Seattle Boater

Again, way to lazy to update daily. It's amazing how days disappear. Something to do with never getting up before 10am. Well that's normal for me on holiday but something about hosting gets me up early. Yes very early. Possibly 09.30am !

Left Friday Harbor late as we bumped in to some friends from Seattle on the dock. They came over for a beer and look around the boat. And we had a pretty nice seafood feast for Afra's Birthday. I made an awesome, if I do say so myself, cioppino with squid, clams, spot shrimp and scallops..

Towed the dinghy again so a nice slow cruise over to Jones. It was beautiful. Warm night and the sun going down. Hit auto pilot and both of us sat out on the bow while the boat did its thing.

Jones island is and old favourite. We took our 26 footer there years ago and anchored in the bay while the kids camped on the bluff. We had a silly little blow up boat as a tender and had to row the dog in all night as he'd been drinking sea water all day. Good memories. Apart from the dog shuttle. There is a north and South Bay and the north side has a small dock it's a small island with nothing but a few camping spots, hiking trails and very tame wild deer everywhere. You can walk from south to north. In 5 minutes but a hike around the island is probably a couple or three miles. We did that the next morning.
We chose the north side. Dropped anchor as we are too big for the buoys these days and just messed around with the dog on the beach. It was super tranquil and the bay was flat. That is until 1am when the wind came in and blew hard. Waves slapped the boat all night rocked and rolled us. It was hard to sleep and I worried about slipping anchor. Got up twice to check but he GPS showed me bang on the middle of my anchor swing alarm. All good, but always nerve racking especially with rocks not far away either side.

Left late morning for Sucia. I prepared myself with nice plate of cholesterol, yes that is black pudding…

Zed has had matted hair on his ears and with all the swimming, well bit of a stink dog.
No more.
My haircut ring skills are off the hook though he looks less than impressed…

Then moved over to the outer breakwater as I had to get out of my slip. Singlehanded her over to the breakwater and squeezed in to a space with about 5 feet either side. Happy with myself for that 🙂
There was a small sailboat in front that was clearly having problems I went over to help. His engine was dead and he needed to get to a slip in the marina. I was amazed how he explained he was going to tow her with a tiny skiff with a tiny electric motor, apparently he'd done that all the way from Anarcortes. I was surprised the battery lasted that long. He said it already lasted 3 days and he pulled out tow rope in hand ….

Within a minute he was back. The battery was dead. Poor guy. So I did my second good deed of the day and towed him in with the tender. When we got to the slip I let go and bumped him into his slip. Felt like one of those tug boats on a massive med super yacht. Haha. Fun times.
He was happy and I got me some good boating karma for the rest of the week…

We left Roche at about noon. Friday Harbor is close, also on San Juan island but a little to the East. I was too lazy to load the tender on the crane up on to the flybridge so we towed her for the short trip.
Realized I didn't have a long tow rope so we had a short rope to the dinghy and went slow. Around 7 knots the whole way. Anything quicker and I would have drowned her in the wake. It towed great even with the short line and the journey still only took just over an hour. Just enough time to shower while on the way and get set for the day..

It was great to pull into the Port of Friday Harbor. I don't think I have ever been to the San Juans without stopping here. It's always been a favorite place for me. Great Marina, great town.

Docked on the inside breakwater dock D. The big boat dock 😉
Checked out Town. Got stocked up on food and chilled. We are here for 2 nights as Afra had to leave today to go to Seattle to pick up my daughter Cara who was returning from a 2 week holiday in Europe before heading off to University this year. So I was on my own for the day, she's back tomorrow afternoon. The sea plane dock is about 50 feet from where we are tied up. Couldn't have been better.

I took the dinghy out, dropped a crab pot and then found a cool little beach with no one around and just messed around with the dog for an hour. Totally relaxing.
Oh and Zed met the resident seal and her pup. They always hang around the dock waiting to get fed. He was kind of bemused. Especially when they took off under the dock. You could see him trying to figure out where they had disappeared too and trying to twist his head under the dock to look.

I've always preferred Friday Harbor to Roche harbor. That might have just changed.
We left Victoria for Roche at 11am. Quick jaunt over Haro Strait back to the USA. It was choppy as crap coming out of Sidney not huge waves maybe 4 footers at worst. But was close chop. The boat handles it so well you hardly even notice the swell. We did have waves hitting us beam on which is more annoying than anything as it sprays the boat and next thing you've got a salt drenched boat to clean. Pain in the ass!
Anyway. Made good time to Roche, maybe an hour and a bit. Crossed the shipping channel between a 900 foot container ship and a 1000ft + container ship. Plenty of room but opened her up to make sure we were way clear. Hit 22 knots which ain't bad going for a big 60 footer full of fuel and corona.
Roche has a reputation of being a bit of a party marina. Lots of big boats. Lots of fun. It has restaurants. Bars seafood right off he dock. And surprise surprise. The sun was shining again, hard. It was super hot. We pulled in and dock staff were waiting and tied us up. Nice to have someone donor all for you 😉 he even sorted my shore power. Left a $5 tip. Pains me when you are paying $120+ a night for a slip but he was helpful. Smile Simeon and get on with it.
Walked to the marine store. Didn't buy anything but you have to have a look innit! Let the dog swim for half an hour and then spent the day lazing around. The boat next to us was an 80 footer loaded with folks that partied all day. They were dressed up as white trash. I didn't realize that at first so when one gal jumped of the boat, clearly pregnant but with a ciggie and beer in hand I was a little shocked. Later realized it was a pillow stuffed up her shirt. Well played.
We dropped a crab pot but wasn't great. Literally 2 keepers. Still made for good dinner.

I was thinking early night. But the music from the bar was calling me so about 11 we walked over to the bar. It was going crazy. Our party friends were there dominating the place. Dressed up in fluorescent clothing and the preggers cushion was back. Funny looks from everyone else in there. Cracked me up.
We danced the night away for way to drunk and somehow ended up back on our boat drinking with someone until 3.30am.
Top night. My head hurt in the morning.
Kind of wanted to stay another night but we were booked in at Friday Harbor. So we bugged out around noon.
I like Roche it's a lot of fun.

Fishing just out side of Roche…

Awesome sunset

Ok i know i am way behind here, isn't this blogging thing supposed to be written as it happens but that's not me.
So trying to remember what happened, there has been a lot of whiskey and Corona. Yes, I'm a fancy beer man, see….

We made Victoria in really good time. Probably burning way too much fuel and running about 16 knots most of the way. Super smooth seas again and looking st my fuel gauges so far I'm pleasantly surprised. Will do a proper check next time we fill up but at this point we had used less than a quarter of a tank on 800 gallon tanks. Not too bad for the distance travelled.
Coming in to Sidney was just beautiful. The weather has been amazing every day. Totally amazing clear skies and temps in the mid to high 20's every day (Celsius people I'm English remember)
Victoria has these really cool mini tug boat taxis that are everywhere like little mosquitoes buzzing around.


Super cool little boats.
We arrived at causeway floats. The location is probably the best of any Marina I've stayed at. Right in front of the empress hotel. Parliament to the left. And street performers right behind the boat.
No 50amp power at the dock though so this was the first time i plugged 30 amp in, more on that later, something ain't right!

We got settled, filled water tanks and then went for a still around the harbor, wasn't long before our friends called and they were at the dock so we wandered back, met them and decided to take the dinghy out run it down the estuary running into town. Nice little boat ride, more Corona on board 🙂 a little industrial to start and then nice houses lining the water. I was amazed out how well BC looks after people for the water, there were swimming docks everywhere to tie to, for some reason Seattle is slack on that stuff. We stopped after about 20 minutes to let the dog swim. Thankful he didn't see the seal that pooped up just the other side of the rocks he was swimming next to, not sure how a Springer Spaniel/ Seal encounter would go down. But if got funky i think the Seal would win! David and Heather seemed to enjoy it, big dog lovers so Zed was in his element..

You can see us in this pic in the Marina. We are the boat in the middle furthest away…

We got back to the boat and had planned to go out to dinner but somehow the sun and beer kept us pinned to the sun pad up front, no one wanted to leave so we sat there ands watched the sun go down and ordered pizza delivered to the dock. Awesome day.

Back to that 30 amp power…
That night we were watching TV before going to bed and suddenly it all switched off, i checked breakers and power etc and the inverter was showing an error and the batteries were not charging. There was clearly some problem with running off the 30 amp power. Ended up having to switch the generator on and everything fired back up. Weird.
Woke in the morning with low batteries and everything dead again, so i know i have some problem with running one 30 amp power cable.
This boat has a ton of electrical crap running all the time. At minimum without running anything special. I figure we are powering, 2 ice makers, a full size fridge freezer, surround sound systems with amp etc, TV's plugged in on standby, 2 GPS systems with multiple screens, auto pilot, water pumps etc. and that's without anything fancy like the dishwasher on, so even sitting doing nothing we are using a lot of power. Need to figure out what's going on with the 30 amp supply.
I ra the genset again and everything charged up fine and we were headed to Roche where they have 50 amp power again. But need to look into it.
There is always something.

Left Bedwell harbor after an amazing night. First a killer sunset stretched out down the bay, we were anchored at the bottom of the bay just outside of the resort.

The sky was so clear and laying on the bow in silence we saw 15 shooting stars. Amazing 15! One after another. Everyone was asleep on their boats at anchor. Lights out. Why does everyone go to bed so early?
We left Bedwell mid morning and cruised up to Ganges on Saltspring island. Quick trip took just over and hour at a close cruise.
This was the first time i 'pumped out' over board. It's illegal in the US but fine in Canada, which isn't surprising as they pump all their shit of vancouver island straight into the strait. Oh well there's a lot of sea and not a lot of crap on the boat, but felt good to not have to deal with the dockside pump out and just hit a button and the tanks are empty. Nice! Thank you Canadians, you're respect and openness to receiving my shit is most appreciated. This often starts a bit of a debate with boaters, but lets face it there are billions of gallons of Sea water and i have a 75 gallon tank, i think it can take it, and the Karma kicks in when we eat their crabs :-).

We made it to Ganges and circled the marina but decided to anchor again, we picked a spot on the south side of there bay and dropped anchor. All set in minutes and yet again we found ourselves in quiet waters only disturbed by the occasional sea plan taking off to our port side about 500 feet away. Nice to watch.

Ganges has a nice little town and we picked up a few bits and pieces and noticed the live music playing on the water front at night, so we made our way back to town in the evening and got a great spot at a really nice restaurant right on the water with an amazing couple singing and playing guitar all night.

We even found this little treat in the a local bakery.
These are a traditional English pastry from Lancashire, and they were amazing…

Now we had planned to spend a few more days in the Gulf islands but we had friends visiting Victoria so we decided to head down there, never stayed in Victoria Harbor before and we had got a slip right in front of the Empress Hotel right in the center of everything. So we took off reasonably early on our way to Victoria. Plotter was telling me around 3 hours, the skipper took us off…

With the Starter fixed we decided to leave early (for us) we never get up early, time seems to disappear and I love my bed too much. but today we were up and on our way by 7.45am
Boat started like it should- thank god! The forecast looked great, calling for a small craft advisory ( I don't count myself as a small craft any more 🙂 ) in the afternoon. We headed out through the strait of Juan de Fuca and it was perfect, small 1ft waves, clear skies and sun everywhere. I checked at 9am and it was 22 degrees. Perfect. I had hoped we might catch some orcas on the way but none to be seen. we made good time, a little over 3 hours, hitting some pretty strong currents that reduced me from 15 knots at one point to 10 knots. Opened her up to let her breathe and arrived in Sidney around noon.
Some pics from the journey over…

We cleared customs at Sidney Marina. For those not familiar, you pull into the dock and only person can get off the boat. then you call Border Control from a fixed line phone on the dock.
I gave them my detaisl, boat name size registration etc. then they asked for passport info, all good. then it got interesting..
Any other passengers- Yes my wife, gave her name, asked for passport number. I grabbed her passport only to discover, while on the phone live with him, that it wasn't hers, it was my Sons. she had screwed up and brought the wrong one. Thank god we had the passport. Number and a friend was coming from Seattle and brought her passport so we had it for re-entry
So we are here, it's gorgeous, the sun is shining, it's very hot, I am currently sitting on the bow in the Marina typing this….

Well Sidney was ok. The marina is nice. Super helpful dock staff that took care of everything. Wifi. Nice facilities. But the town. Well it felt like a bit of a retired folks town. Not a lot going on. Took a nice walk to the neighboring harbor in the evening. Dog needed it and it reminded me of England. Funny how close to the states we are and yet every house front garden looked English. 

Left for Bedwell Harbor around noon. Super slow cruise over. Took about 90 minutes. Arrived to find the 86 footer that was opposite us in the marina in Sidney was anchored in the bay. 

We dropped anchor just off poets cove marina and took the dinghy in. The dog swam for about an hour. Gorgeous shell beach that was covered in clams. I dug with a gown clam shell I found and in no time had the biggest clam I have ever seen it was about 8 inches wide. Awesome dinner addition. Checked out the resort. Nice pool, nice place but not really bothered with it. 

Headed back and fished for a bit. Nothing much doing but caught 3 pesky dog fish. I prefer to say shark, sounds cooler and let’s face it they are little sharks. The dog got very excited with seeing the sharks thrashing around and was trying to grab them in his mouth. 

Little bit of clean up and then chill on the bow watching the sunset. 

Nice day today. Proper boating. Seafood, fishing, beach, and lots of nothing. 

Crab pot is in soaking now. Not sure if I get it tonight or leave it and get it in the morning. Feeling a little lazy. 

As i type the sun is setting, the sky is pink and a seal is swimming just off the bow. All while the dog is fast asleep against my leg. 

Isn’t this how life is supposed to be? Better go finish my whiskey.

Later…

Well after having the boat for about a month now we are embarking on our first big trip. 2 weeks in the Gulf islands and then the San Yuan Islands.
Spent every available minute on the boat so far, I don’t think I have slept in my bed at home at a weekend or even Friday night since we have had her.

So we left Seattle on Saturday Morning, well lunch time, i’m not very good at the morning thing. we hit Ballard locks and it was crazy busy. so within about 10 minutes we were into the Large Lock and tied up to the wall. we had chatted with a nice couple on a 40ft Tiara while waiting outside the locks and they rolled up next to us to raft on our portside for the locks.

And then the first drama hit. As we were ready to leave the large lock I went to start the portside engine and the key just spun in the barrel. it was broken. I was worried we’d be one engine in the lock and have a fun time getting out but suddenly the key caught the starter and despite still spinning freely the engine started. I took that as a stroke of luck and noted I needed to replace the ignition barrel when we got to Port Townsend. turns out it was more bad luck than good luck… you’ll see…
We ran up to Port Townsend, stopping at Kingston on the way to fill up. I was actually surprised at how we had seemed to have done pretty well for fuel since we got her. She was around half full and took 436 gallons. Kingston Fuel is cheap with Diesel @ $2.20 so $960 bucks poorer but nice to have the boat full. We ran about 25 miles to Port Townsend.
Had a great night in Port Townsend and planned to lave the next morning for Sidney BC.

Morning came, turned the key to start her up and there was nothing on the portside. i’ll make a long story short…. I replaced the key barrel and still nothing, turns out somehow the key had kept the starter engaged and it had burned itself out. the engine room stunk of electrical burning. We were stuck. I had the option to go home on one engine, or find a new starter. We ended up stuck in PT until Tuesday morning. we got a Starter from RDI, they only had a used one and it was $1200, My son had to drive it up to us which took him about 6 hours with ferries. overall total bal ache, but we got her fixed and left this morning.
Not a great start to the holiday, good job I like Port Townsend 🙂

Ok bear with me. this is the first post. I started boating in the Pacific Northwest back in 2007 and fell in love with it, I wish I had started a blog then, but reality check I’m lazy! Started with a 17ft Ski boat, then a 27 ft cabin cruiser, to a 40ft flybridge and now here we are in 2017 and I just bought a 60ft flybridge yacht. For now let’s say it’s my dream boat, we’ll see if that lasts. I plan to use this blog for videos, pictures, stories and tracking my time with the boat and adventures in the beautiful PNW.

let’s see how I do….