Day ? Not really sure anymore!

Another day without the internet. Well sort of. When we left Jones Island on our way to Provost Bay on Stuart Island, I went below for a short time and got connected!! I rushed through all our normal sights and did my downloads and uploads and headed back up on deck. There was some fog as we left Jones Island and it was now in full force. Visibility kept getting less and less. By the time we got to the entrance to Prevost, you could just barely see from one point of land to the other as we made our way through the cut to get in the harbor. That makes visibility of only about 100 yards on each side of Zephyr if that. We are both thankful that Bill(previous owner) had installed radar on Zephyr. While we have lots of chart plotters to get us from one place to another, the radar tells us what is out there. A big help in pea soup. As we entered the bay(in pea soup), another sail boat came out of the mist and cut right across our bow. We had the right of way but he had other ideas. We put Zephyr into reverse and waited until he was past. At least he waved to us as he passed.

We pulled up to a buoy(found it in the pea soup) and hooked up until I could row ashore to see how the dock was. Better safe than sorry. Lots of room so in we came and tied up nice and snug. The State Parks had removed the dock at Jones Island for the Winter. The normal charges for being tied up to the dock are .50/foot/night. We're getting closer to getting our money back for the state parks permit. We expect to stay here for at least two nights before we start heading back to Point Hudson.

As you have all read by now, internet and cell phone while great isn't always available here in the islands. You can go from great to non-existant simply by changing islands or going around a point of land. It all depends on where the towers are. On the North side of Jones Island, there was none. On the South side, there were two bars. One thing they really don't tell you is to watch out for "roaming" charges. Once you get this close to Canada, if you connect, you may be "roaming" and get nailed for BIG charges by the folks up North.

A big challenge is keeping trash to a minimum as what ever you make, you have to haul around with you till you get to a disposal station. Tracy has been known to wash the dishes sometime four or five times a day. Paper plates and bowls are out. We cut cans flat and squash plastic bottles. We wash the dishes when the engine is running as that is what makes the hot water. Unless there is shore power, that is the only way--short of a tea kettle--that you will get hot water for the dishes or for a shower.

The other problem while cruising is the conservation of the battery charge. Many things that we have taken for granted are no longer used. Hair driers, toasters, microwaves, electric tea kettles all are things of the past while cruising. Our inverter makes 110 power but since it was made for the previous generation of electric appliances, it really won't power what we use. No electric blankets at night!!! The toaster clicks when we try and use it. Since I bought it last Spring when the previous one melted, we have a while before we will be getting a newer generation. Our diesel heater can really chew up the batteries. Since it has been having a problem--flameouts--we have to monitor it each time it comes on or it will run for an hour or more gobbling up the amps. It will run only once during the night and then goes into fault mode and won't run again until the switch is reset. It's on the list of things that need looking at when we return to civilization. There has been virtually no wind for the new DuoGen to make power from so we are forced to run the engine about two to three hours a day to keep the batteries as full as possible. Our life revolves around our batteries. We're learning to live the dream!!!

If you're looking for us on Google Earth, we're at 48 40.662N 123 11.908W. The last time I used Nobeltecs VNS software, it had us on Jones Island, not in the bay at Jones Island. We were about 200 yards inland. And here I thought these things were accurate. It pays to pay attention to where you are and not go by what your electronics tell you. You can loose a boat that way.