Greeting from the Seas of the Inside Passage:

For those of you whom I've not talked to recently, I am currently sailing up the Inside Passage to Juneau with my friends, Suzan Nettleship and Michael Bell, on their New Zealand-built (1989) Avatar 52' steel-hulled sailboat...the S/V Maamalni. Her new name comes from the Nuu Chalnulth Indian nation...indigenous to SW coast of Vancouver Island and over to Neah Bay...which translated means: Those whose large homes float about on the water. They will be leaving later this fall to spend the next 15 months sailing around the world with the British organization, World Cruising Club's Around the World Rally. There are currently 45 boats from around the world signed up to go. So, they are using the Inside Passage, across the Gulf of Alaska to Kodiak and then back across the Gulf to Victoria, and finally Seattle, as their "shake-down" cruise. Th ey invited me to accompany them so I signed on to be the cook, kayak guide and photographer...throw in British Columbia and SE Alaska and I've got most all my favorite passions in life rolled into one adventure. Sadly, Wally Ward is home in his own bed being lovingly watched over and supremely spoiled by my neighbor friend, Sunni Ferrin.

For those of you who have accompanied me on past boating adventures, you are probably getting a good chuckle out of:

A. My desire to once again face the waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Strait of Georgia, Johnstone Strait, Queen Charolotte Strait, Queen Charlotte Sound and Dixen Entrance. But as I told Michael and Suzan today, it's akin to my own personal version of an Outward Bound experience. I did tell them, however, that I would be very, very busy during their crossings of the Gulf of Alaska. Besides I couldn't miss my Juneau visit.

B. A stern warning from the Captain that I was to be extremely conservative when packing for the trip and be very wise in provisioning for the trip.

I was fairly successful...I managed to fit all my stuff into my very own cozy stateroom and private showerless head. Suzan is the Queen of spatial organization and managed to find a spot for all the provisions. My live basil plant however is taking somewhat of a beating here in the seas of Johnstone Strait.

Suzan and Michael have years of sailing experience and they are both extremely pleased with how their new boat is handling herself. Just so you don't think I'm roughing it, on board we have 3 laptops, 2 iPods, 1 color printer, 4 cameras (one of which is a new little Sanyo digital media camera I recommended to Suzan that will take both 5 megapixel jpeg's and 1.5 hrs of high-definition movies (has a 10x optical zoom!), 3 kayaks, a dinghy, 2 outboards, 2 drysuits, scuba divining gear, a crabpot, 2 televisions, 300 movies on DVD's, 2 staterooms, 2 heads, a very nice galley and a lovely main salon and a wide array of navigational and communication instrumentation.

We departed Elliott Bay Marina (located in front of Palisades Restaurant) at 6:00 AM on Sunday, May 20 and headed across the Strait of Juan de Fuca for Victoria. We had high overcast, sun, broken clouds, and finally some serious wind (I was, and continue to be very pleasantly surprised at how much smoother the ride is in rough water as compared to the Catalyst and the Westward.) and rain before we entered the harbour in front of the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Customs was, most fortunately, a breeze and they did not board us so we were able to have liquid refreshments on deck that night from our stash from the US of A. We ended up spending the next two days in Victoria while several items which had malfunctioned were repaired by Suzan and Michael. Darn...hated going back to some of my favorite haunts...Callebaut Chocolate (thank you, Arlene), Munroe's Bookstore, the Bengal Lounge in the Empress, and even found some new ones. Bob McDonald, a friend of Suzan and Michaels, hosted us to a wonderful evening at The Superior Restaurant in Victoria which was featuring a stellar group of young musicians. Needed to get back on the water and ice down my Visa-wrist.

On Wednesday morning we pulled away from the dock at 7:30 and motored up to Ganges on Salt Spring Island where we procured some fresh white king salmon for $5.49/lb! Fellow said they couldn't give it away because people didn't like the color. What a treat for dinner for the next two nights. After several more stops for various items, we continued motoring through Gulf Island and at dusk under clear skies, we dropped anchor in Herring Bay on Ruxton Island. This is one of my most favorite spots in the Gulf Islands having visited it both on a Catalyst trip with my sister, Mary and again, on the Westward. It is the most amazing place to paddle as the bottom is literally covered with sand dollars all lined up on their sides.

Thursday we scooted out of Herring Bay at 6:00 under crystal clear skies and after passing through Gabriola Pass into the Strait of Georgia we had some very nice sailing with the jib and staysail's up heading into a northwesterly wind. The winds eventually died and it was like a mill pond...pure bliss. I had called my friend, Herb Bachor, who lives on his boat in Campbell River and he was heading to Gorge Harbour on Cortez Island that afternoon. We arrived at 9:00 pm and invited he and his friend, Doreen, over for wine while we ate our dinner. Tied up to him the next morning and got a tour of his now totally renovated 42' Chiquita III, a boat originally built in 1946 (a very good year) for the fisherman's union. It was good to be on board again after having last seen her in 2004. We got some provisions at the little s tore at the marina and then headed north up along the east coast of Read Island into Calm Channel and after several hours and much anticipation of 3 sets of rapids (Yuculta, Arran & Dent), we simply skimmed on through thanks to Suzan's masterful navigation skills. We spent the night in Shoal Bay on the northwest corner of East Thurlow Island.

Saturday morning we weighed anchor around 6:30 under rather ominous looking skies and not the best of weather forecasts and headed down Chancellor Channel to Johnstone Strait. And boy did the weather become snotty...but up went the sails and back and forth we went in 20-25 mph winds. I gleefully said I'd give up the chance to go past Robson Bight (where the whales love to hang out) if they wanted to head back for protection from the weather in the islands on the west side of Johnstone Strait. Needless to say, I spent most of the time in the galley making a hearty Russian potato sauerkraut soup. We headed up Havannah Channel to Chatham Channel, then across Knight Inlet (at 70 miles long and 2 miles wide, it is the longest fjord on the B.C. coast) to Duck Cove in Port Elizabeth where we dropped anchor around 9:00 pm. The winds did not stop all that night nor the next day so we just stayed put. Michael and Suzan took the dinghy to shore and dug clams and got some mussels and were suprised to see several very large wolves who were very interested in them as well. After returning to the boat in late afternoon, a crab tender came into the cover to pull his crab traps and we were able to buy a half-dozen nice dungeness.

Michael started the engine this morning, Memorial Day, at 6:00 and we were off down Knight Inlet and through Spring Passage. Winds had disappeared and water was glassy smooth once again. We headed up Retreat Passage into the Broughton Archipelago, much of which is now a marine park. It is comprised of a marvelous group of islands which you could explore for well over several months. The history of the Broughtons begins with Indian habitation that goes back thousands of years and then were homesteaded in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The men rowed across Queen Charlotte Strait to Alert Bay and even to Vancouver or Victoria to conduct business and bring back supplies. We dropped anchor around 11:30 in the Fox Group, and christened the three new little inflatable kayaks. It was a gunkholer's paradise and the sun came o ut and all was right with the world. After lunch, we headed north through Blunden Passage and then through a very narrow picturesque namelss channel between Insect Island and Eden Island, past Fly Island and then down Fife Sound tto Queen Charlotte Strait. The weather forecast (even though it was now totally sunny with no wind) caused us to change our plans of heading directly north to Blunden Harbour and hung a left and headed west across Queen Charlotte Strait to Port Hardy which has the last good array of services for several days. Besides we wanted to let you all know we were still alive and kicking which we could not have done for probably another couple of days. The next big gulp is heading for Cape Caution across Queen Charlotte Sound and then up into Fitz Hugh Sound.

"The cure for annything is salt water...sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

Hugs all around,

Linda

PS: Sitting in harbour at Port Hardy tonight and weather forecast is great for tomorrow crossing of Queen Charlotte Sound...yipee

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