Day 351 Out and about the island

It blew most of the morning so we wanted  to wait till it quieted down before we went ashore so we spent the morning reading and doing small jobs on Zephyr.  A nice salad for lunch and with it calming down, we took off in the afternoon for Fossil Bay on Sucia.  We decided to take Puff  around the islands shoreline instead of walking over as she's equipped with Dragon, our new Mercury 8hp engine and it needs more use to get it broken in.  She started right up--of course, it helps to turn the switch to "ON".  Some day I'll remember to do that before I start pulling that cord.  I think I'll just leave the switch to "ON" and turn it off with the button on the end of the throttle stick in the future.

We putt putted around the South side of Sucia past Snoring Bay to Fossil Bay.  A very pretty bay but a bit shallow for Zephyr.  As a matter of fact, as we returned to Puff after our walk, a sailboat that had just pulled up to the dock where we were, had run aground and was having to wait for the tide to come in before they could move.  As the tide was already on the rise they would only have to wait about another hour to get unstuck.  We'd read in one or our books not to tie up to the dock where they were.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera so we'll have to go back to show you what the area looks like.  Sucia has large formations of sandstone throughout the island and the rock formations that result from decades of erosion from wind and water have made some  incredible displays.  

After a nice walk, we took off in Puff for the ride home.  The winds were light and chop of the water was light so we got home nice and dry.  As it was after 1700 hours and beautifully sunny, we had some wine and cheese in the cockpit.  

We have two other boats in our anchorage.  One that showed up the same day we did and a catamaran that showed up yesterday.  Both are on mooring buoys out farther in the bay.  We were also joined yesterday by a small Coast Guard boat attached to their own buoy in the middle of the bay.  Their engines ran far into the night but they were far enough away that unless you were on deck, you couldn't hear them.  We were surprised that the other two didn't have their anchor lights on last night.  The rules are pretty clear.  Unless you are tied up to a dock, you must have a white light at the top of your mast on from sundown to sunup.  This way, any boats arriving after dark can see where all the other boats in the anchorage are and avoid them.  Oh well, not my problem.

We had a nice quiet evening watching TV and playing with the furr people.  Today, I'll be running our generator to recharge the batteries.  We've found that we can watch TV in the evening and even with the Webasto heater and our refrigerator system, we are in pretty good shape in the morning as far as amps go in our batteries.  It takes a few hours to get everything recharged but it's better to run our little Honda than our engine.  Far more efficient in the charging of our batteries and other equipment on Zephyr.

We sent an email to Bill and Susan, the previous owners of Zephyr to see if we can stop by on Saturday so they can see all of what we have done.  Being at Sucia, we are just a few miles from where we started our adventure almost two years ago.  Zephyr has under gone quite the transformation.  For the most part, she looks the same on the outside--except for the fuel tanks and big spinnaker pole on deck, but inside, down deep, the systems have been pretty much been replace or updated.  Lots of new switches, wires and equipment.  She's pretty well packed with equipment and provisions for our trip.  There's no longer a lot of spare room aboard.  Hopefully we will hear back today as after this weekend, we will be heading North to Canada and won't be back here till early July at the earliest.

It's supposed to be nice and sunny today.  So far, not so much but the day is early.

 

   

Day 350 Off to Sucia Island

The forecast for yesterday was for thunder storms and 15 to 25 knot winds across the straits we were headed out for.  In preparation, we hoisted the mainsail before we even left Reid Harbor to mark the line that raises it where the different reef points are.  When the winds get really blowing, you have to reduce how much of your mainsail is up so you lower it by different amounts till she rides easier in the wind.  Our mainsail has three different levels of reefs so we marked the line for each level.   This way, when the wind really gets blowing, we will know how much line it takes to raise the sail to each level.  As the tide was changing early in the afternoon, we made sure everything was stowed during the morning and got ready to leave about 1300 hours.  We made a quick stop at the pump out dock--and it was literally that.  With no electricity, we had to hand pump it out.

OK, now we are all set.  Another sailboat is heading into the bay with all their sails down and looking like they had had a great sail so out we went ready for a great day in the wind.  HAH!!! Not a breathe of air!!!  It was calm as calm can be calm.  So on we went powered by our trusty Ford Lehman engine.  We saw lots of sailboats.  Many with their sails up--must have been dreaming of wind or praying for it cause there sure wasn't any.  Others like us with no sails up were just motoring along trying to get somewhere and not just sit waiting for what may not come.  

About an hour after leaving Reid, we looked back and they were getting clobbered with rain.  We'd left in nice sunny weather and that's about all we had the entire way to Sucia.  It clouded up a bit later but thankfully no rain came our way.

We got here about 1600 hours and got Puff, this time with Dragon(our motor), ready to go ashore to check in.  We've really got the system down so it's no longer a hassle getting our dingy off the deck.  With an 8 foot long pole attached at one end to the mast and the other to the spinnaker halyard(pulls the spinnaker up), we attach a set of block and tackle to the end and clip it to the dingy and up and over the lifelines she goes.  Slick as a whistle.  

Once in the water and our motor lowered from deck and attached, off we went for shore to check in.  As we approached shore, I made sure to tilt the motor so we didn't damage the prop--about the last thing you want to do.  We coasted ashore and Tracy jumped out and pulled us in.  I walked up the beach and grabbed a log for us to tie up to as there were no stones anywhere around and with the tide coming in, we didn't want Puff to drift out from shore.  We'd pulled her quite a ways up the beach but by the time we returned--maybe 30 minutes--she was floating in the water.  The tide moves quickly up here.  We'll have to plan our trips ashore to make sure we don't have a problem getting Puff back to the water.  If the tide is going out and we beach her, by the time we got back, she could be quite a ways from the water and she's not a light piece of equipment to try and move around.

We got checked in at the park kiosk and went for a short hike.  We needed to get settled in at our new haven so we took off for Zephyr.

The top left picture is Reid Harbor.  A picture of Puff and her companion Dragon tied to the stern.  The shoreline of Echo Bay on Sucia Island.  Plus a picture of a floating dock of sorts.  Post coming out of the water with line with rings attached to tie up to.  That's how we are set up for today.  There are two of these in this harbor and we're at one of them.  We don't understand why they set them up this way instead of an actual floating dock like at Reid Harbor.  It requires the same amount of space.  Don't forget, if you click on the pictures they get bigger.

Being so early in the season, we only have one other boat in our harbor and we have seen no one else on the island so far nor heard anyone.  We expect to go ashore today and do some hiking.  The weather is supposed to be nice.  I guess time will tell.

I hope you have been clicking on the links we have on our site taking you to Wind Dancer and Sand Piper.  Wind Dancer is in New Zealand and is having to replace their engine.  Sand Piper is now in the US Virgins Islands.  Back in the US for the first time in several years.  Both are a good read.

As far as us, we are on a shakedown cruise as well as heading North as far as we can.  If nothing breaks, we will be up there till early July before heading back to Port Townsend--no not Sea Marine--to install a new Hydrovane wind autopilot system before we head South for Mexico to arrive there in November.  It's hurricane season up till then and we'd rather miss them if at all possible.

Oh, yeah, we're located at 48 45.599N  122.54.439W for you google earth fans.

Day 349 Rain, rain go away, come back another day--much later!

It was raining when we got up and it continued till 1700 hours. A sprinkle here and a rain there. It just kept falling. Our barometers got it wrong. They had been forecasting sunny weather. OOPS!

The wind was blowing so the DuoGen was cranking out the amps to help keep the batteries topped off which since the Webasto heater was coming on and off to keep us warm, they needed every bit of amps they could get. We ran the generator for a short time at lunch since we needed the microwave. That thing eats amps like its a food competition. If the generator isn't going, neither is the microwave. The batteries can't keep up with it's energy demand.

We set up the satellite dish to watch a bit of TV after dinner. We set it up on the dock since Zephyr kept moving. Even with tightening up the dock lines, she moved to much for a stable signal. We used the inverter for a while to use the TV. We wanted to see how it reacts to the energy draw and how much it uses.

We are planning on setting out today so it's "tidy up the boat day". We've been here since Thursday and we tend to spread out once at the dock or at anchor for more than a day or so. A bad habit we need to break.

WIth it raining, I didn't get to the other side of the island to get on the internet. Once we leave the harbor, I should be able to connect and transmit the last few days of blogs.

Today in preparation for leaving, I checked all the engine fluids. It's a routine maintenance that needs to be done before any motoring just to make sure nothing is low. It makes for a happy engine. I opened every battery box and checked the level of the acid in the batteries. Again, a routine maintenance thing that has to be done regularly as the batteries are subjected to so many discharge/charge cycles that you can cook a battery if you aren't careful and that can get very expensive. I also pulled the "sea strainer". This is a metal filter that keeps anything that might be sucked up into the engine out. It can get clogged if we happen to pass over some garbage in the water. I also checked and refitted the anti syphon valve at the back of the engine that I had replaced earlier this month before we left Port Townsend. It wasn't making a good "break" in the syphon as it was supposed to. We started the engine and now it works just fine.

So, it's been a busy morning getting ready to go. The tides and currents are on an outward flow at this time so we won't be leaving till about 1350 to 1400 hours. That's about the time the tide reverses and will help us get to the next stop on our journey. It's about 13 miles from here so with luck and good wind, it should only take us a few hours. The forecast is 15 to 20 knots from the West or South. It should be a great day for a sail.

Day 348 Cloudy morning and a lovely afternoon.

This morning started out with a few showers and overcast but by this afternoon, it was beautiful! An afternoon that make you glad to be alive. Eagles and hawks flying above us in Reid Harbor where we are staying. Canadian geese over in Reid Harbor where I go to post the blog on the opposite side Stuart Island. A delightful time to be in the San Juan Islands.

I worked inside Zephyr this morning since it was cold and cloudy outside and checked on the steering assembly at the rudder post. It has had the habit of coming loose on several occasions in the past and I just wanted to make sure I had finally fixed it. The bolts were tight and it looks great.

While back there, I found the grease gun for injecting grease into the windlass that pulls the anchor up when we are ready to leave a harbor. I'd greased the center post of the windlass but this puts grease inside and under the unit where I can't get to. Now the unit is all set for the Summer.

I pulled out one of my bottles of motor oil and went on to the next project. The diesel injector pump. It controls the injection of diesel fuel into the engine and if you have followed our posts for a while you know that the service on it had been missed for quite some time and we were concerned that it might have a problem since the oil in it is supposed to be changed every 50 hours of operation and it had probably not been serviced in over 2000. It was one of the few things the previous owner never knew about the engine. No mechanic that had ever serviced Zephyr had told Bill about it and unless you know, you will easily pass it by. The only way I found out about it was when another live aboard in the yard at Sea Marine, who has the same engine I have, stopped by to chat and he showed it to me. When I pulled the plug, so to speak, on it to drain the 12 ounces of oil it was supposed to hold, I was greeted by closer to a quart of diesel fuel, not the oil it was supposed to have in it. It had gotten so diluted by the diesel that it controls that all the oil was basically gone only to be replaced by the diesel. I have since checked with several cruiser websites and they all tell me it is no big deal, just monitor it over the next few changes. When I opened the drain on it today, I was greeted by about 18 ounces of oil, not the 12 I had put in. So we are still getting some "blow by" from the diesel that it regulates. The engine runs great so we aren't that worried but I will continue to check it and change it regularly as the manual calls for. The actual owners manual says to change it every 50 hours but now they call for it to be changed every 100 hours when you change the oil in the engine. I think I'll stay with the 50 the original manual calls for for a while just to see how it goes. Better safe than sorry--or stuck some where when the engine malfunctions.

After a lovely lunch of a chicken greek salad, I rowed to shore and then walked to the opposite side of the island and after some doing, established a wifi connection so I could post yesterdays blog. It's slow out here in the islands so with checking other sites I regularly visit, I was gone a good 2 hours. It was just so nice to sit at a picnic table surrounded by everything Mother Nature had that for once I felt completely relaxed and could sit back and enjoy what was happening around me.
No one else was anywhere in sight. I had the entire harbor to myself.

After rowing back to Zephyr, I did a few more little jobs on "Puff", our dingy, stowed some gear on deck and watched as some kayakers went past us at the dock and settled in for a night at the camp grounds. I'll take Zephyr for my night stay. With it being Easter weekend, we had expected a few more boats but so far only one has joined us in our harbor. Another sailboat--from Canada. We're a lot closer to them than a big city in the US. Maybe more will show up tomorrow as this weekend is a four day holiday in Canada.

Out barometer says that the Sun is going to shine and we will have nice weather for the next day or so. The weather people in Seattle say different. I guess tomorrow will tell as to who to trust and who not to trust.

Have a great Easter weekend everyone.

Day 347 Weenie Roast

The weather man proved to be his same accurate self yesterday. Very few winds and some on again, off again Sun.

I walked to the opposite side of Stuart Island and found a VERY weak internet and cell service signal so I could post yesterdays blog. With luck, I'll get to do it again today. If you get to read this on Saturday, I was successful. It took almost an hour to get it posted and our emails checked plus visit a few websites that I look at each day. A long drawn out process but I got it done.

Once I got back to Zephyr, we moved her out to one of the "floats" in the middle of the Reid Harbor. It's actually a floating dock to tie up to so you can sit at tables and work on projects without taking up the valuable space on the shore dock. With the tide going out and it hitting much lower than when we arrived, I though we would end up hitting the bottom of the harbor if we stayed there plus it is to get even lower over the next day or so. We untied and moved out. Once there, we launched "Puff" the dingy so we could get to shore when we wanted to.

With the weather being decent, we decided to row ashore and have a weenie roast for lunch. We collected the necessary ingredience that we needed. Hot dogs and mustard and drinks--plus plenty of paper to help get the fire started and off we went. It took a while to get it started(some wet wood) but once we got her going, she was a nice fire. One thing we forgot to bring with us on this trip was a hatchet to cut fire wood and some tongs to hold the hotdogs as they roasted. They're now on our list of things to get once we are back in civilization. Luckily, Rich and Judy, who we had met the day before had left some wood that they had collected and cut for their fire so we used it. The Washington State Parks provides lots of tables and fire pits and as we were just about the only people there, we had lots to choose from. As is the problem when cooking hotdogs on sticks, they tend to get hot and burn if left over the fire for any amount of time and Tracy and I both lost a hot dog to the fire. Oops! I braved the heat and got mine back--tended to melt the plastic fork I used but I got it back at least. Tracy's was too far in to recover safely. I only lost a few hairs on the back of my hand. A small price to pay for a good hotdog.

We had several folks stop by. One, a pair of sailers who walked by and never said a word to us. Seemed strange as we said hello to them. We watched later as they dingied back to their boat. They had anchored in Prevost Harbor on the other side of the island. Another boat tied up at the dock we had left earlier and he just walked past as we were breaking down the fire later in the day with a bare shake of the head to acknowledge us. Two commercial fishermen stopped by. They were having problems with their crab pots. Someone was playing with them so they couldn't catch crabs. There is a small gate on the outside of the pot that the crabs will walk through to get at the bait and then get "stuck" inside as the gate closes. Someone was pulling up their pots and reversing the gate so crabs could get out but not in thereby making their pots useless. All twelve of thier post were tinkered with. They'd set up a motion activated camera on shore to see if they could get any pictures of who might be doing it but so far no luck. This is how these guys make a living so someone was not playing nice. It's hard enough on the fishermen out here with all the restrictions they have placed on them let alone to mess with their traps.

Once we put out the fire and headed back, I started work on fixing and adding some handles to "Puff". There are small bungie cord straps on the stern to hold the oar blades in place so they don't fall off but both had broken, so I replace them. I also added some plastic handles to one side. I'd love to show you some pictures but heaven only knows how long that would take to upload and the program I'm using to write this blog for posting later(I'm inside Zephyr) when I'm on line doesn't allow me to add pictures.

I'd fired up the generator earlier in the day to charge the batteries and make hot water for showers so we had a great day of not only being clean for a change but with our batteries all topped up which makes Zephyr a happy girl. Her systems run much better with a full charge. I have to run the generator just about once a day since the Webasto cabin heater uses between 8 and 9 amps to run and a warm cabin is a happy cabin especially if it happens to get cloudy. With the Sun, the cabin heats up nicely. Without it, it needs some help.

I finished working on the dingy by late in the afternoon just as another sailboat motored into the bay and tied up to one of the buoys for the night. Being Easter weekend we'll see how many folks show up. Being at Stuart Island, we are about as far out in the San Juan Islands as you can get. They used their dingy to motor ashore to sign in at the State Parks box for their night stay. As I was finishing up I suddenly heard this "crunch crunch" sound from under the dock. Apparently one of the resident otters had come by to have his dinner and was chomping away on some clams he collected. After about ten minutes he was off without a sound or a ripple. Never did see him. As it was cloudy and threatening to sprinkle, I went below for a nice quiet evening with Tracy. She was cooking "Chicken Bruchetta" for dinner. It may be a small galley but she does great in it.

Day 346 Reid Harbor

We're hold up in Reid Harbor(48 40.31N 123 12.02W) on the South side of Stuart Island. We'd tied to the dock on the opposite side of the island in Prevost Harbor last November and thought we'd try this side for a change. It's a well protected harbor from just about all winds.

We started the day in Blind Bay southeast of here in virtually calm winds. The weather folks had forecast winds in the mid 20 knot range with showers through the day. Instead, it was calm to maybe 5 knot winds with sunny skies throughout the afternoon. A pleasant day all in all.

We stopped on the way over at Deer Harbor for a quick fill up and empty out. We'd originally planned on spending the winter there but there was little to no cell phone service and no wifi at all. That's the primary reason we went else where. It's a nice place. A bit removed from most services but a nice marina. We emptied out our sewage tanks and filled the water tanks and a gasoline tank and took off for Stuart Island. We'd left Blind Bay just after 0900 and got to Deer Harbor by just after 1000. It took till 1140 to get everything filled and emptied and we were off.

Along the way to Stuart Island, we saw several whales as they slowly passed us heading the opposite way. None stayed to play and show off unfortunately. With the constant changes in tides, we have to be on the constant lookout for "dead heads". These are logs that have washed down from up the rivers that feed the San Juan Islands. We saw one today that we think broke free from one of the tugs that haul huge "islands" of logs through Washington's waters. It looked fresh cut and far from water logged.

We were forced to motor all the way with little to no wind. The transmission is still working great. The propeller stops when the controls are in neutral instead of spinning like it had. It's great to see that we hadn't wasted March waiting for a fix that didn't happen.

We've tied up to one of the docks here but must move tomorrow as when the tide goes out, we could very well be in the mud. We arrived in just 1 to 2 feet under our keel and that was with the water just past low tide. Tomorrow, the tide will be a bit lower so we will move to a dock they have installed out closer to the center of the bay. They have installed a dock at the landing and two out in the bay all quite adequate to handle a boat of our size. The problem is that the dock at shore is just a bit shallow for a boat with our draft--6'2". We docked here so we could have a nice walk about the park without having to launch Puff.

While on a hike this afternoon, we ran into another couple that had died up to the dock over on the opposite of the island in Prevost Harbor. In the same spot we'd tied up last year in October when we were here. Nice couple in a 46 foot power boat. We visited for well over an hour trading stories.

We had dinner out in the cockpit enjoying the setting Sun and the warmth that it provided. It was great to spend the day our in the Sun since the forecast had been for rain. Nice to see the weather folks are consistent--wrong!

We had cell and a wifi signal till we entered the harbor here but they quickly vanished as we entered the harbor. Since we have to move in the morning, we may exit the harbor and try and establish a signal so we can get this post posted. If not, we'll get it out as soon as we can.

Day 345 Blind Bay

Looking out from Blind Bay toward Orcas Landing.

We spent a calm day here in Blind Bay.  So much for the weather folks and their 15 to 20 knot winds.  It blew a bit to keep the DuoGen turning and making some power but we still had to run our generator to keep the batteries topped up.  I'd rather run the generator than our engine.  Much more fuel efficient.  

I played more with the Garmin chartplotter finding out more things that it does.  I've added some more "windows" on the main screen so we will have more information on what is going on.  It will even tell me the strength of the batteries down below so I will know when they are charging.

Tracy read and stitched and ripped some out after being off a thread.  She's still working on Shepherd's Bush "Softly Spring".  All in good time.  

We're off today for Deer Harbor for some gasoline for the generator and to throw out the trash we have amassed plus a pump out and then on to Reid Harbor for the night.

We're not sure how long our wireless will continue so stay tuned.