California, that is. We arrived in Monterey in the early evening of August 28, 2007, and we plan to head further south on Saturday, September 1, as early as possible. Fog permitting. Har. We scored a great slip at the Municipal Marina (sorta tight entrance fairway, boys!) but found we had arrived at precisely the…
The passage from Bamfield BC to Newport, Oregon, took 38 hours: two full days and one night. Coming in to Newport from offshore, we dodged a bazillion crab pots – including a set that some entrepreneur placed right in the middle of the fairway between two entrance buoys. Between the tuna boats and the crabbers,…
We left Bamfield in Barkley Sound, BC, on August 5, 2007, at 0600. Environment Canada and NOAA characterized the 1-4-mile visibility fog as “heavy.” The Fox does not like fog very much but it was doable so we left with caution and a good dose of radar – the better to see the buckaroos who…
Crossed back from Canada into US waters the morning of August 5, 2007. Visibility was a bit limited by fog. But that really IS a pic of Cape Flattery and Tatoosh Island from about 5 miles offshore.
Bears. Our ursine friends are alive and well and foraging the shoreline in select locations on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Problem is, the trees grow all the way down to the high water line, so you can’t see any of them unless you venture from the boat by dinghy onto their turf. As…
During July we moseyed SE down Vancouver Island’s West Coast from sound to sound. There are fine, sheltered anchorages in most places – many with great shoreline exploring opportunities. From north to south: Quatsino Sound, Checleset Bay, Kyuquot Sound (pronounced “ky-OO-kit”), Esperanza Inlet, Nootka Sound. In Esperanza Inlet we began seeing the first signs of…
GB has had pretty fair success at fishing, having caught a variety of rockfish, sole, salmon, greenling and lingcod in various places around Vancouver Island. However, we had both expected, given how often he has fished, to have had better luck. Many of the other cruisers (and locals) we have met have said that they…
Author Jonathan Raban, in his book “Passage to Juneau,” has a way of interpreting Northwest art that is absolutely spot-on. Raban describes* that the more he looked at Northwest art, “…the more I saw that Northwest Indian art was maritime in much more than its subject matter. Its whole formal conception and composition were rooted…
Gosh. Connectivity to the Internet Tubes is hard when traveling by boat. A good rule of thumb has been that, whenever we see a cluster of 10 or more houses on a shoreline, the chances are pretty good that at least one of them is trying to download Internet porn, so it’s worth trying to…
Y’ ol’ phart. Schnort.