Pour me a Tolmie one

Sometimes you need nasty weather in order to really truly enjoy the beautiful weather. This is what I like to tell myself when it's pouring down rain, windy, cold, and foggy outside. I guess it's always good to appreciate whatever is thrown at you. I've also realized the weather is either all or nothing. And your days depend not only on the weather, but the tides. We have no idea what day it is, or what time. Once you're on a boat and going through the motions, days and time slip away really quickly. All I know is that I'm happy we're warm, full, dry, and waiting out a gale to pass by Prince Rupert.

We passed through Queen Charlotte sailing our little hinnies off. It was a really great day. We had beautiful weather, lots of wind, and good music. We stayed at a cute little cove in the evening that we cannot pronounce.

 Oatmeal in the morning while crossing Queen Charlotte Strait

 Catching some waves while entering Hecate Strait

 Our little cove for the evening

We woke up really early the next morning to sail north through the amazing Tolmie Pass and up to the Bishop Bay Hotsprings. The only thing I can say about this day is : AMAZING!! It was the coolest pass I've ever seen and we were lucky enough to have some friendly visitors on our way. I would go back here in a second and stay forever. We liked the hot springs so much we decided to spend an extra day to soak in the springs, go on a hike, do some boat maintenance, and eat yummy food in the sunshine.

Passing through a small village called Klemtu in Tolmie Pass 

 Passing through Bella Bella 

Tolmie Pass 

 Gypies drying our stuff out

 I sat on my glasses the next evening :)

 The amazing hot springs

 Ben's having some fun!

 These flowers were all over and smelled so good. I'm guessing a form of calla lilly?

 The West Witch moored in Bishop Hot Springs

We were even spoiled enough to find some mussels at the foot of a waterfall. Thanks Ben on the good find! We cooked them in Rent's Due garlic, tons of butter, olive oil, parsley, and tossed them over a bed of pasta with broccoli and mushrooms. Yes, we were amazed too. I also think we're starting to look a little gnarly. Especially Ben. 

So, since we are back in civilization using internet, getting fuel, water, food, and beer, we have also heard that our good friends Adam and Annie have welcomed a new addition to their family : Ryland Bering Lain. Congratulations to you three! We are so excited to see you and meet Ryland. Also, my Dad will be flying into Ketchikan within the next few days. We are all really excited to see him and continue on with the adventure north. 

Weatherful Days

Since my last entry, we successfully made it through the beautiful Seymour Narrows, camped out at Port Neville, and ventured on through Johnstone Strait to Port Hardy. We even saw an old Bristol Bay friend "Jim" on the Husky, while passing through Seymour Narrows. It's funny how many people we've seen since leaving Seattle. The sea tends to hold all the fisherman and sailors together. It doesn't matter where you are, you're bound to run into another salty fisherman somewhere. 

 We've been delivering salmon out in Bristol Bay to Jim since I was a young girl. He's a great guy! He's heading out to Togiak, AK for herring.

 Port Neville public dock 

 Johnstone Strait

 Port Neville 

 A little sandy beach we found zipping around on the skiff in Port Neville

 Morning coffee 

 Port Neville dock 

Our airshow near Comox

Chatham Point in Seymour Narrows-Johnstone Strait intersection

We ran into some heavy seas and wind yesterday afternoon and made it into Port Hardy before things got really ugly. The West Witch proved herself very well and now we know what she can handle. It's never a bad thing to get some adrenaline pumping through your veins every now and then. Since this large storm is passing through, we've decided to wait it out in our cozy safe harbor. We'll see what tomorrow brings but for now, we're warm, dry, drinking coffee at an internet cafe', and enjoying our time in this little Canadian fishing town. Sounds pretty good, eh? 

Canada

We've been having an amazing time traveling through the northern waters off of Vancouver Island. The weather has been great and we've been so lucky finding cool places to stay at night. We passed through Nanaimo yesterday afternoon and stayed at Schooner Cove. We all fell in love with that place. It was quiet, peaceful, and so beautiful. We are staying in Campbell River tonight and plan to head north through Seymour Narrows and Johnstone Strait tomorrow. We even had our own airshow today while passing by Comox (I'll post the video next time). It was incredible. So far, our trip has been wonderful!

 Leaving Anacortes

 Heading into Canadian waters

 First meal on the boat in Lyall Harbour

 Schooner Cove at night 

Leaving Schooner Cove in the morning

 North of Texada Island

Lyall Harbour 

Who says you can't leave port on a Friday?

We decided to break all the rules in the boating world and leave port on a Friday. We also have bananas on the boat, tend to whistle from time to time, stepped on the deck with our left foot, and believe it or not, have a female on the boat too! At least we didn't change the boat name for the maiden voyage. Ben wants to name the boat after my middle name (Elizabeth) and according to nautical folklore, it is bad luck to name a boat after an engaged woman. We had better wait till we're married :) 

Nautical superstitions aside, we made it to Anacortes with happy faces and shivering wet bodies. We laughed when we quickly realized that this is going to be a really cold and wet trip. Each one of us added all our layers within an hour of taking off. We all looked at each other and laughed again when we realized that we should turn around right now and head to the Bahamas because it's only going to get colder from here on out. Thank god for carolans and coffee. 

Nevertheless, we decided to spend a day in Anacortes to pick up a few more things, change some batteries out, and say hello to a few friends. "Croatian night" is a gathering of family and friends in Anacortes so we'll be heading over there this evening to enjoy some yummy food and good people. For tomorrow, we will be off again. We plan to cut through the San Juans and head to Nanaimo for the evening. The weather has been really nasty here the last few days - I heard there was snow in Seattle. We will hug the east side of the islands heading up to Nanaimo so if any weather hits us, we can duck in and hide pretty easily. Hopefully the wind will be with us on our way north tomorrow!

Heading into Anacortes

 Finally leaving Shilshole. Hell yea!

 Massive container ships

 Olympics on the peninsula

 This is another reason we're waiting a day to take off. It blew about 50 knots last night. (Notice Ben creeping in the corner, biting his nails. I think he might be scared.)