Arrival at Princess Louisa Inlet

Princess Louisa Inlet is one of those rare places on earth where time feels like it stands still. When we are there I feel like we step out of the flow of time and the rest of the world marches on without us. The peace, solitude and insane beauty soothe the soul and we relax into happiness.

We arrived at Princess Louisa after a night's staging at Egmont where we walked to the infamous Skookumchuck Rapids which left us sweaty and stinky for our dinner reservation at the upscale West Coast Wilderness Lodge. Perched over the water, the lodge has stunning views of the islands below. It felt strange to be sitting in such an elegant setting in our grubby clothes on our way to the middle of nowhere. The following day we made our way up Jervis Inlet and hit Malibu Rapids at slack. After making it through safely, we watched in awe as the magic and beauty of Princess Louisa unfolded. This is our second time here and I still don't have words that can describe what it is to be here. It takes our breath away.

Click here for photos.

Blissed Out in Buccaneer Bay

First thing to know about Buccaneer Bay is that the anchoring is 0.7 miles from the beach and, in our experience, the current, wind and waves are always against you when you paddle a kayak to or from your boat. Expect to get wet. We spent two nights here and plenty of hours on the beach. Emma decided it was her favorite place on earth and that she would never leave. We spent our first afternoon wiggling our feet in shlarpy, wet sand until we sunk in up to our knees and all of the silliness that accompanies such activity. Dismayed that we hadn't worn our bathing suits, we settled on a wading session, after which the boys received their very first ballet lesson. I can't think of a more picturesque place to learn ballet and jump around like a half crazed monkey.

The next day we had a lazy morning in the boat while we waited for the misting drizzle to stop and the sun to come out. After lunch we paddled into the beach. First order of business was drip castles. Emma taught Aaron how to make amazing, stalagmite-esque castles by dripping wet sand in piles while Jason and Isaac went head to head in a long jump contest. The long jump was followed by a foot-race where Isaac totally smoked Jason. It was awesome to watch him pull away from his old man like he was standing still. Isaac and Emma had a wobbly cartwheel race that ended in giggles. All the activity left everyone hungry so we sat down to a snack. Luckily we had not made the same mistake we had made the previous day and we remembered to lock the Cheez Puffs in the hatch of the kayak. The day before we had left the Cheez Puffs out and a raven had taken them, eaten them all and then heckled Jason as he looked in vain for them. The kids then stripped down to their swimming suits and headed into the ocean. The breeze was a bit too much for us older folk to join so we watched them shiver from afar. We ended the day with a walk down the beach as we watched orcas in the strait. Pure bliss.

Click here for photos.

Bowen Island

Somebody has to stop me....I keep buying and hoarding food. I bought all of the aforementioned food when we were in Seattle. I bought more when we were in Sidney and I'm ashamed to say I went to the grocery store three times in the two days we spent on Bowen Island. I imagine the places we are headed are so remote I won't ever find food again even though we have been to many of these places and I know they do have food. It's a terrible affliction to have. 

Our eating trend continued at Bowen. After our arrival we promptly bee-lined to the French crepe restaurant for lunch followed by afternoon tea at the coffee shop. The kids and Jason then checked out a bookstore while I went to the grocery store. After showers and wifi catch-up we walked up to the pizza place and ordered pizzas for take-out. While we waited, I went to the grocery store....again. We ate our pizza dinner at the beachfront park. After dinner I stowed away our groceries and we went for a sunset walk. 

The kids were pooped by the time we got to Bowen so the following day we took it easy. The kids spent the morning around the table drawing, writing and reading together. While Jason and I were drinking our morning caffeine out on the foredeck a man walked by and complimented our boat color and nailed it as sea foam green. He then circled back and asked if we'd like a watercolor of our boat. We took him up on his offer and he set up an easel on the dock. The kids occasionally popped out of the boat to check his progress throughout the morning. The painting turned out beautiful and it now hangs on our wall in the salon. In the afternoon Isaac and Emma helped Jason apply another coat of varnish to the toe rail while I....went to the grocery store....again. We then roused ourselves out of the boat for a short hike up the hill for a gorgeous view over the water. For dinner we discovered the Japanese restaurant, Shika Provisions. We ordered grilled rice balls that bordered on divine. Seriously. We ordered five more to bring back to the boat so I could reheat them the following night. I still miss the rice balls. 

Click here for photos.

Gulf Islands Tour

After a whirlwind couple of days in Sidney and Victoria we set sail for Princess Cove on Portland Island. This is Emma's first time on a sailboat and it was so fun to watch her amazement as we set into motion. The kids were all smiles out on the foredeck as we motored out into the water. With light winds from behind us, it was a perfect day for an introduction to sailing. Isaac, literally, showed her the ropes. Together they raised the main sail followed by the jib. Then we relaxed and enjoyed the motion of the boat. Along the way the kids made a hilarious iMovie about ferrets, hidden chihuahuas, and epic seas. After a lovely sail we tried out our new anchor for the first time in Princess Cove at Portland Island. The anchor worked well with an immediate solid catch.

Princess Cove is a beautiful anchorage but roll-y as it is exposed to ferry traffic. I was a little worried about the rolling being potentially nauseating to Emma but she loved the motion. After we were all settled we dropped the kayaks into the water and paddled to shore. We first walked over to the old orchard left over from a group of Hawaiians who had tried to settle long ago. After watching the chihuahua run happy circles through the green meadow the kids lounged in the grass and made daisy chains for close to an hour. We then hiked over to the white shell beach formed from discarded shells of the First Nations people. The kids blissfully (I'm probably going to use this word a lot over the course of the next few weeks) threw rocks into the gorgeous green-blue waters. Back at the boat the kids played guitar while admiring the sunset. Emma even brought a travel violin that she broke out for a Celtic tune.

The next day we stopped in Ganges for lunch and diesel before hopping over to James Bay on Prevost Island. We spent the following morning on shore exploring tide pools, playing in the trees of the old orchard and taking a hike out to lighthouse point for a picnic lunch and gorgeous views. In the afternoon we made the short hop across to Montague Bay. We were hot and sticky when we arrived in the warm sunshine of late afternoon. Against all reason Emma and I desperately wanted a swim. We didn't think it could possibly be warm enough but after some waffling we both couldn't help ourselves. We both disappeared below to change into our swimsuits. We emerged up top still unsure if we would really swim. I crawled out on our kayak Banana and starting dipping my legs while Emma bravely and boldly lowered herself from the swim step and swam over to Banana. Emboldened by her swim, I lowered myself in. It felt soooo good. It wasn't nearly as icy as I had anticipated. All the boys incredulously watched from the cockpit. After a few more dips, they couldn't help themselves and joined us. It was so amazing to be swimming in May. After we had our fill, we sprawled out on the foredeck to soak up the heat from the warm teak decks. After we had changed back into dry clothing we paddled to shore to catch the the famous Hummingbird Pub Bus. After waiting at the bus stop for a while, we discovered that the pub bus is only running Fridays and Saturdays at this time of year. Bummer. So it was back to the boat for yellow curry and more music instead. Not too bad.

The following morning we were up at 5:50am so we could hit Active Pass at slack tide. The Strait of Georgia was behaving herself this time with calm winds and seas and we had a lovely sail across. Six hours later we arrived at Bowen Island with both Emma and I only slightly green from the choppy waves that developed towards the end. It has been so fun to introduce Emma to the sailing life in the Gulf Islands. She is soaking it up and loving every step of the way. We love watching the wonder of it all through her fresh eyes.

Click here for photos.

Meet Emma

Meet Emma, our dear friend. She has been the boys' faithful and hilarious companion in classes and fun for the last six months. With great excitement and enthusiasm, she bravely accepted our offer to join us on the boat...for three weeks. So after our two lovely nights at Sucia we headed north to Sidney BC where she was scheduled to arrive the next day. The morning after our arrival we hopped on the bus to the airport where we waited in breathless anticipation for her arrival. After weeks of worrying about the proper paperwork she should carry and how her flight would go from the US to Canada we all rejoiced when she bravely walked through the arrival doors. Thank you to her family for being willing to part with her for so long and brave enough to send her our way for a sailboat adventure. We are so grateful to share this amazing experience with her and have her wonderful, sunshiny presence on the boat. Though she had been awake since 3:30am she was excited and ready for the day. After dropping her stuff off at the boat we grabbed some lunch at Bistro Suisse before hopping onto a standing-room-only bus to Butchart Gardens. Everything was in full bloom and it was so fun to watch Emma's reaction to the gardens and see it through her eyes. The kids were totally blissed out in each others company as they lingered to take photos along the way. We managed to squeeze in for the final high tea of the day where we happily drank some much-needed caffeine and stuffed ourselves silly with delicious pastries. We caught a cab back to Sidney where we ended our day at a Thai restaurant. Exhausted and extremely stuffed we collapsed into bed. The following day we grabbed a taxi and headed into Victoria for the 132nd annual Victoria Day parade. After watching our fill of the 2+hour (cut down from from previous year's 3 1/2 hours) parade we got in line at our favorite fish n' chips spot, Red Fish Blue Fish, down on the pier. After a walk along the water we stopped for tea and eclairs at Murchie's. You may be noticing a pattern here. When we are in a city we mostly just eat and eat and eat. In the late afternoon we hopped on a double-decker bus back to Sidney where we relaxed a little bit on the boat before we headed back out to, eat.

Click here for photos.

San Juan Sweep

After a nights stay in Port Townsend we set sail for the San Juans. Our first couple nights were spent at one of our forever-favorite spots, Watmough Bay, where we hiked another lovely Mother's Day away. Our next stop was Rosario Resort. We spent our first afternoon swimming in the super cool 1920's indoor pool and showering. The next day we hired a taxi to drive us part way up Mount Constitution. He dropped us at the Little Summit trailhead. From there we hiked the last two miles to the top where we enjoyed one of our favorite views in the world before hiking the six miles back down to Rosario. We spent our next night in the tiny picturesque cove at Matia Island where we walked the winding trail below towering old-growth trees. While I was lounging about on the fore-deck in the sun I watched bald and golden eagles swoop through the anchorage and listened to the chattering of the resident guillemots. Next we made the short hop over to Sucia Island where we spent two nights in Ewing Cove. The first afternoon we were serenaded by sea lions off on a distant point. We watched them laze about and occasionally awkwardly lumber into the water with huge splashes. On a nearby rock outcropping we watched four seal pups wriggle there way up to bask in the sunshine. On land we came across a family of geese, two parents and seven goslings. We startled them as we came around a corner along a thirty foot cliff and I started to squeak about how cute they were when they did something very unexpected....they started waddling their little selves towards the cliff. My squeaks of delight turned to disbelief as I asked, "oh my gosh, what are they......aaaahhh! aaaahh! aaaahh!" We stood frozen as we watched the tiny goslings hurl themselves off the cliff to escape....us. They turned into little puffy balls and bounced down the cliff as I continued to aaaaah! aaaah! aaaah! We all breathed a sigh of relief when we saw six little puffballs stand up at the bottom and waddle there way into the water after their parents. We thought they were all safe but then we watched in horror as a seventh fell off of the cliff and landed with a sickening thud. We stood in sad silence waiting for the seventh to move when we realized....we were staring in mourning....at a rock. It was much too flat and rocklike to be a gosling....phew! A short second later the real seventh gosling appeared at a higher point on the cliff and after a moment of deliberation, bravely hurled himself off the top and landed n the waterline with a tiny splash. The brave little gosling paddled his little self into the water to join the rest of his family. It was, a waterfall of goslings...something we never thought we'd see or even imagined existed. Now I know you are thinking to yourself that this is an extremely rare sight indeed, but as it turns out I witnessed another cascade of goslings when I brought Pika to shore for a bathroom break. Crazy Sucia goslings!

Click here for photos.

Time to Set Sail

On May 1 we finally returned to Seattle and Marinero. Our grand plan is to spend the summer on the boat sailing through British Columbia. Our week in Seattle was spent prepping for our big trip with a bit of fun sprinkled in here and there. Our first item on the agenda was checking out my great-grandparents names on a memorial dedicated to Scandinavian immigrants. I bought the spots on the plaque two years ago and have been anxiously awaiting for it to finally go up. It was cool to see our ancestors names below Leif's larger-than-life-Viking feet. Over the weekend we met a friend who works for National Geographic on their expedition ships. He gave us a tour of his boat and gave us the lowdown on what it was like to work his dream job. Later in the week the boys and I spent a morning drooling over Star Wars costumes at EMP followed by an afternoon at the zoo. We spent another day hiking through the rain to the top of Little Si. Isaac spent an afternoon in the office with Jason while Aaron and I hit the Lego store and a park. In the spirit of keeping my ancestors memories alive I punched my great-uncle's address into google maps and tracked down the house where he may have lived in 1907. Chores included three painful trips to the grocery store, where I bought obscene amounts of food. Combined with the food I ordered on Amazon Prime, the boat is full of dry goods that should last us four months....hopefully. The boat is so full of food that it is actually heeling over way more than usual, so much that I roll to that side of the bed when sleeping. There were multiple trips to Fisheries for odds and ends for the boat including a new bigger and grabbier anchor which Jason and Isaac replaced with only one crushed thumb in the process. After a week of prep we happily set sail for Port Townsend.

Click here for photos.