Inside Passage 2008

North Vancouver, at the snow line ...

2008-12-10T22:03:00.001-08:00

We're home now: you can visit us at our website www.janyan.com

Don't forget that this blog is presented "backwards": the most recent entries are at the top. Use the archive at the right to see earlier entries ...

Vancouver - We're home

2008-08-23T07:28:00.020-07:00

We left Port McNeil in dense early morning fog, with the radar on and fog horn ready. When we arrived at the Pearse Islands (still early in the morning) we could see two other boats anchored (on the radar: still didn't have enough visibility to see across the anchorage!). We dropped the hook and waited for the fog to lift. We had a great day exploring the islands and listening to the whale-watching boats on the radio, to see if any Orcas were close by. We did see a humpback out in the Strait from the boat.

Eoin at the helm in Pearse Islands

The visibility in the water was incredible: the kelp looked like it was dancing in the current

While waiting for the fog to lift the boys make "huts" in the V-berth

The sunrise the next day was amazing

as we headed up the Johnston Strait with the tide in the fog.

The fog finally lifts.

We spent the night in, Port Neville where Laura the post mistress showed us around the old family store and introduced us to the local deer.

the boys really enjoyed the tree house and the chance to run around.

We explored the inlet in the dinghy and found an amazing little sandy beach that looked like something out of a desert island movie.

Until Conor spotted the bear tracks in the sand!

We got a great boost from the current the next day as we headed down the last of Johnston Strait. We were a little early for clearing the rapids (they can run at 8-10 knots) but what a treat: a pod of Orcas - male, female and young calf - were there to entertain us for the half hour.

After a night in Pendrell Sound we headed to Roscoe Bay to chill at the lake for a few days and celebrate Eoin's birthday.

The boys met a new friend there - Tomasz - and he and his folks joined us for Eoin's birthday celebrations.

the weather forecast was sunshine for a few days, so we decided to end the trip with some beach days at some great beaches recommended by Laurie and Greg. The 1st stop was Tribune Bay on Hornby Island. We even managed to sail there!

What a great spot.

The boys try to convince Ian to sit on a towel ...guess what's underneath. Conor did end up in the hole later!

the boys try Skim Boarding.

On the last day the boys' friend Tomasz arrived. We did a potluck dinner and the boys brought blackberry crisp with the berries we'd picked earlier in the day.

After Hornby we went to Bucaneer and spend a day on the beach

before heading into Vancouver.

It's strange to say it but we are home! We have moved into the house and the boys start school in 9 days!!

Port McNeil

2008-08-05T19:39:00.004-07:00

We have come into Port McNeil, we were here for quite a bit going north. We have tracked down the starter problem to an ignition problem. We've provisioned up for the trip back to Vancouver and are heading off again tomorrow. The boys and I have had a great trip to the local swimming pool yesterday, the sun even came out for the few hours we were there.

Old Steam Donkey at Port McNeil

We went over to Alert bay on the ferry today to visit U'Mista the culture centre for the tribe of the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw today. The totems and Potlatch collection were incredible. This is not a just a museum to display and honor a past culture but a centre like the Haida one in Skidegate that allows the culture to remain strong. It provides a place for the youth to learn their language, dance and carving skills as well as record and document the stories and traditions of the elders.

Relaxing in the sunshine outside U'Mista !

Sullivan Bay

2008-08-03T21:29:00.020-07:00

Bottleneck Inlet

We left Khutze Bay in the fog. Little did we know that we would not see the sun again. There were four big prawns in the trap: we had them as an on-the-way snack. They were absolutely the best prawns ever!!

The boys played cards and we kept out of the rain as we headed south with the tide.

It was a quiet day at Bottleneck Inlet, in the rain. We caught one very large crab for dinner ...

Boukind Bay (Roscoe Inlet)

We had a great trip through Milbanke Sound. What we thought was an odd log coming out of Finlayson Channel turned out to be a humpback lolling on the surface. He dived when we were about 30-40 feet away.

We then spotted some sea otters, and to top it off some white-sided dolphins played at the bow for a short while as we left the sound to come up Seaforth Channel.

the lighthouse and weather station at Ivory Island. It's places like these that provide us with the much needed weather reports.

It turned into a very warm sunny day as we came up Return Passage to Roscoe Inlet.

When the sun comes out again we all try and soak in a few rays on the foredeck underway.
The more observant of you might notice Eoin wearing his PJ's , I have to confess there are days they don't come off!! Jane jumped in the 16.7C water off the swim deck after we anchored, but came out quickly, as the sun had disappeared ...

Head of Roscoe Inlet

We had not been getting good output from our alternator. I had tried tightening the belts, but to no avail. I once again tightened the belts, this time quite tight, and it worked!! I think the problem was that the new alternator body, and perhaps even the output terminal, was too close to one of the engine feet, and might have been shorting out against it.

It took us just over two hours to get to the head of Roscoe Inlet. As we were quite a ways inland, away from the coast, we were well out of the 50-60 mile an hour SE winds bashing the coast. All we got was the rain.

Ocean Falls

We motored to Ocean Falls in the rain, still well-protected from the storm. There was no room at the dock, but "Lady Suzanne" kindly let us raft up to them.
Ocean falls is an old pulp town that used to have a population of 5000 to 6000 it now has a permanent population of 35 and summer population of about 100. The government bull dozed a lot of the town on it's abdonment but a number of key strucutres are still there, the hotel, the hosiptal, the old court house, and the dam and power station.
We had a great walk up to the dam and the lake above the dam. Lots of evidence of bears, but no sightings. On our last visit here 9 years ago a bear had boarded the boat!

Is it the RCMP or a Taxi

We stayed here two nights (several boats, including "Lady Suzanne", left after our first night, so we were able to get in to to the dock, and access shore power for the first time since Queen Charlotte City!).

The second day, in the rain, we did a laundry, and walked to the Rain Coast Store and Audrey's Plants to get a lettuce. We must all be used to the rain: no complaints from anyone as we walked half an hour there and half an hour back in the pouring rain!! It poured from the sky, and from the cliffs along the road ...Finding some coins left by the faries under the fairy rock was a big hit with the boys on the way back and they are all ready planning how to spend it at the next town. 1st choice sweets.

it's good to see Eoin hasn't lost his sense of Irishness. He drew this on his forehead while underway to Pruth Bay.

Pruth Bay

Pruth Bay is somewhere I remember from our last trip for West Beach an incredible beach looking out in the Pacific and the Hakki Fishing resort where we had an incredible meal. This time around we didn't get to enjoy the meal but we had a great visit to the beach.

Next stop Japan.

Checking out the treasure we found.

Looking back onto the beach from one of the trails into the woods.

The intratidal live along the rocks on the beach was amazing.

Conor called this big golf... its a old buoy that had washed up onshore and a stick.

\
Ian finds himeself a new girlfriend!

Ian's self portrait.

This boat was anchored in Pruth Bay with us. Notice the helicopter!!

After spending the morning at West Beach again and Eoin taking a swim in his clothes we headed south to Fury Cove to get better n early start on Cape Caution and around behind Vancouver Island again. As the wind was with us and we had the time we took the time to sort out some of the issues on our furling main and had a good sail down. We saw more hump backs along the way and what blew us all away was two breaching alongside each other about 200ft from the boat.

We came around the cape early in what must be the calmest seas we've ever seen there. An oily sea with a low swell and to top it off the sun was shining as we came into Queen Charlotte strait.

We anchored in Blunden Harbour and met up with Lorne and Pat from Samaria after 8 years!
We baked some bread and the boys went ashore to do an explosion with Ian with some baking soda. I must note not at the abadoned Native village which we did explore later in the afternoon.

We are now in Sullivan Bay a neat floating village with houses, shop and a restaurant.

The boys were a little concerned when we said this is where they would spend the night if they didn't listen to their parents!!

I'm not sure how long we'll stay as I write our engine won't start...
Engine started in the morning but with still no real source of the problem we going to re-group on where to go
next!!

Khutze Inlet (Princess Royal Channel)

2008-07-25T21:52:00.008-07:00

Just a quick update via hf radio, ...Updated in Sullivan Bay with Photos..

this is the lovely sun rise we had leaving Queen Charlotte City across the Hecate st...remember the saying "Red Sky at morning sailors warning" it was a rolly crossing!

Leaving Prince Rupert

We left Prince Rupert in a heavy rain, having to back out of our slip while dodging fishing boats rafted three- and four-deep, we managed to do it without hitting anything, and filled up with fuel and water at the fuel dock ...

Looking back at the dock in prince Rupert

It's been raining for a few days now.. some of you may recognize this look from 9 years ago!!

Baker Inlet

Our first stop out of Prince Rupert was Baker Inlet. The highlight of Baker Inlet is not necessarily the inlet, which is nice enough, but the entrance to it, which is called Watts Narrows, aptly named as it is, in fact, VERY narrow, and the current through it can turn it into a virtual rapids!! Luckily we reached it four minutes after flood slack, after an eight-hour trip from Prince Rupert, fighting currents and the wind.

Dress up passes the time in the rain!

Lowe Inlet
Underway to Lowe Inlet, a male Orca dove three times quite close to the boat. This is the second time this trip we've seen a male alone ...

Its not just whalws we keep an eye out for... there are lots of logs like this along the way that have following of log booms or barges and want to avoid.

We anchored quite close to a large waterfall, which drops about 15 feet at high tide, and about 30 feet at low tide. We had a great walk to the base of the falls through the woods, with lots of singing to let the bears know we were there (we had seen a fine Grizzly on shore earlier), and ate loads of wild blueberries on the way ... In front of the falls, therewere tons of salmon jumping, waiting for high tide to jump over the falls.

Heading towards Verney Falls

the boys checking out the salmon jumping up the falls

the boys checking out an old Salmon weir at Lowe Inlet

The suns out .. a game of Uno in the cockpit

Europa Bay Hot Springs

the mountains of Gardener Canal were incredible in the sunshine on the way to Europa Hot Springs

The hot springs here are excellent! They are a little out of the way, and so are not very busy: we were alone.

Hanging out at the hot springs

We anchored for the night (although the anchoring was "marginal"), as the weather forecast was good. We had all our alarms set (depth, wind speed, etc.) but the night was uneventful. the boys even put on a puppet show.

We left early and had the ebbing and flooding tides with us all the way on the 54-mile trip. On coming through Wright Sound we spotted a mother and young Minke blow and dive a few times.

Khutze Inlet

We're just wrapping up two days in Khutze (pronounced Kootz) Inlet, a beautiful "bomb-proof" anchorage surrounded by snow-capped mountains, with a stunning waterfall cascading several hundred feet down a mountainside. (A lot of the anchorages through here are similar, in that the mountains rise steeply out of the water: it feels as though you could reach out and almost touch the snow ...) The weather in here has been hot and sunny for most of the two days. As we explored in the dinghy near the
base of the waterfall, a young grizzly bear wandered into the clearing and we spent 20 minutes watching him eat grass not 20 feet away!!

There is also a large river estuary feeding into the inlet, and the mouth of the river is full of seals, almost cheek by jowl, waiting for salmon to start the trip up the river. It was here we also saw a very young grizzly cub playing, running through the grasses, and standing on this hind legs.While we explored the estuary in the dinghy we spotted the cub's
and mother's tracks in the mud.

We've dropped both traps (crab and prawn) here, already had success with the crab trap, had crab linguine for dinner!! We'll pick up both traps on the way out tomorrow, hoping for lots of prawns, we had a great catch when we stayed here 10 years ago!

Conor Bringing us back to the boat after setting the prawn trap.

You can tell we are getting back into more popular cruising grounds as we go south: there are three boats at anchor here tonight.

It was such a great stay, we broke out granny's Christmas pudding. Yummy!! All four of us went for seconds, and finished the pudding in one sitting!!

Haida Gwaii

2008-07-15T12:30:00.051-07:00

On our last night in Haida Gwaii, we thought we should bring the blog up to date on our wonderful visit. It started with a visit to the very south end of the island group, to a small island on the west coast just out into the Pacific called SGaang Gwaii. It is the site of an old Haida village.

On arrival at Gordon Cove and landing on SGaang Gwaii, Conor's first words were "this island is magical". The richness of the shell life and bone life on the beach told of the bounty in the seas around ...

and the forest was enchanting as you looked up into it from the shore.
We walked over to the watchman hut where Shirley and Jordon greeted us. Jordon was to join us on our trip to the abandoned village. Conor was very saddened by the fact that 90% of the population had died from smallpox on making contact with Europeans. It was due to this huge decrease in population that the village was eventually abandoned.

The high wall in the woods here was used to shelter children if the village was attacked by enemies. The children would be let out through the back of the longhouse, where a ladder would be raised to let the children scramble to the top and hide.

The mortuary poles that still stand are quite inspiring. The boys enjoyed identifying the whales, eagles, bears, and other animals and fish carved on them.

In the picture below, I am holding a sea urchin shell that Eoin found under a tree. The purple colour was amazing. Since the sea otters are no longer around to eat them, the kelp really suffers. Sea otters have been spotted on the west coast of Haida Gwaii so they are slowly coming back along the kelp patches.

After leaving SGaang Gwaii we took advantage of the flooding tide and headed up the coast to Bag Harbour. Here's Eoin the next day, rowing around while we wait for low tide to explore Burnaby Narrows. This area is renowned for the incredible intratidal life.

So much so that the deer (and quite often bear)

and this oyster catcher are also out searching in it at low tide.

I'm on rowing duty as we slowly work our way through the narrows at low tide slack (that's when there is no tidal stream)

The photo doesn't do the intratidal justice but it will give you an idea of the star fish, star bats, sea urchins to be found here.

Here are the boys all weighing anchor to head up to Hot Springs.

and what a treat that was.....
So nice we think we'll come back again tomorrow.

We anchored just off the springs and Ilari looked great in the water as we soaked!

We headed up to Windy Bay early the following morning, and had a great trip ashore with the watchmen David and Paul.

The walk through the forest was amazing. It's incredible the tree formations that can occur when the nursery logs rot away.

The highlight was the "Big Tree"

It would take 15 adults to hold hands around it but for someone the size of Eoin that might be more like 25!

A view back at Ilari as we walked through the woods in Windy Bay... note the great day.

We managed to have a bit of a sail back for our 2nd visit to Hot Springs, again in sunshine and then headed over to Haswell Bay for the night. We spotted two Sand Cranes on shore. They looked like ostriches they stood so tall and the feathers are very fluffed at the back.

While out rowing with the boys, we spotted this great cloud formation behind the boat, it looks like a ski slope.

This one, spotted in Echo Bay, looked like a glacier coming down the inlet. Where is headed to the next day.

Oon the way we spotted this whale!
Here is is off in the distance as we entered Hoya Passage.

He makes his way slowly over to us to say hello

...and puts on an amazing show.

He rolled

and he showed his flippers

as he was so close we could hear his breathing. At times it even felt like he was talking to us.

After about 20-30 minutes we backed away and let him move on. All aboard were completely blown away by the experience. I'm not sure that photos can capture it.

We anchored for a few nights in echo bay, as recommended by David the watchman in Windy Bay. Here's me rowing us all up to have a look at the waterfall.

The deer onshore were really friendly. We had hoped to see bears onshore but none were spotted, so we were delighted to catch sight of our first bears of the trip in Thurston Harbour on our first night out of the park.

While waiting out for better sea conditions to head up to Queen Charlotte City we spend a day at Gordon cove near Moresby Camp where the boys spend the day making masks, listening to stories and looking for Waldo!

On arrival in Queen Charlotte City the dock was full so we anchored out in Bearskin Bay. Which meant Ian's sister Nathalie could see us arrive from her window in town!

We visited the Museum and Haida Cultural Centre where Nathalie is the director. The extension and changes that have taken place over the last few years are world class. Unfortunately we'll miss the official opening which is later in August.
Over the last few years contemporary Haida artists have carved some incredible house posts.

Some are still in progress in the carving house where some new canoes are also being carved.

A big hit for the boys was the performance house where the both took to the floor to dance to the beat of the drums!

The boys were blown away by Balance rock, an incredible precariously-placed rock that has stood for generations.

A big advantage to being in town is that Auntie Nathalie is on hand to read stories on the boat and at the cabin!

The trip to the cabin was fantastic I felt I really got to shut down I didn't need to worry about weather, tides and currents or our next anchor spot!
It's a one room cabin on 7 acres of wood in Naikoon Provincial Park that stretches onto the beach... a great getaway.
Here's Conor picking wild strawberries on the way to the beach. The cabin is peeking through the trees. We've been lucky to feast on salmon berries while here also.

There is a sea monster at the beach end to mark the spot.

There are even Jedi warriors there!

We took a great hike up to the Tell river mouth and a wreck from the 1920s, and found all sorts of treasures along the way.

We even spotted some river otters at the mouth. They were upset about something and making an awful snorting sound.

Here's Eoin with all the sand dollars Ian and he found!

Its not all beach walking. Conor learned to play Solitaire (Patience) while a humming bird came by to dance mid-air for us. The Haida say that humming birds bring joy and healing. I can only say that Conor and I were really uplifted by the experience.

We also went up to the north coast where the rock formations are very similar to the north coast of Ireland.

The forest around the property is great for exploring.
Here are Conor and Eoin searching for an old Haida Sweat Lodge.

and Conor and Ian on the trail to the road.

note the mushroom-like features when the moss grows on the stumps!

But it's not all play.. wood has to be cut for the stove.

And fires have to be lit on the beach

for marshmallow roasts!!

Rose Inlet, Haida Gwaii

2008-06-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

We left Dyer Cover yesterday at sunrise (well, it was 4:30 am) for the big leg of the trip: a 16-hour crossing of the Queen Charlotte Sound to the southern tip of Gwaii Hanas, the National Park .

A killer whale (odd to see just one) and a humpback whale came out to say goodbye ...

It was an endurance test for all of us, as we headed into 2 meter rollers for the whole way.

We made good time, and a humpback whale came out to welcome us into the Hudson Channel.

We spent last night on a mooring in Rose Harbour, just around the corner from here, but it was a little rolly from the swell, so we moved to Rose Inlet this morning. We had deflated the dinghy and put it on deck for the Queen Charlotte Sound crossing, and this morning we re-deployed it, and went ashore for a short exploration.

A magical moss-covered forest, wonderful bird life, and an incredible diversity of shells, including the largest mussel shell we've ever seen.

Back on board for tea, card games, stories, and more of the banana biscuits Jane baked this morning. The boys drew comic strips before going to bed.

Tomorrow we're heading for SGang Gwaay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (previously known as Nintints, on Anthony Island).

June 22 Shearwater

2008-06-22T21:25:00.010-07:00

The plan was to be in Gwaii Hannas by now but a new challenge ! has come up and delayed us a little. We have decided that this is the wake up trip! There are bound to be a few problems with the boat coming out of hibernation.

We had a great trip around Cape Caution despite the boys being a little seasick. We spotted a sea otter on its back having lunch about 8 miles before the cape and then at around 2 miles before the cape a Humpback came by and put on a display.

It`s very hard to capture the moment on camera. Click to enlarge

We spend a very calm night at Green Island anchorage as a SE Gale brewed back where we'd come from!!

We decided to head up the Fitz Hugh Sound to Codville Lagoon the next day. A humpback followed us up a bit of the way. We spotted him first a few miles off when he must have breached and made an incredible splash!

Ian and Conor at the bow in the rain.

Conor Navigating while I shelter from the rain!!

The rain finally stopped (it had been rainy for nearly 36 hours) when we got to Codville and the boys and I went out in the dingy. If there aren't great trails to explore onshore the boys love to scramble along the foreshore. I drop them off and follow in the dinghy so they can be picked up again when the way is no longer passable.

Seconds after we got back on the boat the heaviest rainfall came down .. we must have had about 2 inches of water in the dingy the next morning!!

On discovering the alternator isn't working we decided to go into Shearwater .

We came through Lama passage on the way with this cruise ship. Conor wanted to jump ship when we told him it had swimming pools, cinemas and resturants on board.

Its the weekend so Ian's been trying to get things sorted.. no luck so far. We'll see if someone can take a look in the morning. In the mean time the boys and I have been exploring. We took a muddy walk up to a lake today and the boys made friends with some local kids Callum and Desmond and played ball with them for a while.

The boys add a stone to what looks like an ongoing build!

The boys figured it was easier to get their legs muddy so the trousers came off.

The local Eagle has been keeping the boys amused and they also heard their first raven call when out for our walk today... we're pretty sure we spotted bear and dear tracks along the way also.

June 19th Port McNeill - Heading North

2008-06-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

Day 28: 50˚35.499'N 127˚05.368'W

Since Blind channel we have come up the Johnston Strait, stopping off in Port Harvey to avoid a NW gale... We set the prawn and crab traps and manged to catch one large prawn, which I cooked coming down the inlet, and a huge starfish took a fancy to our crab trap!

There are quite a few float homes in Port Harvey... this one caught our eye, it's not often we come across someone listing more to port than ourselves!!

We've been in Port McNeill for the past four days, sorting out a generator problem and sourcing electronic charts for the Queen Charlottes, which we discovered (to our horror, only once we had arrived in Port McNeil!) are not in the West Coast chart package we have. The boys have been busy watching the log loading operation near the dock, playing in the local park and we even took a trip to the local swimming pool.

Conor has discovered the BLT, and has had several during our stay here.

Here they are, close to the park beside the world's largest burl... 24 tonnes apparently!!

We plan to head out early in the morning across Queen Charlotte strait... We won't have internet access again until Queen Charlotte City in a few weeks, but we'll try and get some updates done over the radio.

Engine problems

2008-06-18T19:22:00.003-07:00

OK, so here’s the blog you’ve been waiting for: the stuff that’s going wrong on our trip.

We have two diesel engines on this boat: a Yanmar 44 hp turbocharged 4-cylinder main engine (4JH-HTE), and a Yanmar 3-cylinder generator (commonly referred to as a genset)(3GM-FL). These two engines have performed flawlessly for us for the entire time we’ve owned the boat (since 1998).

If we are staying at an anchorage for more than one night, we would normally run the genset for about 45 minutes in the morning, and then another 45 minutes at night, to refresh the batteries.

We have several different ways we can charge our batteries: the genset; shore power when we have it; the alternator on the main engine; and solar power (we have one panel which can provide 6-8 amps on a sunny day …).

Pirates Cove

Pirates Cove was one of our two-night stays, so during the full-day portion of our stay, we ran the genset in the morning. Then, when we attempted to start it that evening, it wouldn’t start. Neither would the main engine!!

Now, I have always been a little intimidated (terrified?) by engines, even though I grew up in rural Ontario, where you’d expect that exposure to tractors and other farm equipment would give one a certain comfort level with these things. A large diesel engine has always been a black box to me. I have learned where the solenoid is, because sometimes our “stop” button malfunctions, and I have to get down into the engine area and manually stop the motor.

So, there we were, with neither engine able to start, batteries slowly losing power (note that we have a LOT of battery power on the boat, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 800 amp hours. Six 12-volt batteries for our main “house” bank, which drives all the onboard stuff like lights, water pressure, electronics, etc.; a separate battery for the main engine starter; another separate battery for the genset starter; and finally a large separate battery for the bow thruster). The problem with the main engine appeared to be insufficient battery power. Somewhere I’d read that there was a way to combine all our batteries into one giant bank of batteries, so we got all our manuals out, and Jane found the way to do it. Once combined, there was enough power to start the main engine, which we then used to charge the batteries.

The following morning, we were still unable to start our genset, and we were very concerned about our batteries, as the starter battery should have been strong enough to start the engine. We decided to change our plans, and go to Secret Cove to get help, as I’d read that this was a good place to resupply going north (which we are).

Secret Cove

So, we went to Secret Cove. Once we got there, it looked pretty quiet. Jane asked why we had come here; I re-explained that this was, according to the book, a good place to get supplies, access to marine equipment, diesel mechanics, etc. Jane re-read the book, and pointed out that we should have gone to Secret Bay, not Cove. However, we were here now. It was raining: we anchored, and I dinghied over to the only marina we could see. At this point, what we thought we needed were new batteries for the main engine starter and the genset starter, so that’s what I bought. We took them back to the boat, and swapped the old ones out and the new ones in.

Nothing happened. We couldn’t start either engine. As luck would have it, John, from the marina, was passing our anchorage in his work boat. I hailed him, and he came over. I invited him aboard to have a look, and before he even looked at anything he asked whether there was water in the engine. I said I wasn’t sure, so he opened the air intake, and water flooded out. My heart sank, I thought oh no, we need a new genset, but he advised us that this wasn’t unusual, and that the engine could easily recover. ‘All’ (!!) we had to do is remove the injectors, turn the fly wheel until the water was out of all the valves, then put it back together and it should start. He didn’t have time to help us; he was three weeks behind as it was …

Ha! Those instructions were pretty much a lot of gibberish to me. Well, after a long discussion with Jane, we decided to try it. We got out the manuals, read them, re-read them, and finally tackled the job. We got the injectors out, turned the fly wheel (that was the hard part, because of the way the engine sits in the genset compartment, I had to turn it by pushing the fan belt), tons of water came out, then we carefully put the whole thing back together again, and HOLY COW!!!!! IT STARTED !!!!! With a ton of smoke, but it started!!

We were VERY happy! I went back to John the next morning, told him that it worked. He told me that after he left us the previous night, he’d remembered that there might be compression release levers on the engine, which would get rid of the water without having to disassemble anything. Once back on the boat, we looked at the engine, looked at the manuals, and sure enough, we have compression release levers. Even so, the experience we got taking those injectors out was invaluable.

Chatterbox Falls

Arriving at Chatterbox Falls, at the top of Princess Louisa Inlet, we dropped anchor, and then prepared to do a shore tie (this is a technique whereby you fix yourself in place by having the anchor holding you at the bow, and a line from your boat to the shore to hold your stern. This way your boat doesn’t swing around, as it normally would due to wind and current). We shut down the main engine, then I dinghied to shore with a line, to tie it to a ring fixed to a rock. We would normally now have used the engine to reverse towards shore, to shorten the distance and tighten ourselves up between the land and the anchor. But the engine would not start.

Tried to start the genset. It wouldn’t start again, and we made use of the decompression levers: a ton of water came out, but once the water was out, we were able to start it. Once the batteries were recharged, we were also able to start the main engine.

Princess Louisa inlet was another two-night stay: the following morning we started the genset (no problem). Then, for good measure, we started the main engine. No problem.

The following morning, we prepared to leave. We attempted to start the main engine: nothing happened. After about half an hour of trying, we realised that something was very wrong. As it happened, there were quite a few trawlers at the dock, and I went over to see it anyone could help. Well, everyone was willing to help! First, Larry came over and towed us with their dinghy over to the dock. Then, Harold from the Madeira II came on board, tried to start the engine, listened to what was happening, and felt fairly certain that there was water in the engine. I had already looked at the injectors on the engine, and knew that removing them would be a much more difficult job than it had been on the genset. However, Harold suggested a much easier solution: loosen the bolts on the manifold, and the water would be able to get out that way. We looked at the manuals (our boat is blessed with an extensive library of manuals for everything aboard …), and Harold went back to his boat and returned with an impressive array of tools. We were able, after a lot of work, to get the manifold loose enough to let water out, and sure enough, there was a lot of water in the engine! I was able to get easy access to the flywheel, and with great difficulty I turned the flywheel until all the water was out.

We put it all back together, and sure enough (again with a great billow of white smoke) the engine started!!

All the while, there was much speculation on what the problem was, and why both engines had failed essentially at the same time when there was no significant connection between the two. They share a common sea water intake, and share a common fuel supply, but that’s it …

By this time, it was too late to leave, so we spent another night at Chatterbox Falls.

Pender Harbour

The next morning, everything seemed to be working, so we left Chatterbox Falls, and motored to Pender Harbour, where we hoped to figure out what the problem was. We radioed ahead to arrange for a mechanic to come down and give us an assessment of the problem. Chuck, from Pender Diesel, came to the boat about a half hour after we docked, and had a look: suggested that it was either our mixing elbow (beyond the scope of this blog!) or our muffler.

Once there, at the dock, we tested a few things, but everything seemed to be still okay. But we had a nagging feeling that we hadn’t found the problem.

[An interesting note: while rummaging around the genset, I realised that the foam air filter was disintegrating. While in the general store looking for some kind of substitute, I left the air filter cover on the floor. I looked around, and a man was peering down at the cover, and when I walked back, he said “Yanmar air filter”. Turned out he was a diesel mechanic, name of Garfield. I was very impressed! He also gave me a substitute for the foam: wrap a stainless steel scouring pad around the core inside the air filter cover …]

Squirrel Cove

We left Pender Harbour, went to Squirrel Cove, still everything seemed okay. However, the following morning the main engine was again full of water, this time in a secluded anchorage … We knew what to do, but still didn’t have the proper tools: luckily Ken from Veritas III nearby had the socket wrench sizes we needed, and after a couple of hours we got the main engine working again. This time we determined to go to a town where the facilities existed to sort this out once for all, and we headed for Campbell River.

Campbell River

Once there, we contacted Altech Marine, and Terry came out to have a look. He took out the mixing elbow (!!) to test it back at the shop. He also mentioned that the anti-siphon valves needed to be looked at, as they were one of the main causes of water in the engine.

We located two anti-siphon valves: we assumed they were for the main and genset, but they didn’t appear to be connected. One was a strange type of anti-siphon, which had a small air tube coming out the top, and leading to a vent at the stern, which was connected to a second similar tube coming from somewhere else. We didn’t pay a lot of attention to the second tube.

The following morning Terry came back. He said there was nothing wrong with the mixing elbow. We checked the two anti-siphon valves, they seemed to be okay. Terry left.

I decided to try to find out where the second tube on the stern vent was coming from. After some searching, I found it: another anti-siphon valve!! This was the one actually being used by the genset!! We had found a connection between the two engines, and Terry had said that anti-siphon valves were a common cause of water getting into the engine. We went back to where the tubes met at the stern: they met, then they could either go out the stern through an air vent, or though a through-hull close to the water line. We did a test: we disconnected the tube from the main engine anti-siphon valve, and then started up the genset. Sure enough, a small but steady stream of water started flowing out of the tube at the main engine anti-siphon valve: if not disconnected, it would have been flowing into the engine!!

After more investigation, we discovered that the through-hull was blocked! It turned out that a rag had been left in the hole after they painted the hull (all the through-hulls had been blocked, to prevent them getting painted over). After a bit of work, we got the cloth out.

In the meantime, we’ve equipped ourselves with an impressive array of tools, so that if it happens again, we’ll at least have the wherewithal to fix it.

Port McNeill

In Port McNeill, I changed the fuel filter on the genset, and then couldn’t bleed the air out of the system. It took two days of work, then I gave up and called a mechanic, who managed to bleed it after a lot of work, dong pretty much what I had been doing, but he was just a little more brutal about it than I had been …

June 11 - Blind Channel

2008-06-11T22:20:00.021-07:00

So where have we been since the last update…

After Chatterbox Falls we headed to Pender Harbour. We stayed at Fisherman’s Resort and took a real shine to the place. While Ian was sorting out the Engine and doing oil changes the boys and I headed up to the Garden Bay Lake to swim in the sun shine. We spotted some turtles sunning themselves on the logs on the way. Although the boys went fishing at the lake edge I was the only one who took the plunge, the 1^st swim of the season.

Ian and the boys saw a huge school of fish waiting for the reversing rapids into a small lake beside the marina. It may have been some herring going into the sealake to spawn. We liked Pender Harbour so much we have investigated getting a spot year round for the boat there. Although when the season starts we figure it’s a very different and certainly much busier place.

After Pender Harbour still without an answer to our engine problems we headed up to Squirrel cove and got our first real sail of the trip with a good wind from the SE, we had a great run with the Jib and the new Staysail up.

Unfortunately, when we went to take in the jib, the UV strip got quite damaged flapping in the wind (something we forgot to get looked at over the winter, and it’s been exposed for the last 10 years!). (On a sail which furls around a rod rather than getting taken down, the outer edge (the leech), which remains exposed to the elements, is usually covered with an additional piece of material to protect the sail itself from ultraviolet radiation).

We had a great day at Squirrel Cove at low tide. There was a lot to be discovered! Crab, Starfish, Sea Cucumbers (California Sticlopus)... My favourite was the Leather Star, and Eoin spotted a cool green one. Conor spotted lots of yellow goop and we were delighted, when we looked it up when we got back to the boat, to find it was called Boring Sponge!

After Squirrel Cove we headed over to Campbell River ( see engine trouble log!!) . It was touch and go if we’d be able to fight the current to get in. Campbell River is very close to Seymour Narrows, where the tidal current can run up to 16 knots!! (Our top boat speed is 8 knots). We did manage to just fight the current (and a 20-knot wind!), and had a great few days in Campbell River, somewhere we might not have visited if we hadn’t had the engine issues. Good fish and chips was had at Dick's, and the boys really enjoyed the trip to the Maritime museum. The highlight for Ian and me was probably getting to the bottom of our engine problem, and a great meal at Patti’s Lighthouse restaurant at the top to of the dock, where we all enjoyed the great live music from Ocean Pearl. We also took down the jib, and found someone who could repair the tears in the UV strip.

One advantage to being in town for a few days is that you get to buy the newpapers!

After leaving Campbell River we decided to stay close by for a while and make sure everything was really sorted. We headed over to Rebecca Spit, about 12 miles away, for a few days. It had a great beach with some of the best drift wood we’ve seen, and there was even somewhere to catch ball and play football.

The weather was so good one day the first sea swim of the trip was had. The last night there was however pretty miserable at anchor, with the wind blowing heavily from the NW.

As the NW wind wasn’t going to let up we moved on to Octopus Island about 12 miles further north and with great protection from the NW. This meant we got to enjoy the sunshine the NW gale was bringing without the wind effects. A supper day was had by all with our first real chill in the cockpit with books.

Today we have moved on to Blind Channel, a small resort that Ian and I have been to before and really liked. The sun is still shining and the wind easing from the NW so we might even get to sail up the Johnston straight tomorrow. We spotted some dolphins and porpoises along the way, and once at the dock at Bline Channel, had a great walk through the forest to a huge cedar tree.

Thanks to a tree stump !

Conor's Family pic

Eoin's Family Pic

We’ll take it easy in the morning before heading out with the tide up the Johnston Straight to the north east tip of Vancouver Island.

The picture so far!

2008-05-30T21:48:00.052-07:00

Lunch on the way to Pirates cove

Cave Painting at Pirates cove

There is always a playground around when you need one!

There is always lots to explore at low tide and the Birds come looking also...Conor watched the seaguls peck at the ground for clams and tried to copy them!

So what do we do underway.......besides view the incredible scenery!!

"work" and drawing are a big hit, there is also lots of card playing and games. Both Boys are teaching themselves the tin whistle and reading and of course Nintendo are the usual hits

Ilari at Chatterbox falls, Princess Louisa Inlet. The 1st one is too give a sense of the size of the Fjord..

The Family at the falls... The 1st photo is one Eoin took of his family the 2nd Conor of his and the 3rd one that Pat and Dan from Rogue took of us all. The rest are just hanging out

The Rainforest around the falls is amazing. Great mosses and ferns.. We all had a great time playing hide and seek in it

Catching and eating our mussel, clam and oyster tea at MacDonald Island Princess Louisa Inlet...

Day 7: Chatterbox Falls, Princess Louisa Inlet

2008-05-30T21:40:00.003-07:00

[ 50 12.265 N 123 46.166 W ]

Since Reid Harbor, we've come back into Canada. The first two nights in Canada we anchored at Pirate's Cove, had great fun walking the trails trying to find the deer we spotted on the first night, and then spent the afternoon walking the low tide line looking for crabs, clams, and starfish.

We left Pirate's Cove with the boys still sleeping, crossed the Strait of Georgia, and anchored in Secret Cove for one night, where we resolved some engine issues (more to follow on this in a separate blog at some point).

The following day, we experienced calm light winds up the Jervis Inlet, through the Malibu Rapids, and anchored at the top of Princess Louisa Inlet, at Chatterbox Falls.

We're in the most spectacular inlet: cliffs towering above us on all sides, with dozens of waterfalls, everywhere, and then Chatterbox Falls in front of us, a thundering torrent of a waterfall. We've spent two days here, went ashore and walked up to the edge of the falls (got drenched!), and we took the dinghy back about two miles to MacDonald Island for oysters, clams, and mussels, which we had for tea!

Lots of photos to follow ...

Day 2: Reid Harbor, Stuart Island 48 40.299 N 123 11.308 W

2008-05-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

This is our first anchorage on this trip ... The sun is setting, the boys are in bed, the dishes are done, having a glass of wine in the pilothouse, watching other boats arrive and anchor ...

An uneventful short trip (12 miles) from Friday Harbor to here. After we anchored, we took the dinghy to shore, and went for a wonderful walk through the woods of the state park on the island. Tall cedars, eagles, bright flowers growing out of the moss on the rocks.

We're thinking of spending a second night here before heading back into Canada (Where harbor is spelt harbour). Or not: it all depends on how things look here when we wake up tomorrow morning.

This is also the first blog entry where we can't go back to look at the blog and see how it looks, we're sending it via the SSB (single sideband radio), and we have no internet access.

Day 1

2008-05-22T21:04:00.007-07:00

We've left the dock, after two weeks at Van Isle Marina in Sidney BC. The boat's "loaded" with supplies for the next three months! We're sitting in Friday Harbor (sic), and we've just had tea at the top of the dock, at the same restaurant we went to 10 years ago with Jane's parents.... although Conor and Eoin did try to catch tea off the dock.. there is good shrimping around here.

The plan is to spend a few days in the San Juans, before heading back into Canada, then north ... The boys have had there first Orca sighting, off the Vancouver - Victoria ferry, and we spotted lots of porpoises and seals on the crossing over today... so hopefully that is a good omen for the wild life sightings over the summer.

We'll try to keep you posted ever few days and post some photos whenever we're at a dock with internet connection...

These shots are of hut building and hanging out on Princess Margarget Marine Park on a day trip we took out of Sidney. That's Ilari in the background...