Leg 9, Liz McLoughlin and Tom Hall; Leena and Jim Krasno
Victoria, BC to Lopez Island, WA
August 24 - 31, 2004

Tuesday, August 24 (Victoria, at the dock). Boat chores most of the day with intermittent showers and a falling barometer, now down to 1006 mb. Laundry, showers and posting the updated log and pictures on our website in the morning, and engine checks, boat cleaning, and in the latter afternoon, wandering Victoria’s waterfront. We had a fine dinner, with fascinating conversation, at the Wharfside Restaurant with Deborah and Alex Haase of the Nordhavn 47' Kellie Anne.

Wednesday, August 25 (Victoria, at the dock). Barometer down to 1001 mb, about the lowest this summer, and rain. But, the weather forecast says better to come. Liz spent the morning at the grocery while Tom finished boat chores. The early afternoon was spent at the excellent Maritime Museum. Tom was especially taken with the movie made by Irving Johnson of rounding Cape Horn in the full-rigged ship, Prussen, in the late 1920s. Waves breaking over the high ship sides, sails tearing, men handling sails high up on five-ton yard arms, men occasionally being washed overboard, lots of high drama of an era gone by. Later Johnson and his wife purchased a 98-foot North Sea brigantine and made six circumnavigations in Yankee with a young crew of ~25. Eric Wolman, a college classmate of Tom’s and a crewmate on Onward this summer, sailed on one of these trips. Tom met Irving Johnson aboard Yankee in Gloucester when Tom was crewing on a 58-foot ketch during the summer of 1953. But, time ran out before the film, and Tom had to leave the Museum in time to call the architect about our house expansion project. He then joined Liz for a stroll over to meet the Victoria Clipper and our new crew, Leena and Jim Krasno. They had reservations to stay at the Empress Hotel that night, but we had a fine restaurant dinner together and discussed potential routes and anchorages.

Thursday, August 26 (Victoria to Tod Inlet, Brentwood Bay; 5.3 hours, 29.6 miles). Intermittent rain but the weather improved. The Krasnos joined us at 10 AM and we left immediately, weaving our way through myriad boats of all sizes, float planes, and the Cora, the Victoria-Port Angeles auto ferry on our tail. Out of the harbor we turned east and then north. We had a good boost from the flood tide that on rounding one point pushed us to 12 knots, up from our usual 6.7 knots. We introduced Jim and Leena to the excitement of “swirlies”, major current turbulence which can be quite dramatic. We rounded the north end of Saanich peninsula and headed south to Brentwood Bay and our destination, Tod Inlet. A half mile down we anchored among five other boats, launched the dinghy, enjoyed afternoon libations, and feasted on a salmon Liz had been given by a sport fisherman docked near us at Victoria. At 7 we went by dinghy back to a tiny indentation near the inlet entrance to a dinghy dock at the back side of Butchart Gardens, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary. For the next 2.5 hours we toured this world famous garden, created out of a limestone quarry by the wife of the owner and subsequently expanded by their son and others. During the summer the gardens are open until 10 PM and at dark, the major sections are beautifully illuminated by colored lights. The gardens also feature visiting orchestras so we enjoyed listening to several sets of golden oldies and more modern pieces by an 11-piece orchestra and two vocalists. The performance was enhanced by some 20 couples who danced on the stage, a few who were near professional in their style and synchronization. Back to the dock via the Japanese garden and other exotica for a moonlit trip to Onward. A great first day!

Friday, August 27 (Tod Inlet to Bedwell Harbour, S. Pender Island; 3.4 hours, 22.3 miles). A quiet night and a day with high clouds and some sun. We anchored deep in open Bedwell Harbour, our last night in Canada, and launched our flotilla. We passed through a narrow channel between S. and N. Pender Islands, Jim and Liz by kayak and Tom and Leena by dinghy, to a marina and lodge located deep in the N. Pender bay. Leena bought a T-shirt for Jim and we chatted with other boat folk at the marina before heading back into a strong head wind and waves. The tide was already moving with some speed through the cut when we returned but we took the opportunity for photos. Back on Onward, Liz and Leena worked on cross-stitch projects, Liz being delighted to have a fellow cross-stitcher on board. After good conversation during libations, dinner prep and dining, we spent another quiet night at anchor.

Saturday, August 28 (Bedwell Harbour to Garrison Bay, San Juan Island; 2.3 hours, 13.8 miles). Up anchor at 10:24 for a nice though rather windy trip across the Canada / US boundary to Roche Harbor on San Juan Island, and legal entry into USA. Tom took the documents to Immigration and we had no problems, except for being relieved of some Canadian stew beef (Mad Cow disease fears) and limes (all citrus fruit is denied entry; how will we make our afternoon libations?). Tom was a bit taken aback to have the INS officer note that he was an airplane pilot (true); apparently the feds have linked the FAA pilot license files to the INS files as part of heightened security. The INS officer informed us that it was our good fortune to have arrived on a special event weekend featuring antique boats, airplanes, cars, motorcycles and other attractions. So, with Onward secure on a short-stay dock we headed to shore. Luckily, the Roche Harbour market had beef for stroganoff and limes - problem solved. We had a fine lunch at the harborside deli and walked a short path over to the Roche Harbor airfield where an antique airplane fly-in was in progress. Seventh heaven for Tom; a lovely vintage stagger-wing Beech, a SuperCub bush plane on huge tundra tires, and other less exotic craft to admire and explain to the rest of our crew. Across the road we then visited a multi-acre sculpture field featuring ~30 objets d’art available for viewing and, in some cases, purchase. As might be expected they ranged from the delightful to the inscrutable, with some prices in the high thousands. Back to the docks for a visit to the float featuring classic wooden boats, some going back to the 1920s. Loving craftsmanship, dedicated maintenance of old wooden boats, very dated exterior and interior designs, antiquated engines and equipment, all was on display. Back on Onward we proceeded several miles southwest through the very congested harbor and narrow, circuitous Mosquito Pass, arriving around 5 at Garrison Bay. Because of the special events at English Camp this weekend the rather large bay was already crowded with boats and by the time we put on the anchor light there were at least 30 on the hook. We had another fine sunset, good dinner and conversation, and by bedtime the full moon was evident in all its splendor.
Sunday, August 29 (Garrison Bay to Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island; 1.7 hours, 11.4 miles). What an extraordinary day! Though the barometer dropped a bit and forecast rain there was quite a bit of blue sky and some high clouds. The weather improved as the day progressed. After a pancake breakfast we lowered the dinghy and proceeded to “English Camp,” site of the British troop encampment for more than a decade during the “pig war” standoff with American troops at the other end of San Juan Island. As luck would have it our visit coincided with the two-day annual festival celebrating the presence of the British on San Juan Island. There were some 20 white canvas pup and cook tents erected among the three permanent buildings and the log blockhouse along with lots of equipment of the type used in the 1840-60 period. We learned that much of the original blockhouse still remains since it was constructed by British shipwrights. The English had noted the blockhouse design at the American camp and, impressed with its utility, replicated it at their own camp. American roundhouses, constructed by rough and ready immigrant soldiers soon deteriorated while those built by shipwrights stood the test of time. The English Camp display was staffed by volunteers and professional actors dressed in period costumes. A half hour after we arrived a fife and drum band descended the hill, where they had held a memorial service at the cemetery for the soldiers who had died and were buried there. The band was followed by Redcoat troops and some “camp followers,” to augment the assemblage of costumed personnel. We chatted with a British admiral, the wife of the head of the Hudson Bay Company, the assistant surgeon, soldiers and naval ratings, a blacksmith and several ladies - all who stayed (mostly and delightfully) in character. There was a cooking competition between one American and two British seamen. The rules were that they had 15 minutes to prepare a meal, using locally available ingredients, a wood stove and cast iron pots that would have been available in mid-19th century. They were not to know the main ingredient (this time lamb) until the start of the 15 minutes. Four “judge” taste testers (including the Admiral) ate the meal and pronounced judgement. The sole female tester gave bonus points for the American cook’s food “presentation”. All was judged quite tasty, with a very slight preference today to the British submission (lamb curry and bread pudding). Yesterday’s competition was “won” by the “American” cook (then it was salmon). At 11:30 back to Onward, lunch, up dinghy, and then out of the bay and north aided by the spring flood tide. We took a state mooring buoy in Prevost Harbor, launched the kayaks, and while Leena read about forestry on the foredeck, Tom worked on a boat chore on the boat deck and Liz and Jim toured the “hood” by kayak. Lots of boats in the harbor and a small airport at the eastern end so lots of things to check out. Another lovely sunset.

Monday, August 30 (Prevost Harbor to Echo Bay, on Sucia Island; 3.1 hours, 16.5 miles). A beautiful, calm moonlit night followed by a warm sunny day. We raised the kayaks and were underway by 9:50 for the 3.1-hour cruise east against the spring ebb tide. Lots of swirls and times when our speed over the ground was less than 4 knots reduced our average speed to only 5.3 knots. At 1 PM we anchored at the NW end of South Finger island in Echo Bay, away from the main end-of-summer fleet. By the evening this fleet exceeded 30 boats and nearby Fossil and Shallow Bays were also filled with boats. Down came the flotilla and soon Liz and Jim set out in kayaks for the 2.5-mile circumnavigation of S. and N. Finger islands. Rounding the SE end of the north finger they came on some 15-20 seals sunning themselves on the rocks. Though the seals eventually took to the water, they had the pleasure of drifting among many seal heads, popping up and down to determine when it would be safe to return to the rocks. Leena and Tom went by dinghy to the head of Echo Bay, checked out the marine life in the shoals and then landed for a short stroll to the other side of the island and did some beach combing. Back to the dinghy and out to the N. Finger Island to join the kayakers watching the seals. With the dinghy motor off the seals were all around us. The two finger islands are notable for their deeply eroded, multi-colored pastel sandstone shore up to the high water line. Above the long ridge-like islands have a predominantly madrone tree forest. The madrone tree has a thin dark red-brown outer bark that naturally peels to show a greenish brown, verging to yellow, inner bark – a lovely contrast visible from a distance. For this excursion Tom had brought with him a hand-held GPS and at last was able to determine the planing speed of our dinghy, Homeward. With its 15 hp Honda pushing at cruise speed and two persons aboard the dinghy could make 12 knots, not quite double Onward’s 6.7 knot speed. Though not impressive compared to many sportfisher boats with 300-500 hp available to them, Homeward makes a nice wake at cruising speed. Back on board for reading, dinner and, for Tom and Liz, a first try at the card game “99", taught ably by the Krasnos.

Tuesday, August 31 (Echo Bay to Fisherman Bay, Lopez Island; 3.0 hours, 21.7 miles). A lovely morning, low tide and no wind. We were underway by 8:50, timed to benefit from the ebb tide and in contrast to yesterday when going against the ebb, we averaged over 7 knots and at times reached 9. Out the east end of Sucia, SW via President Channel on the west side of Orcas Island, SE via the San Juan Channel, and at 11 AM we tied up to the north breakwater at Friday Harbor, parked right under the bowsprit of the wooden schooner, Adventuress. Over 90' on deck and 137' overall including a huge bowsprit and boom, she made an awesome dockmate. We went ashore for a lunch overlooking the very busy harbor and then the Krasnos took in the town, including the Whale Museum while Liz and Tom reviewed architect plans for their home expansion. By 4 it was time to head over to the fast catamaran, Victoria Clipper, for the Krasnos’ trip to Seattle and then San Francisco. After sad goodbyes and hugs at the dock Tom and Liz telephoned their architect and contractor to conclude arrangements for our home expansion project and then back to Onward for the 40-minute trip to Lopez Island. We crossed San Juan Channel just after the middle of a spring flood tide and the turbulence was as impressive as we’ve ever seen in our five years of cruising in the northwest. The autopilot and stabilizers had a real test as we lurched from side to side. But, it is always best to enter Fisherman Bay on the flood. The narrow and very shallow channel has brought many a boat to grief, including an entire cruising club fleet in times past. Onward’s closest encounter to the bottom so far was on a mid-tide ebb several years back when the depth sounder indicated only 1.4-feet under the keel but this time we had at least 8 feet. We were tied up at the dock by 6 PM, in time to enjoy libations, a quick dinner and a fine stroll in the sunset. Tom’s son Eric and his family live on Lopez Island, and we look forward to spending time with them in the next few days.

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