And they're off!

Day 1 - Nanaimo to Montague

We were up early and left our slip at Stones Marina right on schedule at 8:05 AM. A few good friends were there to see us off (much appreciated). Fortunately there was no wind or current in the marina, so we were able to cruise away without making complete fools of ourselves. Susanne shed a few tears as we looked back at our boat's home for the last 9 years.

We motored slowly to Dodd Narrows to catch the slack tide at 9:25 AM, then motored the rest of the way to Montague Harbour. We had the anchor down by 1:15 PM. Dead calm all day. Weather when we got up this morning was a bit rainy and overcast, but as the day progressed, it got better and better. By the time we were in Montague it was about +18 degrees and brilliant sunshine. We knew that heading south was the answer, we just did not know it would work so soon.

All of the systems seem to be behaving themselves for the moment. We even fired up the water maker for 2-1/2 hours and it seemed to work as advertised. All is right with the world. Tomorrow we will attempt to enter the US of A for the first time by boat. Hopefully the next post will be coming to you from a foreign land.

{GMST}48|53.33|N|123|23.6|W|Montague Harbour, BC, Canada|Montague Harbour, BC, Canada{GEND}
{GMST}49|08.1177|N|123|49.06|W|Dodd Narrows|Dodd Narrows{GEND}

Twas the night before...

Stones Marina, Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Monday, our first potential leaving day, has come and gone. Murphy was doing his best to keep us here.

Saturday night I decided to do a final test of the navigation lights.  I test these out every time we leave port, even though we have never actually done any night sailing.  They always work fine.

This time though, the starboard (green) nav light, would not come on.  This is one of my horribly expensive OGM LED lights that I installed several years ago.  Shortly after I put them on, we managed to scrape the starboard light off on the nasty pole that guards our slip.  There was no apparent permanent damage at the time, and the light still worked.  However, it now appears that there was some more subtle damage that has allowed moisture to infiltrate the delicate electronics inside the normally sealed fixture, resulting in it's now untimely total failure.

No problem, I exclaimed!  We have a backup tri-color light at the top of the mast that we can use in a pinch.  The good news is that the light is still working.  The bad news is that when we had some up-mast work done this spring, when the anchor light was replaced with a new, low-power LED bulb, the tri-color lens got put on sideways, showing red and green to port and white to starboard (a great way to confuse other boaters).

Searching the chandlers on Sunday netted me a new, much cheaper set of LED nav lights.  With some quick modifications, I was able to adapt the mount and replace the starboard light.  We will order another of the good (expensive) lights when we get further south.  For now, we will sail with a mismatched, but at least fully functional, set of lights.

On another note, I forgot to get my eye drop prescription filled until Sunday.  Normally not a problem, but I guess they just don't expect anyone to want an entire year's supply at a time.  They were not able to fulfill the entire order until around noon today.

Today, we got one of the boat monkeys to go up the mast and straighten out the tri-color light, so we are now well equipped again.  No doubt the anchor light will stop working any time now.

With all the stress, and amazing number of last-minute chores that seem to be cropping up, we thought it prudent to wait till tomorrow before casting off.  We actually made this decision on Sunday, so we were able to really enjoy a night out with our good friends Barry and Hazel on Devenshire Cream.  Much wine and merriment ensued, as we did not have to get up early this morning.

Tomorrow we expect to get off the dock by around 8 AM, in order to make the slack at Dodd Narrows by 9:30.  With any luck, we will be in Montague Harbour in the Gulf islands by the afternoon - a great, easy destination for our first day out.

{GMST}49|11.33|N|123|56.832|W|Stones Marina|Stones Marina{GEND}

Stocking Up

Nanaimo, BC, Canada

We arrived in Nanaimo yesterday, right on schedule.  Picked up a rental car for a few days so we can start the inevitable provisioning.  We would have actually gotten a start on it too, if we had not run into some great friends at the dock who we had not expected to see before we left.  Somehow the afternoon just disappeared at the pub.

First trip today was to Costco for the things we can get (and stow) in bulk.  After lugging all of that to the boat, Sue is off to Saveco for those smaller items, or items that Costco just doesn't have, with the scary parting words "I may be a while".  Temporary spot for a lot of this stuff is apparently the navigation table.  I'm sure it will all fit somewhere else eventually.

Meanwhile I tackled a last-minute job that cropped up the day we were leaving Nanaimo - one of the bilge pumps was no longer working.  As I suspected, a simple wiring problem, made much more difficult by the awkward position of the pump (oddly enough, at the bottom of the bilge), just about out of my arm's reach.  All is OK now.  I ran the engine for a while to check that all my previous modifications are still holding and everything still looks good.

The weather here was very nice yesterday - about 22 degrees when we arrived.  It did rain overnight, but today was still not too bad.  A little cool but very calm.  The sun actually came out for a short while this afternoon, so I took the opportunity to take some "before" pictures of the boat.  It may never look this good again.

Notice the nicely matching jerrycan and winch covers.

Here is my clever disappearing watermaker installation.

Here is the new home for our freezer, just under our bed.  We are lulled to sleep each night with the quite hum of the super efficient Engel freezer - sort of a comforting sound really.

With any luck, we should be able to get away by Monday or Tuesday, to start the long trek south.  We are almost calm about it too, although we have no idea why.

{GMST}49|11.33|N|123|56.832|W|Nanaimo, BC, Canada|Nanaimo, BC, Canada{GEND}

Mission Accomplished

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Yes, our mission to Edmonton has ended.

We have paid our respects to friends and family, tied up legal and health issues involved with leaving the country, and bought a few last-minute items while we were in PST-free Alberta.

Probably the biggest challenge was to sell our car - and it is now gone.  It was a bit gut-wrenching, not so much because of the particular car, but more so because of what it represents - the last vestige of our old life.

Now, we are winging our way back to the coast.  A quick stop in Vancouver between flights, where technology abounds (free Wi-fi Internet).  This is the first update I have ever done from an airport.  Pretty cool.

By this afternoon, we will be back on the boat.
The biggest lesson learned on this trip?  Take enough luggage with you to carry all the stuff on the plane ride back, after emptying the car you drove the other way, and incorporating all the goodies you acquired along the way.

{GMST}53|35.3868|N|113|32.3568|W|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada{GEND}

Ready or not

Nanaimo, BC, Canada

We feel like we have been working non-stop for weeks.  We have crossed off 95 percent of our to-do list, and the rest are not real critical.  So I guess this means we are ready.

The boat has never looked better, thanks to Susanne's tireless efforts, painting the entire deck, repairing and fabricating covers for the winches and gas tanks, etc.  What a trooper!

About the only visible sign of my projects is the new head.  We chose to use a better quality manual head - more expensive but hopefully will last longer.  I plumbed in an extra anti-siphon vented loop, which really should have been done for the old head as well, since it is installed below the water line.

The new watermaker, wash-down system, high-power alternator/regulator, third-reef in the main, etc., are all in and working well (at least when sitting in the marina).  Time will tell how they will all perform in the real world, at sea.

Now we have a further list of things we have to take care of back in Alberta (mostly paperwork), before we can head south for good.  With this in mind, we are leaving today for the drive to Edmonton once again.  We should be back on the boat around the 17th or 18th of September.

{GMST}49|11.33|N|123|56.832|W|Nanaimo, BC, Canada|Nanaimo, BC, Canada{GEND}