Emergency at Sea - Anacortes to Brown's Bay (Johnstone Straits)

Monday -  Fueling from the Reisner's truck proceeded uneventfully, except for the impact on our checking account - $1864 for 523 gallons of #2 diesel.  At least it was about $250 less than we would have paid at the fuel dock.  We chatted with Rusty, the driver, then bid him adieu until next year.  "Intrepid" edged away from the dock at 12:15 and pointed herself northwest for a course through the San Juan and Gulf Islands to Montegue Harbor in BC.

The currents were more favorable than the tide tables had predicted so we made the trip in 5.5 hrs - about 48 nm (a nautical mile is 1.14 statute miles).  We like Montegue Harbor for our first night because it is about the right distance and because we can clear Canadian Customs there with out going to a dock to do so.  We have NEXUS cards which allow us to clear customs by phone with a minimum of fuss because we have been previously interviewed, finger-printed, photographed, anally probed, etc.  We just call when we are within 30 minutes of the border.  They have all our info on record.

The big deal for us is how much duty will we have to pay on our gin and wine when we clear customs.  The Canadian and BC governments are keen to maximize their revenues from the importation of such beverages.  They start with what we paid in the states.  (Washington State has the highest prices in the nation but California is cheap so we bring the gin north from there.)  They then mark up the base cost to BC prices, about the same as Washington prices.  On top of that they assess excise tax (based on the alcohol content), duty (for the Hell of it) and sales tax (because they can).  A $14 dollar bottle of California gin ends up costing $50.75.  This time the customs agent only asked if it was for our own consumption (YES!) in which case he did not assess the duty.  We saved about $450!

This obviously called for a celebratory G&T.  As I kept watch on the road ahead, Rolynn booted up the Sodastream which we use to make carbonated beverages, including diet tonic.  When Rolynn went to replace the CO2 cartridge she discovered that the four replacements she thought were full were empty!  NO G&Ts!  This is the very definition of an emergency at sea so we promptly notified the Coast Guard.  They were not alarmed and sent no rescue chopper.  We desperately hope the cartridges can be obtained in Nanaimo.

Tuesday -  After a pleasant night on a mooring buoy in Montegue we cast off at 08:15 to make the 12:00 slack current at Dodd Narrows.  We got there a little early but scooted through with about 2 kn on the nose.  By 13:00 we were tied up in the inner harbor.  Just as we got our lines arranged, Vera, a boating friend who lives in a luxurious high-rise over-looking the harbor, was pecking at my shoulder.  She had seen us pull in and hustled down to invite us up for drinks.

But, we had an emergency to deal with first.  No worries - Vera told us we can get Sodastream cartridges at the London Drugs store nearby.  Inform Lloyd's of London - disaster at sea averted.  While Rolynn did that, I went to the Telus BC store to buy an Internet Key - a device that will allow us to be online cheaper, in the long run, than paying for it in the marinas that do charge. It's basically a cell phone that plugs into the USB port - looks like a thumb drive on

steroids.  Although I had made prior arrangements, completing the purchase was a bit more complicated since we are US citizens purchasing a contract to be used only in Canada - credit checks, etc, were involved. 

After drinks with Len and Vera we grabbed a burger in the local Pub, tried out the Internet Key (success) and called it a night.

Wednesday -  We were up at 05:00 to listen to the marine weather but the sea conditions were up and predicted to get worse so we crawled back in bed.  We will spend Wednesday in Nanaimo.  Later, we had coffee at Starbucks and did a little shopping.

Thursday -  Up at 0 dark 5 AM to listen to the weather.  Looks good and getting better as the day progresses.  Since it is a nearly 10 hour trip today we have to be aware of any changes later in the day.  Out of the harbor at 05:45 via Newcastle Channel and Departure Bay, the "back door" to Nanaimo Harbor.  We had a mostly uneventful trip, under leaden skies with some drizzle, up The Straits of Georgia to Cortes Bay on Cortes Island in Desolation Sound.  However, when we emptied the holding tank we discovered that the thru-hull valve, which is under water, would not close.  (Remember this, Gary?)  So, we have to get hauled in Campbell River to get it replaced but can not do so until next Wednesday.  (Monday is Canada Day).  We could wait until the next regular haul-out but that's a year and a half away.  Better to take care of it now.  So, we will kill some time in this area and Rolynn will make a book sales calls at one of the marinas.

Friday -  We waited in Cortes Bay until 10:30 then pulled up for a slow 3.5 hr cruise to Big Bay, the setting for "Last Resort", Rolynn's first published novel.  It was slow because we did not want to get to the Yuculta Rapids much before the 15:00 slack tide.  The current was less than 2 kn when we passed at 14:30 but at noon it was nearly 9 kn.  We are a 7.5 kn boat so you can see the problem.  Anyway, we are at the Stuart Island community dock and the wind is howling.  It is a phenomena know as the eponymous Bute winds which funnel out of a deep Fjord by the same name.  Big Bay is located at the mouth of the inlet.  Elsewhere the winds are calm or so say the weather people.

Rolynn made a sale of 30 books to the little coop store here so she is pretty happy.  Therefore, so am I.

There is a nice boat anchored in the bay.  "Athena", owned by Marc Andreessen, the inventor of Mosaic (later Netscape) the first modern web browser.  It was his Ph.D. project.  She is 295' and is for sale (http://www.superyachts.com/luxury-yacht-for-sale/athena-1708/)  She can be yours for only $95 million.

We will move on tomorrow but we don't know where yet.  We will nudge our way towards Campbell River but exactly where depends on the weather.

Saturday/Sunday -  We moved a little SW to Van Donop Inlet on the NW corner of Cortes Island.  It has been very warm both days here.  I have been threatening to renovate or replace the pump that is used to wash down the anchor as it comes up.  Its pressure is pretty weenie.  Since we will be in Campbell River for a couple of days I need something to do instead of relax.  So, I pulled the pump out and disassembled it.  It's undersized in the first place and the autopsy indicates that renovation is not a fiscally responsible avenue.  So, I will shop for a new one in CR.

We have been fussing with the freezer which is powered by the battery banks.  It has been shutting down in the middle of the night.  It's not supposed to stop until the voltage gets less than 10.6 volts but we wake up to find it not running (actually cycling on/off).  When the battery charger is running, and the voltage is higher, it works fine.  Since we don't know exactly at what voltage it is stopping I stayed up waiting for it to quit.  By 04:30 it was still running.  Since Rolynn gets up to write at about 06:30 I went to bed.  Later, she reported that the freezer quit at 11.9 volts.  I performed further diagnostics and could determine no reason for the problem.  I spoke with the guy who built and  installed the system and did further checks but to no avail.  We are stumped.  I called a refrigeration service company in CR but we are a week out before they can get to us.  So, we will just have to deal with it as we go along which means we will probably run the generator a little more than normal.  We'll see.  If we are still having trouble at the end of the season we will stop by Bellingham and have the builder/installer crawl through it.

A high pressure is settling in over Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) and it looks like we are in for a three day blow beginning Monday PM so we will head to CR in the AM instead of Tuesday.

Monday/Tuesday -  On Monday we made the 3 hr trip to Discovery Harbor Marina in Campbell River without difficulty and were tied up at about 13:30.  This is a good place to be stuck.  The marina is adjacent to a mall with big grocery and hardware stores, a chandlers (marine store), Staples, Target, a couple of good restaurants and an excellent native arts shop.  Even a Starbucks.  We did a little shopping and had dinner a shore.  It was a hot day - well into the 80s.

After coffee the following morning, Rolynn proceeded, credit card clutched firmly in hand, to Target, etc, while I headed to the marine store to shop for the anchor wash down pump.  There was a nice selection and I picked out a good quality "middle of the road" Jabsco ($270).  An hour or so later I had it installed and operating.  Big improvement.

Today is Canada Day, the 167th anniversary of the British Parliament's passage of the North American Act which created the nation of Canada from three former British colonies.  There was a nice fireworks display over the harbor which we watched from Intrepid's bow.

Canada Day in Campbell River

Wednesday -  After coffee we motored over to the marine yard for our 12:30 haul out.  This involves the use of a "Travel Lift" which is a remote controlled device that uses slings to pick the boat up out of the water and then wander around the yard to a parking spot.

She Comes Out of the Water

Once in the designated location, the crew places blocks under the keel (they take all the boat's 40,000 lbs) and jack stands along the hull which keep us balanced over the keel.

Looking for a Home

Plug into power and we are home for the night.  The shipwright was there immediately to survey the project and begin work.  The issue, again, is an inoperable through-hull valve for the holding (shit) tank.  It is in the open position, can not be closed, and needs to be replaced.  This involves removal of the backing plate and nut from the inside of the boat and then extracting the fitting from the outside.  The process is then reversed using the replacement.  (Unfortunately, due to some miscommunication, the shipwright first removed the wrong through hull but that was quickly remedied.)   The whole thing only took about 2.5 hrs but the sealant needs to dry over night.  While the work was in progress, Rolynn went into the office to charm the yard manager into splashing us first thing in the morning (ahead of other boats) so that we can make the slack at Seymour Narrows.

The $1200 Offending Valve

Thursday -  Went for coffee and to check email at 07:00.  Back to the yard at 08:00 to pay the bill.  $1194 - about half of that was just getting the boat in and out of the water and laying her up.  You can add another $150 for moorage.  (Are we having fun, yet?)


The Admiral says I should be less technical in my blog posts and say more about the emotional side of boating.  So, ask me how I feel about the new through-hull.

Discovery Passage runs N-S from Campbell River, through Seymour Narrows, and becomes the E-W Johnstone Strait at Chatham Point.  A 25-30 kn wind is blowing from the NW today (and for the rest of the week).  But, the tide is flooding from the west - the same direction as the wind.  Local knowledge says that a NW wind with a flood tide makes for a good transit of the straits.  But, the tide will turn against the wind which will increase later in the day.  We have a plan which calls on us making the slack at the narrows then working against the current along the shore until we get to Chatham Point.  There, we will make the left turn into the full force of the wind.  We can then assess the conditions.  We have several exit points west of there in case we don't like how things are going.

We pointed north for the narrows at 08:30 which will put us there right the 09:30 slack current (which will reach 10 kn later today).  Seymour is one of the most infamous places on the coast because of the currents and Ripple Rock.  Captain George Vancouver described it as "one of the vilest stretches of water in the world." (And he got around.)   Ripple Rock was a submerged twin-peak mountain that lay just nine feet beneath the surface in the center of the narrows. It was a serious hazard to shipping, sinking 119 vessels and taking 114 lives.   On April 5, 1958, after twenty-seven months of tunneling and engineering work, Ripple Rock was blown up with 1,375 tons of Nitramex 2H explosive making it the largest intentional, non-nuclear blast in North America.  I remember watching it on TV as a kid.  It was a big deal.

"Treacherous" Seymour Narrows

"Man plans, God laughs", it is said.  We got about 30 min north of the narrows and it was kicking up pretty good.  We still had about 1.5 hrs to Chatham Point and it was clearly only going to get worse.  So, we turned into little Brown's Bay Marina and tied up for the night.  We will take a look at the conditions early tomorrow morning and decide to either continue north or go back south through the narrows and work our way up the inside route through the rapids.

There is a decent wifi connection here so I will try to post this tonight.  That will make you want to tune in later to see if we ever get to the Broughtons.