Admiral Marian:

We all got up, had breakfast, then headed off to Saturday market at the park in the middle of town.  It was so much fun checking out the booths of art work, jewelry, soaps, pottery and food made by local artisans.  It appeared to be a special weekend event for the younger kids to be selling stuff as well, for they were set up down the center aisle selling their items.  We also visited other shops in town with Scott looking for something at a Radio Shack-type store, and Cindy looking for exotic teas in a really neat tea shop.  On our way back to the boat I purchased some of the local Saltspring Island coffee, and the bag it was in smelled like heaven.  Later that evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with just Carter and Jackie at a European Restaurant.  It was excellent food, and we enjoyed the rest of the evening with just the two of them.  We had decided to go to Victoria the next morning if the weather looked rough, or go straight to Roche Harbor if the conditions were favorable

Day 8, August 25, 2007 Salt Spring Island to Victoria B.C. on Vancouver Island

Admiral Marian:

The guys got up early and started off to either Victoria or Roche Harbor.  They decided it would be best to go straight to Victoria since it was rough weather.  I’m so glad they did because it was fun to visit Victoria by boat.  After arriving (around noon time) we all set off to find fish & chips down the way.  It was really crowded with people so we figured it must be good fish & chips – and sure enough it was delicious!  We walked up and down the docks to check out the adorable floating boat houses – each one unique.  Then we walked in to Victoria to enjoy the sights. 



We walked over to a parliament building with big statues and soaring lawns, then over to the Empress hotel where we managed to sneak inside to see what it was like.  Then we walked down by the waterfront to check out some booths and onto the docks to look at the boats.  



My feet started hurting, so Scott and I took a little shuttle ferry boat back to our marina.  We learned the history of how these little passenger ferries got started, and that they were built by hand by a man who still lives today.  They’re like little miniature ferry boats – so cute!

So that evening we all ate leftovers to clean out the ‘fridge of foods that would have to be thrown out or confiscated by the customs officials the next morning.  So we all ate something different:  Cindy had scrambled eggs, I had left-over salmon with a salad, Scott had left-over spaghetti, and Tom had some grilled sandwiches.  It’s a great way to clean out the ‘fridge….

Skippers Notes: 

“They say there are two types of skippers, those that have run aground and those that will”

As Marian mentioned, today we needed to have flexibility in our trip.  The forecast was for strong winds and we were concerned that we might not be able to make it down the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria.  As we headed south we found delightful cruising in little or no wind so we made the commitment to go to Victoria.  Carter left in his Camano about an hour after us, so we hailed him on the radio to tell him we were Victoria bound. 

While Tom was taking a shower and I was at the helm we were on autopilot heading down the east side of James Island.  I had spent a lot of time qualifying our route in an area of very complex depths at the south east end of Vancouver Island, but had not paid as much attention on the earlier portion of the route.  My CMAP cartography on the Furuno chartplotter  left me with the impression we should never have seen less than 4 or 5 fathoms of water, about 25 to 30 feet.  However, as we motored along I glanced over at the depth sounder, that I know is showing feet, and saw it register 10, then 8, I turned to Cindy and Marian and said “could we be in 8 feet of water?”  As the “r” in water left my lips the bow of Alanui dipped ever so slightly as the boat lost about a quarter of a knot of speed and the depth sounder briefly showed 0.  I reached for the throttle, pulled it back, disengaged the autopilot and began a turn to port and hopefully deeper water.  Immediately the sounder said 5, 10, 20, 30…  As my heart left my throat and breathing began again, I glanced back at the south end of the island.  I was really glad to see it was an eroding cliff face of soft sand.  That left me with the feeling that it was most likely I’d hit sand rather than rock.  As we slowed to a few knots I looked at various systems.  I didn’t really describe the impact very well; you could hardly call it an “impact”.  To quote Cindy, we really just “kissed” the bottom.  It was a very gentle lowering of the bow with no real loss of speed and no grinding sound of fiberglass on rock.



As I returned to my route I looked at Coastal Explorer, which uses completely different cartography than the Furuno chartplotter.  Sure enough, just where we touched the bottom there was a ¼ sounding shown on the chart.  This suggest there was about a foot of water at low tide, a situation that would have been much, much more serious.  The CMAP cartography didn’t include this sounding, but it’s still my fault for putting us in water that was way to shallow.  Another lesson learned without serious damage, thank you God!!!

As we rounded the south east end of Vancouver Island we saw a Strait of Juan de Fuca that was flecked with whitecaps.  The tide was ebbing, flowing out against the wind, and this caused the waves to stand up a bit.  However, it was no problem and we threaded our way through the narrow channels and made the turn to Victoria.  For some time we were fighting a 3 knot current that must have been an eddy formed by the underwater structures in the area.  After 30 minutes we looked out the stern of the boat and guess who comes flying by in his Camano?  Carter had left several hours after us, but he was going to beat us into Victoria by at least a half an hour!  His little boat went charging by and I realized why I loved my Camano the way I did.  It’s a do it all boat!  Anyway, with Carter leading the way we threaded our way through the harbor entrance, crowded with fishermen and boats and made our way to the slip at the Coast Grand Hotel.  



By the time we were ready to dock the wind had kicked up to 15 to 20 and I was a bit concerned.  I let the wind blow us down from the dock and took an aggressive angle to the slip.  When the time was right I put her in gear and powered forward, kicking the stern upwind as the bow pulpit arrived over the dock.  The result was a near perfect landing, I feel like I’m beginning to get a feel for Alanui, although I still have a long way to go.  We tied the boat up and went into the town center for food!!!

Day 9, August 26, 2007              Victoria B.C. to Roche Harbor, San Juan Island

Admiral Marian:

We took off for Roche Harbor the next morning, and the sights along the way were so beautiful.  We had a bit of a current going so we were only making 4 knots, therefore it took us quite a while to get there.  Carter, in his Camano, managed to get there very quickly – in about 2 hours, while it took us about 4 ½ hours.  He went a different way which must have helped a bit, but we were still baffled how quickly he got there.  They had already had their lunch and were lounging around on fly bridge of their boat when we arrived.  Scott treated us all to a delicious lunch and then we walked along the docks checking out all the other boats.  We saw Ken William’s boat, a 68-foot Nordhavn, and we were amazed how huge it was.  They have a hot tub on the upper most deck.  It has 4 levels on that boat!! 

We went back to the boat and the guys started working on securing the tender down with additional straps that Scott had found.  I made some more Pina Coladas, which is so refreshing, and lightens their moods while working.  Tom and Scott get so silly!  They are such clowns, and they make Cindy & I laugh all the time.

We went up to the restaurant for dinner, and it was magnificent!  Scott & I both decided that this eating-out business needs to come to a stop because we’ll never lose weight eating this way.  At least we passed on dessert that night, which was a first…..

Skippers notes:   (Caution, this turns into a large introspective)

We left early to avoid the winds that were forecast, but never materialized.  We had a simply wonderful trip to Roche harbor, but it did include pushing against an ebbing tide most of the way.  One decision that had to be made was if we should take Mosquito Pass, or go around the north end of the island.  With a low tide on the way we made the decision to go around, and I was really glad we did.  Mosquito pass is one of the worst grounding areas in the San Juan Islands.  Every boat show seminar on best places to ground your boat mentions it.  So, taking the conservative route would be our strategy!  I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t see any Killer Whales on the way up the west side of San Juan Island, the first time that’s ever happened to us?  But as I said, we did have a great trip. 

I must admit today I was a bit melancholy, as it meant our time with Tom and Cindy was coming to a close.  I’d like to say something about Tom and Cindy.  Tom is part of my inspiration for making this trip.  2 years ago Tom suffered a stroke on the slopes of Whistler Mountain in B.C..  He had a very unique form of a stroke and bleeding in the brain that by all rights should have killed him.  I can only assume that his mission on earth is not yet complete, because his life was spared, in no small part because of Cindy’s connections in the medical field.  You see Cindy is one of those women that have a job that only a select few can do.  She is an ER Nurse at Children’s Hospital in Seattle.  She sees more pain and suffering in a month than most people experience in a lifetime.  Tom received the surgery necessary to save his life in large part because Cindy knew she needed to keep looking for answers to their situation.  She put out an APB (all points bulletin) to her peers which led Tom to a surgeon at Harborview Medical Center who had the skills to repair Toms bleeding blood vessels.  Tom began a long recovery and is today 99% back to normal, if you can use the word “normal” to describe Tom. 

Tom is one of those guys that goes to the boat show 5 times.  He can tell you what make a boat is from a half mile away.  He can tell you what kind of engines it has, how many gallons of fuel it carries and on and on.  I admire Tom greatly.  I admire the relationship Tom and Cindy have carved out, two people that are as different as night and day, and yet so right for each other.  Tom has worked on my boat for hours and hours.  He’s always there to squeeze into an area that I won’t fit, or to suggest an alternative way to accomplish a task.  Together Tom and I can start a discussion, finish each others sentences and get Cindy and Marian laughing so hard they nearly pee their pants, as do we!  Tom is one of the people that I will really miss. 

Today was my birthday and Tom and Cindy gave me a really neat T-Shirt (Pirate logo) and two magazines that I happen to know are given away for free.  That’s Tom, always going for the cheap thrill.  Seriously, these are two people that both Marian and I will miss greatly.

Day 10, August 27, 2007            Roche Harbor, San Juan Island

Admiral Marian:

We all slept in and then Cindy and Tom spent most of the morning packing up to leave.  We decided to join them in taking the shuttle bus over to Friday Harbor.  We found the dock where they were to catch a float plane back to Seattle.  They left their bags at the office, and then walked over to a pub where we had lunch.  When we went back to the docks to wait for their flight, there was a Komo 4 News plane tied up with a news anchor man there (can’t remember his name – ugh!)  When Tom & Cindy’s plane arrived, the pilot asked if anyone wanted to sit up front next to him, and Tom’s hand shot up immediately.  He was so excited, and I think that made his day.  It certainly made Scott and I feel better about leaving them.  We were excited for them, rather than feeling sad to see them go.

While we were leaving the docks we noticed a shop selling live prawns so we bought some to take home for dinner.  Carter gladly cooked us all some dinner on our boat with the prawns, pasta, bread and salad.  Absolutely delicious!  We spent the rest of the evening talking about our plans to leave for Port Angeles where we hoped to get more water and re-provision.

Skippers Notes:

As Marian mentioned, today we said goodbye to Tom and Cindy.  We got back to the boat and had the pleasure of spending our final night with Carter, Jackie and Stohli (their Bernese mountain dog).  I don’t want this to sound hokey, but Carter and Jackie are those kinds of people you meet in your life that you cherish forever.  A former USAF SR71/YF12A pilot and test pilot for Lockheed, Carter spent much of his life in the military, as did my father.  I think he was a CIA spy for some of that time, but he won’t admit it.  I also think he flew the U.F.O. at Groom Lake, but he won’t admit that either, damn him!  In all seriousness, Carter is the guy who turned me on to Nordhavns.  He first introduced me to them at the Seattle Boat Show a few years ago and the rest is history.

Carter, Jackie and Stohli moved to Semiahmoo a few years ago and they love it.  He has adopted Washington as his new home.  Carter is a gourmet chef and always selects fantastic places to eat, or creates his own masterpieces.  He has taken to boating like a fish to water and is as passionate about it as anyone I know.  If there was an ocean going trawler that could also make 30 knots and fit in a 40’ slip, Carter would jump on it.  As it is, he has lived his life at Mach 3 and just can’t see slowing down to 7 knots.  I do think in time Carter will get a larger, slower boat, but it won’t be until he sees himself slowing down as well, something I think is a long way off!  Jackie in the mean time just tries to hang on to the tail of this tiger, doing everything she can to keep the house in spectacular order, help Carter’s son keep the books at his company in L.A. and organizes all the logistics for their glob trotting adventures.  Carter and Jackie have become great friends and we hope they can join us someplace along the way.

Above:  Goodbye dinner with Jackie and Carter on Salt Spring Island

Day 11, August 28, 2007            Roche Harbor, San Juan Island to Port Angeles WA

Admiral Marian:

We got up after sleeping in a bit and prepared the boat to leave.  We said our goodbyes to Jackie and Carter who wished us a nice farewell.  While we were leaving the harbor we got a little bit blue and suddenly felt lonely for our girls.  We were really leaving, and it hit us both sadly.  We both decided that the first moment we get cell-phone reception, we’ll call our girls.  We dried our eyes and pushed forward to make way for Port Angeles.  The weather was incredible and the Straits of Juan de Fuca were as calm as could be.  We really lucked out.  I took the helm while Scott showered, and I have to say, it was quite fun being in charge.  We arrived in Port Angeles around 2:00, and realized how hungry we both were.  I made some grilled sandwiches and then noticed that there was another Nordhavn in the marina.  It was Bill & Linda Edwards on Wayward Wind, and Linda recognized Scott immediately.  They had met at the FUBAR meeting down in California months earlier.  Linda advised that we rent a car in order to go shopping in town since it was too far away.  So that’s what we did.  We walked about a mile into town, rented a car, came back, got our laundry, took it to a Laundromat, went grocery shopping, went back to the Laundromat to put the stuff in the dryer, then back to the boat to unload the groceries, had a bite to eat for dinner, then back to the Laundromat to fold the clothes and bring them home.  We both were exhausted from all of the walking, and so it felt especially great when we crawled into bed that night.

Skippers Notes:

As Marian mentioned above, this was a particularly challenging day.  Today the enormity of this decision hit me like no other.  As we left Roche Harbor I was overwhelmed thinking about our children, family and friends we were leaving behind.  I mention these things because this is really the hardest thing about leaving.  Leaving our daughters with their new husbands, Marian’s sisters and brothers all with nieces and nephews is very difficult.  This is the hard part about this journey.  Sure we say we will be home soon, but we won’t be there on weekends to cook them dinner, or bring them soup if they are sick, or offer then a warm bed to sleep in if they find themselves between apartments or houses.  Yes we are a phone call away, but it’s not the same.  My only solace in this realization is that part of our motivation to do this now is so we can be there for our children when they become parents.  This is a 2 or 3 year journey at most, it’s not an open-ended trip that will continue on and on.  We want to be grandparents and support our children the way our parents supported us.  So, doing this now is part of being there when they will really need us.  Anyway, I must say our harts weighed heavy as we left Roche Harbor and headed for Port Angeles and the beginning of our real journey.  I shed more than one tear as I reflected on all this.

While I’m thinking about it, there is another person I’m going to miss greatly, who I have not given appropriate credit to. If there was anyone in the world that is as close to me as a brother, it’s Jim.  Jim is the most selfless, giving and caring man I know.  He’s a bit of a mad scientist type, calling to ask “where can I buy a bed?”  Well Jim, you can buy a bed at Sears, The Bon, Eddie Bauer, Sleep Country...  Sometimes with the simple things Jim just doesn’t connect the dots.  Or maybe it’s easier to call me because he knows I’ll know how to save some time looking for it?  Regardless, Jim is also one who is there to help whenever someone needs it.  He has offered over and over to meet me at the boat and accomplish a dirty, thankless task.  He has rescued my daughter from being stranded on a freeway, taken family photos of a group of 30, participated in a wooden boat delivery up the coast with Mike Maurice and other things to numerous to mention.  Jim is as close to me as anyone I know, and I will miss our afternoon coffee meetings at Starbucks.  On the last day at our dock at Lockhaven I mentioned to Jim the 110v outlet in the cockpit was dead.  He silently went to work tracking down the bad outlet and discovered the wires had come loose from their connecting block.  That’s the kind of guy he is, taking it upon himself to dig in and solve the problem when I was distracted by other details, far less important.  Of all the people in Seattle, (other than family) Jim is the one I’ll miss the most.

Ok, enough of that, on to the adventure!  This segment of the trip, like no other, marks the end of one journey, the Shake Down, and the beginning of another, our first Blue Water Odyssey.  As we journey to Pt. Angeles it’s Marian and I, really alone for the first time in our boating lives. 

Day 12, August 29, 2007            Port Angeles WA

Admiral Marian:

We both got up fairly early since we were meeting Ian Kerrigan (our financial planner) in Port Townsend that morning.  We drove the 50 or so miles and met at the Otter Creek Crossing restaurant which has come under new management, but it was still good food.  After a good meeting with Ian we drove over to Mike and Jean Edwards’ house just outside Port Angeles.  Mike and Scott worked together back in the Synoptics/Cisco/Boeing days, and Mike and his wife Jean had just sold their house in Issaquah about 6 months ago, and moved to their current home in Port Angeles.  They took this old rambler and fixed it up, adding a 2^nd level on top and remodeling it extensively.  They have a 180 degree view of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, right off of the bluffs, and they have a lot of privacy as well.  A lovely home for their retirement!  And Jean was happy to be living nearby her sister whom she hadn’t seen for many, many years since her sister used to live in California.  It was great to see their new place.  Later that evening they popped down to the marina to see our boat, which they were pleased with.  I made some spaghetti for dinner with quite a bit left over.  I thought it would be a quick meal to heat up while we’re under way in the big blue Pacific Ocean.  Little did I know that it would be a meal too hard for me to stomach while we were underway…

Patrick Coonan, his wife Susan & 7 year old son, Jonathan, arrived that evening after a rough day at sea.  They had left Edmonds that morning and spent most of the trip in dense fog.  It was difficult since they needed to cross through the traffic lanes of the Straits of Juan de Fuca.  Then, the winds picked up and tossed them to and fro’ for a very uncomfortable ride.  Poor Jonathan actually got sick after passing Point Wilson.  Not a fun day for them at sea, and I think they were pleased when they finally made it to Port Angeles.  The winds finally died down that evening, and water in the marina was like glass.  We decided to travel along with the Coonans and the other couple Linda and Bill, who were headed in the same direction we were.  We agreed to leave at 6:30 the next morning.

Skippers Notes:

As Marian mentioned we traveled to Pt. Townsend to meet our financial planner, Ian Kerrigan.  It was a wonderful drive in the woods of the Olympic Peninsula.  After our meeting we stopped at Mike and Jeanne Edwards house.  You all probably think I’m a bit of an exaggerator; because I’ve mentioned several times that there are a number of people who have been inspirational in my life.  Mike Edwards is one of these people.  Mike and I worked very closely together when he was at Boeing and I worked for a vendor, SynOptics Communications.  Mike was an evaluator of new technology and I was a technical representative for SynOptics, a network infrastructure supplier.  It was my job to extol the advantages of our products to Mike and try to influence a selection of our product over another.  Mike and another person who I’ll talk about later (Jim Scott), conducted tests and weighed the products against our competitors.  So, it was in this atmosphere of technical sales support that I came to know and respect Mike.  What I learned about him that I later came to admire was his commitment to balanced, fair, unbiased interaction with business partners when the landscape was filled with vendors taking executives off to boondoggle golf trips and expensive dinners.  Mike was the kind of guy you never even considered saying, “hey, want some tickets to a Mariners game (they sucked back then anyway, but you get the point)”.  When Mike selected a product it was DONE, you could put a fork in it.  When they selected an alternative transceiver and my sales person said “what can we do to get this decision changed” I said, nothing, it’s in concrete. 

So, I haven’t gotten to the part about Mike that leaves me in awe.  Mike was always the kind of guy that put in 10 or 12 hours at the office.  I often worried he was missing his kids lives, but honestly most of the people in the internet space were working 10 hours a day, so it wasn’t that far out  of the norm, suffice to say Mike worked enough that I worried about him.  Well, one day the company I worked for announced it was merging with Wellfleet Communications, a competitor to Cisco Systems.  While SynOptics was THE BEST company I ever worked for, Bay Networks wasn’t something I could get excited about.  So, rather than sit around and not be 100% on board I decided to join a small networking company called Kalpana.  I’ll never forget the night I was at my desk at Boeing and I was working on a resume.  Mike waked in and saw it on my screen.  He looked at me and said, “OK, so if it’s time for you to leave, it’s time for me to get serious about expanding my horizons too”.  Mike had been at Boeing longer than just about any previous job and I think he was getting itchy feet.  So, I left and shortly after got a call from an HR person at Microsoft.  They wanted to know if Mike could lead a design effort to build their next generation corporate network.  Here is what I said to them “There are 5 guys in the U.S. that can do what you want, Mike is one of them, if you don’t hire him your making the biggest mistake of your career”.  Well, I don’t want to take credit for Mike being hired, but I take great pride in having been a reference for him.  This was the backdrop in our relationship that led up to us meeting him at his cliff top home in Pt. Angeles.  Well, not the complete back drop…

Mike started working at Microsoft and within a very short period of time suffered a catastrophic cardiac arrest.  The paramedics restarted his hart a number of times and were putting plasma in him to keep him alive.  Most people in his situation don’t make it, but not his time, I guess?  Anyway while Mike was recovering he called his boss at Microsoft and said “the doctors say I can come back to work half time next week”, to which his boss says “what do you plan to do with the other 12 hours in your day?”.  That’s the environment at Microsoft, or at least the way it was.  So Mike went back to work.  The happy part of this story occurred early this year.  Because Mike was smart and had good timing, he retired early this year.  He purchased a fixer upper on a cliff on the outskirts of Pt. Angeles and turned it into a masterpiece.  Mikes days are now filled with cooking, reading, working on the house and stopping whatever projects he is working on at 4:00pm SHARP!  Because: “he’s retired, and won’t do anything past 4”.  Of all the people who made their fortunes because of the internet boom, no one earned it more than Mike Edwards, for this I admire him greatly.  It was really great to see Mike and Jeanne, oh, I should mention Jeanne has become quite an accomplished painter.  She creates beautiful outdoor, kitchen and chef scenes.  You can see them at www.jeanedwards.com.

This is probably a good point to catch you up on an aspect of our trip that hasn’t been discussed previously.  We are joining another boat in our trip south.  Patrick, Susan and Jonathan Coonan are aboard a 43’ Nordhavn called Paloma.  Patrick is retired eye surgeon and Susan is home, or boat, schooling 8 year old Jonathan for the foreseeable future.  I met Patrick at a Trawlerfest in Poulsbo several times and came to admire and respect him greatly.  He was a sailor, now making the move to power.  We found we share many beliefs and feel we may be good traveling companions, so we agreed to travel to the FUBAR event together.  We were due to meet Patrick in Neah Bay on August 28^th, but a problem arose that caused a change in plans.  Patrick had been having a slight oil leak in the transmission on his boat and several days earlier the leak got worse.  Patrick worked with representatives of the company to identify and repair the problem and that put a bit of a delay in our departure planning.  At this point we had agreed to meet in Port Angeles on Thursday the 28^th. 

Patrick was coming from Edmonds to Pt. Angeles via Point Wilson, one of the roughest places in Puget Sound.  I had been talking to Patrick all day and warning him about gale force winds in the straits.  Well, each time I talked to him he said “It’s foggy here, but we are making good progress”.  Then I warned him about Point Wilson, later finding he breezed right past.  Now I started thinking about the boy that cried wolf.  I knew the forecast was for 30 to 40 knot winds at the east entrance to the straits, but it had yet to kick up.  Well, when we got to Mike Edwards house the straits were flecked with whitecaps.  Now it was starting to blow.  I called Patrick and he advised that things were still manageable, but that he had slowed to 4 knots.  Damn, now he’s committed to making it all the way to Port Angeles, and it’s going to do nothing but get worse.  Well to make a long story short, he arrived in the boat basin about 17:00 with a 25 knot wind.  He wisely chose a side tie rather than trying to shoehorn crosswind into the slip next to me.  In a matter of a few minutes he was tied up and ready to unwind.  I felt terrible hearing that poor Jonathan had actually gotten sick, as no one wants to experience that.  I felt relieved when I saw him and he seemed none the worse for the ware.  I finally got to introduce Marian and Susan and they hit it off just as I knew they would.  Susan is a beautiful woman and one of the most engaging and welcoming people you will ever meet, just like my bride Marian!   Jonathan is the most intelligent young boy I’ve ever met.  With a vocabulary like a college bound scholar and behavior any parent would be proud to see in their children, I find Jonathan a joy to be around. 

As Marian mentioned, Bill and Linda Edwards aboard Wayward Wind were also there.  We all gathered at the dock and discussed a departure time.  I’m a fan of leaving early, at first light, as is Patrick.  Bill felt pushing against the current was counter productive, so we agreed to leave at 6:30am, shortly after sunrise.  The forecast was for calm conditions, an ebbing tide and a benign Pacific for at least 48 hours, the perfect staging for Marian and my first blue water, over night, multi day experience.