NEW ADVENTURE RAP UP

     Our motley crew spent 13 nights on a 42 foot catamaran cruising the Canadian Gulf Islands.  Out of those 13 nights, 5 were spent docked in Marinas.  We had some good adventures, some new adventures, and some bad adventures, but as everyone knows, travel really isn't travel unless one has SOME adventures. We learned how to fix a few things on a boat, and we probabaly learned a little too much about each other!  But...we did it! I will post a few stats here, but as the old saying goes..."you would have had to been there!" I, for one, am glad I was!

Total miles traveled:          615

Actually moving hours:      66 1/2

Average Miles per hour:     9.2

Gallons of fuel used:          425

Gallons used per hour:       5.9

Miles per gallon:                  1.44

   

                                           THE CREW OF THE NEW ADVENTURE

               

      Captain and chief trip planner, Steve "all hands on deck" Torgesen                                    

                                                                          

First Mate and Deck Hand extrodinaire, Bruce "Rum Runner" Burris

Chief Engineer and coffee maker, Fred "Call me Fred" Eisinger

Food planner and First Aid expert, Nannette "Sling Mama" Burris

Galley Slave and Cabin girl, Chris "Neen" Eisinger

Ship's journal keeper and Admiral, Connie "bossy pants" Kinyon

NEW ADVENTURE # 13

Jedidiah to Wallace Is. with a stop over in Nanaimo.  Heads acting up again, and I can say we are all mighty  sick of the inconvienience! We decided to make a lunch stop AND pump out the heads in Nanaimo.  It's a harbor friendly city on a beautiful Saturday am and there were very few boats at the pump out dock. The guys made a good thourough job out of this distasteful endeavor, and we all hope it will keep us until we get to Anecortes Marina. We have been keeping a log of problems, some small and some NOT SO SMALL! The joke is we are keeping a log and there is NO boat specific log on this craft.  A no no, as far as we are concerned.

After the nasty job was done, we all walked into town and spied a fish and chip place on the dock.  It was a good place for a quick lunch and then an ice cream cone....and Ta....DA🎶..........NANAIMO BARS!    Emptied the garbage and did a quick pick up and we cruised on calm seas to Wallace Island.  

I have only been to Wallace Island when there were just a few boats anchored in Princess, but this night there were a lot of boats!  Too many for our tastes, but we found a spot and set the anchor. Quiet wine time with the crew and Nan and I slaved away making a very elaborate meal of sautéed chicken breasts    with artichokes, capers, and tomatoes, served with brown rice/quinoa , and spinach Naan bread with peppers. Everyone agreed that our meal planning and preparation has been spot on and above and beyond.   A cra cra game of Mexican Train sent us all to bed!

NEW ADVENTURE # 12

We rose early to take care of boat issues and keep heading out of Desolation Sound.  We managed to clear our head and after a bit of running time, the "noise" (which we all thought was the Starboard bilge) had stopped too.  Cruising WITH  the wind was warm and pleasant and we relaxed as we headed to Jedidiah Island, arriving in the afternoon.  There are wonderful coves all around the island, but they fill up fast and we found one and did our stern tie and took down the dingy.

We all piled into the dingy and went ashore for various hikes.  Steve and I decided to follow a trail to the top of the island (about 1000ft) and were rewarded with nice views and a geo-cache at the top.  There were two big plastic tubes that contained notebooks and messages from people who had made the climb.  The others took a different route and found a grave site and ferrel sheep.  By the time we all got back to the boat , it was "cocktail hour" and settle in for a gorgeous sunset.  Sausages on the Bar-b and some dancing music.  A nice uneventful quiet day on the water and just two more nights on the New Adventure.  Most of us have turned our thoughts to home already and modern amenities, but  not Steve.  He wants to stay on the water.

NEW ADVENTURE #11

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Hard to leave the little Octopus Cove we were nestled in, but we had bigger fish to fry.  Namely Seymour Narrows.  For those who don't know...Seymour Narrows is famous for: it's CURRENT, it's LENGTH, it's DIFFICULTY,  it's WHIRLPOOLS, and RIPPLE ROCK.  In fact it is so infamous, there is an entire page devoted to it in "Waggoner Cruising Guide".  The book states plainly at the beginning that most commercial vessels STAY CLEAR OF SEYMOUR NARROWS...except at slack tide. It also states that even a few SECONDS of going sideways can spell disaster for said ships.  We basically hit the Narrows while it was flowing about 17 knots. AGAINST US! We even had the opportunity to go backwards when Steve pulled back on the throttle.   To say I was not enjoying this is an understatement.  Being prone to seasickness and getting moved like the end of a whip was not fun for me and I ended up sitting close to the edge on the stern of the boat in case my breakfast deciced to move upwards.  With the currents so strong, and NO slack tide for hours, it was a long ride.  The boat did ok, amd everyone else seemed to enjoy the fun.  One bit of info.  We did not see even one other boat in the Narrows while we were going through it.  They were all waiting the slack at varius pull outs along the way.😁

We sailed a while and then ducked into a very small cove on Quadra Island called Seascape. Not much action and no dock help and we all deemed it was probabaly closed for the season, so we got back on board and headed for the other side of the island and our next choice, Taku Marina.  This was a much better choice and looked out on a beautiful area called Rebecca Spit Provincial Park.  We were the only boat to moor there that night so we got the dingy down and putzed around for awhile and checked out the WiFi, and showers, and the Spit.  The guys had made loose reservations for the Heriot Bay Inn for dinner.  This is an old funky hotel that was taken over in 2008 by a bunch of Island "hippies".  Between them all, they had enough needed skills to turn this into a fun amd deleicious place to dine.  We sat outside in the early autumn sun and ate dinner.  So far, for me, this was the best meal I have eaten on this trip. I had halibut spring rolls with vermicelli noodles and shredded veggies, dipped in a yummy peanut sauce.  Man!  Drooling thinking about it now.

We walked back to the dock and sat around until everyone decided to turn in...BUT...in our stateroom we could hear a motor running!  Weird, as everything was turned off.  Steve and I tried to figure it out and poor Steve even crawled into one of the outside hatches where we thought the noise was coming from.  Bruce got up and helped us and after some time, we figured the only thing that would stop the noise was turning the DC off!  So that is what we did, but then no one had lights or anything else!  To top it all off, we hadn't pumped our head for awhile and our toilet was plugged.  We went to bed but decided we would have to rise early and figure out all this stuff!

😀

NEW ADVENTURE # 14

Princess Cove was a quiet place as we rose to the sunshine. Normette made a yummy breaky of eggs and sausages and the 3 girls decided to take a trail to the old abandoned cabin.  We were happily chatting and walking and we followed the "other" path.  No biggie as we skirted the outside of Wallce Is with beautiful scenery.  We saw the New Adventure out in the sound and they sent dingy boy (Bruce)  to make contact with the wayward ladies and then we piled intomthe dingy and went ashore where we found the cabin just a few hundred yards inland.  In the last years since I have seen the "mess house", it has exploded in riff-raff and a lot of it preplanned and brought in just to add to the pile.  Sort of made me sad, but not sure why.

We all were together for the sail into U.S. Waters and as we crossed the boarder the cell phones pinged and the iPads worked! The waters were consideraly more busy as we neared Friday Harbor and the Customs Dock.  We had an uneventful entry and moved the boat to the fuel dock where is sucked up the petrol again.  Then we found a nice outside dock moorage and walked into town to watchnthe second half  of the Seahawks game and have a nibble or two. While there, Steve called Pete and Nancy Hardy.  Pete is a fellow paraglider and he and his wife live on their boat in the summer in Friday Harbor and drive Whale Watching vessels.  They were making a batch of beer on the back of their boat and said they would meet us later for dinner. And that is what happened.  We have a fun evening on the warm roof top deck of Friday's Crab House near the ferry dock.  Boating stories came spilling out and Pete and Nancy had plenty of their own!  It was a fun night to end the trip. Tomorrow, we have a short jaunt to Anecortes Marina, and our New Adventure will be over.

NEW ADVENTURE #10

It got really chilly last night and we woke up to a cool morning.  We were going to hang out a bit, so people had time to do things.  The marina had nice showers with unlimited hot water, so a few of us made use of those.  Steve and I decided to go on a hike through the woods and it was a nice thing to do.  Easy trail through mature forest with sun pouring through the trees.  After an hour or so we were headed back to the boat and Steve spied some heavy laden blackberry bushes.  He said he'd pick if I would make another cobbler..deal.  While he was picking, I managed to go a a bit of a buying spree in the store's gift shop.

This was going to be our shortest day traveling, so we didn't actually pull out of the marina until noon!  After 2 1/2 hrs of boating on the smoothest seas ever, we ambled in to Octopus Cove marine park.  Absolutley beautiful, and quiet with only a couple other boats around.  We stern tied and enjoyed a sunny afternoon in a quiet setting.  About "wine time" the guys loaded us all in the dingy and we putted over to a big rock out cropping and sat and talked and took in the warm breeze and quiet lapping of the water.  Of course, things were just too perfect, eh?  Brucie-baby was trying to get the dingy for us and he slipped on the rocks, took a dunking and cut his knee pretty bad.  He just couldn't let Nan have all the medical attention!  Actually, it was bleeding pretty good and we kept telling him to stand in the cold salt water.  After we got back, we got the first aid kit out and it was Nan's turn to play nurse.  We started dinner late (lasangne and salad), but it was good when we finally ate it.  Four us played a crazy game of "Catch Phrase" and got some good laughs before we hit the hay.

NEW ADVENTURE #9

Ditto what I said every morning.  We had a more leisurely start as Chris took a shower, Nan took it easy, and we put fuel in the boat.  No more distress messages on WiFi so we (the half that brought Ipads) had a"fix" with the free internet.  We cruised along heading North and were headed to a place called Blind Harbor.  Nan said her ankle was feeling a tad better, but now she was sporting a nice rosey bruise on her chin.....she is going to look like she got beat up by the time we get back to Sequim.

To get to BlindHarbor we had to go theu two "significant" rapid areas.  Of course, it is best to go durning slack tide, but the 3 men were looking for excitment...and we got it.  The first rapid, Arron, was the most powerful...and we weren't prepared.  After scouting a bit, the Capt hit the throttle, and we got a rocking and rolling.  The fridge door flew open and stuff started shooting out.  The main cabin doors (which we hadn't locked), were doing a slam-bam dance.  Other things were crashing to the floor and the dingy looked like it was going to sail away on it's own.  It was like riding a bucking bronco, at least in the inside cabin where I was.  One down- one to go!  We got prepared for the next  rapid called "Dent".  It was another fun ride, but not quite as bad and we weathered the rocking and rolling once more.

Blind Harbor also has a strong current and there is a warning in the boating book.  We approached and asked for moorage and the dock master told us where to moor the NA.  Capt Steve was ready, but the rest of the crew was not, and that was the crux of the problems we approached.  Side note: There had been a bit of a cocktail hour going on after the rapids and before the moorage...kind of a happy"we did it" type of celebration.  Not going to dwell on the calamaties, but say the four letter words were spewing from the Capt. and the deck hands were really trying to get the fenders moved and then lines ready, but we all missed the dock and the dingy was in a bad position, as in "DON'T GET THEN LINE TANGLED IN THE PROP OR WE ARE SOL!  Poor Steve.   Evidently we were putting on quite a show because one of the few boats nearby was doing a video of us, and offereing condolences when we finally docked.  We had a short meeting where apologies were offered and changes were made in deck hand duties...and we all played kissy kissy and made up and decided to go up to the store and order dinner.  The owners were German, so they offered Schnitzel or Goulash and sides.  The night started getting pretty chilly as we were in the most Northern part of the Desolation Sound.  We had covered about 90% of Desolation Sound and were ready to head back towards the southern part in the morning.

NEW ADVENTURE #8

Sorry to be so redundent, but we rose to another beautiful morning in a pristine cove, with good coffee and someone who made fresh "by scratch" pancakes...(Nan).  While the bacon was cooking, the "boys" all headed to the woods the in the dingy.  They were being considerate! 😛.  On the way back to the boat, they stopped and Steve actualy dove into the water to retrieve the anchor on the stern hold.  Impressive, since it was not even 7:00 AM yet!  We had a really special treat with the pancakes.  Fred and Chris brought maple syrup from Minnesota, made with Fred's brother's maple trees. I mean it was SOOOOO SOOO GOOD!

Headed out to Gorge and Whaletown and a bit of a chop came up.  We had a tricky channel to manuever and with Bruce at the helm, we just breezed on by.  We ended up in a wonderful little Marina in Gorge Harbor.  We got a perfect outside berth amd when the harbor master said Drinks and Tapas on the resturant deck at 3:00PM, AND free WiFi....we were there for the night!  We all walked to check out the showers, store, and laundry and then moseyed over to the only resturant on town for an afternoon delight.  Good tapas and good drinks on the deck on softly warm afternoon.

When we got back on board and I took a look at my messages and there was one from Stefani asking me to tell her parents to call her asap.  A little panic ensued because she was NOT specific and F & N assumed it may be Fred's mom.  It was a hospitalization of Stefani's husband and they got it all worked out.  Nan decided to go do a load of laundry.  On the way back to the boat, the usually careful Nannette, took a wrong step and twisted her ankle pretty badly getting on the boat.  She also hit her chin really hard and knocked her jaw too.  The noise was loud and it scared the hell out of us in the boat.  Bruce made a dive for her shoe, which was knocked off in the fall, and landed in the water.  After all the adrenalin rushes wore off, we cozied Nan up with ice packs and elevated her foot.  Bruce helped her get settled for bed, and hoping she would feel better in the am, we called it a night and all went to bed.

NEW ADVENTURE # 7

❕We were nestled in  cozy Laura Cove for the day and did a stern tie with the dingy anchor.  With heads working, we enjoyed the afternoon.  Bruce and Fred napping, Steve  and I off in the dingy to explore the coves and rocky ledges.  We saw "millions" of jellies and oysters and clams!  There were signs posted not to eat the shell fish. And we wondered if the warning was true or the Canadian govt was just trying to keep people from decimating the bounty.  We saw seal colonies and climbed some rocks where seals dove fast to get away from us.  We decided to go back and get the group and have a "wine time" out on the rocks!  We found a partly shaded, treed knoll and settled in with our goodies.  The Fred-ster stayed aboard and guarded our boat..lol.   As we were enjoying  our repast, a rather large yachat approached our cove and anchored right outside Laura.  When I say rather larger, I am talking over 100 foot with  red shirted crew and jet skis, and speedboats and all sorts of amenities.  The NOVA SPIRIT, was out of RVYC and had our imaginations going on what it would be like to sail on her...(and how much $$).  

The galley crew fixed a mighty fine meat and potatoe dinner on our humble craft and we feasted on pot roast, mash potatoes , and steamed carrots, and called it good!

Finally.....we all played a few games of Mexican Train and went to bed.

NEW ADVENTURE #6

Charter a boat, expect some things to go wrong.  We have had our share of funnies, and furies on different boats, but always expect them to behave well.  New Adventure has had a few issues and most can be dealt with, but yesterday we had a major issue.  Long story short: we have 3 heads (one for each couple) and 2 were NOT working.  We knew the drill...it wasn't our first rodeo, and we had been given the "boat head" talk.  We all were being very conservative in our bathroom habits, and there was absolutley no reason for the 2 toilets not to flush.  We all fretted and read, and reasoned, and interjected ideas for hours last night, but the consensus was we could NOT use the 2 affected toilets.  The only one that worked was ours....and I don't get up at night to use the bathroom....but guess what? Everyone else does!  Our room was not all that private, but there was not a thing to do except let everyone use our head when ever they needed too.  

This group is more than courtesous and carefull, but the boat is a noisy creaky creature and it is not a quiet process to make one's way in the middle of  a dark night across the width of the boat to use the head.

In the am we were faced with turning around and heading back to Lund, and then a call to the Marina, and then waiting for a repair person...and $$$$!   As Steve turned the NA around to head back, Brucie Baby and the Fredster started working on the drain, black water, holding tank, vacuum pump. 

 BIG WOW!

 Something worked and everything started doing what it should! We were still all so tentative about how  long this would last!  I mean these two saved us big bucks, stress, time, messes, and I for one  was going to be happy to have "my space" back!  I owe them a drink or two!

NEW ADVENTURE #5

I can basically say that the honeymoon is over aboard the New Adventure.  Close quarters with some strong willed people, difficulties with the boat operations, and just plain personality defects made us dispense with the nicey-nicey and start airing the dirty linen.  I am partly kidding, but anyone trying to live together in a small space, with not much privacy is bound to have a few issues.  None of ours are insurmountable and may even be a good thing as we work out our varius boating roles.

We started our morning in Lund by going ashore for nice hot showers and unload garbage and visit Nancy's Bakery for breakfast.  Nancy's was yummy and we loaded up on cinnamon rolls, scones,fresh baked bread.  Steve made a call to Anecortes Marina to report a few issues and ask some questions, like: why can't the DVD player work? Where's the other oar for the dingy? why won't the dingy motor idle? And a few other things.  We actually did not get much help as they declared ignorance on most of the issues.  Little did we know, as the day loomed on, we would be facing the biggest problem to far.

The weather was excellent again and as we prepared lunch, the Fred-ster spotted a pretty good sized hump back whale in a calm lagoon.  This guy was "playing" with a small log...balancing it on his head, his fluke, and his barnacle covered back.   We cut our motors and just floated as this whale entertained us for about an hour.  We were so mesmerized and so far rated it as a highlight of the trip.  Finally, the whale got tired of playing and swam away.

We found ourselves in Tenedos Bay early in the afternoon and decided to go ashore and do a little hike to Unwin Lake.  This proved trial and error as we  took a few trails that didn't take us to a  beach.  Finally reaching a rocky spot, Steve , Brucie, and myself jumped in the lake and had a great swim.   Then we hiked back to the dingy and Steve and I swam back in the salt water to the boat.  Quick showers, "chinese laundry" hanging on all sides of the boat and wine time!

We fired up the music and did a little boat boogie and made another bar-b-que and had some interesting conversation.....

....and tried to decide to do with our most pressing issue yet!

NEW ADVENTURE # 4

We left Princess Louisa Inlet on a early beautiful calm morning and headed down the channel to Desolation  sound.  Nan's shoulder is a lot better so that is good.  We cruised along at a good clip and saw some Orca's near Powell River.  We tried to call  the Taurus but still could not make contact.  We cruised into Lund Marina in the late afternoon and were assigned an outside mooring because we were a double hull boat. A dock mooring would have cost double so we stayed on the outside.  That meant we would get to bring the dingy down from the deck and shuttle back and forth to the dock.

After a bit we all piled into the dingy and headednto town with our ATM's and shopping list.  We ended up having a great dinner in the bar of the Hotel and I had some great curried mussels.  We picked up some goodies at the town storeand motored back to the boat.  We were treated to a beautiful sunset as were sat and planned the next day.

NEW ADVENTURE #3

Steve and I got up and jogged/walked on island trails.  We all need a shower but Nan was the only one with loonies (2) and that is what the shower meter in the marine park required.  Fred and I each took a loonie and enjoyed nice long hot showers.  Then we headed across the Straits of Georgia, which took us over 3 hrs in a small white cap chop.  No problems and the boat was fast and behaved well. Steve  made a unilateral decions to head toward Princess Louise Inlet and moor at Chatterbox Falls dock.  

After the Straits, it was a picture perfect day for cruising in glassy water and light breeze. Sling Mama (Nan) was still having pain in her shoulder, but everyone else was doing fine with good night's sleep.  We were still figuring out systems on the boat and got the music going, but the DVD still won't work and we brought alot of movies and DVD's to play....

As we headed toward the end of PLI, Malibu Club began to come into view. 3 of us have been there long ago and it was fun to see this beautiful camp gleaming in the afternoon sunshine.  I was there as a "young lifer" in high school many years past, and Nan and Bruce had come up with a group of adults for a short time years ago.  It IS a long way, but having a fast boat helps!

After a look/see at Malibu, we continued to the end of the Inlet.  We spied ONE spot on the inside of the dock, and went for it in our gigantic powered box.  Easing into the vacant spot brought the looky lou's out from their boating cocktails to watch, but it also brought help, and once again the boat was easy to "parallel park".  We started the Bar-b and cooked salmon burgers and made asian salad.  The Marina gave us a gift pack when we boarded and we enjoyed a very nice white from the Lopez Island Winery. Fred and Bruce once again hit the beds early and the rest of us stayed up for a bit longer and listened to music.