8/13 Photos, Everett to Seattle

A sea lion checks us out as we cruise by a navigation buoy near Everett

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Midnight at the dock in Everett, with a nearly full moon

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Potentate and Bar-T-Na at the dock in Everett

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Passing by the Mukilteo ferry landing and lighthouse

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Barb and Trav enjoy the cruise from Edmonds to Seattle aboard Potentate

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Loren and Barb at the helm of Potentate

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Mount Rainier looms over the Richmond Beach area

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Loren & Trav at the helm as we approach Shilshole

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The gravel barge approaches as the last rail car clears the bridge. The barge would fit, but the tow boat's wheel house wouldn't

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The moon rises over Lake Union

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Looking back at the Fremont and Aurora Bridges from Lake Union

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Seattle skyline

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Some houseboaters enjoy the evening on their decks

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Potentate at home in its slip

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8/13 Everett to Lake Union

In the continued interest of cleaning up leftovers, Erin took the remaining eggs from the fridge, along with a couple onions, sausage, bacon bits, a few potatoes from the back deck of the Bar-T-Na and some cheese to whip up a huge frittata in our large frying pan.  After the final step of baking in the oven for a few minutes, we loaded up a tray with dishes, silverware, napkins and so forth, and invited ourselves over to the Bar-T-Na for a final morning breakfast.  We spent some time reviewing the highlights of our trip and marveling at all the good weather we had. 

 

Trav and Barb's original plans called for them to remain up north for another 5 or 6 weeks after we headed towards home, but with his popped knee not making any further improvement, they decided a couple weeks ago that they would follow us back home as well.  Trav now has an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon this coming Friday as the first step in getting his bad wheel fixed.  They will still be boating, though, with their newly acquired Edmonds slip as a base of operations for the next month.

 

That Edmonds slip wasn't to be vacated until noon today, so we had no plans for an early departure from Everett.  Also, we wanted to arrive at the locks in Seattle at high tide, not low tide, so an afternoon cruise was planned for that as well.  Trav decided to bake some brownies before their departure, mixed them up and loaded them in their oven.  When it was time to check if they were done, he found that he still had cold batter in the pan.  His stove is wired so that you can either use the stovetop or the oven, but not both, and somehow it had been switched to stovetop mode.  We offered to take his pan of brownies and bake them in our oven if he wanted to get going, but he chose the easy remedy, which was to move their departure time back another hour.  I think he thought he'd never see his brownies again if he left them in our oven.  Could've been right.

 

Bar-T-Na left the dock around 1:30 in the afternoon, giving us some wave height reports as they cruised towards Mukilteo.  That daily afternoon wind had started in the morning today, stirring things up a bit, but not all that badly.  We left about an hour and a half later, and I was pleased that our maneuver with hard left rudder was able to crab the boat sideways against both the wind and current to clear the dock without outside help.

 

Once we passed Mukilteo the water settled down just as Trav had reported on the radio, and we removed the rest of the windows on the bridge to enjoy the weather.  Trav had reported via cell phone that they were at their slip in Edmonds, in a location that would allow us to come alongside.  We arrived there around 4:30 or so, cleared the breakwater to the harbor and moored briefly to Bar-T-Na while Trav and Barb hopped on from their stern to ours.  We were away again and out of the harbor in less than five minutes.

 

We continued on towards Shilshole, where we'd lock through to fresh water, the ship canal and Lake Union.  We had the wind and seas to our stern, so although the water was somewhat choppy, we had a smooth and pleasant ride.  It was a great way to end our cruising time together, having the Wills aboard the Potentate on its final leg home.  We all enjoyed the ride from the bridge, and had an amazing view of Mount Baker off our stern as we left Edmonds.  Soon Mount Rainier and the Columbia Tower both came into view over the horizon as we got nearer to Seattle.  We arrived at the locks to see that the lock gates were closed, and boats were rising with their sterns towards us.  We headed over to the waiting wall and tied up there to wait for the next locking.  We were the only boat there, and normally we'd be taken into the small lock, but it is out of commission with some sort of bearing wearing out on one of the gates.  It will be used only for emergencies until it's repaired sometime in October.

 

Eventually a large fish processing vessel was loaded in the lock outbound, and when it and a few boats exited the locks we thought we'd be called in.  It didn't happen that way – instead the gates were closed again.  I turned our VHF radio to channel 13 to monitor the commercial lock and bridge chatter, and heard a tug calling bridge 4, the railroad bridge just behind us, asking when they'd be opening.  Commercial traffic takes priority at the locks, and a barge load of sand and gravel was on its way in.  It was standing off waiting for the railroad bridge to open, and the bridge was staying closed until a soon to arrive long freight train could pass.  The freight train was a long one.  It kept slowing down as the engine end was approaching downtown, and yet the cars kept coming across the bridge.  It finally cleared, the bridge opened and the barge came forward.  Behind it was another tug boat, and the lock master radioed that tug that he would be closing the gates behind the barge, and then reopen them once it was secured so the tug could enter.  When the second tug entered, I was encouraged by the fact that the gate didn't close right behind it.  Once it was secured they called for all boats to enter the lock, larger boats first.  We quickly untied and headed in, taking the spot against the wall directly behind the tug.

 

This process took about an hour and a half, and in the meantime, our ride home, provided by Mary Nordby, was waiting near our moorage.  She had come down early but was content waiting and working on some puzzles.  We called her on the cell phone once we had cleared the locks, and she went next door to the Northlake Tavern and ordered a couple of pizzas to share with everyone.  What a nice treat to end our evening.  With pizza waiting and evening falling, we abbreviated our normal victory tour around Lake Union to a brief cruise by the houseboat community and headed for home.

 

We  have literally thousands of photos and a couple hours of video to boil down into a reasonable show, and lots of mail to sort through as well.  It's good to be home, but we had a great time accompanying the Wills on what may very well be their last season aboard the Bar-T-Na.  It was indeed a Sentimental Journey.

8/12 La Conner to Everett

Our plans were to cruise to Everett today.  We've enjoyed stopping there the past few years to break up the long run between La Conner and home.  Past experience has shown us that late in the afternoon, at least whenever we're there, the wind picks up and blows into the harbor from the west.  It's a reliable enough pattern that Jetty Island is an afternoon and evening haven for kite surfers, especially on weekends.  Keeping this in mind, we left La Conner around 9 o'clock in the morning for an early arrival in Everett.

 

It was low tide when we left, which makes the normally scenic Swinomish Channel and Hole in the Wall south of La Conner even more dramatic in appearance.  As we rounded the corner out of Hole in the Wall and lined up with the range markers at the far end near Whidbey Island, the channel was clearly defined for us, with tide flats and rocks on either side of us. 

 

We had the current in our favor, and continued on at with the engines at idle and our speed at about 6.5 knots.  We had left the dock first and we were enjoying the scenery as we waited for the Bar-T-Na to catch up with us – not that that would be a problem with our top speed limited to about 8.5 knots while nursing the port engine's heating problems.

 

As we approached Goat Island we could see to the south that where normally Camano Island's shore would appear was a pretty solid looking fog bank.  The sun was shining and we thought that would make fairly short order of the fog, but we were prepared to follow the Camano shoreline via instruments if necessary.  It wasn't necessary at all, as it dissipated before our very eyes over the next half hour.

 

The Swinomish Slough is a dredged channel that takes us to the far side of Skagit Bay.  The bay is a large body of water, but probably 80 percent of it is either one or two feet deep or completely shoal at low tide so it's important to stay to the west side of the red buoys after exiting the slough itself.  As we were passing Goat Island we could see a boat stationary just beyond the exit of the slough and wondered if they were aground.  Usually it's the sailboats with their deeper draft that get hung up in this area, but as we neared we could see it was a large power boat, the Big Brivet, which had left La Conner about an hour before us.  They were indeed aground, and tilted slightly to starboard.  We could see that they had used their dinghy to set an anchor out in front of them so that when the tide came in they would stay in relatively the same spot to minimize damage.  Unlike sailboats, where the lowest part is the keel, power boats have rudders, struts, shafts and propellers hanging down, usually below the keel, and very prone to damage in this situation.  We didn't envy their position, and kept our speed at idle as we passed so as not to send them any wake.  Hopefully when the tide rises a couple of feet they'll find that they were in soft mud and didn't suffer major damage.

 

By now Bar-T-Na had fallen into "formation", and we continued on towards Camano Island and followed its western shore.  The sun was out and the water was calm, a perfect day for a leisurely cruise.  We occasionally traded stories about various points of interest as we cruised along, and eventually we could see Hat Island, off the shore of Everett, in the distance.  We watched Hat Island gradually grow closer for at least an hour or more, eventually passing it on its eastern shore as we headed towards the Port of Everett.  The landmark carrier Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying fleet were not in port at the mouth of the Snohomish River so we missed out on that view as we cruised by their empty berths and on to the guest dock.  We arrived in Everett around 1 p.m., leaving us plenty of time to kick back and enjoy our new surroundings.

 

It was past lunch time, and we had various leftovers to take care of before returning to our home port on Lake Union.  We heated up the remains of the salmon and crab chowder we'd had a few days earlier, and I also cracked about 3 crabs that were remaining in the refrigerator.  I had a good sized helping, gave a dose to Trav and still had some to pack away in the freezer to add to the next batch of seafood chowder, wherever that may be.  Later in the evening we had some leftover rice and sausage casserole as we continued to clean out the refrigerator.

 

The evening's entertainment was a full game of dominos, from the double twelve's down to the double blanks.  We had an enjoyable evening on our last night of cruising.  It was just before midnight when we returned to the Potentate, and the air had warmed up quite a bit so we went for a walk down the length of the breakwater dock and back and then on to shore to walk the grounds there.  One of the "highlights" of that walk was seeing some rats scurrying under the restaurants Woodfire Grill and Anthony's Home Port.  I'm sure they would be delighted to hear about that.

 

Tomorrow we head for home.  Trav has secured a slip in Edmonds for the next month, as his Kenmore slip is rented out through mid-September.  Our plan is for the Bar-T-Na to leave before us and get situated at their slip, which is at the end of a pier.  We'll come in an hour or so later and pick them up for a ride through the locks and a ride home so they can get their car.  At least, that's the plan.  We'll report on actual events tomorrow.

8/11 La Conner

The weather has been getting warmer day by day, and this morning we had our doors wide open by breakfast time.  Shortly after eating breakfast, a woman walking down the dock approached our open door and stopped to ask us what year our boat was.  She went on to say that she was the owner of the Olympus, the 97 foot classic yacht that moored down at the end of the dock yesterday afternoon.  She and her husband are very much involved in the Classic Yacht Association, and she gave us her card and invited us to join.  We learned that they have owned the Olympus for the past 15 years, and this year will be in the commodore's seat for organizing the wooden boat show up in Victoria over Labor Day weekend.  The boat has its own website, www.yachtolympus.com, that describes some features and history of the boat and some of their cruising itineraries.  The boat is available for charter trips, and they employ a crew of four, including a captain, first mate, chef and porter.  They keep the boat moored in a boathouse on the south end of Lake Union.  We probably will joint the CYA, as there would be some good contacts to use for advice or help on various mechanical and structural maintenance items.  We won't be going back to Victoria next month, but we may do the classic yacht show at the Bell Street Harbor on the Seattle waterfront next year.

 

Erin and Barb decided to walk into town a bit before noon to check out a few shops.  The plan was for Trav and I to take the dinghy into town to meet them near the Tower ice cream shop so that Trav, and Erin too, could enjoy a licorice ice cream cone, a treat that is often hard to find as most shops don't carry it.  Erin gave me a call on the cell phone just before noon to say they were ready to meet us for ice cream.  We were getting ready to get in the dinghy when she called back a couple minutes later to say that the ice cream shop was closed.  There were no hours posted, so we didn't know if it was just a morning thing, or if they took Mondays off.  They wandered across the street to ask the proprietor there if they knew when it would open, and they said that it varies as to time and day, but that if they were going to open it would probably be before 1 o'clock.  As it turned out, someone showed up in short order, and our dinghy ride was back on.  The docks near the ice cream shop were all marked private and no trespassing, so we just parked the dinghy at the south basin and walked from there, giving Trav's knee a little extra workout.

 

We all had an ice cream cone – Trav and Erin both had licorice, of course, and I ordered the Lopez Island blackberry while Barb had some chocolate variation.  We enjoyed our treats while sitting at a sidewalk table.  Afterwards, we walked over to Nasty Jack's, an antique shop at the end of the block, to look around.  Erin found some furniture polish she likes, and a couple of collector books that were marked at 5 bucks apiece but worth much more.  Afterwards we sent Trav and Barb back to the boats via the dinghy while we walked back.

 

Our dinner plans were to head back into town to the La Conner Tavern, for fish and chips.  This time all four of us got in the Bar-T-Na's dinghy for the ride into town.  We found some space at the end of a nearby dock that was only one business away from the dock.  We enjoyed our dinner at the pub and even brought home a few leftovers.

 

This evening we finished the game of dominoes that was started the night before, and followed that with a nightcap from our bottle of Sambuca. Tomorrow we'll cruise down to Everett for the night, a routine we've developed the last couple of years to break up the run from La Conner all the way to Seattle.  Everett has a nice marina, as well as the Jetty Island Park across the river from the docks.  We'll enjoy an evening there before heading for home.

8/11 Some photos coming to La Conner

Heading into Pole Pass

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Ferries waiting for dock at Orcas Island

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Bar-T-Na cruises alongside for a photo op

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Approaching Swinomish Slough via Fidalgo Bay

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A Great Blue Heron at La Conner

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The motor yacht Olympus

8/10 La Conner

We're plugged in to shore power here at the dock, so Erin got out the waffle iron this morning to make waffles, with bacon bits in the batter and a sunnyside up egg on each one.  That was a treat.  Later in the morning Erin and I walked into town, after stopping at the marina office to pay moorage for the next two nights.  We plan on cruising south to Everett on Tuesday.

 

We called Trav, who is on "water taxi" duty, to bring Barb into town to do some shopping with Erin.  There are several docks along the main drag, so they just came putting down the channel.  Trav is still nursing his bum knee, so he's keeping his walking to a minimum.  The three of us wandered through a few shops, then I took off to wander on my own.  Down at the south end of town is a new dock, so I went down there to check out the mega-yacht that was moored there.  It was probably 120 feet or so –couldn't tell you if it's a private or corporate yacht.

 

Walking back through town, I saw Erin and Barb at the latte stand and went over.  Erin asked if I wanted anything, and since there was a sign advertising a special on root beer floats, that's what I had.  Erin had an iced latte, and Barb had a "death by chocolate" flavored ice cream cone.  We sat at a picnic table by the water and watched the boat traffic while we savored our treats.  Following that, I headed back towards the boat, walking over to the grocery store first to pick up a few items.

 

The docks were busier today than yesterday with boats coming and going.  Several people have made reservations, and the signs were out marking the lengths reserved for those boats.  I noticed the Olympus, a 97 foot fantail cruiser, gliding by and then turning around in the channel.  Some folks were on the dock checking signs to see where it was supposed to go, and as it turned out, they had reserved 97 feet right behind us.  The space was pretty tight – about 100 feet between boats the way I paced it off, which doesn't leave a lot of room.  They must have felt so as well, as they ended up taking the boat down to the end of the dock, where there was more maneuvering room.  The Olympus is a beautiful old boat of 1929 vintage – I'll post a picture of it sometime soon.

 

Erin fixed a rice and bean casserole for dinner, with sausage and some hamburger contributed from the Bar-T-Na.  We had dinner for all aboard the Potentate, then reconvened a little later on Bar-T-Na for an evening of dominoes.

 

8/9 Deer Harbor to La Conner

We awoke around 5:30 to the sound of a light rainfall.  We, and especially Erin, have become very much attuned to rainfall, as we have a few interior leaks that need to be accommodated.  Also, we had several of the windows enclosing the bridge out and stowed.  We got up, and while Erin put out bowls under the drips, I got out the windows for the bridge and zipped them in.  Everything was taken care of in a matter of minutes, and we could sit back and listen to the pleasant sound of rain on the windows and canvas top.  We planned on leaving around 9 o'clock, so we just stayed up and enjoyed our extended morning.

 

The winds from the day before had died down, and the water was calm – just what we wanted for our cruise to La Conner.  Because of our early stop, we had about a 4 hour cruise ahead of us rather than the 3 hours it would have taken from Hunter Bay, but it looked like the day would perk up after our morning rain.

 

We left the dock at 9 o'clock as planned, and headed out towards Pole Pass.  Erin just put the fenders up on deck rather than stow them, as we would be docking again in La Conner, and would most likely use our preferred port side tie.  As we were cruising at idle while she was out on deck, a runabout of 20 feet or so that was approaching us on the port side accelerated to full speed as they came alongside us, rudely throwing out their wake against us, only to come to a stop about 75 yards directly in front of us to retrieve a crab trap.  Normally I swing wide of small boats that are fishing or crabbing, but I maintained our course while increasing speed a bit as Erin returned to the cabin, cruising past them about 10 feet away as they were leaning over to get their trap, returning their wake to them.  I told Erin I was defending her honor.

 

We continued on through Pole Pass and headed towards Harney Channel, the passageway between Orcas and Shaw Islands.  A Washington State ferry had just come through Wasp Passage ahead of us on the other side of Crane Island, and was now waiting for another ferry to leave the dock at Orcas so it could land there.  As we continued down the channel, the ferry that just left Orcas crossed over to Shaw, a ride of only 5 minutes or so.  By the time we were adjacent to the ferry landing, it was already backing away.  It reversed direction and paralleled us through the narrow part of Harney Channel before turning to the south to head towards Lopez.  We continued on along the Orcas shore towards Obstruction Pass.

 

Last spring, while the Potentate was in the yard for a month getting some boards replaced on the transom, we met Bill and Sylvia, a couple working on their beautiful sailboat Salubrious.  Their boat had been in the yard for several months, as they were replacing their mast and repairing some damage from a hoist mishap as well as taking care of other projects.  We learned that they lived on Orcas Island, and had a view down the channel towards Spencer Spit on Lopez Island.  They had a mooring buoy for their boat near Shag Rock, just off the Orcas shore past Guthrie Bay.  This was directly on our route, so we wondered if we'd see the Salubrious there.  We spotted the buoy, but no Salubrious – hopefully they're out enjoying a cruise somewhere and not still on the hard in Port Townsend.

 

After crossing the mouth of East Sound, we headed out through Obstruction Pass, passing to the north of Obstruction Island.  The wind was quite a bit stronger out in the strait, but the water remained calm as we headed for the north shore of Cypress Island.  We passed between Cypress and Towhead Island, a small dot about 300 yards off Cypress.  We remained in the lee of Cypress and Guemes and even when the wind gusts came up the water remained calm.  We also avoided the busy Guemes Channel that passes Anacortes by taking this route.

 

Turning slightly southeast, we continued on towards the northern tip of Guemes Island and followed its eastern shoreline down towards Saddlebag, Dot and Hat Islands, popular crabbing areas that both Erin and I and Trav and Barb had frequented many times in the past.  This lined us up with the entrance to the Swinomish Channel, which we followed on into La Conner.

 

We had reservations for dock space on the G dock in the north basin, as the south basin, closer to town, had already been filled when Erin called the day before.  They told us signs would be posted on the dock for us, and they were, but we needed the binoculars to be able to read them, as the font wasn't all that big from mid channel.  Trav and Barb continued on to the fuel dock to take on some fuel while we moored to the dock.  They came back maybe 20 minutes later and tied to the dock just ahead of us.  We're at the head of the dock, and although it's a long walk into town, Trav and Barb will most likely use their dinghy to go into town, tying to one of the many docks in front of the businesses there.

 

Less than an hour after our arrival, it began to rain, so we were glad to have left when we did.  We had great cruising weather and enjoyed the scenery and island views along our more northern route here.  Erin decided it was good chowder weather, so started a pot of seafood chowder, which we shared with the Wills.  As usual, it was delicious.

8/9 Recent photos

Crab dinner aboard the Potentate in Cadboro Bay

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Sunset at Cadboro Bay

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Entering Mosquito Pass

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Bartna and still life

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Bar-T-Na and Potentate at Deer Harbor

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Dinner on bridge

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The Gee Gee, 45 foot Corsair

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Bar-T-Na and Potentate at Deer Harbor

8/8 Westscott Bay to Deer Harbor

This morning's check of the crab traps revealed two good sized keepers, which we added to the one from Cadboro Bay. While we were out retrieving the traps, Erin was preparing a breakfast of scrambled eggs with ham and cheese in tortilla roll-ups, and handed a couple to Trav as he dropped me off from our retrieval run, We decided on a 9:30 cruise time, ample time for our breakfast and whatever other morning chores needed to be done.

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The wind had picked up early in the morning, and the straps on our canvas began their vibrations around 5:30 or so in the morning. We decided to venture out anyway, thinking that perhaps the wind would be at our backs. While that was the case at first, by the time we were crossing San Juan Channel heading towards Orcas Island, the wind was head on and the chop was developing enough for white caps and salt spray coming up on the windshield.

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Our course took us past Jones Island and Deer Harbor towards Pole Pass, where we'd squeeze between Orcas and Crane Islands. The wind had gotten stronger by then, and I knew we'd be headed directly into it for another hour and a half or so to Hunter Bay, so after a quick radio check we decided to head into Deer Harbor for refuge. We were assigned slips on either side of our dock, and were secured in fairly short order.

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A few slips away from us is a mid-50's Chris Craft Corsair, a design similar to our Conqueror, but shorter at 45 feet. It has one hatch instead of two on the front deck, and one instead of two staterooms aft. We chatted with the owner and heard how his brother had rescued it from somewhere in California and shipped it up to Seattle for restoration. It's now his boat and his job to keep it in good shape. From our perspective, looks like he's doing it very well. I'm not sure we'd enjoy long cruises in it, though - it's powered by twin 454 gas engines, and he burns about 20 gallons per hour at 13 knots. He said it also went through 20 gallons per hour at 11 knots as well.

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I cleaned our three crab and we cooked those up for future use. We already had plans for "beefalo" burgers for this evening's dinner. Trav and Barb came over and we grilled burgers up on the bridge. By now the wind had subsided, and with a few of the windows in it was a pleasant place for us to dine, providing a good view of the goings on at the marina.

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Tomorrow we'll head to La Conner. Erin has already made reservations at he dock for both of us, so hopefully we won't encounter any severe weather problems. I've plotted an alternate course out through Obstruction Pass and over the top of Cypress and Guemes Islands thinking that will provide a shorter and more protected crossing of Rosario Strait in the event of more wind. We'll see.

In the meantime, we are enjoying our stay here at Deer Harbor. There's no town here, just a small store at the dock, so what you see is literally what you get. But, the dock facilities were upgraded a few years ago, and are very nice.

8/7 Cadboro Bay to Westscott Bay

The crab traps weren't nearly as productive this morning.  The first two each had one female, which were thrown back, while the last one yielded one keeper. He cruised with us today in a bucket, and we're hoping he'll have some company before graduating to the stovetop.

 

We hoisted anchors at 9:30 in the morning and left Cadboro Bay, heading out across Haro Strait towards Mosquito Pass and the USA.  As we were rounding the reef at Cadboro Point to head into the strait, Trav radioed that we had some extra smoke or steam coming out of the port exhaust.  The temperature and oil pressure were both good, so we backed off about 100 rpm and just kept an eye on it.  It eventually subsided to just a wisp or a little more.  I can think of a couple possibilities: we've been having overheating problems with the port engine and running a little slower than usual to begin with.  I had checked the coolant level and added a gallon while in Victoria, so one possibility is we have a small leak somewhere in our fresh water cooling system.  I'll check the level on that again tomorrow morning.  I had run the engines for about 20 minutes the night before just to warm them up so they wouldn't be so balky starting this morning, so it's also possible that I got some raw fuel in the exhaust that didn't burn until we got up to speed and operating temperature.  In any case, we seem to be just fine while keeping it at 8 knots or below.

 

Our crossing was uneventful, with seas as calm as you could expect for Haro Strait.  The only bump was crossing the wake of an oil tanker that was headed south.  We reached San Juan Island and entered Mosquito Pass around 11 o'clock.  Our anchorage, Westscott Bay, is right off Mosquito Pass, but we had to pass it up and head on in to Roche Harbor to report our arrival to Customs.  In the past we have always had to jockey around and wait 20 or 30 minutes for a spot at the Customs dock big enough for us, so we were both surprised and pleased to see a large cruiser pull away from the dock as we approached, leaving about a 60 foot gap.  We pulled right in, tied up and I headed to the customs shack with our papers, including our Customs decal number and our Canadian clearance number.  There was only one agent on duty, and two people ahead of me so I had a little wait as they hadn't purchased their customs entry decals ahead of time.  He also grilled one of the guys ahead of me on whether he had conducted any business in Canada or purchased anything for resale.  The agent was the same guy we've reported through for the past three or four years, and when he picked up Erin's passport he asked me the same question he'd asked in those years before: "How'd you meet your wife?"  Last year I told him, "You asked me that last year – don't you remember?", but he seemed a little rushed so I played it straight.  After I described our purchases and assured him the Indian carving had no inlaid ivory, he looked at me and said "Mr. Nordby, I believe you're an American citizen who just wants to go home", handed me my clearance number and sent me on my way with no further questions about drugs, alcohol, raw lamb and so forth.  We were back out of there in 10 or 15 minutes, and we slowly cruised to the other end of the harbor and the entrance to Mosquito Pass to wait for Trav and Barb, who were not far behind us.

 

We headed back into Mosquito Pass and into Westscott Bay, the location where we rendezvoused with the Bar-T-Na about 5 or 6 weeks ago.  The anchorage is less crowded now, but there are still quite a few crab traps scattered about.  I don't have a Washington license, but Trav does, so we set two traps and will check them in the morning.

 

This evening we dined on some leftovers, and then motored over to the Bar-T-Na for a visit and to finish a domino game started a few nights before.  The Barb & Erin team finally won, so they are now entitled to dinner out in La Conner.  I'm not sure what Trav and I get for winning the previous matches.

 

We headed back to the boat around 10 o'clock, in the dark.  I had turned our anchor light on before we left, so we had a general target to shoot for, and Trav shined their spotlight against our stern as an additional aid.  We enjoyed our night time dinghy ride, as we saw lots of stars out, and behind us was a blood red half moon rising – or maybe it was setting.

 

Tomorrow's plans are to retrieve the crab traps, hopefully with something more to cook up, and cruise for about 3 hours to Hunter Bay on Lopez Island. 

 

8/6 Cadboro Bay

Trav and I went out in their dinghy mid-morning equipped with three crab traps and the two packages of chicken wings that Erin and Barb had brought back from the store in Victoria before we left.  Sailing lessons from the yacht club were going on again as we passed by, with some racing, and another crew practicing righting their overturned boat.  We continued on and found what looked like a suitable spot where the water was just a bit deeper to set our traps.  That done, we returned to our respective boats to get back to the business of relaxing.

 

We skipped breakfast this morning, so Erin fixed an early lunch or brunch of quesadillas with cheese and some canned smoked salmon.  They were yummy and hit the spot.  The bay here is lined with nice homes, and a common beach extends quite a ways along the back shore.  We enjoyed watching people walking their dogs, and even some younger kids swimming or splashing in the water.

 

Around 1 o'clock we headed back out to check on the traps, and we had quite a few crabs.  Many were undersized or female, but there were 5 or 6 that met the minimum size requirement and found their way into the bucket.  We use wire baskets to hold the bait, and two of the three had a mesh size that allowed the crabs to get at the bait.  We re-baited those traps with the last few remaining chicken legs and returned with our catch.  We decided this would be a good time to go fishing.  Of course our plan was to catch some rockfish or ling cod, but we wanted to at least get something that we could use for crab bait.  After we retrieved our respective fishing poles and tackle, we headed back out to the mouth of the bay and a little beyond, between some islands where there was a little more depth.  It turned out to be just a crab bait expedition, yielding 4 or 5 bait sized fish and one fairly large sculpin, a salt water bullhead.  By then it was time to check the traps again.  We picked up a few more crabs and reset the traps with our new bait.

 

In the meantime, Erin had plans for dinner, and we just subtracted some barbecued sausage from the menu and replaced it with fresh Dungeness crab.  The other dishes were macaroni and cheese, and green beans with onions and bacon bits.  Trav and Barb came over to the Potentate around 6 o'clock, and we cooked the crab then.  Dinner was served up on the bridge, where we had a good view of our surroundings, and where we could make a mess cracking crab without having to worry about it;

 

The wind has picked up quite a bit from yesterday's prolonged sailboat races, with speeds of 10 to 12 mph and occasional gusts to 15.  Only half the speed of the wind when we spent the night here on the way to Victoria, but we both let out a little more chain before nightfall just for good measure.

 

We decided we'd let the last batch of crabs still in the trap soak overnight, so that'll be a morning chore.  We plan on heading over to Roche Harbor to clear customs back into the USA sometime tomorrow.  It's a trip of just 9 or 10 miles, but we'll probably want to leave later in the morning, which will add 20 or 30 minutes cruising time because of the prevailing currents.

 

8/6 Some photos, Victoria to Cadboro Bay

We're sitting here at anchor in Cadboro Bay, and as long as I have the computer up on the bridge, I can pick up a wifi signal. Thought I'd try to upload a few photos to the blog while I'm at it here.

Bar-T-Na leaving the moorage in front of the Empress

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Traffic at Laurel Point

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Houseboats and condos along the shore

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Bar-T-Na with yellow buoy close to port

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The breakwater and light at the entrance to Victoria Harbour

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Some photos of the shoreline we didn't see in the fog...

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At anchor in Cadboro Bay, we become markers for a sailboat race

8/5 Victoria to Cadboro Bay

Crews on both our boats were busy with some last minute morning chores before heading out later today.  Erin and Barb walked to the Thrifty Mart for a few last minute items, including a couple packages of chicken wings to use as crab bait.  Trav baked some fresh banana bread and filled his water tank.  We really had a lazy morning, and planned to leave sometime between 12:30 and 1:00 pm, the checkout time.

 

The sailboat moored behind the Potentate left about 12:30, making our departure easier, but as luck would have it, a large cruiser came in and moored at the opposite side dock in the fairway behind the Bar-T-Na.  It had a wide enough beam that it was definitely questionable whether the Bar-T-Na could pass between it and the trawler moored even with it on Trav's side.  After some discussion with the crew of the new arrival, we checked with the dock crew, who told us that the trawler was scheduled to leave today also.  The only problem was that it was now checkout time, and no one was on board.  We were in no hurry, and eventually the trawler crew showed up and pulled away from the dock.

 

As we headed out of the Inner Harbour, traffic was busy as usual.  There was a seaplane that had just landed coming in, and one taxiing away from the dock behind us.  Also ahead of us was the trawler that had left just before us, and coming in was a "fast ferry" from Port Angeles.  The traffic patterns are very well defined in this area.  Seaplanes and vessels longer than 65 feet stay to the north side of the channel while we smaller vessels follow the southern shore.  A series of yellow buoys mark the pathway for smaller vessels, and are to be kept closely to port no matter which direction you're traveling.  It's just like the yellow line down the center of a highway.

 

All vessels from the Inner Harbour out to Shoal Point are restricted to 5 knots, except, of course, seaplanes that are in the process of taking off or landing.  With both engines in gear and at dead slow, we were proceeding at 5.3 knots, but matching the speed of the trawler in front of us.  Just beyond Laurel Point was a patrol boat stationed in front of the houseboats.  He pulled out and followed us all the way past Shoal Point before veering off towards another boat that was throwing a bigger wake.  We maintained our course and speed, which at 5.3 knots produces very little wake.

 

As we approached the breakwater we had a stunning view out across the Straits of Juan de Fuca, and the Olympic Mountains blended in with the sky in a variety of pastel colors.  Once clear of the breakwater, we turned to port to follow the shoreline and were presented with another outstanding view, this time of Mount Baker in the distance, fronted by the San Juan Islands.

 

We continued on past the Victoria suburbs of Beacon Hill and Ross Bay, views we hadn't seen on our way in due to the fog.  Our first glimpses of this coastline was from the double decker tour bus we took a few days ago.  We continued on through Enterprise Channel between the main island and the Trial Islands, and thanks to our later departure, we were met with mostly slack water here, perhaps even a little push.  We rounded Gonzales Point and turned north, our view now that of the Victoria Golf Club course, another panorama that had been obscured by the fog, but revealed to us on the bus tour.

 

We soon passed Oak Bay and found our way into Cadboro Bay, where we set anchor after a journey of 9 nautical miles, in pretty much the same area as the night we took refuge from the wind.  The seas and winds this time were calm and light, and we had sunshine, blue sky and a front row seat to some small sailboat races.  Later in the evening, two people in a small inflatable came out and set several buoys, two of them fairly close to our anchored boats.  They turned out to be markers for yet another sailboat race, one that was extended for some time due to winds so light they no longer registered on our anemometer. 

 

We barbecued some buffalo patties and had hamburgers for dinner, while over on the Bar-T-Na they dined on salad and chicken breast.  We made plans via radio to explore the bay via dinghy in the morning and set our crab traps.  We may do some fishing around the outer islands as well, and will spend another night here before heading for the USA.