lodge only but still has his one seaplane from his Pirate Air Operation.

6/23/07 From Yes Bay we cruised to NaHa Bay.  At Naha there is a lagoon with a hiking trail along it.  This trail is supposed to have many bears along it but we did not see any.  We did hear one snorting and he was close by, but we were unable to locate him.

The next day Larry took the dog Buster jogging with him.  The little guy stayed with Larry the whole way on about a 4 mile jog.

There is a little town here of about 15 people.  One of the homes was very large and as we passed by the home we saw two little girls about the age of Estelle and Isabella.  Chuck and Larry pulled the dinghy up to their dock and said hello.  The family who lived there was very nice and had just built the home.  They shared time between Oregon and here.  The home was very self sufficient with its own generator and very sophisticated battery system to supply AC power to the home.

The next day we brought Estelle and Isabella over to play with the girls.  We ended up moving the big boat over to their dock.  The kids played all day and all night.  The owner, Angela even cooked a crab and halibut dinner for all of us.  It was really a great night getting to know their family.

6/25/07 We went from Naha bay directly to Wrangell.  We skipped a few good places on the way including Anam Bay.  We skipped Anam because the bears hang out there eating the salmon but the salmon are not running yet.  We will hit it on the way back.

Wrangell is a town of about 15,000 people.  It is a very normal town which means it does not have the tourism type feel to it.  It is a real town and when visiting you get a good feel of the people.  While we were there we met some guys who were re-equipping the cannery factory from a cannery to a fast frozen food plant.  It will be able to fast freeze 800,000 pounds per day of fish and crab.  The guys were nice enough to take us through the factory and show the kids all the fish and all the crabs.  For some reason, the kids loved touching the eyes of the dead fish.

One big benefit of the stop in Wrangell was getting the best pizza we have had in a long time.  It was $30 per pizza but the pizza was good enough we ate there twice while in Wrangell.

For some reason we have not understood, Zihuatanejo, Mexico has a large winter population from Alaska.  Many people spend the summers in Alaska in the winter months are in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.   At the pizzeria in Wrangell, we met a woman working there who owns a restaurant in Zihuatanejo, Mexico called the Captain\s Daughter.  We know the restaurant well and it was amazing to engage in such a small world scenario of meeting this woman in Alaska.

June 25, 2007 From DeeDee’s Personal Log

It is Monday, June 25, 2007 and we left Naha Bay, Alaska this morning to head to Anan Bay, making our way to Juneau, where we will spend the 4^th of July with Chuck and Estelle, say good-bye to them on the 5^th, and say hello to Lynne and Lou the next day.  We have had such a wonderful time with Chuck and Estelle and they have become such a part of our lives and a part of our family, I cannot imagine what our days will be like when they depart.  Our daily planning is centered around what ever is the best way to be adventurous for the girls, what ever they have the most fun doing and, ultimately (selfishly), what will tire them out the most.  Unfortunately for all of us, the grownups get tired out the most. 

Chuck and Estelle arrived on the 17^th, Father’s Day.  That day was particularly nice for me, because Larry went on line and found Henry Melton, my father, whom I have not talked to in about 12 years, nor seen since I was 17.  He was definitely surprised to hear from me and I did not realize that it was father’s day until we hung up the phone from speaking to one another.  It was so good to hear his voice.  He still sounds the same and I remember him and the first thing he said to me was “Hey Squirt!”  They same way he used to, as I remember.  He’s been living in Florida since 2000, which is so weird because we were practically neighbors.  We moved to Ft. Lauderdale in 2001 and he moved to Cape Coral in 2000.  He still works “on the slope” in Alaska, two weeks on, two weeks off.  He’s always like Florida and the Keys.  I hope I get to see him soon.  I really want to get to know him again and I want Isabella to know him.  So much of what I am about now in my adult life is due to him.  My natural musical and artistic abilities come from him as well as my nomadic lifestyle and the desire to live on a boat.  I hope he gets to see the boat and spend a little bit of time on board with us.

Chuck has been a great help with entertaining the girls for bed time by telling them bed time stories and reading them stories as well.  Isabella has gotten Larry to participate in that and has freed me up in the evenings to do some things for myself.  Chuck also plays “Uno” and other games with them, even entertaining them for hours with finger puppet shows.  He makes a really good breakfast as well and isn’t shy about cleaning up either.  I may be going on about some really petty things, but the little things count a lot. 

So far, we have hiked some pretty good trails, saw huge piles of bear poop (the bears eat these green onion like plants called skunk onions) and it looked as though these bears had gone on a total herbal cleansing on the trail in Naha Bay.  We’ve been on an extremely cold and wet dinghy ride in Misty Fjords, stopped at Yes Bay Lodge for an extremely expensive surf and turf dinner (the kids had $10 plates of lasagna, which was considered “economical”), cooked by Larry, the former chef of the Ballagio in Vegas.  The lodge charges $3500 for 4 days of fishing, peace and quiet and truly beautiful scenery.  The view from all rooms of the main lodge, that we could see, was just spectacular.  There are no roads to and from the lodge.  You can only get to it by sea plane or boat.  Kevin, the owner or manager of the lodge, has a sea plane charter business called Pirate Air, which he also flew in the Virgin Islands, like St. Lucia.  The entire staff there was wonderful and they must be doing something right because at least 3 of the 6 tables were repeat visitors who had been coming there for many years.  Many of them were from California.

At Punch Bowl in Misty Fjords, we met two men from California, one was a retired high school coach and teacher, the other owns his own business and has for years.  They were camping there, with tents and the whole get up, dropped off by seaplane and not very experienced at roughing it.  They had been there last year with their wives by excursion boat from a cruise ship in Ketchikan and thought it would be fun to go back and rough it just the two of them.  The day we anchored there they were standing out in the rain on the beach and we wondered what they were doing.  They had nothing dry to sit on, as it had been very rainy that day and previous days.  Finally they thought about the tarp they had tucked away in some of their gear and tied it up like a lean-to shack so they would have a dry place to stand around and to undress at night before they crawled into their tents. 

Apparently at night you should take off all of your clothes that you wear during the day that have your scent on them, and leave them in a heap away from your tent, so that, in the event that a bear walks through your camp, it will smell your day clothes and not surprise you at night while you are sleeping.  The night before we got there, a big bear had come through their camp sight during the night, and they had to get some clothes on and grab some of their gear quickly, launch the kayaks and hang out in the water until the bear decided to mosey on its way to somewhere else.  They were glad to see us and asked us to listen for their 5 short blasts of their air horns in the event they had another bear scare, so we could pick them up in the dinghy, rushing them to safety.  They were still nervous telling us about it the next day.

There is a hike there that’s pretty rough, steep and slippery due to the rain, with tons of muck through out.  We had intentions of taking the girls on the hike, which was said to be quite lengthy but would end up at a beautiful lake.  The men who were camping there said that we probably shouldn’t take the girls because it was steep, slippery and an older woman fell down at the end of the trail and broke her arm.  They said that they had difficulty not falling and some of the slippery areas didn’t have much of a drop zone in which to fall.  You could fall off the cliff very easily.  Fortunately for the woman, there just happened to be a boat with two doctors on board anchored there, who set her arm and called a seaplane to fly her back to Ketchikan for medical care.  The old adage is true; timing is everything. 

While anchored in Naha Bay, Larry and Chuck found a couple of 5 and 6 year old girls, whose family is in the process of completing their summer home there, not far from our anchorage.  The house was beautiful and huge, and it was on property that had originally been an old mining and cannery facility, sometime around the late 1800’s.  Some of the original equipment was left on their property, which consists of about 60 acres, and still had the old post office building on it.  There were a few other homes and cabins close to their property, but only a few.  Again, no roads leading to or from the place.  The only way to get there is by seaplane and boat. 

The family owns the former cannery and the beautiful house that’s so big we thought it was a lodge.   They are warm and wonderfully hospitable people, inviting us to tie up at their dock and come in for brownies, so that the girls could get to know each other.  Angela took us on a brief tour, as the house was still not completed or fully furnished.  They had several projects going on at once, but it is top notch, well done and going to be a fantastic family compound when it is finished.  Their dock and the ramp leading to the property is extremely well made, constructed of huge wooden planks, with the ramp made of heavy steel. 

The house has almost floor to ceiling windows all around the great family room and dining/kitchen area.  As I admired the huge wooden plank floors with big, square wooden pegs, Angela told me that they were not real planks.  They are engineered for the electric heating system they have through out the house to heat the floors.  They look real to me and remind me of the wooden floors in the Forsythe House I grew up in.

The house is a “smart house”, running on a huge bank of batteries, which in turn get charged by the generator, which is very close to the one we have on the boat.  The media components they have wired into the house are located in the basement and they laid 5 miles of cable for it.  Apparently, the man of the house is programming it himself.  They have the same “IR” repeaters that we have on the boat and Larry told Angela that they go out about every six months, so they should stock up on them. 

Angela invited us to have dinner at their house last night for halibut and crab.  I made the salad and brought a bottle of Cakebread Chardonnay.  It was noisy and messy, just the way we like it.  The kids cracked their own crab shells, got English peas all over the place and talked and laughed so loud we could hardly talk, but it was really a nice treat for all of us. 

We even got Buster off the boat during our afternoon visit and he chased the girls around that big house and let them chase him.  He loves kids and really loves Isabella and has grown to love Estelle as well.  Estelle got hurt on our hike at Naha Bay and Buster was trying to get close to her and lick her tears.   He stayed close behind her on the trail until she stopped crying.  It’s so cute how loving he is.  We got really lucky choosing this little guy.  He’s got the perfect personality for kids.  He let all four of the girls drag him around on the boat after they chased him around the house.  They each picked him up, one right after the other, and carried him from room to room on the boat.  Then it was time for us all to get quiet for a while before dinner. 

The girls wanted to have a sleep over at the house, and Angela said it was alright with her.  So, after dinner, Chuck and I went back to the boat for p.j.’s and tooth brushes and both girls’ Bodhi’s, their stuffed huskies that Estelle brought.  When I got back with their bedtime stuff, they were playing games and Isabella hardly noticed I left.  Then I found her baby on the boat and headed back up to the house with it, because I knew she wouldn’t last long without it.  They were sitting at the table eating cereal when I returned and I could tell that the novelty of it all was beginning to wear off for Isabella.  Isabella was so excited about sleeping over when they first discussed it, that I felt like she just might make it for the night.  I think I was more worried about Estelle at first.  However, when I got back with the baby I could tell Isabella was going to miss me.  Larry said that she wouldn’t make it to midnight.  He was close.  I was up around 11:15 with binoculars looking at the house for any signs of movement.  Only one light was on and it looked light everyone was down for the night.  Chuck got up and said he looked through the binoculars as well.  It’s funny how we were both restless about the girls being away.  Larry was out cold, snoring away.  He was half asleep at dinner anyway, so I could tell he was going out soon.  At about 11:30 I heard a knock on the door and I could hear Isabella crying by the time I reached the pilot house.  Angela was so sweet.  She is such a good mother, you can tell, so patient and kind.  Her girls are very well behaved and loving, not only toward each other, but Isabella and Estelle as well.  Angela said that she thought they were going to make it, because everyone was down for the night.  Sarah and Adrianna were asleep, but Isabella and Estelle were still awake and got lonely.   I was surprised to see how hard Isabella was still crying even after she got home.  I guess she’s not quite over me yet.  She still misses me and I confess a huge sigh of relief.  I know she’s going to grow up and eventually want to spend the night away sooner or later, but I’m glad to know that she’s not totally over me for the time being. 

We left this morning around 6:30 and we will arrive at Anan Bay around 6:00 tonight.  We are getting low on some supplies, and completely out of some, but we will not starve by any stretch of the imagination.  We can eat well for a long time, but we’re out of our favorite staples: milk and eggs, some cereal, apples, bananas, cinnamon buns, etc.  I am irritable because I threw out my back yesterday when we were tying up to the dock and it’s still painful.  I also have an upset stomach because I’ve eaten crab again, which I am allergic to and shouldn’t eat very often, if at all; however, I am still blown away by the constant, yet ever changing beauty of Alaska.  From snow capped peaks to lush, green forests and beautiful, mirror-like water, it all looks like a post card, very surreal. 

6/27/07 From Wrangell we went to Petersburg.  The trip to Petersburg is via the Wrangell narrows which needs to be transited during the latter half of the flood tide.  This was ok except that we had to get up at 6 AM to catch the end of the flood tide.

Petersburg is somewhat smaller than Wrangell but very similar to us.  We took the girls to the playground and also to the recreation center.  At the recreation center, they played in the swimming pool with a large amusement park like slide.  They had a GREAT time.

Chuck and Larry took the dinghy to the La Conte Ice Glacier which was about 20 miles away.  They were not able to get all the way to the glacier as the icebergs and floating ice was just too thick.  The ice burgs were just amazing.  They watched one completely flip over.  Then the watched another one break in half and then flip over.  This one was as big a two average size homes.  Just an amazing experience.  There are pictures of the icebergs in the Photo section.

At Petersburg we were next to anther 47 foot Nordhavn by the name of Pacific High.

6/28/07 We cruised from Petersburg to Tracy’s Arm.  We cruised all day through the Fredrick Sound to Tracy’s Arm.  We saw a bunch of Humpback whales in the Fredrick Sound but they would not let us get too close. 

Larry took the dinghy from the base of Tracy’s Arm to the top where there are two glaciers.  The north and south Sawyer glacier.  It was absolutely freezing and a 50 mile round trip.  He went by himself so the dinghy speed cruised at over 40 miles per hour so the wind chill factor was off the charts cold.

6/29/07 Today we took some friends with us to the Glaciers. We took Anne and Mike from “Just us II” and Krista and Richard from “Karma”.  It was about 25 miles to get to the glacier from our anchorage.  The last four miles the water had icebergs everywhere.  I know we use the word “amazing” an awful lot in this log, but once again this trip was awesomely amazing!  The last four miles we had to go an average of two knots.  Larry was trying to avoid the ice but it was so ice packed it was impossible to miss them all.  He would aim for the smallest ones and then take the boat out of gear and let the boat gently push the ice out of the path.  The ice would then slide down the side of the boat and it was so loud it sounded like it was tearing the fiberglass of the boat.  It would bang so loud.  Sometimes we had to fit in between two big pieces of ice and the boat would get pushed back and forth as it made its own path by forcing the ice out of the way.

As we got closer to the glacier, we were getting next to bigger and bigger icebergs.  In the pictures, you will see another Nordhavn which was there with us.  The top of the Nordhavn's outriggers are 35 feet high and the iceberg dwarfs the Nordhavn.  Just a remarkable experience.

As we approached the glacier, it was overwhelming how colossal it was.  It just dwarfs us.  Be sure to look at the pictures with our boat in front of the glacier to get a perspective as to how large it is.

June 29, 2007 From DeeDee’s Personal Log

We left early this morning from Petersburg, headed to Tracy Arm, or an anchorage close by.  We will be pretty far from the glacier, but, if it’s clear and not windy, we can make a long dinghy ride and get close if there isn’t a “land mind” of icebergs. 

We just heard Karma on the radio, which is the boat with Christa and Richard on board.  We met them briefly at Shearwater, B.C., the hot springs (Bay Shore?) and again in Prince Rupert, where we docked right next to them.  We had lunch with them, spent a little bit of time on their boat and went to the Sea Festival with them.  It will be good to catch up with them.  They are such great people and a really loving couple. 

We saw whales, tons of them, while under way today.  There must have been 3 or 4 different pods traveling together, or maybe it was just one huge pod.  I don’t know that much about whales, or at least as much as I should after seeing so many and traveling for the length of time that I’ve been out.  Every time we called the girls to the pilot house to see them, the whales disappeared.  We went out on the bow and caught just a few spouts and tales, and a bit later, there were some really close out to port and they waved a tale at us.  I can’t wait to finally see one totally breach, the whole body coming out of the water.  I figure sooner or later it’ll happen.

Yesterday, after the guys came back from their long dinghy ride to the icebergs, they took the girls to a playground, where they found an indoor pool with water slide and diving board.  Isabella and Estelle came back begging me to be able to go, as if I never let Isabella do anything, telling me that they just had to go so they could slide down the slide because she never gets to go swimming and almost never sees a pool slide.  I had a roast in pressure cooker and couldn’t leave, so the guys took their swim suits and they all headed out.  When they came back, dinner was ready and they all sat down to eat.  The girls were starving (so were the guys) but Estelle and Isabella were also exhausted.  I could tell Isabella was going to sleep hard when she finally went down.  I read them a couple of stories, told them goodnight and before you knew it, Isabella was snoring.  Buster was under the covers on her bed, snoring as well.  He had a full day, too.  He went on the dinghy ride with Chuck and Larry and then to the play ground with the girls.  When they went to the pool I gave him a bath and worked with him on “sitting”.  Then he passed out in a sun spot on the floor and didn’t budge until the girls went to bed.  He’s such a sweet and loving dog; a really good pet for us.

At 4 A.M. Estelle fell out of the bed with a BANG and it scared me and Larry to death.   At first I thought it was Isabella falling out of the top bunk bed, but once I got a robe on and woke up enough to realize I had to squint in order to see (no contacts or glasses), I could tell by the way she was crying that it was not Isabella.  Estelle landed on her back, which I guess is better than her head or an arm or wrist, but she landed hard and cried for a while.  I picked her up and comforted her as much as I could, then Chuck came in and calmed her down.  After he went back to bed I could hear her start to cry again, so I went in and asked her if I should get her some ice for her back and rubbed her head and back a little bit.  She seemed to go back to sleep after a bit and slept quite late in the morning.  When she got up, she seemed fine and wasn’t complaining about her back, so I guess it wasn’t serious.  Kids are more resilient than we are. 

Today I got mad at the girls because they threw all of Isabella’s stuffed animals on the floor and made a disaster out of her room.  I rearranged and organized those infernal animals two days ago and asked them nicely to please not tear them all up because it took a long time to get them put away, and Isabella doesn’t have much room on the top bunk when those things aren’t arranged properly.  It went in one ear and out the other and the room looked like a tornado hit it.  They played in the pile a little bit, which was o.k. with me because I was doing laundry and taking cat naps in between loads.  But when it was time to get them dressed and clean up the room they moved as slow as molasses.  They got dressed but were real wise guys about cleaning up.  Every time I went down there to tell them yet again to clean up, Estelle would just laugh and Isabella would hardly pay attention.  So, I had to get mad and tough.  They broke a night light by dropping the bunk bed down on top of it, the big steel pipe falling on it.  It’s dangerous to mess around with that pipe because it’s heavy.  I watched them a bit and then left them to it, and kept checking on them.  They knew I meant business and were a bit afraid to talk to me, but when they were done I thanked them and told them they did a good job.  Then I asked for a big bear hug and high fives and said that we had to stick together because they’re my buds, my girls.  So, we had chocolate Ovaltines and marshmallows for a snack and they watched “School House Rock” for a long time.  They have been playing together very well today.  Isabella’s going to miss Estelle so much when she leaves.

7/1/07 From Tracy Arm we cruised to Taku bay.  It was just a little area with a float dock that was very pretty.  The kids were in heaven as they each caught rock fish at the dock.  In the evening we had dinner on Karma with Richard and Krista. 

July 1, 2007

Yesterday was a fantastic day.  We couldn’t have planned it any better.  The day before, Larry had asked Karma and Mike and Anne on Just Us two, to join us on our day trip up to Sawyer Glaciers in Tracy Arm.  We all agreed to do it on board Nexus if the weather was agreeable. 

So, at around 7:30 a.m. we backed up our swim platform to the starboard side of Just Us II, and picked up Mike, Anne, McKenzie and Shayla, their two Westies.  Then we headed over to Karma, where we rafted up and had a wonderful breakfast of cinnamon coffee cake, which Anne baked, and cappuccinos, provided by Christa on Karma.  Around 8:30 we all headed back to Nexus, untied and pulled out of the anchorage, cameras ready, music playing, dogs chasing each other, and girls chasing the dogs, headed up to Tracy Arm to hopefully get close enough to the south glacier to get some really good photos.  We expected to run into the “ice fields” of icebergs that Larry had seen the day before on his scouting run in the dinghy.  And we expected to get only within distant sight of the glacier, but, with Larry at the wheel, with his mad driving skills, we didn’t just get to see the glacier, we got close enough to hear it and see it caving.  It was truly a treat.

As we got deeper into the arm of Tracy Arm, the “land mind” of icebergs got thicker and we had to make many sharp turns to avoid a few here and there.  Then Larry slowed her down and Nexus glided quietly and gracefully through the huge chunks of ice that had caved off the glacier.  We were weaving in and out, avoiding some and really crunching into others.  We have no idea if there’s any big damage below the water line.  We think everything is o.k. because the stabilizers seem to be in working order.  Larry just took it slowly and we all went out on deck, cameras ready, freezing our butts off because of the chill in the air, and began our endless photo marathon.  We took photos of huge icebergs, small icebergs, those that looked like rabbits, whales, sea dragons, ice carvings.  It was incredible.  The water falls were spectacular because we were deep into the canyon of Tracy Arm.  High, grooved and etched walls of granite and ice and some greenery were our landscape as well as the icebergs.  It was so lovely it didn’t look real.

Larry got us close to the glacier and then an excursion boat went by us, getting her passengers really close.  So, of course, Larry got us closer.  There was a chill in the air and everyone went outside to snap pictures with their mates, their kids, their dogs, etc. Then, we all went in, Larry cut the engines and it was quiet and peaceful.  The only sounds you could hear were people laughing and talking on the few other boats there and the glacier caving.  Birds were noisy, the seals were talking to each other and the icebergs were noisily melting and flipping over.  The sounds of Mother Nature are so beautiful. 

Everyone went inside for lunch and conversation.  We had wine, tortellini, quesadillas, chips and dip, veggies, fruit, tea, hot coco.  It was perfect.  Then we began our slow trip back through the “land mine” of icebergs.  Albedos said that it looked like we were packed in and not getting out, but, with Larry and his mad driving skills, we easily made our way out.  Cameras were roaring again, because you just never know what you might have missed on the way in, and then, after escaping the ice fields, we all came inside for some good conversation.  At one point, the three dogs and the two kids all passed out for a couple of hours, at least.  They were pooped.  We were all pooped when we got back to the anchorage, but we still had energy to trade photos and stories about the day. 

Another Nordhavn, Albedos, with Jim and Lynda on board, had gotten ahead of us, traveling with another boat.  They offered to take pictures of us and we did the same.  Last night we all traded photos on discs, memory sticks and USB memory devices.  Modern technology…what did we ever do with out all of this before?  We used to have to wait for photos to return from the developer, but we had to remember to take them in the first place.  Then we had to organize all those paper photos, YUK!  Thanks to the digital age we have external drives for storing thousands of photos, mostly of the same thing over and over again, trying to catch that one perfect angle, with the perfect lighting of your dog sniffing something on a trail or an eagle sitting in a tree.  Remember being careful not to waste film?  The only thing we worry about now is whether or not our batteries are charged and if we have back up batteries to support our whimsical snapping of photos of loved ones standing in front of every tree on the trail, or every iceberg that drifts by, hoping to capture “the one perfect picture”.  We’ve become photographers without formal training thanks to the age of advanced photo software, digital cameras sporting mega pixels, 1gigabyte memory storage, and bells, whistles and wingdings that we don’t even know what they are used for.  It’s all overkill, but we do it anyway.

Everyone was so thankful for the day and really appreciated being together.  We learned a bit more about each other, because when cruisers get together, they don’t waste any time getting to know each other.  We can’t because we probably won’t see that group of people again.  We have common experiences so there’s an instant bonding with each other.  We may not have done the same things, but the sentiment is there and we can all relate to each other in some way.  I know more about some of these people than I do about some of my family or people that I’ve known for years.  It gets to be hard work, this life style, but it is so rewarding.  When ever I start to complain about the work load or the schedule or anything about the life style, I remind my self about how lucky I am, how lucky we are as a family, that we have this time with each other, that we are experiencing the world and cultures in ways that most people don’t get to, and that we are meeting people from all over the world who have similar goals and desires.  We get to know each other in ways that most families don’t get to.  We get to know other people on an entirely different level than we do when we live a traditional life style.  It can put a strain on your family at times, but all in all it is an incredible bonding experience.

DATE _5/21/07__    TIME _6:00AM_

START PORT _Sidney_________________END PORT _Pender Harbor__+_Points North__

START MILES_11684_  END MILES _11756__ LEG MILES __73_TOTAL MILES _11756_

START HOURS  _1978__   END HOURS _1988_LEG HOURS _10_TOTAL HOURS __1988_

START FUEL(6446) _44___  END FUEL _77___  LEG FUEL _33__ TOTAL FUEL  __298_

AVERAGE MPGs _2.20_ REMAINING RANGE ___2000+__ GEN FUEL 5016_/_5022/ __10__

END PRT _540__ END STRBD  __540__  END SPLY  _60____FUEL BALANCE ___1140___

SEA STATE_Calm_____________________________________________________________

WIND DIRECTION__Calm_________________________________________________

5/21/07 We cruised to Pender Harbor first in route to Chatterbox falls and spent the night on anchor in Pender Harbor.   On the way to Pender Harbor we had to transit through Dodd Narrows.  In many places throughout British Columbia and Alaska there are narrow passages. In these narrow passages, because the tides are so large, when the water is changing direction the force of the water is so strong it causes actual rapids though the narrow passages.  The current can get as fast as 10 to 15 knots in the very strong ones.  (remember our boat only goes 8 knots, so we would be going backwards) 

The strategy to pass through these narrows is to hit them at exactly slack tide.  That is when the tide is changing from High to Low tide or Low to High tide.  At this time the water is actually standing still for a short period of time.

This necessity to hit the narrows at exact times makes the timing of our cruising difficult.  We need to hit the passage at an exact time but we are never sure of what the current will be against us on our way to it.  If we have a 2 knot current against us, it would make us late and we would have to wait for the tide the next day.  What we usually do is plan to get there early.  If we are early, then we can wait at the narrows for the slack tide, however if we are late, we would have to wait until the next slack which most times is the next day.

We were very early in our route to Dodds Narrows.  We knew we were going to be way early so we started the wing engine and gave that a work-out for a few hours.  We usually run the wing engine once a month but it has been tough the last few months with such rough weather.  Once we got to the narrows, there were about ten boats sitting there waiting for the slack tide.  We took our turn and it was not quite slack so we got pushed around a little.  It was not too bad but it definitely gets your adrenaline going.

5/22/07 OH MY GOD!!  The trip up to Chatterbox falls was just incredible.  We were in about a one mile wide Fjord with vertical walls of evergreen covered mountains.  The tops of the mountains were snow covered and the snow was melting causing huge waterfalls everywhere.  There are simply no words to describe how gorgeous this was.

To get into Chatterbox Falls area, we needed to run through the Malibu rapids.  We once again were very early and gave the wing engine a workout.  It is a great time to run the wing engine because the stabilizers run off the main engine so when the main engine is off, there is no stabilization.  It is so calm in this inland route we actually never even turn the stabilizers on.

The docks here are free and there is water but it is not drinkable.  Also, there is no power and we are aloud to run our generator 2 hours in the morning and 1 ½ hours in the evening.  We are only permitted to stay at the dock for 72 hours but if we wanted to stay longer, we could just anchor.

The anchorage here is amazing as well.  You pull up the nose of the boat to Chatterbox falls until you are in very shallow water.  You then drop your anchor and back down on the anchor.  Your nose is right at the base of the water falls.  The water flow coming from the falls pushes the boat away from the falls so there is no concern about turning the other way and ending up on the beach.

5/23/07 Today Larry put down both dinghies while DeeDee did school with Isabella.  The dinghies have not been down in awhile.  The small one has not been down since Mexico about 5 months ago.

The most damage done to a boat and her systems is not from use but lack of use.  Today the big dinghy’s bilge pump did not work.  The wires had corroded at the connections and Larry had to rewire the bilge pump.  The small dinghy uses an inflatable keel and that was split at the seams.  As it is on the seams, it can not be repaired.  Not a big deal as the keel just helps the boat handle better and there were no leaks in the boat itself.  We also use a few padlocks to make sure the boat does not disappear and the locks were just a pile of rust.

Amazingly, the 15 hp Yamaha on the small dinghy started right up.  This motor is 10 years old and has been abused.  Because our last boat had no way of storing it upright, it never got fresh water flushed after using it.  Also, we lent this motor to a friend of ours and they flipped the boat over and the motor went completely under water.  The choke has been removed because it rusted out.  There are other cables which just simply won’t work anymore but the important ones do.  It started right up and ran great.  Yamaha is the best outboard engine.

We took the big dinghy for a ride down the fjord.  Again, it was just amazing.  It is so monstrous and gorgeous.

When we got back to the big boat, we took a walk over to the falls.  They are just spectacular.  We played around for quite some time with the dog and took lots of pictures.  There was a beach and we played on the beach for a long time.  When we returned back to the boat, our neighbor told us to look out the window because a huge black bear was on the beach we just left.  If we would have stayed another few minutes, we may have been introduced to him at close range.

The mountains are so high around us; we can not even get satellite service.  It is all blocked.  We are basically inside a round harbor circled with mountains.  It would almost be like the shape of a thermometer.    Interestingly, we do get Sat Television here.  It just so happens the cut coming in, which is the only access to the sky, is to the direction the Sat Television satellite is located. 

5/25/07 Today we cruised down to Thunder Cove and dropped anchor.  It is just a little cove in route to our next destination which is Desolation Sound.  We took the dinghy to shore and walked on an estate which has been in the same family since 1880.  The caretakers were very friendly and told us we could walk anywhere on the property we liked.

5/26/07 Today we cruised to Prideaux Haven in Desolation Sound.  The area is circled in snow covered mountains and has a half dozen coves in the area.  It is said to have warm water for swimming, but the water temp is at 62 degrees and we do not consider that swimming temperatures.  Here at Prideaux, we don’t have much swinging room on anchor so we tie the stern to a tree on shore.  This keeps us in one position.  The water going up to the shore is deep all the way.

First we drop an anchor, and then we jump in the dinghy and pull the stern line to shore.  We wrap the stern line around the tree and bring it back to the boat. The reason we do this is so when we leave, we can just untie the line and pull it in without the need to head to shore again.

5/27/07 Today we cruised to Refuge Bay.  It is just a one store town with a population of 17 people.  There is a dock and a fuel dock.  This is the place boats come when cruising in the summer to get fuel or some small provisions. Believe it or not, it is one of the larger places in Desolation Sound.

5/29/07  Yesterday we cruised to Blind Channel Resort.  It is very quiet and very pretty.  The resort was next to a good hiking trail which we hiked with Buster the dog.  He is getting very good at these hikes.  I think he will be able to go with us almost anywhere.

These docks in British Columbia are called floats here.  They have very minimum electrical power if they have it.  For example, at Blind Channel Resort the amperage only goes to a max of 20 amps.  We actually need to start the generator and charge the batteries all the way before we plug in or the breaker will trip.  We normally usually run at a rate of 120 amps (120 VAC) when we run the generator.  Having only 20 amps available only lets us use one thing at a time.  We have to choose between things like, the water heater, coffee maker, microwave, hair dryer, televisions, etc.  When we need to run more than one thing for some reason, we will just use the inverter and then charge the batteries with the generator when we are done.

5/30/07  Today we cruised to Port McNeil.  It is a very quaint town with about 5,000 residents.  It is a provisioning stop for us as there is an IGA supermarket here.

6/1/07 We cruised to God’s Pocket but the float dock looked a little rough and the anchorage was very tight.  We kept going to the Walker Group of islands and anchored in between in a much protected pocket of water.

6/2/07  From the Walker group islands, we headed to Shearwater.  It is a little resort like the other resorts up here.  We were on the end of the dock with no power but had some fresh water.  The water was not good enough to drink, but it was good enough to wash the boat.  We took advantage of the dock and good weather and waxed the entire hull of the boat.  It was an all day job just for the hull but it looks great.

Shearwater is a major city here boasting of 5,000 people.  The largest city around here is Prince Rupert and that only has 12,000 people.   The big benefit of the large population is there are restaurants.  We always love having someone else cook and clean for us.  Especially after we have waxed the boat all day.

6/4/07 From Shearwater our next stop was Bottleneck harbor.  It is just a little anchorage that is well protected.  We surprisingly had four boats anchored there with us by the end of the day.

June 4, 2007 From DeeDee’s Personal Log

We left Blind Channel Resort on May 30^th or so, and headed to Port McNeil for provisions.  We spent a couple of days there due to computer problems.  Poor Larry spent all day restoring my computer and updating Isabella’s.  We went shopping the next morning and then headed out to Shearwater, but we stopped in an area around God’s Pocket for a one nighter, in such a beautiful anchorage.  I was a bit restless due to the fact that the tide was going out at such a rapid rate that I could’ve sworn we were drifting because we kept getting closer to this buoy, but I guess the chain was just stretching out.  We left the next morning for Shearwater, where we docked at this really nice marina, where they had a good restaurant. 

The marina was nice, but expensive-$50 a day without electric.  The people were nice, but I guess it’ a volunteer situation for who’s running the marina.  We asked who was in charge and they said some guy just got there yesterday and he didn’t even know what he was supposed to be doing.  There is a somewhat bare tree with a plaque beneath it saying “Eagle Tree”.  Yesterday morning I wanted to go up and have a good cup of coffee and breakfast, so Isabella and I headed up and while we were waiting for our food, this huge, beautiful, female eagle landed on the top of the tree and was so majestic looking. She looked like she was keeping an eye on the place.  Later, when we were all three waxing the boat, people would stop by and chat for a few minutes, and this couple on an older Kady Krogen, Pam and Norm, told us that we should watch out for our dog, because the eagles were big enough and prone to picking up small dogs right off the dock.  While I was watching the eagle while eating breakfast, I actually had visions of Buster being snatched up right in front of Isabella, and feeling horrified at how she would react and feel.

We got up this morning and started making more headway to Ketchikan.  We are in an anchorage called Bottleneck Inlet in the Finlayson Channel.  It is like a little piece of heaven.  We came in and disturbed another power boat anchored here and in the last couple of hours a couple of sailboats have joined us.  It is so quiet here, that when you step outside (when it’s not raining) you can hear these beautiful bird calls.  I wish I wanted to learn more about birds, but it sounds a little boring.  If it’s not in the guide book or if I can’t pick up some info from some passing cruisers or locals, I have no desire to research it.

My circadian rhythms are all screwed up because of the fact that at 9:30 at night it is still daylight and there’s even a trace of light still in the sky at 10:30 p.m.  I have such difficulty getting to sleep when I think it’s still day time and because of that I cannot get up early like I am used to, around 5:30 a.m. to work out.  I’m having a hard time getting up when Isabella’s alarm clock goes off at 6:30 a.m.  And because it’s been rainy and overcast today I’m really lazy.  About the time I’ll get used to it, it’ll be time for us to head south again.

6/5/07 From Bottleneck we headed to Bishop Bay.  This was our first experience with the hot springs which are all through this area.  There was a little dock which could support two boats.  When more than two boats showed up, they simply rafted outside the boats already tied up at the dock.  We were able to get right on the dock so other boats were rafting off of us as they came.

The hot springs ran into a small man made hut.  The water was very warm and it is a great thing to find when we are constantly cold up here.  Isabella loved it and it was tough to get her out of the tub.

We met a very interesting couple here by the name of Jeff and Pam.  They were in a canoe and canoeing from the west coast of Canada to the east coast. It was amazing to see how they traveled.  First of all, they had a 100+ pound malamute dog with them.  He sat in the middle of the canoe as they paddled.  Take a look at the photos of them in our photo section.  They are going to spend three years making the trip across Canada.

Each day they would set up a tent and camp out.  They had enough food for about six to eight weeks at a time.  No stove, no refrigeration.  They made a camp fire each night to boil water for purification and cook meals.  (we complain when we are out of Sat Television range)  The dog was to keep the bears away and to pull packs across the snow when they have to make land crossings. 

We spent the day together and got to know them better.  We spent the day talking and going to the hot tub and then had dinner together.  We had a steak dinner which was their first meat meal in months.    As we shared before, one of the benefits of being on the boat is we do without a lot of things for periods of time.  Then when we get to have them again, our appreciation is tremendously greater.  My observation was that being on a Canoe is very similar but even more multiplied.  We always have warmth, water, showers, cooked meals etc.  They do without much much more than us.   Suring the short time they were with us, they were very appreciative of the simplest things even like sleeping with a pillow.  They enjoyed some of the comforts we take for granted everyday such as hot coffee, DVDs, and great meals.  We enjoyed sharing it with them.

We invited them to sleep on the boat for the night and they accepted the invitation.  Isabella was LOVING the big dog and literally curling up next to him every time he laid down. 

The next morning we all took off early in the morning.

6/6/07 We were next in route to Prince Rupert Bay which is our last stop before entering Alaska.  We first cruised the day and anchored in Lowe Inlet.  Just a little cove with a great small waterfall.  It was very deep at over 90 feet.  We put the entire 400 feet of anchor chain out to anchor.

The next morning we cruised into Prince Rupert Bay.  It was actually a little rough at the end of the trip.

Prince Rupert is just a fantastic little town.  Once again, with a population of 12,000.  It seems to be that magic number for a town to be great.

We went into the Prince Rupert Yacht Club Marina.  It was very nice and right down town.  We hit this town just at the right time as there was a SeaFest Festival going on.  It had a parade and it had lots of things going on which Isabella loved.  She got to do her first soap box car race which she loved.  She also spent lots of time in the bouncing tent and at the kid’s park.  On Sunday we went to watch the local boat races.  The competitors made the boats on Saturday at the festival and raced them on Sunday.  Quite a few did not float for very long and some did not go very straight. A few did well and there was an eventual winner.

We loved this town.  The community has been through some tough times with the lumber mill closing down and the fishing all but coming to a stand still.  Literally half the population left to find work elsewhere.  While we were there the roads were flooded out so no one but the locals could come to the festival.  There was no gas, diesel, milk, etc. as the trucks could not get in.

The community was so friendly and helpful.  We were also surprised how the young kids and teenagers were so friendly and supportive to each other.  There was none of the typical teasing and cruelty that we see so often among kids.  It was something one would never think of but because it was such a strong characteristic of the community we took notice.

We have met a great couple by the name of Richard and Krista on a Cape Horn trawler by the name of Karma.  We ran into them once before at Blind Channel and again at Bishop Hot Springs.  Then we shared the dock with them again here at Prince Rupert.  They have circumnavigated in there last boat which was a sailboat and now are cruising on the trawler.  They have been living on the boat for 15 years now.  We have had some interesting conversations with them over the past few days and have really enjoyed their company.

6/10/07 We cruised today to Foggy Bay.  It was an easy cruise.  We went into Foggy bay to anchor just for the night.  When we arrived, we were surprised again by how many boats there were.  We dropped an anchor in the shallowest water we could find but it was still 90 feet deep.  We let out all 400 feet of our chain and spent a peaceful night in Foggy Bay.